Before collectors were hunting bottles, before allocated releases became a contact sport, before the phrase "single barrel" meant anything to anyone — Elmer T. Lee made it mean something. This week on Whiskey Face, we pour the bourbon that bears his name.

Elmer T. Lee spent decades at what is now Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, Kentucky, rising to Master Distiller and eventually helping create something that didn't exist before he thought of it: a bourbon bottled from a single barrel, with no blending, no averaging out the rough edges, no safety net. Just one barrel, start to finish. That bourbon — Blanton's Single Barrel — launched in 1984, and it changed what people believed American whiskey could be. The Elmer T. Lee Single Barrel is Buffalo Trace Distillery's way of saying thank you.

It's also, as Thom will mention several times, a highly-sought-after bottle.

That's the context. Here's the episode: Thom pours a whiskey with a backstory as big as its reputation, walks through what makes single barrel bourbon different, and how the Elmer T. Lee is the same, and yet different, from Blanton's. Then he hands a glass to Patsy — who, bless her heart, remains unmoved by legacy.

The Redemption Round this week is the Tribute Old Fashioned — a cocktail designed to honor Elmer T. Lee and the single barrel tradition he built. It is, structurally, an act of respect, even if it hurts Thom's soul to mix it. Whether Patsy sees it that way is another matter.

Where does this one land on the Whiskey Face Scale? Grab your own glass and find out.

~~~~~Find your spirit glass on the Whiskey Face Scale — grab merch at whiskeyface.live. Follow us on Facebook for updates and Patsy's ongoing suffering.

Want to listen to Patsy's radio show on gratitude? Listen on Syndicate Empire's Michele in the Middle the 4th Wednesday of every month from 1-4pm Mountain Time.

#ElmerTLee #WhiskeyFace #bourbonpodcast #buffalotracedistillery #WhiskeyFaceScale #TributeOldFashioned

The Willett Pot Still Reserve comes in a bottle shaped like a pot still. It's distinctive. It's elegant. It represents the craft of batch-making bourbon in a copper pot still. It also looks exactly like the kind of thing Patsy is going to be suspicious of before she even smells it.

Thom gets buttered biscuits and honey on the nose, cinnamon and honey butter on the palate, with a creamy finish. Patsy gets a feeling. You'll see what kind.

For the Redemption Round, we made her a Gold Rush — bourbon, honey syrup, fresh lemon juice. A modern classic, and honestly not an unfair follow-up given what just came out of that bottle.

Find out where both land on the Whiskey Face Scale.

~~~~~Find your spirit glass on the Whiskey Face Scale — grab merch at whiskeyface.live. Follow us on Facebook for updates and Patsy's ongoing suffering.

Want to listen to Patsy's radio show on gratitude? Listen on Syndicate Empire's Michele in the Middle the 4th Wednesday of every month from 1–4pm Mountain Time.

#WhiskeyFace #WillettDistillery #WillettPotStillReserve #GoldRush #BourbonCocktail #WhiskeyPodcast #BourbonPodcast #SmallBatchBourbon

Scotland did not ask to be involved in this.

The Macallan 12 is aged twelve years in sherry oak casks from Jerez, Spain — which, yes, means Scotland went all the way to Spain to teach its barrels how to taste more Scottish. The result is one of the most recognized Scotch whiskies on the planet: rich and dark, layered with dried fruit, orange peel, and chocolate. None of the peat. None of the smoke. By every conceivable measure, this is the Scotch that is supposed to win people over.

This week, Thom brings one of his favorite Scotches to Patsy — and Patsy brings her face. The Whiskey Face Scale will be consulted.

For the Redemption Round, we turned the Macallan into a Rob Roy: Scotch, sweet vermouth, and Angostura bitters, stirred cold and served up with a cherry. It's what a Manhattan orders when it's feeling sophisticated. The Rob Roy has been on cocktail menus since 1894, named after the Scottish opera that opened in New York City the same year — which means this drink has been trying to make Scotch approachable for longer than most of our grandparents have been alive. The question is whether 132 years of effort is enough for Patsy.

~~~~~Find your spirit glass on the Whiskey Face Scale — grab merch at whiskeyface.live. Follow us on Facebook for updates and Patsy's ongoing suffering.

Want to listen to Patsy's radio show on gratitude? Listen on Syndicate Empire's Michele in the Middle the 4th Wednesday of every month from 1-4pm Mountain Time.#WhiskeyFace #Macallan #ScotchWhisky #RobRoy #SingleMalt #WhiskeyPodcast #ScotchPodcast #Speyside

The grenade bottle. The horse and jockey stopper. The collectors' shelves. Blanton's Single Barrel is one of the most coveted, most photographed, most allocated bottles in American whiskey. It's the original single barrel. By every measure whiskey people care about, it is the good stuff.

This week, Thom pours Patsy a glass of bourbon royalty and asks the only question that actually matters: does the good stuff hold up when the person tasting it would rather be drinking literally anything else?

Spoiler alert: the bottle did not save itself.

Let's just say Patsy is quietly... sometimes loudly... reviewing her life choices.

For the Redemption Round, we built a Boulevardier —and if anything was going to redeem Blanton's (like it should need redemption!) for a bourbon-hater, this was the cocktail to do it. Born in 1920s Paris and first written down in Harry McElhone's 1927 Barflies and Cocktails, the Boulevardier is what happens when the Negroni grows up, moves to Kentucky, and trades its gin for bourbon. Whiskey, Campari, sweet vermouth, stirred and served up with an orange peel. Bitter. Aromatic. Slightly red. The grown-up cousin of every cocktail Patsy should like.

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Find your spirit glass on the Whiskey Face Scale — grab merch at whiskeyface.live. Follow us on Facebook for updates and Patsy's ongoing suffering.

Want to listen to Patsy's radio show on gratitude? Listen on Syndicate Empire's Michele in the Middle the 4th Wednesday of every month from 1-4pm Mountain Time.

#WhiskeyFace #Blantons #BourbonReview #Boulevardier #SingleBarrel #WhiskeyPodcast #BourbonPodcast #BuffaloTrace

After two episodes easing Patsy into the world of American whiskey — a gentle wheated bourbon, a Derby Day classic — Episode 3 takes a different turn. This week: New Riff Distilling's Single Barrel Rye from Newport, Kentucky. It's a 100% rye mash bill — 95% rye, 5% malted rye — non-chill filtered, no coloring added, pulled directly from a single barrel. What came out of that barrel is exactly what goes in the glass.

Before Patsy touches it, Thom covers the story of New Riff: a distillery built in the parking lot of its founder's former liquor store, and New Riff's then-head distiller's philosophy that a well-made whiskey's taste and aroma can be described with just three notes. If you know what you're doing, three is enough.

Patsy listens. Patsy nods. Patsy picks up the glass. It does not go well.

We close with a Black Manhattan —Amaro Averna in place of sweet vermouth, designed to give the rye somewhere to go. Bourbon makes a good Manhattan. Rye makes the correct one. Whether that argument lands with Patsy is another matter entirely.

The Whiskey Face Scale is rated. This may be our most consequential score yet.

New episodes every week.

Find your spirit glass on the Whiskey Face Scale — grab merch at whiskeyface.live. Follow us on Facebook for updates and Patsy's ongoing suffering.

Want to listen to Patsy's radio show on gratitude? Listen on Syndicate Empire's Michele in the Middle the 4th Wednesday of every month from 1-4pm Mountain Time.

It's Kentucky Derby weekend, and Thom is bringing out something special — Woodford Reserve's 2023 Distillery Series Release, a Toasted Oak Four Grain Whiskey selected by Master Distiller Elizabeth McCall. Woodford is the official whiskey of the Derby, and this bottle, like the Derby, is special. Patsy might agree--but probably not with the same meaning as Thom.

Thom walks through what makes this limited release worth seeking out — four grains, toasted oak influence, and McCall's fingerprints all over it — then hands Patsy the glass.

She has opinions. Loud ones. The Whiskey Face Scale gets tested again.

Then comes the Redemption Round: a proper Mint Julep. Does dressing it up in mint and crushed ice change things? Somewhat. Maybe? It's complicated.

Part education, part family experiment, entirely Patsy's problem.

Whiskey Face is the show where a whiskey lover and his whiskey-averse sister taste their way through the world of whisk(e)y — one grimace at a time.

Find your spirit glass on the Whiskey Face Scale — grab merch at whiskeyface.live. Follow us on Facebook for updates and Patsy's ongoing suffering.

Want to listen to Patsy's radio show on gratitude? Listen on Syndicate Empire's Michelle in the Middle the 4th Wednesday of every month from 1-4pm Mountain Time.

She doesn't like whiskey. She's never liked whiskey. And yet here we are.

In our very first episode, host Thom walks his sister Patsy through a bottle of Maker's Mark — one of the most approachable wheated bourbons on the market, and the bourbon that lives inside one of the most beautiful distilleries in the world, thanks to a stunning Chihuly glass installation on the grounds. Patsy loves Chihuly. Does that goodwill transfer to what's in the bottle? Spoiler: not exactly.

Thom breaks down what makes Maker's a great gateway bourbon — soft wheat mash bill, vanilla and caramel on the nose, a finish that doesn't fight back — and then hands Patsy the glass.  What happens next?  Let's just say the Whiskey Face Scale gets its first workout. 

Then, the Redemption Round: a traditional Maker's Old Fashioned.  Do things get a little more survivable?

Whiskey Face is the show where a whiskey lover and his whiskey-averse sister taste their way through the world of whisk(e)y — one grimace at a time.

Find your spirit glass on the Whiskey Face Scale — grab merch at whiskeyface.live. Follow us on Facebook for updates and Patsy's ongoing suffering.

Want to listen to Patsy's radio show on gratitude? Listen on Syndicate Empire's Michelle in the Middle the 4th Wednesday of every month from 1-4pm Mountain Time.