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LGP 41 - Joya De Nicaragua Cinco Cinco with Cigar Surgeon
17 Plays4 days ago
This week, Tripp is joined by special guest co-host John "Cigar Surgeon" Mctavish to test out some pairings with the Joya De Nicaragua Cinco Cinco!
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Transcript
Show Return and Cigar Mix-up
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey everybody, welcome back to Let's Get Pairing. It's been a couple weeks. Sorry about that. ah I was sick. My daughter was sick. There was a couple of whole things that happened over the last few weeks, including Christmas, obviously, um that that made me not able to do the show.
00:00:16
Speaker
But we're back. um And tonight, due to a little a little goof that we had, John and I are going to be not smoking exactly the same cigar, which might make it actually kind of ah more fun.
00:00:28
Speaker
We'll see. um But we're going be smoking some Jolene Nicaragua anniversary cigars. um Before we get into that, grab yourself a cigar, grab yourself a drink. Let's get parents. Let's get parents.
00:00:54
Speaker
And we're back. This is ah Let's Get Pairing, episode number 41. um And John just came up with the name. We're calling it Quatro Cinco versus Cinco Cinco. Because like I said in the the little pre-roll, we goofed.
00:01:09
Speaker
Anyway, I'm your host, Tripp. Here with my co-host, John, for this week. What's up, everybody? coming out of the Casa de Monte Cristo Studios. John, how are you doing, my brother?
00:01:20
Speaker
Always good to have you on. Thank you. It's it's been a hot minute, and and I'm excited to be on. It's been, you know, ah like you said, it's been a busy Christmas, but it's always nice to do a pairing show. We haven't we haven't done a pairing show together in a while, and ah love doing pairings with Hoyt and Nicaragua. It's one of my favorite factories, so ah agree that's pretty easy for
Favorite Hoy de Nicaragua Cigars
00:01:40
Speaker
me. the only The only problem was, you know, we're talking, like, brother, how many Cinco de Cincos you have? And I'm like, none, because I keep smoking them.
00:01:50
Speaker
Understandable. Yeah. Yeah. It's really good. I mean, they get the Corona Deluxe is the one i think that I've been kind of my go-to because they're just like a good hour and 15 minutes. That is the one I'm smoking.
00:02:01
Speaker
This is the the Corona Extra, I think they call it. Corona Deluxe, something like that. Something like that. But yeah, we goofed. You said Quattro Cinco. I said Cinco Cinco, and somehow neither of us ah were on the same page.
00:02:16
Speaker
But that's all right. so good um We may have crossed our wires there, but I just noticed... I really like your shirt. Oh, look at that. We're on the same wavelength. Exactly. Black Label Trading Company, baby. um That's one of my favorite shirts. As you can tell, this is a very beat up shirt.
00:02:36
Speaker
um That's awesome. They were just both happen to be wearing it. It is funny. Anyway, welcome back to the show, man. Thank you. Always good to have you. I mean, the story behind the two cigars is kind of cool. um You know, we we talk all the time about limited stuff, and I like limited stuff remaining limited. So the original Quattro Cinco is the 45-year celebration cigar they came out with. I think it was 2013 now, I want to say, which makes this cigar really old. No, not quite.
00:03:10
Speaker
This came out in 2023. Yeah. 2013. Yep. right. yeah right
00:03:15
Speaker
and And then they came out with the ah Cinco de Cadas, which was the 50-year, which is also excellent. Also an incredible cigar. But a different blend, which is kind of nice. And then they out the Cinco de Cinco, which I think was just a couple of years ago now.
00:03:31
Speaker
Last year. and Last year. and and And also a different brent blend. I think maybe a little bit more approachable, affordable, available tobaccos, which is good because, you know, it's a reasonably priced
Cinco de Cinco Details
00:03:44
Speaker
cigar. and it's kind a little little flavor bomb yeah absolutely um All right. So to get into the cigars a little bit, I'm smoking, as you mentioned, a Cinco to Cinco. That's the green one um came out last year. It's there. Like you said, 55th anniversary. I think it's really cool. They're doing this. ah It's the Obras Maestro series and all of them.
00:04:08
Speaker
I think this the Quatro Cinco was the first one that was in that series. And since then, they've had the numero uno. um Fantastic cigar. There's another one I'm forgetting and then the three ah anniversary cigars.
00:04:25
Speaker
And all of them are celebrating different milestones that Hoya de Nicaragua has had over the years. This one, obviously, 55th anniversary. I love the little... The The I-N is 5-5.
00:04:40
Speaker
Very cool. Little detail there. um Interestingly... I didn't realize this until I was doing my research today. This cigar pays homage to all of the people who over the years have visited the factory in Esteli.
00:04:55
Speaker
that That's us. That means us. That's us. Yeah. When they created this cigar, i well, before I get
Quatro Cinco Highlights
00:05:03
Speaker
to that, when you visit the factory, as we know, ah you get to create your own cigar. You get to go into the blending room, do a little kind of blending session with Juan or whoever's doing the tour.
00:05:12
Speaker
And ah at the end, you leave with some of your very own cigars that are made to your own blend. um They collected all of the blends that were ever made during those blending sessions.
00:05:26
Speaker
And kind of... ah chose some of the materials from that have been the most popular over the years, and that's how they created the blend for Cinco Cinco.
00:05:38
Speaker
Cinco de Cinco. Cinco de Cinco. I thought that was really interesting. So this is kind of paying homage to the people like us who have been to the factory, made their own cigars, good or bad, um because yeah they can't all be winners, man. a lot of bad. Personally, I've made a lot of bad, lot of bad blends. Blending is not as easy as the masters make it look.
00:06:00
Speaker
No. So the the components of this one are a I couldn't find anything about an age that they gave on it, but they call it a vintage Mexican San Andres wrapper, undisclosed binder.
00:06:13
Speaker
And of course, vintage vintage in typical Hoy the Nicaragua fashion. All fillers from Nicaragua. That's too. Yeah, of course.
00:06:24
Speaker
um I'm smoking the, like I said, Corona Extra. I think the price on this is like $18. I didn't put it in my notes. It is a 6.75 by forty eight
00:06:40
Speaker
What about you? which I don't actually remember what the Vitola is in the Quattro Cinco. I think it's six six by fifty four box press, which I'd love. I dig a box press, a soft box press. And like Tripp was saying, that the blend's a little bit different. So on the sync the original Quattro Cinco, they use a Nicaraguan Criollo wrapper.
00:06:59
Speaker
Criollo? With a Dominican binder, which is kind of interesting because, you know, I think they do implement quite a bit of Dominican tobacco in various blends, but you wouldn't think a feature cigar for Hoyt and Nicaragua would have Dominican tobacco because it's Nicaraguan company, their first factory.
00:07:17
Speaker
But, you know, Nicaraguan wrapper, which is kind of unique, and Dominican binder, and then Nicaraguan filler. This is only 2013, so it's been sitting around for a while. I've got a box...
00:07:31
Speaker
I've got the boxes like two thirds full, whatever that math works out to. I should probably start smoking through them because as i'm smoking this, it's, it's, i mean, it's aged nicely, but it's certainly softened up. I remember the, the wrapper being a little spicy, little, little peppery.
00:07:47
Speaker
And a lot of that character is, is gone. It's, it's a lot softer. It's a lot sweeter. kind of more of a ah woody profile. And think a lot of the sweetness that I, I remember the Quattro Cinco having more sweetness than this, but I could be confusing it in my head with the Cinco de Cinco because Cinco de Cinco has that wonderful, uh, chocolatey sweet profile that I really, really dig.
00:08:16
Speaker
And it's still got that. um For me, this has kind of a little bit of that intensity that you expect from Hoy de Nicaragua. um I would call it medium plus as far as like strength and body.
00:08:31
Speaker
not Not super intense, but it ah you know it might sneak up on you if you're not careful. It might sneak up on which is nice I mean i don't you know i like I like cigars like that think if you smoke Hoy de Nicaragua in the regular I don't think it's going to surprise you very much I mean it's not like the classic series where you know some of the classic series would punch you right in the mouth that Antonio man that thing will mess your day up And Antonio, I mean, it's a good way to start the day because you'll be awake after you smoke that.
00:09:04
Speaker
But it's not this is not that this is a lot more of the more sophisticated style blending that I think kind of speaks to what Hoy has been doing for the last decade is that, you know, they've they've gone from this more traditional company to a more modern company. I think that's reflected a lot in in the blends they've been releasing.
Visiting Hoy de Nicaragua Factory
00:09:22
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. um We're like like you mentioned at the top. We're big fans of Hoy de Nicaragua. ah Just pretty much everything they make. I don't think they make anything that's bad. The red I'm not or I wasn't a big fan of.
00:09:37
Speaker
Wasn't my favorite. though But ah yeah, exactly. I'm not kicking that thing out bed. And, you know, I was doing the math the other day because I was talking about all the trips I've managed to take over the years.
00:09:49
Speaker
Hoy de Nicaragua still stands out as the factory I've visited the most of any other factory, whether it's Dominican, whether it's Nicaragua. I want to say I've been there like seven times, seven times.
00:10:02
Speaker
I'm close to that, but not quite. I think I'm at five. ah visits to that factory because you know you can't turn down a tour of that factory. It's a wonderful factory um and they make great cigars.
00:10:16
Speaker
Great cigars. they have They always have this coffee service while you're there. oh yeah. You know, a little Florida Canya because he gots to. You're in Nicaragua. Of course. So they're very welcoming.
00:10:28
Speaker
And I don't even know. I mean, I think it's best to contact them in advance and and arrange a tour, but ah they're pretty open. I mean, they're, they're very welcoming about doing tours.
00:10:41
Speaker
Yeah. I, I always, um, you know, over the years I've had many conversations with people who are like, wow, you've been in Nicaragua. That's cool. Can I just go there? And the answer is not really like you might be able to get into a couple of factories, but you're going to find a lot of locked gates with a guard that speaks no English and um has no interest in letting someone he doesn't know inside.
00:11:03
Speaker
um But if you call in advance or know someone who can get in touch with someone, um you know, you can or even like reach out to people like us that can get you in touch with someone who at least can say, no, you can't come to the factory before you plan your trip.
00:11:23
Speaker
um Yeah. The best way to do it is I'm a huge supporter of Puro Sabor. If you're going to Nicaragua, if you're interested in going to Nicaragua, go to Puro Sabor.
00:11:34
Speaker
You'll tour like 15 different factories and you're just going to be treated like a king the whole time. um It's an incredible festival. Yeah. Anyway, I think it's time that we get pairing.
00:11:49
Speaker
You're saying let's get pairing? Let's get pairing. Let's get pairing. I had thought earlier I was going to say let's get pairing, and then kind of just, it didn't fit where I was saying it, so I abandoned that idea.
00:11:59
Speaker
Let's get pairing. Let's get pairing. um I'm going to let you go first this time because I always, always, always go first, and I want to change it up a little bit. Well, you know, I came prepared. always come prepared.
00:12:10
Speaker
and love talking, not just about the what I'm
Introduction to Wildlife Distillery
00:12:13
Speaker
pairing with, but sort of the history, the background. ah I kind of got a bit of a theme tonight, little local. I went local for two out of my, I got three pairings. I went local two out of three.
00:12:22
Speaker
This is kind of one that has cropped up for me in the last few years. This is Wildlife Distillery out Canmore, Alberta. They've got quite a number of different offerings. They're all pretty cool.
00:12:34
Speaker
They've got gins, of course. You got to do gins when you're starting up as a distillery you're going to go into business. They do vodkas. They do an Amaro. They do the weeded whiskey, which I'm doing tonight. Rye whiskey, single malt, a peated single malt, and a sherry cask single malt.
00:12:48
Speaker
Oh, wee. They got a lot going on. Speak of my language with that sherry. So tonight I'm doing the weeded whiskey. The weeded whiskey comes in at a fairly approachable 45.3% ABV, so not quite cast strength, but, you know, it's not 40, which is good.
00:13:04
Speaker
They don't have an age statement. They say the minimum age in this is 3.5 years. So, you know, they've been open since 2017. Do the math. And here's here's what's cool. So the guys that that own it, Keith and Matt, super geeky. They love talking stuff. And I love that they have on the website just nerdy details for the people like us who care.
00:13:27
Speaker
So normally when you, you know, get a weed of whiskey, you're like, well, what's the mash bill, right? And they'll be like, I don't know. it's like eighty percent but but No, no, no. 61% wheat, 26% barley, 13% rye. They actually break the mash bill down.
00:13:40
Speaker
And then they also add that, of course, all the grains that are in the mash bill are local grown, which is kind of cool. But also it kind of makes sense. We're in Alberta. It's the prairies.
00:13:53
Speaker
I mean, Calgary, Calgary, maybe be not so much, but the surrounding area is very much known for rye and wheat and barley. Um, you know, the rye that's made in Alberta and Saskatchewan is exported a lot to the States for use in various things. So, uh, oh, and it's, uh, aged in a 53 gallon white American oak task, and it's distilled in a 500 liter And I don't know what this is, but they've got it here. An Alembic Copper Pot Still. I don't know what an Alembic Copper Pot Still is I don't know a Copper Pot Still is. And I've seen it because I've been to their distillery.
00:14:27
Speaker
It's a pretty cool setup. It's you know kind of small. They've obviously got a continuous still for the gin operations and vodka operations. But for the whiskey, it's a Copper Pot Still, which I dig.
00:14:38
Speaker
Nice. i Take couple sips. i' I'll let you know.
Tasting Kirkland Scotch
00:14:44
Speaker
So this is a I don't know how this is going to turn out. Oh, Kirkland. This is some Costco liquor, but it was a gift for Christmas and it is Scotch. So I figured why not try it tonight and see how see how it does.
00:14:58
Speaker
um Not many details on this. As with most of the the Kirkland brand stuff, this is eight-year... I got the box back there. It's very fancy. comes in a nice gift box.
00:15:10
Speaker
This is the Year of the Snake Chinese New Year ah scotch that they released. It's made by a company called Gravity Drinks Limited.
00:15:22
Speaker
It says that on the bottle. So i was like, I mean, maybe there that's a scotch company. I know there's another company that I... had in my notes and I took it out when I saw this. um But there's a us scotch bottle or an independent bottle or that Costco typically works with for their scotches.
00:15:39
Speaker
um But it doesn't seem like that's the case with this one. So gravity, gravity drinks limited. ah They make a bunch of novelty liquor like they have a ah Christmas tree vodka. They have a vodka that comes in in like an alien head shaped bottle and just a bunch of cheesy stuff like that. So I have very low expectations for this, but the bottle looks great.
00:16:03
Speaker
And the package looks great. ah as At least it's eight years old. It's not four. So maybe that's going for it. I don't know. this is This is kind of a mystery because I couldn't find many tasting notes on it.
00:16:16
Speaker
ah and Question for you. course. When you're holding up the bottle, does it is it does it say on the bottle it's Agent Cherry casks? No. Oh. I'm imagining things.
00:16:28
Speaker
ah Yeah, just handpicked casks. Oh. What kind of eight year old blended Scotch whiskey is 44% ABV. So at least, I mean, it's got a couple of things going for it.
00:16:42
Speaker
Um, this isn't, you know, that 38% stuff that we see sometimes.
00:16:49
Speaker
Um, so I'll, I'll take a couple sips and see how it is. Uh, it looks fine, but you know, that Scotch, you can't tell much by looking at Scott. Can't tell much by looking it. No. Um, so I was just talking about the sweet whiskey.
00:17:04
Speaker
Yeah. So you can tell off the nose, you can, it's definitely got the sweetness of a wee whiskey, which is nice. But I think where they really did a great job is they added just enough rye here to give it a really great foundational spice and body, but without kind of tape, because for me, ry A rye bill, especially high rye bill, really takes over. ah i mean, it's just so dominant for me on a profile.
00:17:30
Speaker
And this is just like a wonderful combination of the sweetness of wheat. And it's just the right amount of rye where you get a little zip on the finish, a little zip on the mouthfeel. I've forgotten how much I enjoy this with cigars because it's soft but complex at the same time. So it doesn't take over my palate.
00:17:51
Speaker
It's not like pairing with rum where it's just too easy. it does scratch the sort of whiskey itch for me. And I think it's... it's It's right in the right balance character for a lot of different cigars to compare with. it like I actually think I could pair this with the Numero Uno, and I think it wouldn't run over the Numero Uno, even though the Numero Uno is pretty nuanced, I would say.
00:18:14
Speaker
Yeah, I would say so, too. that's the I think I would call that the mildest cigar that... oh the nicaragua makes yeah um because it's it's a about on par with the classico but it's as far as strength but it's just way way way more complex yeah so i'm really curious how the first couple sips not awful oh it is it is strangely sweet on the nose there's oh There's something that I can't quite put my finger on, but what it reminds me of is like a brand new garden hose, which isn't necessarily a bad thing because, you know, the the weird notes in whiskey are pretty normal, especially scotch.
00:18:59
Speaker
ah Especially scotch. But it's better than I expected. Some funky phenol. Yeah, exactly. There's something funky there. But on the on the palate, it starts off surprisingly sweet, like...
00:19:14
Speaker
one of the sweeter whiskeys I think I've ever had from Scotland. um But then it like it softens a little bit on the palate and then it kicks in with like a little bit of spice, almost like a rye spice that it reminds me of.
00:19:29
Speaker
And then there's a finish of just a just a little hint of peat, just a little bit. So it's actually if it's Lafroig or something like that in there, maybe.
00:19:41
Speaker
and i ah I would think Lafroyd, Calhula, one of those ah that' that's very commonly blended. um But this is this is surprisingly not terrible.
00:19:53
Speaker
Sam Finnell said, or no, sorry, Thomas Darling said, Kirkland has buying powder power and they almost always go top shelf casks. um which I think would make sense for this. Like, this is you know, one of their special whiskeys. They probably want to at least put out something decent.
00:20:08
Speaker
um Yeah. What I definitely know, it doesn't remind me of, like, Johnny Walker Red or anything like that. Any of those... That's good. Chivas. Any of those eight-year blended whiskeys that um you might... a Generic and forgettable.
00:20:22
Speaker
Yeah. You know, i was going to say, it might be at the ah open bar at your holiday Christmas party or a wedding you're at as their scotch, and you're like... I'll just have a beer. guess I'll drink it, but I'm not happy about it.
00:20:34
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. um it's It's definitely better than that kind of stuff. um Yeah, I'm going to have to circle back to it and see if I can figure it out some more after some other whiskey.
00:20:46
Speaker
ah What's your, how how was your um
00:20:52
Speaker
Canadian whiskey, whatever it was Wildlife wheat whiskey? Wildlife wheat whiskey. It's nice. Wildlife wheat whiskey. Wheat, wheat. It's nice. I wouldn't say this is the most complex combination in the world, but I think as the Quattro Cico is softened, i think if were to go out with a more full-bodied whiskey and we might get there tonight, I think it might run over the cigar because, like I said, some of the Criollo spicy elements have kind of softened. So balance-wise, it's good.
00:21:24
Speaker
I'm not sure that they necessarily play off each other in an interesting way. Like it's, you know, if you just want to have a ah dram and you want to have a cigar, it's not offensive. It's not bad. They don't contrast against each other, but I also don't think they necessarily compliment each other. None of the two notes are are uplifting each other. The, you know, it's just kind of, if you just you want to have a whiskey and watch a game and and smoke a cigar, you'd be fine with this. But I think if you were looking to,
00:21:53
Speaker
do something compelling or interesting. I think there's other pairings that would work better with the Quattro Cinco than, than this wildlife we did whiskey. It's really interesting that, um, before you started saying that I took a, or as you were saying that kind of, I took a sip and before you got to the part where you said that, I don't know if these really go together.
00:22:13
Speaker
I had the same thought about my pairing where it's like, neither of these is bad. I mean, the whiskey is fine. Not great, but not bad.
00:22:23
Speaker
ah The cigar is fantastic. But none of them really, neither of them really does one anything for the other. You know, they're just, you're you pairing them side by side, but they're not interacting very much.
00:22:38
Speaker
Which, you know, that happens sometimes. It happens sometimes. It's part of the pairing journey. That's all right. Exactly. That's what we're here for is to find out that's what pairs well and what doesn't.
00:22:49
Speaker
um Hopefully, we'll find at least something that pairs well tonight. So what what do you got up next? So it is the season... It's kind of winter. I mean, in the Southern states, it's not really winter, but in the Northern hemisphere, the 51st state, it is it is winter here.
00:23:07
Speaker
And this is the sort of exciting stuff that's coming out of Calgary, Bandit Peak Brewery. I'm a big fan of essentially everything they're putting out. They're kind of the they're in the core of what they call the barley belts. It's the Southeast of the city where there's a bunch of breweries.
00:23:23
Speaker
I saw this on the shelf. I was kind of in the mood for a stout. So this timing of the show is really quite perfect for me because I was like, I really want a stout. And there's a couple different styles of stout you can get. And i like a good dry oatmeal stout that's not cloyingly sweet.
00:23:43
Speaker
You get the complex notes of the malts. You get a little bit dryness in the palate. it's It's satisfying creaminess in the mouthfeel, but it's not a barrel-aged stout. It's not super ah overwhelming in the palate.
00:23:55
Speaker
And ah like i said, Banapique, cool, cool brewery. I love their stuff. They opened 2016. So, I mean, this is kind of the new line of distilleries and breweries and stuff that have kind of come into Calgary in the last, call it 10 years. We've, we've seen this explosion because of course changes to taxes. And if they make it more affordable for breweries and distilleries to operate, then they do.
00:24:22
Speaker
Co-founders are Matt, uh, Cole and Alex with a, got Cole's name wrong. i think it's Cole. The lead brewery eric bur is Eric.
00:24:34
Speaker
And of course they got a tap room, which is always good. And of course they do brewery tours, which is also good. So, you know, checks a lot of boxes, a little bit of specs on the stout. It is, like i said, an oatmeal stout.
00:24:47
Speaker
Boxing in a very sessionable 5.8% ABV. So, you know, crushable-ish. You know, it's not in the 6.5, 6.8, 7 mark. 42 IBUs. So it's a little bit is's a little bit hoppier than what I would have expected for a stout. I kind of would have expected it to be maybe in the low 20s, low to mid 20s.
00:25:05
Speaker
So a little surprising there. What did you say it sixty six forty two 66? 42. Okay. I must have just misheard that. 42 is still pretty high for a stout. pretty high for us down for fryer.
00:25:19
Speaker
And they only use one type of hop in this. It's a Summit hops. I don't really know Summit hops very well. I can't recall um putting them down on a pairing note. But of course, for malts,
00:25:32
Speaker
Grab your pencil. So we've got Origin Prairie Pale Malt. We've got Rolled Oats. We've got Chocolate Malts. We've got Amber Malts. We've got Imperial Malts. We've got Roasted Barley Malts. We've got Weirman Malts.
00:25:45
Speaker
And we've got Crystal Mayim Malts. So what is that? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight kinds of malts. Wow.
00:25:57
Speaker
It's a lot. That's a lot of barley. A lot of barley. ah that That's going to be a very complex stout. i would I completely agree with what you were saying about stouts. um I love a barrel-aged stout. i Once in a while, usually ah if I'm having it, I'm having it on this show.
00:26:17
Speaker
I like a pastry stout. But the stouts that I really like are those drier, roastier, kind of more laid-back stouts. Mm-hmm.
00:26:30
Speaker
Anyway. No, I know it's not necessarily the most popular because I think stouts in a lot of the ways that sours are, I think it's more of the nerdier, deeper end of the beer spectrum, you know, like...
00:26:48
Speaker
especially with stouts because i think guinness is kind of smack dab in the middle of the stout profile and i think there's a lot of people out there that don't particularly like that profile and that's totally fine i mean that's you know it's just a different segment of the beer ecosphere that's out there but i i love we've talked beer endlessly but i love getting into stouts and sours and wild this and by least that and kind of moving my profile out of what i normally drink into something new uh this this i think is as a oatmeal stout that's pretty pretty established pretty standard i mean there's a lot of different oatmeal stouts in the market i've had tons of different styles even in canada
00:27:35
Speaker
But it it does check out a box. that I'd rather have, i think for me, an oatmeal stout than just a regular porter because I find porters have that sort of waterness to them, if that makes sense.
00:27:46
Speaker
The mouthfeel is very thin. The viscosity. They don't have that viscosity. You want that 10W30. You need the creaminess. It's like when you puff on a cigar and you get a nice pile of smoke off of that puff. It's very satisfying. That's what I want off my stout.
00:28:04
Speaker
Exactly.
Bunahabin 12 Features
00:28:06
Speaker
All right. What do you got for number two tonight? ah Anybody who's watched in the last year has seen this one a lot. But I love it.
00:28:16
Speaker
And I just can't get enough of it. Bunahab and 12. So good. Incredible whiskey. So it is is different from every other Islay. I'll try to do the short version of the story, but I really love the story of this distillery. They were founded in 1881 on the very northeastern corner of Islay across the water from the Isle of Jura, which is the neighboring island.
00:28:40
Speaker
um They were... The Jura distillery was the closest distillery to them when they founded it. um And they, i mean, i mean, even still it it it is and always has been the most remote distillery on all of Isla because it was just way up there in the hills.
00:29:01
Speaker
And ah for almost 60 years, sixty years There was no way, no, for over 60 years rather, there was no way to get to the distillery other than by boat or by kind of horse trails, I guess you would call it.
00:29:16
Speaker
um You couldn't get there by truck. You couldn't get there by car until the 1960s when they finally built a road and stopped being supplied solely by ship. They were still supplied some by ship.
00:29:28
Speaker
um They were one of the early distilleries to use steam-powered technology. um They had steam-powered elevators. They had steam-powered malting augers.
00:29:42
Speaker
ah Before anybody else, they were also the first building on the island to have electricity in the 1890s. um And you ask why were they all the way up there in the middle of nowhere with all this crazy technology?
00:29:55
Speaker
It's because that's where the water was. There was a spring. They could use the spring to cut their whiskey with, it to cut their whiskey with which they still do. um And that's why they put the distillery there.
00:30:09
Speaker
um They're known mostly for their unpeated whiskeys. They are in the land of peated whiskeys, but they make some really fantastic unpeated whiskeys, which is where the most of their range exists.
00:30:22
Speaker
So this one is their classic Bunahabin 12 unpeated aged 12 years in a mix of sherry bourbon and whiskey casks, which I assume means ah scotch probably.
00:30:37
Speaker
I mean, it could mean anything, but probably second use scotch from some Highland scotch that ages in new barrels instead of once filled. um And it clocks in at 46.3% ABV.
00:30:51
Speaker
If you haven't had Buhnehaban and you're a fan of scotch, I highly recommend it. um I'll give you some pairing notes in just a minute or some tasting notes rather in just a minute. Nice. John, how's that second pairing yours going?
00:31:03
Speaker
Oh.
00:31:05
Speaker
She good. it it It checks a lot of boxes. As you mentioned, the viscosity It's perfect. It's exactly what I want. When I'm thinking a stout, this is exactly the viscosity I want.
00:31:18
Speaker
As I mentioned, for me, the equivalent is getting a really powerful amount of smoke off of cigar. So when you take a puff, you don't immediately want a second puff because you get so much smoke production.
00:31:30
Speaker
That's to me what a really viscous stout is. And I like that it's reasonably... restrained on the abv i mean you know you can get barrel stouts and i do enjoy a good barrel stout but you know for tonight's session i don't necessarily want to go nine percent or ten percent or eleven percent and so it does have a lot going on and and the sweetness is very restrained which i uh especially appreciate because i think going too sweet with this cigar i think if f if i was pairing rum it's one of a few times i don't think rum is the right pairing
00:32:02
Speaker
I don't think, you know, if I was pairing a coffee, I'd want to go with a straight espresso or just a straight black coffee. I wouldn't want something sweetened because I think that sweetness would run ah run over some of the more nuanced tobacco notes.
00:32:14
Speaker
So the malty and the chocolate nu is very restrained. it pairs very nicely. it's It's very nuanced. It's got a lot of different levels, too. And I'm still kind of wrapping my head around the the profile because I've still got some of the the taste on my on my palate.
00:32:31
Speaker
But with the cigar, very good. Better than I actually anticipated. I i kind of figured the stout might be a little sweet for the cigar. But the fact that it isn't particularly sweet, it's a little drier. So I think Guinness might actually be an excellent option or any any other other sort of oatmeal stout might be an excellent option with the Quattro Cinco.
00:32:52
Speaker
Good choice to pair with. how is I mean, i already know because it's Buna, but... It's great. It's fantastic. as As you expect, knowing this whiskey pretty well, this whiskey just works with cigars, man. It's got like... so good From the sherry, you have just just a little bit of that like fruity sweetness you get from sherry. Just like this isn't what we would call a sherry bomb at all.
00:33:17
Speaker
This is a very balanced sherry note. um You just get a little bit of that sweetness, that fruitiness, that little bit of like strawberry kind of like astringency.
00:33:31
Speaker
That little bit of, it reminds me of like the acidity of ah strawberry or a cherry or something like that, where you just get that little tiny bit of acidity. um But then there's also like this ah almost leathery note to this whiskey that just works beautifully with a cigar.
00:33:54
Speaker
ah And this this one's no exception. and It really is working really well with this cigar. um It actually brings out some of the woodier, leatherier notes of the cigar. The cigar started pretty spicy, and this whiskey kind of ah dials back that spice by a little bit and ah turns up the volume on the other flavors that are there.
00:34:17
Speaker
A little bit of minerality, little bit of chocolate. ah Man, this is a fantastic pairing. I can't wait to get to my last one and see how it does against this one. um But this this might be the winner. This one wins like every time I have it, but I can't have it because it's so good.
00:34:36
Speaker
It's it's it's a little bit. The boon is sort of the call it the coffee pairing, if you will, of whiskey world. You know what i mean? Like it's it's kind of a bit of lay down because it's sophisticated, but it's balanced and it's got lot a lot of little bit of everything, little bit of everything.
00:34:54
Speaker
but not super punchy. So that makes, you know, it it makes for an excellent option for a variety different cigars. I mean, maybe if you're smoking something super full bodied, the Buddha might get run over, but For, you know, 60, 70 percent of the type of cigars that are out there, even Connecticut's, it's weird that a whiskey, a sophisticated whiskey sometimes goes really, really nicely with a Connecticut.
00:35:19
Speaker
But yeah, I think it's it's just it's just a wonderful whiskey. Of course, the higher you go and age statement. the more delicious it becomes of course and the more expensive it becomes very rapidly if you get into the boon is 18 pluses uh it becomes massively unaffordable depending on what you do for a living but the 12 is still readily available reasonably priced uh it's just a delightful whiskey it's such a delightful whiskey dig it absolutely uh all right what what have you got up last for us
00:35:54
Speaker
So now for something completely different, we're going in a very different direction. Most people who are whiskey aficionados will immediately recognize the shape of the bottle. It's pretty, it's pretty whatever.
00:36:08
Speaker
So this is the Woodford Reserve Distiller Select. Now I know that there's a lot of, especially among bourbon aficionados, there's a lot of very strong opinions of Woodford. I think it's one of those whiskeys where You either like Woodford or you don't. And for whatever reason, you know, whatever reason, whether it's flavor or whether it's just the company.
00:36:28
Speaker
And I'm a big fan of Woodford because for me, Woodford is a little more layered and a little more nuanced, a little more sophisticated, less corn forward.
00:36:39
Speaker
The I'm going to go through Woodford's history because I haven't done Woodford in a while. And it's such a cool story. It's what is' basically one of the oldest, if not the oldest distilleries in Kentucky. It hasn't been continuously operating, but they believe it ah originally opened in 1812.
00:36:56
Speaker
And then they built the main structure, the main distillery structure in 1838. It was originally called Old Oscar Pepper Distillery, which is not at all Woodford.
00:37:07
Speaker
And then it got changed to Lab Rot and Graham Distillery. And the Pepper family owned it and they passed it down sort of down the line until about 1941. And, you know, obviously there's some stuff going on and in in the world and they sold the distillery to Brown Forman. Everyone knows Brown Forman, very large beverage company, own a lot of distilleries.
00:37:30
Speaker
The funny thing is, Brown Foreman sold the distillery to a farmer, sold the land and the surrounding area a farmer in 1960. They're like, eh, we're kind of done with this distillery, which is unusual. mean, when you own as many distilleries as they do, there may come a point where whiskey's not as popular, and you want to keep the brand name, but you don't want to keep the but whiskey that's in the bottle.
00:37:52
Speaker
You want put your own whiskey in there. I'm assuming that's kind of what happened. They decided to move on, and then... 33 years, 43 years later, they're like, oh my gosh, what are we doing? whiskey whiskey ah American whiskey is exploding again, and they repurchased it.
00:38:09
Speaker
They bought it back from the farmer in 1993. Now, of course, 43 years has gone by. 33 years has gone by. I keep saying 43. 33. 33 years has gone by. it ah it had fallen into significant disrepair. So they had to put a lot of money into it, bring it back into operation. But ah and three years later,
00:38:27
Speaker
ah Launched Woodford Reserve as a brand, so 1996, and then renamed the distillery to Woodford Distillery in 2004. Tonight, what I'm to be drinking is batch 316 bottle, but sorry, batch 216 bottle 371.
00:38:45
Speaker
Comes in at a 45.2%, which is not super hot for a bourbon. I mean, I've had bourbons that are quite a bit hotter than that. But it's it's a delight. It is a straight bourbon whiskey.
00:38:59
Speaker
And it's one of my faves. You'd think the bottle would be more empty than it is, but I keep putting it kind of at the back. And, you know, the Elijah Craig and the Four Roses gets drained because it's a little more affordable, more available.
00:39:14
Speaker
So that gets drained a little bit quicker than the Woodford Reserve does for me. ah You were talking about the kind of reputation that Woodford has. I think part of it comes from Woodford, just the classic Woodford Reserve.
00:39:29
Speaker
I think they just call it Woodford Reserve American bourbon or something like that. Kentucky bourbon. um It's very commonly used in cocktails. And so I think it kind of gets the perception that, you know, that's not really a sipping whiskey. That's a cocktail whiskey.
00:39:43
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. But I think it's both. Woodford is definitely both. um A couple weeks ago, it was actually... it was the Tuesday before we were supposed to have our first show two weeks ago.
00:39:58
Speaker
um so this was about two and a half weeks ago. It was after my last episode with Coop. Um... I went to a Woodford tasting event. um It was kind of nice.
00:40:10
Speaker
My father in law or my in laws rather live in a kind of gated community about an hour from us. um And they have a what do they call it? The culinary center.
00:40:22
Speaker
They have like a restaurant there. They got a little pizza parlor kind of thing. um So you can eat there. But they had closed down the whole restaurant for the night so that they could have a ah bourbon and smoke night. So they had some Woodford reps come in and do a big Woodford tasting.
00:40:39
Speaker
They had some specialty some you know special Woodford cocktails that they were making that night. They had an entire buffet of Woodford infused foods. ah which some of them were incredible.
00:40:55
Speaker
Like, I think probably the best buffet creme brulee I've ever had was a bourbon vanilla creme brulee there. Yeah. They had some ah some smoky bourbon meatballs.
00:41:08
Speaker
Oh. Some Brussels sprouts. Man, it was it was great. um But they also had a cigar roller. You could go outside and have a cigar after you ate and drank. um So it wass very cool. But it was really cool to be able to try some of the Woodford expressions because Woodford is one of the ones that I sometimes have a bottle of just the classic Woodford bourbon, but I haven't really explored the range very much.
00:41:32
Speaker
um So I got to try the Woodford, the Double Oak, the Single Malt, and there's one more that I'm not remembering.
00:41:43
Speaker
They had four. had four. I was really impressed. Oh, the rye. I was really impressed with both their American single malt and the double oak.
00:41:53
Speaker
I thought both of them were like fantastic. So I need to get couple bottles of those so that I can have them on the show sometime. Giggity. What do got for pairing number with three tonight?
00:42:06
Speaker
Something a little special to me.
Kavalan Sherry Oak Excitement
00:42:07
Speaker
um This is Cavillan Sherry Oak. I was telling John, I think I told you in text, that there's a total wine near me.
00:42:21
Speaker
So this comes from in 2018 at IPCPR. IPCPR. ah We were in the Tatuaje booth, and...
00:42:36
Speaker
Pete says, I brought this and I want you to try it. And it was a Cavillan Solist sherry barrel that was like mind blowing.
00:42:47
Speaker
It was almost, it looked like coffee. was one the best whiskey I've had. It's like someone just slaughtered an elk and then poured it into a whiskey bottle. It's so dark. It's so dark, so red.
00:43:01
Speaker
um And you can see this is almost as dark. Like no it's, it's extremely dark. It's very dark. um So for years I've been going, I should buy a bottle of that Solus, but it's two to two 50 to $300.
00:43:19
Speaker
I can't do it. And you know, it's, it's one of those ones where it's on my wish list and eventually I'll probably buy it, but I just haven't gotten to the point where I'm like pulled the trigger yet, but I went into total one and,
00:43:32
Speaker
a year or two ago and i saw this it comes in a very similar box the the cavallon fancy boxes as i call them with the silk pillow for the whiskey and everything uh it was like uh 160 i think and every time i walk into that total wine i pick up that bottle and i go today gonna be maybe not today But I went in and it was 30% off. So it was 100 bucks. And I was like, Yeah, I can't pass it up. And think I think you messaged me and you're like, should I do this? And I was like, man, 30% off.
00:44:08
Speaker
I'm like, if you don't do it, I'm gonna do it because it's Well, first of all, they're hard to get, right? like Those Kavalans are not that readily available. It's based out of Taiwan, and their their production is not massive. But again, like you said, the pricing of them reflects the rarity of of the whiskey. tough. to tough you know well kind of Once you go over that mark,
00:44:33
Speaker
and targeting it's hard to justify you getting decreasing returns I did also see they have a triple Sherry that it was the first time noticing it.
00:44:44
Speaker
Um, I gotta try that one. Oloroso PX and Fino Sherry, which sounds like a winning combination. This one on the other hand, this is the Kavalon Sherry Oak.
00:44:57
Speaker
I think I read it's been discontinued, which may be why I was able to smoke and deal on it. Um, this is the Solist cut with, uh,
00:45:10
Speaker
Taiwan spring water. Yeah. Uh, which, so it's just the solace, but not cast strength, uh, which is exactly why I was very excited to get it. Um, so Kavalan, they're based in Yilan County, Taiwan.
00:45:24
Speaker
Uh, Kavalan is the old name from at some point in the past, the name of Yilan County. They opened in 2005, which I didn't realize it was quite that recent. Um, They first started producing They have it on their website. They first produced Spirit.
00:45:38
Speaker
The first cuts rolled out of the Spirit 3.30 at three thirty p m on March
00:45:46
Speaker
which I think is awesome that they are that detailed. um Very early on, sometime in 2006 or 2007, I read that they bought an entire set of very large German stills so that they could ramp up production because they were yeah they were originally using and very small production.
00:46:04
Speaker
um And there're they spent like four years running these German stills and decided we hate the juice that's coming out of these. It tastes, um this is the this isn't what they said, but they basically said it tasted too German.
00:46:22
Speaker
What they said is that it tasted too processed, didn't have the flavor and texture that they like working with. um So they just tossed those stills and and made a new set. Which is, I mean, for those who aren't aware, i think it a thing a single still could run you anywhere from $350,000 to half a million dollars. Like, they're they're oh yeah extremely expensive. and And I would guess German stills are premium. Probably even more.
00:46:46
Speaker
Yep. Their first kind of... that They had become known... around the world a bit. um Their first kind of huge bolster to their reputation being a Taiwanese whiskey company was when the Solus Fino Sherry Cask was named Whiskey the Year by Jim Murray in 2012, which, you know, skyrocketed their reputation immediately.
00:47:13
Speaker
yeah And since then, like John said, they've been pretty hard to find. um if you If you find a bottle of Kavalan that sounds good, It might not be there the next time you go to buy it.
00:47:26
Speaker
um That's my tip because the you know, they tend to discontinue stuff a lot because they're still you know, they've only existed for 18 years and they're still experimenting a lot with their their offerings.
00:47:41
Speaker
So, like I said, this is the Sherry Oak Single Malt, 46% ABV, cut with local spring water from near the distillery, um and fully aged in Oloroso Sherry casks. So it's got yeah some of that Sherry flavor, or Sherry color, I mean.
00:47:58
Speaker
ah And I'm going to take couple sips, see how it does. As well, you should. Building off what Trip is saying, the Cavalon, they did a Canadian Cavalon release a few years ago, and it was just outrageously tasty, reasonably priced. i think it was only about 185 or 210 Canadian.
00:48:17
Speaker
for For a limited edition regional, it was pretty well pretty well priced. And I think they went immediately and then everyone found out about it. And so the secondary market exploded. But for the people who still have a bottle sitting around, it's just, it's a monster.
00:48:32
Speaker
The challenge I find with Cavillan is that, and and true of a lot of sherry and whiskeys, is that sometimes it's really tough to pair with a whis with a cigar because sherry bombs are just, I mean, it just takes your palate over. Whether it's the, if it's Pedro Jimenez, you get tons of spice. If it's Oloroso, the jammy character, it's hard to taste anything else.
00:48:53
Speaker
And I think Fino for me is a little bit drawing in the palate. So that might be okay. But again, it's just such a monster. ah Peter in the chat mentioned, he he predicted that the Woodford would pair really well with the cigar.
00:49:06
Speaker
And Peter, it does. I was actually expecting the Woodford to not pair particularly well because I was like, bourbon and a in a nicaraguan cigar can sometimes be a good pairing i wasn't thinking with the quattro cinco it would be a good pairing but this woodford distillers select just has that perfect balance of enough sweetness that it engages my palate with an just enough so corn spice on the finish but it doesn't
00:49:39
Speaker
totally take my palate over after a sip and it just balances the sweetness and the spice perfectly. It's almost like if you took creme brulee and you added ah little bit of chili chili pepper to it, that's kind of what the flavor profile is.
00:49:54
Speaker
And it's so nice with the cigar because it's really amping up a lot of the subtler notes that are in the tobacco. I think I would probably, if I was pairing this, I would probably do some serious damage on this bottle if I was just sitting down and enjoying this cigar because it makes the whiskey extremely approachable. like i've been I mean, this was a full pour and it's already half gone, but it's it's just wonderful. it's It's just that just the beautiful amounts of vanilla and toffee off the cask with that lovely spice finish.
00:50:30
Speaker
Yeah, this is some this is I thought the stout was going to be the pairing night, but the Woodford Reserve is easily a pairing night for me. Wow. how is the Cavillan? Oh, it's incredible.
00:50:41
Speaker
I'm trying to see. It's very interestingly, I was I just just reading the back while you were talking Cavillan, cherry oak ingredient, singular, malted barley.
00:50:56
Speaker
And bottling date on the bottle. Very matter of fact, those Taiwanese. um This whiskey is fantastic. um good It's It's a little bit leathery.
00:51:12
Speaker
It's got like that absolute explosion of sherry bomb. um And like you said, Oloroso, it's like that that jamminess. It tastes like like plum jam or something like that.
00:51:28
Speaker
um yeah You know, like a really sweet, very rich, ah very, very, you know, one of those... I'm trying to think of a fruit besides a plum that it reminds me of, but plum is what comes to mind, like very high in antioxidants kind of fruit. If you guys had them at Saskatoon berries, have this... Saskatoon berries in Saskatchewan are...
00:51:50
Speaker
just this incredibly jammy flavor with ah with a acid tartness to them and and it's it whenever i have a sex saskatoon berry pie ah kind of go sherry whiskey in my head because it's got that that same palette infusion okay so in a pie it's brilliant it's because it's not super sweet it's it's that right combination and that's the closest i've kind of found in the you know berry jam world Yeah, I think that makes sense because it's like it's flavors that are reminiscent of berries and jams, but it has nowhere near the sweetness.
00:52:26
Speaker
It has just a little bit of that acidity kind of tartness, just a just a little bit like this isn't I wouldn't call this sour tart for a whiskey, but you just get that sensation on your tongue.
00:52:38
Speaker
It's got a little bit more spice than I expected. um It actually, for 46, it's got a little bit of heat. I don't know what the... There's no age statement, so I'm not sure how long it's aged. I think they say...
00:52:54
Speaker
Somewhere that it's at least four years. ah but that No, it doesn't doesn't even say it on the bottle. I may have read that somewhere. um But it's just incredible. And surprisingly, it's a very flavorful whiskey. Tons of flavor. Very full-bodied kind of flavors.
00:53:11
Speaker
ah But it actually kind of amplifies the cigars, the flavors of the cigar a little bit. So interesting you take a sip, you get a little bit of that burn on your palate. You feel that kind of drying sensation of the alcohol as it starts to fade. and then you take a puff of the cigar and it is like...
00:53:29
Speaker
amped up flavor, spicy, sweet, woody, little bit of caramel. It's, it is a good pairing. I think this might be my pairing of the night, surprisingly, because I thought it was going to be the Boona.
00:53:44
Speaker
oh Yeah, this Woodford is hands down the absolute blockbuster. I think, in fact, if when i think about like flavor intensity and and the alcohol intensity, it's exactly perfect. because It's exactly balanced with the Quattro Cinco, which is very surprising to me.
00:54:03
Speaker
and so I'm getting a lot of the subtler chocolate notes that I wasn't getting with my other two pairings in the Quattro Cinco and just this nice clean tobacco note that I'm getting off Quattro Cinco. the sort of earthier notes that I get on the finish are completely wiped away by the the vanilla sweetness of the Woodford.
00:54:20
Speaker
But the wood what the Woodford isn't super sweet, which is nice. And and like i said, it's that just great balance between sweet and spicy because I do find that for some bourbons, they're just too sweet for me. Like when I talk about pairing, like I've drank them on my own, but I'm i'm not going to pair them with cigar because they're too sweet.
00:54:38
Speaker
But this is just... Complex, layered, restrained. It's exactly what the cigar needs. It's lovely. like Man, I'm still in awe of this Cavillan.
00:54:50
Speaker
it's like ah It's like a leather chair that somebody spilled a cheer wine onto. Love it. lower it ah Man, it's great.
00:55:03
Speaker
Jay Davis said he recently tasted King County straight bourbon from New York, ah but he thought it would pair nicely with that cigar. I'm guessing he's talking your cigar since you're having bourbon.
00:55:15
Speaker
um I could see that. I've had some stuff from Kings County. They did a really good... ah They did a bourbon that was aged in Lagavulin barrels that was oh really good. It was just the right amount of influence where you're like,
00:55:32
Speaker
This doesn't taste. Oh, I guess it is Petey like that. That thing where you're like not sure if it's there, but then you taste it. um Just a just a nice little touch of Pete in that and it it worked really well.
00:55:47
Speaker
Nice. And it comes in these cool little like flasks that look like a prohibition era bottle. It's just got kind of like almost a ah medicine label on it.
00:55:58
Speaker
Like and not a medicine label, like a pharmacy label where it's yeah you know, came out of a heat printer and it just says very matter of fact, Kings County bourbon Pete barrel. I can dig that. It's cool.
00:56:09
Speaker
I love, I love throwback stuff like that. Me too. Um, All right. Well, these are very good cigars. I have to say that um we both had a great experience. You had the Quattro Cinco. I had the Cinco de Cinco.
00:56:24
Speaker
um And for you, Woodford Reserve was the winner for me. Cavalon, Sherry Oak. Oh, man. I'm going to be thinking about this whiskey for a long time. I'm glad I did.
00:56:37
Speaker
um yeah And now, of course, before we head out for the evening, it is time for our one for the road segment.
Media Recommendations and TV Quality
00:56:44
Speaker
ah where I forgot to warn you again, John. I feel like I do this to people all the time where I'm so used to saying it at the end of the show, but I don't think about it until five minutes before the show's over.
00:56:55
Speaker
So I forget to say, don't forget to bring something. So I'll give you a minute or two. If anybody in the chat has a one for the road, I know Sam always loves to toss one in there, um toss it in the chat.
00:57:07
Speaker
I'm trying to think of what mine should be. ah Because, like I said, I don't think about it. I i just go off the cuff. Oh, you know what? I got one. It's the new Die Hard. I feel like I frequently go to Netflix for movies in this segment.
00:57:21
Speaker
But it's mostly just because that's where, you know, Netflix movies are easy to watch. I try not to, like, yeah recommend too many movies that you have to pay $20 for to watch on Amazon or iTunes or whatever.
00:57:33
Speaker
um But... carry on on netflix oh yeah i heard good things starring taron taron what's his name taron edgerton yeah edgerton edgerton he's very british british mcbritish yeah he's very british very british and jason baitman he does an american accent yeah he does a ah really convincing new jersey accent in this movie yeah um but he's basically a guy who works at the airport and he is through a a series of ah kind of coincidental events.
00:58:14
Speaker
He ends up being the the guy for someone who needs to get something bad through security. um And he gets a little earpiece. He has to do whatever the guy says or bad things will happen.
00:58:28
Speaker
um And it was just a blast. It reminded me of Die Hard. A lot of like twists and turns. You don't know what's going to happen. You really want to know what's coming next. Very tense. My 12-year-old watched most of it with me and like super enjoyed it. He loved it.
00:58:42
Speaker
um It was just a ah very fun like throwback to the diehard days. Love it. And you know a Christmas movie.
00:58:53
Speaker
Literally a Christmas movie. not Literally. ah yeah not Not a Christmas movie just because it takes place on Christmas. That's right. It's got themes. i am of course always ready to talk media that's that's my that's my secret cap is that i'm already always ready to talk media because i love consuming media i love consuming new stuff that moves me out of my comfort zone and there's i mean it was 2024 was a fantastic year for shows there's i mean there's just a long list of shows that i can recommend um i think fallout uh would be at the top of that list because
00:59:29
Speaker
I didn't think it was possible to take a it kind of reminds me of the early days of comic book movies when they started to get it right with the first Batman with Blade, but they started to take the material seriously and write good material, good.
00:59:47
Speaker
Conversational character. arcs that weren't common like nothing against video games but when you when you move something to a television you have to have a lot more complexity there has to be a lot more realistic dialogue i think fallout was amazing and oh yeah if you've never played the video game i think you can still get into the series 100 wife really enjoyed it too but Sorry to kick you off. Yeah, it's all good. The one that I'm going to recommend is not Fallout.
01:00:18
Speaker
It's one that I've been binging, and I kind of came across, I think it was a Google ad or something like that, and it's called Special Forces Lioness. I think the title's terrible. They should have just called it Lioness. And what initially got me interested was Zoe Saldana, and I think Zoe Saldana is a killer actress.
01:00:35
Speaker
But i was little i was I was like, because they were like, well, it's you all these these female badass Special Forces, and I'm like, well... Uh, I don't know because I've seen some recent iterations of that and they haven't been very good because they just kind of make the character this indestructible 110 pound badass.
01:00:56
Speaker
And it's like, oh, that's really hard for me to you know, buy into that, but it's, it's really, really good. And the second season, the first season was solid. Like Zoe killed it.
01:01:09
Speaker
The setup is great. The character development is great. The stakes are great. It's kind of like a special forces meets sci-fi Mission Impossible thing.
01:01:20
Speaker
And they kind of amped it up for season two. And so so season two had a lot more action, is a lot more realistic, is very, very cool. ah Jay points out Nicole Kidman's in it. I forgot to mention Nicole Kidman.
01:01:32
Speaker
She's killer in it. Jay Davis also mentions Dune Prophecy. I dig Dune Prophecy for sure. i think Dune Prophecy might be challenging for some people to get into just because it's the third book of the Dune series.
01:01:46
Speaker
It gets a little bit more into the Dune political sphere. it might be lost on some people, but I think, I think that's grounded a lot more action and stuff. ah it It just wrapped up recently. So very, very good. of course, yeah,
01:02:01
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. That's good to know. Cause I, I was about to say that I've been wanting to watch student prophecy, but I've been waiting for it to end because my wife and hate not being able to watch the next episode because then what always happens to me is I forget that that show exists once. Yeah. Yeah. Once I have no episodes left, uh, it doesn't exist anymore. And then like three or four weeks later, I'm like, Oh yeah, that show we watched half that season and I forgot about it. Yeah.
01:02:31
Speaker
And then i think ah probably one of my favorite movies to come out this year besides Dune 2, which was fantastic. I've watched it so many times. Alien Romulus, if you are an Alien fan.
01:02:43
Speaker
i mean, there's some hokey components where I think they lean a little too hard into the throwback stuff, and I think they could have cut back on that. But man, oh man, it strikes this perfect balance between the horror of the original Alien and the action sequences of Aliens.
01:03:01
Speaker
And so there's some really, really intense sequences where I was like, I might have to pause this. This might be too much for me. I need, I might need to take a break, but I made, made it through and I've watched it a few times now. going to keep watching. It's going to be regular rotation, but the, um, yeah, really, really good movie. I really love that movie. um i being a long time alien fan, I never have high expectations.
01:03:27
Speaker
Yeah. Uh, I against all reason I loved resurrection when I was a kid I think that was more that it was you know when you're a kid when you're 15 or whatever you don't know yeah I would have been 15 when it came out when you're 15 to 18 you don't have the same critical eye you do once you've uh once you've taken film class and stuff like that um and I I was just like it's a cool movie It's lot better than Alien 3, which admittedly it is.
01:03:59
Speaker
um But in retrospect, it's not a great movie. But I saw Romulus but in IMAX, and it was glorious. ah Just a great movie. And speaking of Lioness, it's funny that you mentioned Lioness for yours.
01:04:15
Speaker
um I've been thinking about watching it because I've been catching bits and pieces of it. Because my parents have been watching it. My parents... ah binge watch tv in the same fashion that most people do these days um and when i go to like give them the baby or pick up the baby from them because there are our home babysitters now uh they have had it on for like the last four or five days so i'm picking up like little scenes and i'm like man this show looks cool and i keep asking them about and they're like it's It's pretty good. They use a lot of initialisms that we don't know what they mean.
01:04:51
Speaker
yeah And so we're constantly confused about what's going on. And I was like, sounds like my kind of show, I think. Yeah. And like I said, i think i think they the first season was a lot more into the sort of Special Forces meets undercover spy work, which was really cool.
01:05:08
Speaker
It was tense. it The acting was was really good. And then I think in season two, they've leaned a little bit more into the action section of the series. engagements, but it it feels very realistic. It feels like when they get into a firefight, you know, it feels like a really intense firefight.
01:05:26
Speaker
I have a, you know, I kind of have a penchant for that kind of stuff. Like I watched the, um the, a seal TV show. I can't remember the actual name of it with David Boreanaz.
01:05:39
Speaker
I've been watching that Navy SEALs. Is that what it was called? Navy SEALs or SEAL team or so something like that might be called SEAL team six. Yeah, it might be called Seal Team 6. It just wrapped up, um but I couldn't stop watching it because David Boreanaz is kind of one of my one of my favorite characters to watch on television. And it was it was also kind of the, you know, it was like a man drama Seal Team show. So they mixed in man drama with action and it's kind of a guilty pleasure of mine. But that just finished, i think, season six in Soldon.
01:06:10
Speaker
Yeah. uh there's a lot of i mean it's a great year of television it's a really really good like there's been some just absolutely outstanding series this year so yeah it's been a banger year for television and even like some of these little shows that come out that i've never heard of and it's on some random streaming service and they just drop the whole season without trailers or anything and i watch it and i'm like man that's a really good tv show Um, anyway, Jay Davis says alien and predator movies are all great, which, uh, it's agreed. You disagree.
01:06:47
Speaker
Well, I'm, I'm thinking it's like pizza and what's the, what's one of the other things that's even when it's bad, it's good. one Yeah. It's like pizza.
01:06:59
Speaker
That's a perfect one. It's like pizza and fun. Even a bad one is pretty good. But you never mix the two because Alien vs. Predator is garbage.
01:07:12
Speaker
ah But he would recommend John Carpenter's remake of The Thing from the early 80s. Yes, one of the greatest movies of all time. Absolutely. Man, we keep going down these these rabbit holes.
01:07:25
Speaker
The thing, ah John Carpenter's The Thing specifically, is one of the biggest flops in box office history. yeah um At the time, I believe it was considered the worst movie ever made kind of thing um because it made like no money at all when it came out, apparently. Completely tanked. and it has turned into, it is the most common favorite movie among horror fans that I've ever seen.
01:07:51
Speaker
um There are like probably six movies that are you know, when you ask 500 people what their favorite movie is, 60% are going to say the thing when it comes to horror fans. It is a classic.
01:08:05
Speaker
And then I'm just going to rapid fire sort of some of the new series that I've watched. You already talked about follow. If you're kind of ah a sci-fi nerd, I mean, like you're a serious sci-fi nerd, three body problem.
01:08:18
Speaker
it will blow your mind. I time forgot i I'd been watching that. ah um I've made it a couple episodes in, but it's been a month or so since I watched it. it's That is a very interesting show, man.
01:08:30
Speaker
Agatha all along, um you know, kind of revitalized um maybe for a lot of people, the Marvel TV series. Really, really good. Shogun, which is technically a remake of the original Shogun back in the eighty s And then um Masters of the Air, which is, I call it this sort of, like I know they did Band of Brothers Pacific, but I was never really into Band of Brothers Pacific. I didn't really find it as good as the original Band of Brothers.
01:08:58
Speaker
Masters of the Air for me is Band of Brothers, but for the air campaign in in in Europe. Nice. It's sobering. It's so sobering, but it's so it's so well done when they have the in-plane stuff.
01:09:15
Speaker
ah You get that claustrophobia, you get that intensity. It's really, really well done. And then rapid fire continuing shows. already mentioned Lioness. ah Slow Horses, outstanding. If you like British spy dramas, Slow Horses, Deadly, it's on the fourth season. That's on my watch list.
01:09:33
Speaker
Gotta watch it. Reacher, second season. ah The Boys, if you like oh yeah violent, whatever. ah It's really good. Silos into it, second season, although I haven't completed the second season. We're slowly working. I think there's one episode left. We watched the most recent episode just last night. Okay.
01:09:54
Speaker
The Bear, which The Bear is based on, it's essentially a ah restaurant drama. And as someone who's formerly a restaurant worker for quite a quote number of years, just over a decade,
01:10:08
Speaker
It's hard for me to watch. It's very hard for you to watch. i've heard I've heard it from a lot of different people who've worked in the industry. it it There's certain sequences where the intensity puts me right back in the kitchen, and it's i have to put it I have to put it on pause or i have to come back to it because I'm immediately back in the kitchen but a Friday night, overwhelmed in a rush, and everything's going badly.
01:10:31
Speaker
But it's such a good show. Tokyo Vice, which is a really cool show ended a little too early but really cool based in Japan. It's a basically an American journalist who moves to Japan.
01:10:44
Speaker
And yes, I mean, there's, you know, it's great movies this year. But I think for me, I think television this year, maybe outdid just crushing it. Yeah. Yeah.
01:10:57
Speaker
And Squid Game just came out. I haven't even watched that. Oh, I can't wait. So excited. Season two. Body count's going to be the insane. I'm sure. ah It's out and I have not started watching it yet.
01:11:12
Speaker
But hopefully, you know, sometime I'll watch it. We'll see. There's a lot to binge. Exactly. o And how can I forget? It hasn't kicked off yet. Jay mentioned a show that I've been watching. It's it's a guilty pleasure for all mankind.
01:11:27
Speaker
Uh, I couldn't get into it originally because it's, I watched the first episode and couldn't get into it. I couldn't get into it. I couldn't get into it. And then I don't know if might've been Jay actually, who who said you gotta, you gotta stick through it a couple episodes because I think the fact that it's based in the sixties during the space race kind of threw me off. And I was like, I know all this.
01:11:49
Speaker
But it's not really about the space race. it's It's sort of one of those shows where it's an alternative take on, you know, what if JFK didn't get shot or what if. And so they they take the history in a different direction.
01:12:03
Speaker
But the space stuff that they do, if you're a space nerd, like you like, you know, the Apollo 11 movie and that kind of stuff. Dude, the production value on the space sequences are ridiculous. And the show just gets stronger as it goes. i think season five should be coming out pretty soon.
01:12:23
Speaker
Season four wrapped last year. It was really, really good. And i don't know if it's going beyond season five. But, I mean, with four seasons, there's a lot to binge. I highly recommend it. If you can get past these episode one, get into about episode three. it I think it'll grab you.
01:12:40
Speaker
right, I'll check it out. ah i had I hadn't really thought about going back to it, but it sounds interesting. It's really good. Different than then it seemed from the first couple episodes.
01:12:51
Speaker
Mm-hmm. I will check it out. that's Good recommendation, Jay. And thanks for the context on it, John. you got it Anyway, I guess that brings us to the end of the show for tonight.
01:13:03
Speaker
um Thank you, John, as always, for joining. I appreciate you, brother. It's always good to get the pairing parent and crew back together. Absolutely. um And thank you, of course, everybody who's been watching, commenting, listening.
01:13:17
Speaker
We appreciate you guys out there just spending a little time with us, hanging out. ah Check out Hoy de Nicaragua cigars, as always. um And check out Cavalon whiskey and Woodford Reserve because both pair real well with some Hoy de Nicaragua stuff. Real well.
01:13:34
Speaker
ah So everybody have a good one and we will catch you on the next one. Remember, as always, we want to drink better, but we want you to drink less.