Bourbon Lens

It's Kentucky's newest distillery; Log Still Distillery is located in Gethsemane (just outside of Bardstown in Southern Nelson County). We toured the 300-acre "Dant Crossing" property with Founder and President, Wally Dant.  Wally, along with his family, Lynne and Charles Dant, are taking on this large project to create a "destination distillery" that is perfect for the whole family. Wally discussed the Dant family history in Nelson County and his efforts to revive the family name in the World of Kentucky Bourbon. He also shared two whiskey offerings that are going to be available at the Log Still tasting room; Monk's Road Fifth District Series, a 6 year old Kentucky Straight Bourbon and Rattle & Snap, a Limited Release 8 year old 103 proof Tennessee Whiskey. 

The Tasting Room is Now Open:

• Sunday 11 am - 5 pm
• Tuesday - Wednesday 10 am - 6 pm 
• Thursday - Saturday 10 am - 5 pm
• Bar is Open:  Thursday - Saturday 5-10 pm

We are thankful for everyone who has taken the time to give us feedback on our podcast.  If you enjoy our content, consider giving us a 5 star rating on your favorite podcast app, leave us a review, or tell a fellow bourbon lover about our show.

Follow us @BourbonLens on Instagram, Facebook, & Twitter.  And please check out our Patreon to learn how you can support our endeavors, earn Bourbon Lens swag, be part of future barrel picks, and more. If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, please email us at [email protected].

Visit our website BourbonLens.com to check out our blog posts, or even purchase your own Bourbon Lens tasting glass or t-shirt.

Cheers,
Scott, Jake, & Michael
Bourbon Lens

Two heavy-hitting craft distilleries go head-to-head as Scott and Jake discuss their spin on Double Oaked Rye Whiskey. There's no question that the Bourbon Lens is a big fan of these two craft distilleries; Starlight and Peerless. We were excited to have the chance to compare their unique rye whiskies. Here's the "Tale of the Tape":

Peerless "Double Oak I" Single Barrel Rye Whiskey:

• Proof: 109.4
• Age: Undisclosed (estimated 3-5 years)
• Price: $32 / 200 mL (Distillery Only: Purchase here)
• Mashbill:  Undisclosed
• Unique Traits:  Sweet Mash process, "Bourbon Drinker's Rye"
• Fighting Out of: Louisville Kentucky

Starlight Old Rickhouse Double Oaked Rye Whiskey:

• Proof: 112.4
• Age: 5 years + 3-8 months in second new oak
• Price: $59.99 / 750 mL
• Mashbill:  90% Rye, 10% Malted Barley
• Unique Traits:  5 year air dry oak
• Fighting Out of: Starlight, Indiana

*Label Images via TTB

We are thankful for everyone who has taken the time to give us feedback on our podcast.  If you enjoy our content, consider giving us a 5 star rating on your favorite podcast app, leave us a review, or tell a fellow bourbon lover about our show.

Follow us @BourbonLens on Instagram, Facebook, & Twitter.  And please check out our Patreon to learn how you can support our endeavors, earn Bourbon Lens swag, be part of future barrel picks, and more. If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, please email us at [email protected].

Visit our website BourbonLens.com to check out our blog posts, or even purchase your own Bourbon Lens tasting glass or t-shirt.

Cheers,
Scott, Jake, & Michael
Bourbon Lens

Links:

• Starlight Distillery
• Kentucky Peerless Distilling Co.
• Peerless Double Oak - Purchase online, pick up at distllery
• Bourbon Lens Episode 65 with Starlight Distillery
• Bourbon Lens Episode 35:  Inside the Kentucky Peerless Speakeasy

Thank you to Rabbit Hole Distillery for the opportunity to sit down with Founder, Kaveh Zamanian, to discuss his Founder's Collection series and the history of the distillery. We sipped an ultra limited, ultra premium 15 year old Mizunara Cask Finished Bourbon as well as the original Founder's Collection bottling of Cask Strength, 6 year old Boxergrail Rye Whiskey. We also discussed some exciting upcoming plans for the distillery, including Heigold Bourbon Single Barrel Picks - coming in June and the re-opening of the distillery after over a year of being closed for visitors (currently targeting June 22, 2021). 

If you want more details on the full whiskey and spirits lineup from Rabbit Hole, make sure you check out our previous episode with Rabbit Hole as well.

We are thankful for everyone who has taken the time to give us feedback on our podcast.  If you enjoy our content, consider giving us a 5 star rating on your favorite podcast app, leave us a review, or tell a fellow bourbon lover about our show.

Follow us @BourbonLens on Instagram, Facebook, & Twitter.  And please check out our Patreon to learn how you can support our endeavors, earn Bourbon Lens swag, be part of future barrel picks, and more. If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, please email us at [email protected].

Visit our website BourbonLens.com to check out our blog posts, or even purchase your own Bourbon Lens tasting glass or t-shirt.

Cheers,
Scott, Michael & Jake
Bourbon Lens

Links:

• Rabbit Hole Distillery
• Rabbit Hole Productions
• 94: Heading Down the Rabbit Hole - Distillery Tour & Bourbon Tasting - Bourbon Lens 

It's no secret that there are some incredible 15 year old Kentucky Bourbons hitting shelves over the last year. Recently, we had the opportunity to sample 6 excellent single barrels from Western Spirits Beverage Company; all in preparation for their upcoming release of Sam Houston Bourbon Batch 6. We were honored to be selected, along with several other "bourbon influencers", to help provide feedback on a specialized tasting kit of 6 unique barrels. Our feedback will help Western Spirits Beverage Company narrow down a taste profile for the final batch.  This was a great opportunity for us and we decided to record our thoughts during this podcast. 

We hope you enjoy this episode and that you have the chance to check out the final batch when it releases in about a month.  It is anticipated to release as a small batch (3 barrels) at 103 proof / 51.5% alc/vol, non-chill filtered, and carry an MSRP of $129.99.  We will follow up with another podcast once the final batch is released. A huge thank you to Western Spirits Beverage Company for including us in this project.

Also, we are so thankful for everyone who has taken the time to give us feedback on our podcast.  If you enjoy our content, consider giving us a 5 star rating on your favorite podcast app, leave us a review, or tell a fellow bourbon lover about our show.

Follow us @BourbonLens on Instagram, Facebook, & Twitter.  And please check out our Patreon to learn how you can support our endeavors, earn Bourbon Lens swag, be part of future barrel picks, and more. If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, please email us at [email protected].

Visit our website BourbonLens.com to check out our blog posts, or even purchase your own Bourbon Lens tasting glass or t-shirt.

*Image credit: Western Spirits and Sam Houston Bourbon

Cheers,
Scott, Michael & Jake
Bourbon Lens

This week's guest is Michael Myers, Founder of Distillery 291 in Colorado.  Michael left his career in fashion photography to start a distillery in Colorado and never looked back.  We taste through several of their bourbons and ryes in this week's episode and experience their unique aspen stave finished whiskey.  

We are thankful for everyone who has taken the time to give us feedback on our podcast.  If you enjoy our content, consider giving us a 5 star rating on your favorite podcast app, leave us a review, or tell a fellow bourbon lover about our show.

Follow us @BourbonLens on Instagram, Facebook, & Twitter.  And please check out our Patreon to learn how you can support our endeavors, earn Bourbon Lens swag, be part of future barrel picks, and more. If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, please email us at [email protected].

Visit our website BourbonLens.com to check out our blog posts, or even purchase your own Bourbon Lens tasting glass or t-shirt.

Cheers,
Scott, Michael & Jake
Bourbon Lens

Whiskeys Tasted During Episode

• Small Batch Bourbon - 100 proof, finished with aspen wood staves
• Small Batch Rye - 101.7 proof, finished with aspen wood staves
• Barrel Proof Bourbon - 128.9 proof, finished with aspen wood staves
• Barrel Proof Rye - 130.6 proof, finished with aspen wood staves

About Distillery 291

Distillery 291 is an award winning, small batch whiskey distillery nestled in the stunning foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Located in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the distillery sits in the shadow of Pikes Peak where owner and founding distiller, Michael Myers, a former New York City fashion and beauty photographer, with a love of whiskey and passion for the old west, aims to replicate the taste, smell and folklore of that time, to create a one of a kind, bold and beautiful, Colorado Whiskey. Rugged, Refined, Rebellious.

Myers set out to create a flagship whiskey that evoked the Wild West. He grew up on rural family farms in Georgia and Tennessee, across a countryside defined by rolling hills, horses, Jack Daniels and George Dickel. For decades since then, he carried with him an iconic vision of a cowboy walking into a bar, saying give me a whiskey, and the bartender slamming down a bottle — that bottle would be 291 Colorado Whiskey.

Myers built his original still from copper photogravure plates that he had once used to create enduring photographic scenes, from western landscapes to the Chrysler Building.  On September 11, 2011 — ten years after 9/11 changed his life and the lives of so many others — Myers pulled his first whiskey off of that still, building his future in whiskey, off his passion for photography.

291 Colorado Whiskey is "Hardmade the Colorado Way". Today (and since day one), Distillery 291 is distilling, from grain, to barrel, to bottle, by hand, from scratch, ten distinctive Colorado whiskeys. Utilizing grains from the Colorado plains and water collected from Pikes Peak reservoirs, Myers turned his artist's eye towards whiskey and hasn't looked back. Everything matters.

Old Carter Whiskey Co. has six new batches of whiskey on the horizon and we were fortunate enough to taste through each with Founders, Mark and Sherri Carter. The Carters invited Bourbon Lens to their tasting room in Downtown Louisville for an early look at Batches 7, 8, 9, and 10 of their latest bourbons and Batches 5 & 6  of the American Whiskey. Each batch is bottled at barrel strength and comes packed with a ton of flavor. Enjoy this week's episode, a sneak peek of the upcoming releases from Old Carter Whiskey Co. 

We are thankful for everyone who has taken the time to give us feedback on our podcast.  If you enjoy our content, consider giving us a 5 star rating on your favorite podcast app, leave us a review, or tell a fellow bourbon lover about our show.

Follow us @BourbonLens on Instagram, Facebook, & Twitter.  And please check out our Patreon to learn how you can support our endeavors, earn Bourbon Lens swag, be part of future barrel picks, and more. If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, please email us at [email protected].

Visit our website BourbonLens.com to check out our blog posts, or even purchase your own Bourbon Lens tasting glass or t-shirt.

Cheers,
Scott, Michael & Jake
Bourbon Lens

About Old Carter Whiskey Co.  

Old Carter Whiskey Co is the passion project of Mark and Sherri Carter. They began their beverage endeavors in the wine business, producing fine wines in Napa Valley with their Carter Cellars Cabernets garnering eleven perfect 100 point scores from critics. The whiskey business found them several years ago when they partnered with a Kentucky friend to resurrect a long dormant bourbon brand. That brand did well and sold in 2017, but by then the Carters were hooked on the process of making and blending whiskies, as well as the state of Kentucky. So they started Old Carter Whiskey Co to carry on their love affair with whiskey making. They now produce Straight Ryes, Bourbons and American Whiskey in Kentucky and have an Old Carter showroom in Louisville. Mark and Sherri handle all aspects of the business themselves, from creating new blends and selecting single barrels, to designing and handwriting each individual label per bottling. It is a very hands-on approach and has allowed them to continue to create together. Old Carter is truly a labor of love.

Image Courtesy of Old Carter Whiskey Co.

Our guest this week is Brian Prewitt, Master Distiller for A. Smith Bowman Distillery in Virginia.  We discuss the history of the distillery, Brian's background in the beer, wine and spirits industries, and the variety of bourbons that the distillery releases.  We also taste through John J. Bowman Single Barrel Bourbon and Bowman Brother Small Batch Bourbon.

We are thankful for everyone who has taken the time to give us feedback on our podcast.  If you enjoy our content, consider giving us a 5 star rating on your favorite podcast app, leave us a review, or tell a fellow bourbon lover about our show.

Follow us @BourbonLens on Instagram, Facebook, & Twitter.  And please check out our Patreon to learn how you can support our endeavors, earn Bourbon Lens swag, be part of future barrel picks, and more. If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, please email us at [email protected].

Visit our website BourbonLens.com to check out our blog posts, or even purchase your own Bourbon Lens tasting glass or t-shirt.

Cheers,
Scott, Michael & Jake
Bourbon Lens

About Master Distiller Brian Prewitt:

Brian's interest in the beverage industry was peaked when he landed a job at a brewery while attending Colorado State University obtaining his bachelor's degree in food science.  

Upon graduation, Prewitt further honed his interest for brewing and distilling by completing the Master Brewers Program at University of California, Davis.  From there, he joined The Great Divide Brewing Company in Denver, Colo., eventually becoming its brewer.

When Prewitt saw an opportunity to try his hand at distilling spirits instead of beer, he jumped at the chance to join E&J Distilleries in Modesto, Calif. and was eventually named Senior Distiller.  It was at E&J that Prewitt was able to train under two Master Distillers with a combined experience of more than 70 years in the art of distillation, learning about raw material selection, fermentation, distillation, and maturation.

Brian was named Master Distiller at the A. Smith Bowman Distillery in 2013, and he is excited to carry on the Bowman family tradition of award-winning products while introducing some new offerings as well.

A native of Colorado, Brian now lives in Fredericksburg, Va. with his wife and three children.

We're joined by singer-songwriter Drew Holcomb. Drew talks about his career as musician, his band Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors, his involvement in Sweetens Cove Bourbon, and his life as a husband and father in today's world. Sweetens Cove allows Drew to combine his love for whiskey (and whisky), Tennessee pride, and the resurrection of a golf course. You've heard about Sweetens Cove previously on Bourbon Lens Episode 85 featuring Marianne Eaves, the Master Blender behind the bourbon. We appreciate you tuning in this week as we visit the music industry and we hope you'll check out Drew's music.

We are thankful for everyone who has taken the time to give us feedback on our podcast.  If you enjoy our content, consider giving us a 5 star rating on your favorite podcast app, leave us a review, or tell a fellow bourbon lover about our show.

Follow us @BourbonLens on Instagram, Facebook, & Twitter.  And please check out our Patreon page to learn how you can support our endeavors, earn Bourbon Lens swag, be part of future barrel picks, and more. If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, please email us at [email protected].

Visit our website BourbonLens.com to check out our blog posts, or even purchase your own Bourbon Lens tasting glass or t-shirt.

This episode is brought to you by Premium Bar Products. Thanks for their support in producing this week's podcast. To customize glassware for your home bar, visit: https://premiumbarproducts.com 

Cheers,
Scott, Michael & Jake
Bourbon Lens

We sit down with Jason Brauner and some "Sippin' Whiskey" at Bourbon's Bistro in Louisville.  We discuss Jason's experiences in the bourbon world, owning a highly regarded restaurant with an extensive selection of bourbon, and owning his own Whiskey brand.  Buzzard's Roost Sippin' Whiskey is a brand that relies on Jason's palate and experience to craft unique barrel finished (double barreled) rye whiskey. 

We are thankful for everyone who has taken the time to give us feedback on our podcast.  If you enjoy our content, consider giving us a 5 star rating on your favorite podcast app, leave us a review, or tell a fellow bourbon lover about our show.

Follow us @BourbonLens on Instagram, Facebook, & Twitter.  And please check out our Patreon page to learn how you can support our endeavors, earn Bourbon Lens swag, be part of future barrel picks, and more. If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, please email us at [email protected].

Visit our website BourbonLens.com to check out our blog posts, or even purchase your own Bourbon Lens tasting glass or t-shirt.

This episode is brought to you by Premium Bar Products. Thanks for their support in producing this week's podcast. To customize glassware for your home bar, visit: https://premiumbarproducts.com 

Cheers,
Scott, Michael & Jake
Bourbon Lens

ABOUT BUZZARD'S ROOST:

The story of Buzzard's Roost started nearly two decades ago with one man's goal to educate people about whiskey. From the opening of the first bourbon-focused bar - Bourbon's Bistro to pioneering the idea of barrel selection for restaurants, Company Founder and Master Blender Jason Brauner has always been at the forefront of whiskey.

After taking part in more than a 100 barrel selections over his career, Jason is embarking on his most exciting challenge yet  - Buzzard's Roost Sippin' Whiskey, a Rye he designed with the bourbon drinker in mind.  His goal with Buzzard's Roost is still the same as it was 19 years ago,  to educate and share his love of whiskey.

THE PROCESS:

We start by sourcing the best aged whiskey we can find, but the real magic is in our barrels. We use only brand new, 53-gallon white oak barrels that are carefully toasted and very lightly charred. Each one is designed from the ground up to deliver a specific flavor profile.

We work closely with our cooperage to tweak every parameter of the barrel  - from the seasoning to the charring to the development of our custom toast profiles. All of our barrels are unique and proprietary to our company, giving Buzzard's Roost a truly one-of-a kind flavor. After resting only a few weeks in our new barrels, the whiskey is purposefully transformed and ready for bottling.

We are joined by the co-founders of Blue Run Spirits to talk about their new, premium Kentucky Bourbon. Their first batches released in late 2020 - early 2021, each a 13 year old sourced Kentucky Bourbon.  Mike Montgomery and Jesse McKnight are the co-founders and have created a unique and diverse team to help grown this brand. Blue Run Bourbon was selected and blended with the assistance and expertise of Jim Rutledge, former Master Distiller of Four Roses. Blue Run has exciting plans for future limited batches, including single barrels and their own aged distillate.  We appreciate the Blue Run Spirits' team for providing us the opportunity to try their fall and winter batches of Blue Run Kentucky Straight Bourbon. 

We are thankful for everyone who has taken the time to give us feedback on our podcast.  If you enjoy our content, consider giving us a 5 star rating on your favorite podcast app, leave us a review, or tell a fellow bourbon lover about our show.

Follow us @BourbonLens on Instagram, Facebook, & Twitter.  And, please check out our Patreon page to learn how you can support our endeavors, earn Bourbon Lens swag, be part of future barrel picks, and more.

If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, please email us at [email protected].

Visit our website BourbonLens.com to check out our blog posts, or even purchase your own Bourbon Lens tasting glass or t-shirt.

This episode is brought to you by Premium Bar Products. Thanks for their support in producing this week's podcast. To customize glassware for your home bar, visit: https://premiumbarproducts.com

Cheers,
Scott, Michael & Jake
Bourbon Lens

About Blue Run Spirits:

Blue Run Spirits is a new kind of spirits company, creating a unique luxury proposition by tapping into the deep heritage and craft that makes a truly great whiskey, then elevating it through a modern design and marketing lens to reach a younger, broader and more diverse whiskey drinker.  

The company's founders include a Nike designer, the first director-level employee at Facebook, a hospitality executive, a political advisor, and a philanthropist – all huge whiskey fans and individuals who acutely understand how to build demand and buzz for a contemporary consumer product. They are backed by a team of advisors including Nike marketing experts; the Campari communications veteran behind the US launch of Espolòn Tequila and the Aperol Spritz; a former vice president of innovation from Brown-Forman; a former spirits distributor; and others with deep industry experience. The Blue Run name is a nod to one of our founder's upbringing in Georgetown, KY, where Bourbon began in the Bluegrass State.

Find Blue Run Spirits online at www.bluerunspirits.com, and on social media: Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.