Using Brackets to find the Best Booze for the Buck!

Author: admin

Episode #3

#4 Jim Beam  (W)

vs.

#5 Rebel Yell (L)

Recorded on June 9th, 2018, in Nate’s studio

©Lil’ Lee Photography

We aren’t experts–or connoisseurs or authorities or savants or aficionados.  We definitely aren’t doing things the “right way.”

We just had a question, and we’re finding the answer.  The knowledge we are gaining through this process is staggering–about bourbon, but also about podcasting and hosting a website.  Our old teachers were right–learning CAN be fun!

It’s fun–it’s a hobby.  And we’re gonna keep doing it.

Scroll through the post to see some additional information about things (and stuff) we talked about during the episode.

**Corrections to the podcast are below.  Oops!**


Episode Notes


Site Mentions in the Episode


**Corrections**

(what we said vs. what we should have said)

  1. Called the “malt” ingredient in whiskey “malted wheat”.  It’s “malted rye”–not wheat!
  2. Said that the Old Crow Medicine Show song from their first self-titled album was “Cocaine.”  But it’s actually called “Tell It To Me”.
  3. Said that the Brewmasters show was on the History Channel.  But it was actually on the Discovery Channel.
  4. Called the bill that Kentucky passed “Make Whiskey Free Again.”  It was actually called “Bourbon Without Borders.”

Technical Notes

We recorded this episode on a Blue Yeti Pro microphone.  We had it set to cardioid pickup pattern, even with the three of us.  In Nate’s studio, it’s a really great, quiet room for this.  I’d still like to get a few more microphones going, but that $$ isn’t quite in the budget yet, heh.

The podcast was recorded directly into–and edited using–Audacity, a free open-source audio editing software.  It served our purposes and worked well.

Episode #2

#7 Ezra Brooks  (W)

vs.

#10 Banker’s Club (L)

Recorded on May 20th, 2018, in Nate’s studio

©Lil’ Lee Photography

We aren’t experts–or connoisseurs or authorities or savants or aficionados.  We definitely aren’t doing things the “right way.”

We just had a question, and we’re finding the answer.  The knowledge we are gaining through this process is staggering–about bourbon, but also about podcasting and hosting a website.  Our old teachers were right–learning CAN be fun!

It’s fun–it’s a hobby.  And we’re gonna keep doing it.

Scroll through the post to see some additional information about things (and stuff) we talked about during the episode.

**Corrections to the podcast are below.  Oops!**


Episode Notes


Site Mentions in the Episode


**Corrections**

(what we said vs. what we should have said)

  1. Bourbon is NOT the only federally regulated spirit.  There are many others.  
  2. NOT all Tennessee whiskey is bourbonHowever, most are–but they do require an extra step:  maple charcoal filtration after distillation.

Technical Notes

We recorded this episode on a Blue Yeti Pro microphone.  We had it set to cardioid pickup pattern.  Will probably try the omni when we have 3 or more people.  The quality was better than the last one, but the gain was probably turned up a bit too far.  Going to try to turn it down to eliminate extra background.  Nate’s studio is amazingly quiet, with little echo.

The podcast was recorded directly into–and edited using–Audacity, a free open-source audio editing software.  It served our purposes and worked well.

Episode #1

#8 Old Crow  (L)

vs.

#9 Heaven Hill (W)

Recorded on May 6, 2018 in Nate’s studio

©LilLeePhotography

We aren’t experts–or connoisseurs or authorities or savants or aficionados.  We definitely aren’t doing things the “right way.”

We just had a question, and we’re finding the answer.  The knowledge we are gaining through this process is staggering–about bourbon, but also about podcasting and hosting a website.  It turns out our old teachers were right–learning CAN be fun!

It’s fun–it’s a hobby.  And we’re gonna keep doing it.

Scroll through the post to see some additional information about things (and stuff) we talked about during the episode.

**Corrections to podcast are below.  Oops!**


Episode Notes

  • Regarding State Liquor Laws in PA–for those visiting
  • The list of bourbons we are tasting
  • The tournament bracket we will be using
  • The NCAA #16 seed that defeated the #1 seed in men’s basketball was UMBC.
  • Joe DiMaggio definitely promoted cigarettes.
  • Nate’s Norlan Glasses were amazing.  Here’s a picture:
  • ©LilLeePhotography

  • Braggocious is a combination of “braggadocious” and “precocious” and it is perfect.
  • Hard to find statistics on best-selling bourbons of all time (re: Old Crow’s claim), but there is this article on the “Most Important Bourbons” of all time.  Old Crow comes in at #7.
  • We tasted both on the rocks–and then both neat.  Whiskey drinkers may be aghast that we threw ice in the glasses.  Maybe we shouldn’t have–but oh well.
  • Ravens and crows are indeed not the same bird.
  • The red wing blackbird is the most common in North America.  However, the red-billed quelea is the most common in the world.
  • Ice does indeed do “fancy things” with the whiskey.
  • Prohibition was from 1920 thru 1933.
  • The distillery Nate traveled to was the Willett Distillery.
  • The world’s oldest known spider really did die recently.
  • Didn’t find any readily accessible information on the cost of storage as a percentage of overall costs, but did find this interesting article about building storage facilities, and how hard it actually is.
  • We made a comment about how “bourbon” is a very narrow definition of whiskey, and will stand by it.  But have since learned there are a TON of different flavors, tastes, etc. to describe bourbons.  Even down to the char level in the barrel.
  • We mentioned two websites:

**Corrections**

(what we said vs. what we should have said)

  1. Only two of our bourbons were sold by the liter (not 3)Heaven Hill and Banker’s Club
  2. Not all of our bourbons are 80 proofEzra Brooks is 90.
  3. Banker’s Club doesn’t have a website promoting using the bourbon for cooking It was on other sites.
  4. We used the Modern Thirst for our tiebreaker.  Their review of Old Crow and review of Heaven Hill seemed like a good choice, but it turns out that the Heaven Hill we drank isn’t the one reviewed.  They reviewed the “green label” 6 year, and we drank the “white label” 4 year.  Oh well.  #9 moves on, with a bad call from the officiating crew.

Technical Notes

We recorded this episode on a Google Pixel 2 phone, using the microphones on the unit itself, sitting on a couch cushion between the two of us.  While the quality was OK, we wanted a bit more volume, clarity, etc.  So we’ll probably try something else for the next one.

The podcast was edited using Audacity, a free open-source audio editing software.  It served our purposes and worked well.

Our Mission

So, we came up with this idea.

(It was when we were drinking–so that’s how we knew it was a good idea.)

Elegant in concept, but complex in execution.


Nate and I were comparing two different bourbons, we asked the question-

What’s the best bottle of bourbon for the price?

When the question was asked, we were compelled (by our BAC) to find an answer.  How would we do it?

We realized there was really two questions here:

  • What is “the price”?

  • How to compare “all the bourbons”?


“The Price”

This was an easy question to answer–we set the bar at $20.  Retrospectively, we then examined how many bourbons we could actually get for under $20, and the answer was an even TEN.  Awesome!


How to Compare?

Inspired by sports, which inherently tries to answer the question, “What’s the best team?”, we decided we should run a bracket.  This was exciting for lots of reasons:

  • Comparing 2 is easier than 10.
  • We’re not sure we could taste 10 bourbons at the same time.  Geez.
  • This would allow us do….*a lot*.…of bourbon tastings.

So here we are.

And here’s the bracket.

Come give us a listen.

We are enjoying ourselves–and want you to have fun, too!

-Matt