Stetson Made a Bourbon... Is It More Than a Pretty Bottle?

Today on the Bourbon Bites Podcast, Jim Beam brings back its iconic 10-pin decanter, Redwood Empire drops a four-whiskey blend, and Cedar Ridge celebrates its 21st anniversary with a five-cast finish. Then I have a bite-sized review of the new Stetson Kentucky Bourbon. Hello everyone and welcome to the Bourbon Bites Podcast. I'm your host Clifton and this is the week of August 27th, 2026. Another big week in news for both gaming and whiskey. Notably gaming because Gamescom Opening Night Live is taking place this week where we get some of the biggest industry announcements across the board. So I'm going to talk about a few of those later in the episode but we also have plenty of new whiskey to talk about as well. So the first new release is actually a throwback release. It's the new Jim Beam 10-pin decanter. So this actually originally came out in the 1950s and it's a little bit different than the other bowling pin Jim Beam releases. This one has a white pin with a red stripe and it is a 10-year-old release of Jim Beam 100-proof bourbon. Now from what I've seen online these were produced all the way up through the 80s. So it's an iconic piece of Jim Beam lore and I'm really excited to bring it back because who doesn't love a cool collectible bottle. Now unfortunately this is going to be exclusive to the American Outpost at the Jim Beam Distillery in Claremont, Kentucky. It's going to be limited quantities and a suggested retail price of $124.99. So just like the 8-year bowling pin that came out a couple years back, this one's going to be near impossible to find but I just thought it was cool to mention. It's a beautiful design and highly, highly collectible. So if you get your hands on one, definitely keep that bottle. Here's another piece of news from Bro Brothers, which is Kentucky's first African-American owned distillery. They've partnered with the Belle of Louisville, which is the world's oldest operating Mississippi River steamboat, for two new releases. They're going to drop the 96-proof Captain's Cut and 118-proof Cast Strength this weekend at their new Waterfront Park Distillery. So the Captain's Cut is coming in at $79 and the Cast Strength is $89. It has a beautiful label on the front that has a depiction of the Belle of Louisville. There's really cool bottle design and artwork. But most importantly, proceeds from each bottle will support the preservation and continued operation of the ship itself. So we don't really know much about the whiskey inside the bottle, but this is mainly being released as a celebration of the opening of their newest distilling location. So if you are in the area, go check out this new distillery and get your hands on one of these bottles. Now these next couple of reviews are all about wild blending and finishing. So the first of which is the new Redwood Empire, the Hyperion inaugural batch number one. So this was announced earlier this week and it's a massive one-off blend containing four distinct styles of whiskey. 32% bourbon, 30% rye, 25% wheat whiskey, and 13% single malt. They say that more than 10 different mash bills went into this blend and it's being bottled at 110 proof at a retail price of $99. Now age-wise, they say these whiskeys range between 7 and 14 years old. So obviously this means in addition to Redwood Empire's own distillate, they are sourcing whiskey from Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee. But the single malt component is entirely their own grain-to-glass whiskey. So that's really cool to see. I've been really getting into these newer releases from Redwood Empire. I feel like I kind of put them at the back of my mind for a couple years, but the past two years or so they've been releasing so many hitters. So they might have a spot or two on my top whiskeys of the year. We'll see. By the way, if you didn't know, I do my live stream at the end of the year announcing my favorite whiskeys. If you're not yet subscribed on YouTube, youtube.com slash bourbon bites. I go live every Thursday evening with different reviews, different interviews with the distilleries, the brand reps, and some fun community streams. So if you like the podcast, I think you'll love the live streams. Check it out, subscribe, and hit that bell button to be notified every time I go live. All right, one more whiskey news story to talk about. This is the new Cedar Ridge 2026 anniversary edition bourbon. This was also announced this week and they're saying this has an incredibly complex five cask finish. So the bourbon itself is 112 proof, but it's been finished in Madeira, Napa Cabernet, PX Sherry, Tawny Port, and Tokaji casks. Which by the way, Tokaji cask is used to age a sweet dessert wine from Hungary. So that's going to be a really complex finish. Now, how much of an impact do each of those have on the whiskey? Well, that's to be found out, but this one's going to come in at an accessible price of $64.99. I feel like when you're working with that many different finishes, it takes a really special and precise skill level to find out how much of each finish, not just that, but how long to do the finish. What percentage of the whiskey goes in there? You know, there's a lot of science and art behind it. So I'd be very curious to try this. I've not had anything from Cedar Ridge. They're based in Iowa. So this would be a really cool first one to pick up. Now they say you can buy this online via pre-sell and at select retailers. So keep an eye out. All right. Well, before we get into our bite-sized review, I do want to highlight some of the biggest announcement from Gamescom's opening night live this week. Like I said, this is a huge industry event for gaming, basically like the modern E3. And there were some really cool games announced, a couple of which I want to feature for you guys today. One that I'm really excited about is the new Rollercoaster Tycoon Wonderworks. And the reason is it looks like it's a new take on the classic Rollercoaster Tycoon game. So instead of going ultra modern with the graphics, they went to kind of like an isometric kind of 2.5D look to it. It really reminds me of what I loved about Rollercoaster Tycoon 2. It just feels like it has that nostalgia element to it that I'm going to want to play hours and hours into this. So that's coming soon to early access on Steam. So keep an eye out for that one. Now another fun one is a game called Age Twisters, which is a two-player co-op adventure game. It looks like you're playing as a grandfather and granddaughter who are teaming up to solve puzzles. Really fun gameplay. Check out the reveal teaser that came out this week. It definitely looks like one of those games you want to find, you know, your significant other or a really close friend or family member and sit down to play with them. They also announced new Mega Man and Rayman games. Mega Man Duel Override is coming out in 2027 and Rayman Legends Retold is coming out October 1st. There's a new vampire game, The Blood of Dawnwalker. There's a new Dungeons and Dragons game called Warlock. A new truck sim called Road Kings. A music rhythm game called Stage Tour that's very reminiscent of Guitar Hero and Rock Band of old. A new Crazy Taxi game. A new Turok game. And probably the biggest announcement of all, the new Final Fantasy 7 Revelation. That's going to come out in spring of 2027 and it's the conclusion in the Final Fantasy 7 Remake Trilogy. Also, good news for fans of The Witcher 3. They're releasing The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt Remastered, but the best part is it's going to be completely free as an upgrade for folks that already own the game. So that's a really crazy move. I've never seen a company do that before, especially with a game as popular as Witcher 3. That's huge fan service. I know they're going to win over a lot of folks with that move. So that and of course the Final Fantasy were the biggest announcements of the event. But if you missed the live stream, it's about an hour, hour and a half I think. So go check it out on the Gamescom YouTube channel. There's a lot of really cool trailers that came out of it. But that's my video game update for the week. Now let's go ahead and get into our bite-sized review. Alright, well I'm always excited for these bite-sized review, but this one in particular because this is a newly announced collaboration between Green River Distilling and Bardstown Bourbon Company and they're calling it Stetson Bourbon. Huge shout out to the team over at Stetson who sent me this bottle for review. I'm really excited to dive into this. It is a premium 100 proof high rye bourbon that's distilled and bottled in Bardstown. Now this of course is in collaboration with Stetson, which is an American clothing brand. Really iconic when it comes to western style gear and boots and headwear. But now they're getting into bourbon and I gotta say this bourbon comes in style because this is probably one of the most beautiful bottles I've seen all year. It has a really cool cork at the top that's very reminiscent of a nice belt buckle. There's two etched designs one on the front one on the back that just really make this stand out as a premium bottle. I'd be proud to have this on my shelf or gift it to a friend. You know I might have to do a new category in my Bourbon Bites Awards at the end of the year for best bottle because this is just really really gorgeous. But enough about the bottle, let's talk about the whiskey itself. This is made in collaboration with master blender Dan Calloway who of course is behind the brands like Bardstown Bourbon and Green River. And they say it came together after a three-year journey of sourcing and tasting. It is a high rye blend and they say there's an average age of seven years old. Well we know in the world of bourbon you can't really say average age on the bottle so we don't have an age statement on the bottle. We know it's least four years old but they do say the average age is seven here. And this bottle is coming in at $70 retail. It's available online at StetsonBourbon.com as well as select retailers across Texas but plans to expand distribution in the future. But with all that being said let's go ahead and get into my review of Stetson Bourbon. Let's give it a nose to start with. Oh yeah very sweet like very much a candied like a milk chocolate caramel a little bit of like a fudge shop. I mean we are definitely in a candy shop territory here. Smells just like I don't want to say sickeningly sweet because that's that's normally seen as a bad thing but it's like one of those really intense confectionery notes that just hits you from the moment you walk into the bake shop or the moment you nose the whiskey. But once you get through that really great sweet note you do get some of the oak showing up there on the back end of the nose. It almost feels like that's just a natural combination of flavors you know the oak and caramel. I'm getting some peanut butter as well I mean I'm thinking like a Reese cup with that milk chocolate coating. On the nose it actually is coming across kind of dry and I think that's what the oak is doing to it maybe a little bit of that peanut butter as well. But it kind of complements that really sweet first note that I got on it because I think without that it would just be so overwhelmingly sweet on the nose that it would just kind of smell like an artificial flavor. But this isn't just about nosing this is about drinking so let's go ahead and give a taste to Stetson Bourbon. Cheers! Oh yeah man that is good. It reminds me of basically what I love about the whiskey from Bardstown and Green River. It just has that beautiful nuttiness a little bit different from like a Jim Beam nuttiness. This is definitely much like a crunchy natural peanut butter versus you know like a roasted peanut itself. There's a little bit of fruitiness as well like not quite PB&J qualities but a little bit of some darker red fruits on the back end of the palate here as well. I mean at 100 proof it's surprisingly balanced. I think this is very drinkable for anyone that's open to a higher proof whiskey especially one that's got a higher rye mash bill. I mean you are getting some of that spiciness but again this is just coming across as extremely balanced and just approachable for any drinker especially if you like some sweeter bourbons. But even though it's sweet it doesn't have any of those youthful qualities that I sometimes get with a younger bourbon. You know it doesn't have that grain kind of hay note. It definitely is still in that candy shop territory. Not quite the same as like Fresh Bakery kind of like I've gotten on some other brands. This is very much a sweet shop. Finish wise I'd say it's about a medium. It doesn't overstay its welcome. I think that's to be expected from 100 proof especially when we don't know the actual age of it. We know it's an average of seven years old but it doesn't stick around too long but that's not a bad thing. It just finishes with that bright sweet little bit but really overall fantastic experience with this bourbon. You know I never really knew what to expect knowing that this is a clothing brand. You know sometimes they just source things and put their name on it but this feels like a really masterful and well crafted blend and knowing that they brought Dan Calloway on board to make it happen I have no reason to be surprised why I like this so much. So here on the Bourbon Bites podcast we give a bite size review a score out of 10. Just overall score all things considered I guess including the pretty bottle because that's going to influence my score for sure. But this being a $70 bottle of bourbon you know I would love if it had an age statement to it or maybe a little bit of a breakdown of you know the whiskey that went into it maybe tell us the mash bill. You know stuff that Green River and Bards on Bourbon Company do already I would love to see a little bit more transparency on what actually went into the bottle. But that being said it doesn't impact the fact that I really enjoy this bourbon and I think $70 is a relatively fair price for a premium bourbon like this in such a cool bottle. So I'm going to be very specific with this one because I normally rank things either you know something like 0.5 or whole numbers but this time I'm going to go 7.75 because this is so so close to an 8. I don't feel like 7.5 does it justice so for this one I'm going to break my own rules a bit I'm going to give it a 7.75 just because I just think it does everything well that it's supposed to do. Beautiful bottle, great artwork all across the board from the cork to the etching on the back and just a solid bourbon that could stand up against many other in its price point. Would I like to have an age statement? Yes. Would I like it a little higher proof? Maybe. I think it does really well at 100 proof and I don't feel the need to have this at a higher proof so that actually is what's left hitting it up from a 7.5. I don't think it needs to be higher proof I just wish we had a little bit more of clarity on the age statement and what actually went into the bottle. But that being said fantastic buy thank you again to the folks at Stetson Bourbon for sharing this with me. Again this is a perfect giftable bottle go check out StetsonBourbon.com take a look at it and if you have a bourbon lover or a Stetson brand lover in your family definitely consider picking this up because I think it would make a great father's day gift or just a great gift for anyone that appreciates quality American made goods whether it be bourbon or clothing so cheers to those folks. All right well that does it for this week's episode thank you all so much for listening I know I got a little bit long-winded when it came to that video game news but I just want to highlight some of the biggest points because while this is mostly a whiskey focused podcast I do like to have the gaming twist in there every now and then so hope you liked it make sure to let me know what you think on discord you can go to bourbonbites.com for the links to that and my merch and how to join the bite club all that fun stuff but until next time this has been the bourbon bites podcast cheers and I'll talk to you next episode.