Walk The Line / Woodford Reserve Double Oaked

0:00 Hey everybody, this is Bob, this is Brad and we just want to tell you really quick. We are starting a series of movies this week about musicians, about people who make music Brad, tell him what movies, we have coming down the pipeline for him. Bob, I am so excited for this little mini series. We're doing. We're getting into Walk. The Line, This Is Spinal Tap, Bohemian Rhapsody and what's the fourth one? Well, Brad, the fourth one is going to be a listener, special. Wow. If you head on over to our social media accounts, as Especially Instagram, you will see that we have offered a few movies for you to select. We really like doing this a few months ago when we did the episode on babe. And so we want our fourth movie about musicians to be selected by you.

0:42 So, please head on, over to our social media. You can find it, especially prominently on our Instagram page and cast your vote for the movie that you would like to see for the fourth week of our miniseries. And it's almost like we want to know what you have to say, film whiskey Nation. So without any further Ado, let's get into this week's episode. In 2005, director James mangled, and star Joaquin Phoenix gave the world. A captivating Chronicle of country music, legend, Johnny Cash, in 2020. We take a trip down memory lane to revisit an early favorite bourbon. The film is Walk the Line. The whiskey is Woodford, double oaked and we'll review them both. This is the film and whiskey podcast. Welcome to the film and whiskey podcast, where each week, we review a classic movie and a glass of whiskey. I'm Bob book, I'm Brad G.

1:51 And this week we are looking at the 2005 film Walk. The Line Brad. We are wrapping up our little mini series of movies from 2005. We looked at Brokeback Mountain, we looked at crash today. We're looking at a movie that was also nominated for quite a few Oscars. The musical biopic Walk the Line about the story of Johnny Cash and June, Carter Cash. I'm really excited to talk about this one Brad and you know, I feel like every once in a while I have to break down a little bit, you know, we say that we're reviewing a classic movie when we get into each episode and I feel like Classic might be a little bit of a stretch for this movie, you know, it's definitely not making anybody's top 100 of all time list. It was a big hit but it wasn't like a juggernaut at the box office and so I will fully admit Brad. We are reviewing this movie for two basic reasons. Reason number one is it is a nice Bridge from us to come out of talking about movies from 2005. Into the next series.

2:51 We're going to do, which is movies about musicians. The next few weeks on the podcast, we will be looking at movies about people who make music Isaac. And the second reason is I just liked this movie and I thought it'd be fun to talk about. So is it a classic? Sure because we said it was because I said so that's right. Yeah man. It well and beyond that fact, let's be really honest. Johnny Cash is one of the greatest musical Legends ever to live. Oh, absolutely. So like it feels pretty, pretty obvious that we should start our, you know, little mini series on musical biopics with, you know, with the Self Johnny Cash. Well, I think you bring up a good point to Brad. We haven't done a ton of biopics on the show. In fact, I'm really struggling to think about any right now. I'm sure we've done a couple but this genre or this, I guess sub genre of movie, The Musical biopic is I feel like we're getting a movie every year.

3:48 That's about some legendary performer and their life story. And we're actually going to see a movie in a few weeks here during our little mini series in our bad movie bonus. Is that is also a musical biopic, but I think of all the movies that we could have picked to kind of fill this role and represent this genre, this is definitely my favorite one. And I think it also really does a good job of exemplifying both the good and the bad of a musical biopic. Because while there's a lot of good things going on in this movie, I think it also has like every cliche of the genre represented here. Yeah, the thing with this movie Bob is There were multiple points throughout the film, where I was just kind of bored, like, like I hate to say it, but they probably could have trimmed about 20 to 25 minutes off the movie. Because there are certain scenes that just kind of went on longer than they needed to.

4:44 I think that the musical scenes while they were great and I love Johnny Cash and I think Joaquin, Phoenix did an amazing job of sounding like Johnny Cash in the end. I just kind of felt like we kind of hit a few walls in the See story-wise and at those points you know James Mangold was like you know what, we'll do here. We'll put in another Johnny Cash song. Yeah, it's interesting. I don't think that I was really bored at all in this movie for me. It was the thing of like, I knew exactly where the story was going. Not because I know what Johnny Cash's life was like, but because I've seen enough of these musical biopics to know that it's like oh you grew up poor.

5:25 Oh, you got famous. Oh, you got hooked on drugs and then the end of the movie. Going to be your, you know, your Redemption when you get clean, that's like every movie ever made about a rock and roll musician. Or in this case, a country musician, follows those numbers. And I do think this is a really paint-by-numbers kind of movie, but the thing is, I think that the performances are so captivating and the, the chemistry and the sexual tension between Joaquin, Phoenix, and Reese Witherspoon in this movie is so palpable that it, like it's captivating to watch and it, Never made me board as a result of that. Baba. I feel like you just said the words sexual tension like a 48 year old dad.

6:07 I mean, I basically have a 48 year old dead at this point pretty much but the the movie really does have a lot of great parts to it. And I think that you pointed out the key thing. Bob Joaquin, Phoenix, gives a great performance Reese Witherspoon, great performance, Ginnifer Goodwin, great performance, I mean, all across the board. I think you have People who do a really wonderful job at depicting characters who are complex, who are nuanced who are interesting. And I think that, you know, even within the paint-by-numbers, hey, he did drugs. Hey, he cheated on his wife. Hey, he's divorced now like you know, all those things, it all boils down to the fact that Johnny Cash is a spectacular, musical, Legend, and even if his story is similar to a lot of other musicians who go through the same kind of Kle of struggle and tragedy, the dude was just awesome and June, Carter, was you know, amazing, she's an amazing performer.

7:06 And so not only do we get to see you know I don't think this is just a biopic of Johnny Cash but it's also a biopic for June Carter. Yeah, definite and I really really enjoy where the movie takes you by the end of it. Well, Brad for those who have not seen the movie and might be unfamiliar with this story. I think it's time that we segue into our favorite segments. America's favorite segments, Brad Ins. This is the part of the show where Brad breaks down the plot of the movie that he has just seen often for the first time. Brad, was this your first time seeing Walk the Line? This was my absolute first time seeing Walk the Line. Well, then this should be a good one, folks. Brad, will you break down for our listeners in a spoiler filled fashion?

7:47 The plot of the movie. Walk the Line Walk, the Line is a biopic about the musical Legend star, Johnny Cash, it starts with him, recording his famous live I'm at Folsom Prison and quickly, flashes back to him as a child. He experienced his childhood trauma while living in the Deep South in deep poverty. His brother dies while trying to saw some wood and his father is a mean drunk and his mother teaches him how to sing from the hymnals. And we see him slowly work his way out to become a country music star. He he's in the Air Force in Germany for a while and he marries his childhood sweetheart. Vivian, they have a few kids together. He comes back.

8:31 He's trying to make money as a Salesman and he finally is able to, you know, catch a big break as his band takes off singing songs that he wrote during his time in the Air Force from here. On out he meets June Carter, who is part of the family, Carter, which was a traveling singing, family back in the 50s and 60s and the dude, I mean, it's crazy, man. He gets to tour with Elvis Presley, which I, I guess I just didn't know that about, Johnny Cash. That's just awesome. So it's Johnny and Elvis and June and they're all running around singing and and doing other things and he basically falls in love with June Carter. He gets hooked on pills, you know, about halfway to three-quarters the way through the movie, he is completely addicted. He gets caught trying to smuggle pills back across the border, his wife, Vivian divorces him and from there on out, you see June Carter really step into his life. Much like an angel and helps him turn his life around. Gets him away from the drugs and draws him into a more loving healthy mature relationship and the movie ends with him proposing on stage and and there you have it, they get married and live happily ever after.

9:46 They certainly do Brad. It really is a great story, true story. And as we get into talking about the movie Brad, I think I want to start with kind of how the film begins. We have this sort of framing device of Johnny Cash, getting ready to go out on stage and perform what would become his most iconic album at Folsom Prison and then it flashes back to his childhood and we get to see what causes cash to kind of tick. What causes his really deep-seated anger and frustration and bitterness towards towards everyone around him. And it has to do with the death of his brother at a very young age and it has to do with the fact that his dad, like you said, is a mean drunk who also blames Johnny Cash for the death of Brother and also very explicitly says that he thinks that the wrong kid got killed.

10:33 And I really, really loved the inclusion of that at the beginning even if it does seem a little bit again, paint-by-numbers little heavy-handed, it was also a little heavy-handed for sure, but I do think that as soon as we cut to the adult, you know, Joaquin Phoenix version of Johnny Cash, you have a really clear sense of why he carries himself the way he does. Why he pushes people away? What this sort of like Fu attitude, is that he carries with him everywhere and I noticed it almost immediately when he's going off to join the Air Force and he saying, goodbye to his mom and to his sister. And then his dad, basically just looks at him and says like, you're going to miss your bus.

11:15 And he has this look on his face and the only word that I could write down that described it for me, that Joaquin. Phoenix had was a snarl, it was just like a, he looked so bitter and I think Is does such a great job in this movie of conveying, not just that Johnny Cash's angry at everybody, but that he is at his core, a really sensitive person. And I think he has some really deep seated hurts and he does a great job of not making cash seem like a jerk, but making him seem like a really wounded person and I think, you know, kind of that Balancing Act, it can be really, really hard to do and he pulls it off very well. Bob, I will say this, I never once believed that it was Johnny Cash on screen like like I'm sure that he did a great job of portraying, his emotions and, and all of those things. But, you know, when I watch a movie like a beautiful day in the neighborhood with Tom Hanks, like, I know that it's Tom Hanks.

12:13 And yet I forgot about it quickly, you know, when we got into the movie because he felt like mr. Rogers. There's just something about Joaquin Phoenix that felt like walking. Phoenix, the entire film and I just, like I said, I liked his performance. I don't think it's bad. I just don't know if he was the right choice for the role because I never once could stop thinking about the fact that he was walking Phoenix. You know, this is why I love discussing movies with you Brad because, you know, I don't really have like a personal stake in this movie. It's a movie that I enjoy and, you know, came out in my teenage years and it really hit me in a certain way when I was a teenager and I like it but I'm willing Have this kind of conversation about it, because I think that it worked really, really well. And I was able to get lost in the performance when you're watching movies in this sub-genre, the musical biopic, I think that they're really like two camps that can fall into. There's the actors who really try to do an imitation or an impression of the person that they're playing and then there's people who try to capture.

13:17 I guess, you know, I'm gonna sound super pretentious when I say this but like, you know, try to capture their Essence, like, they know they don't look like them. They know they Don't sound like them. And so it's more about, like, can I get the mannerisms down? Can I get the overall attitude down? And when, when I think about Walk the Line, the closest comparison would be a movie that came out one year before this cauldre about the life of Ray Charles. And I think at that movie is even more cliched and more heavy-handed than this one is. But the actor that played Ray Charles was Jamie Foxx, and he won an Oscar for that movie. And he does a really great job in that film. But one of the things that Jamie Foxx did really well, was he learned how to To do the most accurate impression, and imitation of Ray Charles that I think anyone's ever seen in some scenes, the way that he sings the songs, the looks on his face. The, the Motions of his mouth.

14:08 It looks exactly like Ray Charles like you, you could take a still image of that and convince someone that was actually Ray. Charles, you don't get that in this movie and I think what Phoenix does and I think wisely so is he doesn't try to do the Johnny Cash voice too much. He's not tipping into imitation, I think he's trying to capture like something else about him and I thought that was a really wise choice. And for me it worked a lot better than if he had been like the guy who played Elvis in this movie, who was just trying to capture like I'm Elvis and now, you know, doing the Elvis voice. I think if he had leaned more into the imitation side of things, it would have been in a way worse performance than it actually. Was, I'm glad you brought up the Elvis guy because he felt like a fake Elvis person. Trying to be Be Elvis.

14:56 I like I legitimately for had to look up like on IMDb to see if like Elvis was in the movie because I was like, wait a second that that that guy can't be playing Elvis because he's doing a terrible job of it. But I think with I think with Joaquin I I don't think you're wrong. I think that there is an essence of Johnny Cash that does get distilled in joaquin's performance but I guess maybe what I'm saying is maybe I do want my biopic performer to look something like the performer that you know, he's trying to play? I don't know. Maybe maybe I just want the best of both worlds. Bob, I understand that impulse bread.

15:38 Yeah, but on the other Side of things. I really do think from what I have learned and, you know, I obviously don't know much about June Carter. I've watched a few videos of her performing back in the day and I really do think that Reese Witherspoon captures. I would say the essence, the SAS of June Carter along with. I would say she looks somewhat like her as well, but I'm also not as familiar with June Carter's look as I am with Johnny Cash so I probably Bubbly, I'm not noticing it nearly as much, you know what I mean? Yeah, I get that. I will say Brad that. I think that what Reese Witherspoon does in this movie is like a small miracle, to be quite honest with you because on the surface of it, you know, she wins an Oscar for this movie and I think it's really easy to look at what this movie is.

16:29 The kind of movie. It is the fact that it's not a perfect film and just say, like, oh, it must have been a down year. You know what I mean? Like, it must have been like, Sandra Bullock when she won for the Blind Side. Like, yeah. Listen to me big guns against a fantastic actress and I think she deserved the Oscar for Gravity. But what I'm saying is I think when people look at movies like The Blind Side and this there's that's like really snobbish sort of judgment that people say like oh how did you know, how did she win for walk the line? But when you actually look at the performance, she gives this character so much heart, and so much depth. And You can tell that her actual personality June Carter was very feisty and very Charming, but you can also tell that she knows how to work a crowd.

17:19 She knows how to charm the hell out of anyone and you know, behind closed doors. She carries some of that personality with her but you see what it, what she looks like when the curtain goes down. And I think that could have been a performance that in the hands of another actress really could have tips into the like showy over the top kind of performance and And Reese Witherspoon, really, really anchors this character down. We gotta show it to a matinee. You remember that we're just practicing. Come on Jew. Sit down. Why not? Cause you're drunk.

18:03 I'm going home tonight after the show. I'm not here to look after you. You're not. You got somebody to do that for you, John. You got a wife somewhere, you remember that? Too many ifs in that sense, only one. I actually, there's only one if and Essence June, and I think that like, honestly, I was blown away, and I've seen this movie, I don't know 10 times, but really trying to watch for the nuances of the performance this time around.

18:47 I think she deserved every bit of that Oscar that she won. Well, the beauty of her performance is that she comes across Across as an everyday person when she's not on stage. And I think the dichotomy of her onstage, Persona versus who she is just sitting at the diner, talking to Johnny about his childhood. There's, there's this grounding that happens because of how genuine she is. This is something I've talked about in the past, but there's sometimes certain actors are able to portray characters, just so with so much genuineness that Just draws me in and attaches me to who they are. And I think that Reese Witherspoon exemplifies that in this movie and I absolutely genuinely think that hers was my absolute favorite performance in this film, Brad. I'm really glad you brought up that scene, where they're in the diner.

19:41 It's right when Johnny Cash, first joins that tour and he's telling her all about how he grew up listening to her music and she asks him, you know, are you really, are you tired? And he just has this really heavy look and He nods his head and she's so reassuring and I think, you know, especially like she comes up and she has this very husky voice because her voice is gone, that scene is such a small intimate scene in the middle of a movie about people who live their lives on stage, and I appreciated it so much because I thought the dialogue was great, the performances were incredible and just the sort of balls, Enos it took to put that scene in the middle of the movie. I thought everything about that.

20:22 Scene was Pitch. Perfect. Well, and I think that they needed a few more scenes like that, you know, we get some really good scenes of, you know, Johnny Cash being on drugs and being angry, you know, the scene where he pulls the sink out of the wall was totally unscripted. He just did that on his own. And so there seems like that that you kind of see the depravity and the Brokenness that his childhood has caused him that these pills are causing him. But for some reason man, I wanted more of those scenes where you just got to See June Carter be in June Carter you know just just a normal human being. Those scenes were so captivating for me, you know. And I guess maybe I'm being a little unfair because you do have a few more, you have her in the supermarket helping Johnny pick out a gift for his daughter and things like that and when she comes to Thanksgiving and so you see her in those moments but I don't know, I just wanted more, I thought she was so good in this film and I think that I'm with you, I think I could have used more of I'm falling in love, you know, over against all the scenes of him using drugs, but even with the small amount of scenes that we got Brad, I don't know that I've ever seen two characters or two actors that have this much palpable chemistry throughout the movie, it in a sense that the movie relies on their chemistry.

21:43 Like, if you had two actors in This film, that weren't firing on all cylinders and didn't have that tension between them, this movie would fall completely flat because so much of it is about At that, slow. Build to the moment. They finally, you know, give into their Temptations. They admit that they're in love with each other and the Fallout from that, but it only works because both of these actors have such incredible chemistry with each other. And I don't know if I'm alone in thinking that Brad, but for me, I really thought that they hit the jackpot. You know, they struck gold here with the two leads in terms of how their chemistry worked on screen. Well, in the beautiful thing about that chemistry is that it kind of puts Ginnifer Goodwin. You know who plays his first wife? Vivian in a shadow you see that shadow come out when you know, Johnny is putting up pictures of his band and she's you know she grabs the picture that's just of June and smashes it and they get into a huge fight where Johnny almost you know hits Vivian. And I think that the chemistry you see between walking and Reese creates this awkwardness between Johnny and Vivian that kind of Of lets you get on June and, you know, June and Johnny's side more so than Johnny and Vivian Brad. I'm glad you brought up Jennifer Goodwin to because of any of the performances in this movie that I've ever seen. Criticism of, I have seen some people that didn't like her performance and I think it's because she is kind of written. Very broad.

23:12 Like, she's just the angry wife and she's not given a ton to work with, but honestly, especially on this watch through. I think I watched her performance more critically than anyone else. Because I wanted to figure out, is she good? Is she bad in this movie? But I think she's really, really good. And I think that her reactions to what's going on around her are completely Justified. I think that the decision she makes as an actress to convey those emotions are all completely Justified. I don't think she's chewing scenery. I don't think she's over-the-top everything. Still felt really grounded to me and realistic and I thought Ginnifer Goodwin did a great job. I was going to say if there's any problem with the chemistry that Johnny and June have in this.

23:53 Movie. It's the fact that it might make you think that Johnny is less of a jerk for the stuff. He put Vivian through and I think that Ginnifer Goodwin just was spectacular at portraying a woman who was drawn, somewhat reluctantly into a relationship and then discarded for another person like that. Like she just pulls that off. So so well, I genuinely loved her performance and once again. Then, you know, we talked about how this movie is kind of paint by numbers but I would say the lead three performers, walking Reese and Jennifer all three of them.

24:33 Knock it out of the park. Yeah. For sure. Brad. And I think this is a good place for us to stop and to try our whiskey for the day before we get into maybe some of our nitpicks with the episode in the latter half. But before we get there, let's stop here and let's try this Woodford Reserve double oaked what do you say? Let's get to it. Also, we just added our very own official Discord page. So, if you are a gamer, who's on Discord, go to our anchor dot. F m-- web page and you can find a link to our Discord there. Yeah.

25:38 It's in all of the show notes, it's really easy to see. So, even if you're just listening on Spotify or on a podcast right now, pull up the show notes for this episode, there will be an invite to our Discord server there. Alright, so today we are trying Woodford. Reserve double oaked Brad? This is the second time in just a few weeks that we have taken a walk down memory lane together. We tried Eagle Rare a few weeks ago and we looked at Citizen Kane. And this week we're looking at Double oaked, which was the bourbon that made me fall in love with bourbon when we were living in Kentucky. The first Distillery tour that I ever did was Woodford, Reserve.

26:18 And at the end of that tour, they gave you a small sample of, you know, regular Allure Woodford. And then they gave you a small sample of double oaked and word for it is not the first Distillery ever to do a barrel finished whiskey but for some reason they're double oaked really caught fire. And it, I feel like it kind of vaulted them even higher in terms of people's respect for them. When this whiskey came out, it was really one of the only ones at the time that was doing a sort of, you know, quote unquote, double oaked process which were going to talk about in a second here. And I remember when I tried that whiskey for the first time, Man, I was like, oh, I get it now, like I can drink this other stuff but this double oaked. This is something special.

27:00 This is something different and it's what made me want to keep trying whiskies after that. Yeah, hey, we got this for my birthday. Probably three or four years ago now and holy cow. Bob. This is one of the Whiskey's that it's like, the reason I drink whiskey. Yeah, I love this stuff so much. I'm excited to get into it for the podcast. I'm actually a little bit surprised. We've made it halfway through season 3 before, you know, trying it. But I'm super pumped about it. It's delicious, its tasty. It's double oaked, which I still don't really know what that means. But I don't really care because this real good, it is really good. So, the double oaked thing means this, they take their regular Woodford, Reserve bourbon, which has been aged, as we know, in new, charred, American Oak, barrels, and they put it into a second.

27:51 New charred American Oak. Barrel. The second Barrel what they do is they actually have a process where they toast to the barrel first and then they Char it. So it's a slightly different kind of charring that they get on the inside. But what was unique about, Woodford? Double oaked, which came out? I think in like 2012 is that, you know, there were other companies that were finishing whiskey in barrels, but they were almost always finished in used barrels. Like you'd get a used Wine Barrel and you'd finish it in that Woodford, was really the first one that said, no, we're going to use a completely new second Barrel as well, so that we can extract. Act as much possible additional flavor as we can. So they take it out of the first Barrel. They put it in this brand new second barrel and they age it for about another year and they were one of the first to really do that.

28:34 And I think that that gamble has paid off pretty handsomely for them. We'll all you have to do is take a, take a nose of this and know that it has paid off handsomely. Yeah, I mean Brad, this is like everything that we love on a bourbon and it's the thing is, it's not overpowering. It's just like that additional Barrel has just enhanced A great sense that you get, there is some obviously some oak on this, a little bit of that Char, but then it's just like, vanilla vanilla, vanilla vanilla and, you know, a little bit of maybe some caramel or brown sugar, but it's like if you could make a scent that was just called classic bourbon, this would be it. It's not a ton of alcohol. It's just an incredibly Pleasant nose to sip their to sniff, just sip it right up your nose. That's right.

29:21 Hey, dumb question. How I drink my whiskey. Ski man. It's 2020 man. That she's how did your spirit Drink Your Whiskey. How you want to Bob this nose is perfect. I'm going to give it a 9 and a half out of ten. Wow, I just love. This knows it's warm, it's caramely, it's tons of vanilla. There's almost a hint of like marshmallow on it. It's just spectacular. I can't think of many Bourbons that have a better nose. No, it's a great one. I'm going to give it a 9 out of 10 and I'll say this before we take a sip you know with eagle where I felt like my my opinion of the Came Crashing Down to Earth a little bit. So I'm slightly nervous to try this brand because it's been a couple years since I've had it.

30:05 But if it's anything like this knows I think that we are in good hands here. So let's give this a sip Oh, man. That is so smooth, man. Right? When that hits the tip of my tongue, I get a little bit of that deep Oak and a lot of that sweet vanilla. Like there's those vanilla tones, that kind of underlie. Everything that's going on. I feel like it almost has a sense of like a like a like a dried fruit to it. There's that oakiness there's Nila. This is a tasty tasty palette Bob. I'm going to give it an eight and a half out. 210 on the palate.

30:45 Wow. Yeah. Bright I think we're actually going to diverge a little bit here because for me this wasn't nearly as sweet as I was expecting it to be. I thought it would have some of those great caramely notes right on the tip of my tongue. You get some alcohol tingle and then as you kind of kick it to the back of your mouth is, there's definitely Oak to it but it's not unsweet. There's definitely like a vague sweetness to it but it's not vanilla heavy to me it's not caramel or brown sugar, it's just kind of a a Oak heavy bourbon without that, underlying vanilla that we had on the nose. So you're picking it up, I'm not really getting it as much. It wasn't nearly as sweet as I would have liked it to be. I'm actually only going to give this a six and a half on the taste. Whoo Roberts, man.

31:31 I will agree with you that the sweetness isn't as heavy as I thought it might be from the nose, but I like that. I think the the more I think about it, this bourbon had its deep and it's dark on the palate and I really like that taste and flavor so that's why I gave it an eight and a half. I think when you get to the Finish though is where this really shines. Like the, the finish on this whiskey is about, there's only one word for it. It's smooth. There's a nice mellow warmth that sits on your on your throat. It's not harsh, it doesn't burn too much. It's just a nice little thing that I think if you had to Define The word Kentucky hug, it would be with this bourbon Brown. I'm curious.

32:19 Are you drinking this out of a Glencairn? I am. I am as well and I'm not getting a lot of what you're picking up today. So we must just be in different places today. I don't really get much of a Kentucky hug which I also like I think that there's definitely like a warming kind of sensation on the way down, but there's no burn. There's no chest burn. And I think that's what I really love about this you swallow and it gives you like just a little pop of smoke. Coke on the finish. And it's a lasting Oak flavor on your palate and a really nice pleasant kind of mellow warmth in your chest. So it lets you know, it's there but there's definitely no burn to it. Last week, we tried Blanton's and that was the harshest chest burn I've ever had in a whiskey and this is the complete opposite of that.

33:07 It's a really nice sort of gentle warming sensation but no burn at all I really really love the finish on this. I'm going. Give it an eight and a half out of ten. Yeah. I already said how much I like this. I'm going to give it a 9 out of 10 on the Finish. Well, that takes us to overall balance. That's where we talk about knows taste and finish all put together. Does it Mary? Well. Does it go from one to the other in a very smooth way or are there Peaks and valleys? For me? I think the taste did take this down a peg Brad but the Finish kind of tied that nose in The Taste together to redeem it a bit. I'm going to give this a seven on. Once you know what? No I'm going to give us a seven and a half. Mom, I'm going to give this an eight and a half on balance. I think this is a beautiful whiskey. It it tells you what it's going to do, you know? It's not.

33:56 It's maybe a little less sweet on the palate than it is on the nose but that doesn't really bother me at all. There's lots of unique flavors. I think it's a complex whiskey that has a beautiful finish. I think it's a really solidly balanced whiskey. I just took like my third sip of this and it really developed some great It's on the Finish as well. I think it started open up a bit and I would suspect that as I sit more of it. And as I let it kind of open up in the glass that my scores might change a little bit. I will say, I still think the taste was the low Point here. I don't know if you'd agree with me on that Brad, but the nose was almost perfect. The Finish was very, very good. So yeah, it just dipped a bit because of the taste. Well, that brings us to our final category, which is value. You know, when we talk about a lot of unique Whiskey's like this that come out of large companies, the prices can sometimes, get insane.

34:51 You know, you have these brands that have really knows about, I think Buffalo Trace is the perfect example of this. You have things like Blanton's that the price just gets out, just ridiculous out of bounds and it's prohibited for so many people for Woodford. Reserve, double oaked in the state of Ohio, you're looking at $51.99. So a 52 dollar bottle of whiskey for what I would say it would be a very high-end classy classic bourbon experience. I'm gonna say this, it's a little bit higher than I would want. Like, in my mind. This should be like a 38 to 42 dollar bottle of whiskey, but 51 99 isn't too far above that. I think it's a decent price.

35:36 I'm going to give it a six and a half out of ten on value. Yeah. So just a little bit more info about this, this product it comes in at 90.4, proof. I think it Drinks a little bit hotter than 90, Proof Brad. I got, I would have thought that this was in the 96 to 99 kind of a range. It used to retail for about $10 more than regular Woodford. And I think now is probably up to about thirteen fourteen dollars more than regular Woodford, but I don't think that it's unfairly priced especially knowing like what the process is that they're not dumping it into used barrels for its second, you know, doubling of the oak. They're using another new Barrel. It's a more costly process for them. I This is really fairly priced and it's just enough of a high shelf product that if you bought this for somebody for their birthday, it's a really solid gift.

36:24 Know what I mean? Like this is not something that anyone would thumb their nose at everyone. I know that drinks this likes. It is a really, really solid whiskey. I'm going to give it a seven and a half on value and that takes my final score to a 39 out of 50. Brad. What's that? Bringing you to, that takes me out to a 42 out of 50. So that brings our average They 40.5 out of 50 or an 81 out of 100. This is right up there with the top Whiskey's that we've had this season. I might have sounded a bit more negative on this than Brad did but make no mistake, I love this whiskey. It is a really, really great whiskey. And for me, it holds a lot of nostalgia and sentiment. I don't know if it's the same for you Brad, but this definitely held up better under scrutiny than Eagle Rare did a few weeks ago.

37:11 Yeah, I think it did. You know, I still love Eagle Rare eye. Enjoy it. But you can tell that it's a thirty dollar bottle of whiskey versus this being a fifty dollar bottle of whiskey. So I think that this is a spectacular value. I think that anytime you get a chance to drink this, go out and get it. I would highly recommend it for yourself. Like you said, Bob as a gift for a friend, go get yourself. Some Woodford, Reserve double oaked. Once again, we want to thank the Woodford Reserve, Distillery for sending us these samples, if you want to hear more, listen to our episode from a few weeks ago. Where we interviewed Master distiller, Chris Morris and We Sip double up while we did it. But Brad, I think for now it's time for us to get back into talking about Walk the Line.

37:54 What do you say? Let's get to it.

38:39 Alright, so that was Woodford, Reserve double oaked, one of the highest-ranked Whiskey's that we've had this season and definitely a nostalgic favorite for me and Brad. But now we are getting back into talking about Walk. The Line, a movie that I really like. And I'm still not sure where Brad falls on this so, Brad, I think that we need to talk about the most important thing that this movie gave our culture and that is the film Walk Hard. The Dewey Cox Story. Starring John C, Reilly. It's a movie that they just put up on Netflix and I stayed up till three in the morning, watching the other night because I finished Walk, the Line, I happen to click out of HBO, Max and I turned on Netflix and I saw Walk Hard like right there.

39:21 And I was like, oh my gosh, I've never seen it. I've always wanted to, it was hilarious, but I think that it deserves to mentioning because it is so clearly a parody of movies like this. It follows the exact same structure. It actually starts with John C, Reilly getting ready to perform at a concert. Sir just like Johnny Cash and he's like facing the wall and a guy comes to get him and they're like mr. Cox. It's time to go on and the guy pulls him aside and he's like, don't you know Dewey Cox has to think about his entire life before he goes out and performs a flashback to, you know, his growing up in Alabama or whatever. It's such a funny movie but I think it's so accurately. Pinpoints what's wrong with this movie Brad and that is that for as great as the performances are for as great as I thought. I think some of the camera work is in this movie. It ultimately follows, a super clichéd, story line, and I think that even if you haven't seen the movie, you probably know exactly what happens in it, like beat by beat. And I guess I'm just wondering Brad for a guy that has only seen this movie.

40:27 Once how much of a knock on the movie is that like, does it still ultimately work for you? Or does the fact that it is so cliched take it down a couple notches? Well, Bob, I'm gonna point you to another Movie to explain my answer and it's actually a movie. I haven't seen I have heard lots of reviews of and I've heard your opinion of quite often, but that is Bohemian Rhapsody. And I guess in my mind, if this was an accurate depiction of Johnny Cash's life which from what I can tell? It was then no it does not bother me at all that. It's a paint-by-numbers you know movie because of Johnny Cash's life was a paint-by-numbers You know, rock star life, then I'm okay if they make a movie that reflects reality, you know, the big problem with Bohemian Rhapsody is that they literally made up half the movie right, you know, and unfortunately apparently that means it was good because people threw money at it just straight out of their pockets.

41:31 So I I don't know what to say about it. I like the fact that the movie stayed true to his life, you know, I was Googling during the movie, did John Cash proposed the June Carter on stage. Oh, guess what he did. He actually did that. That wasn't something they made up to spice up the movie. So for me, I do not mind at all if this movie falls into cliches. Yeah, Brad I think I'm right there with you. I mean, there's a reason that we have, you know, the phrase sex drugs and rock and roll in the Lexicon. It's not Johnny Cash's fault. If every rock star that came after him, had a very similar life, it's not Johnny Cash's fault that Ray Charles had a A similar life or that Elton John had a very similar life like all the movies about these people follow the same beats, because they're basically staying true to the story of what that person's life was like.

42:21 And I do think that we're starting to finally get some movies where they're trying to creatively tell that story instead of going over the whole thing again. And again, honestly Brad for me it feels like when I watch one of these movies, it's almost like every time they reboot Batman and you have to watch Batman's parents, get shot again. It's like we know that we know the story now. You Have to keep doing this. You don't have to keep killing Uncle Ben every time you make a Spider-Man movie. So like I appreciate that. We're finally starting to get some creative ways of working around that, but I don't think that it's necessarily a bad thing if a filmmaker chooses to just tell the story, the way that it actually happened and again like, you know, are there parts of this movie that are just a little too clichéd for me? Sure.

43:03 But at the end of the day Brad, I think the performance is our what this movie is about. And I think the Director, really wisely leans into that and he knows like the story is June and Johnny and the more June and Johnny that we have on screen, the better of a movie. It's going to be because I don't know another movie like this that has a strong of a love story as this one does and that's where the movie really succeeds for me. Well, Bob in the end I think that the question you have to ask yourself as a moviegoer going into any sort of biopic is, what do I want to see out of this movie? Is my goal to see a Citizen Kane of a film? Or is it to kind of catch some of the Nostalgia catch? Some of the Vibes of a person that I loved? You know, if they make a biopic about Elvis Presley and the main star doesn't sound or look anything like Elvis, then people are going to be disappointed because they want to see Elvis again.

43:59 And I think that's where biopics, it's the Crux of why they're good. And yet why they struggle to be known as great. Films because in the end you're just rehashing somebody's life. That was really famous. The reason it's going to make money isn't because it's a great film. It's because the famous person was famous. So I for me, I think that they did a spectacular job in this movie, I think that Johnny Cash is represented really well, even though I struggle to believe that it's not walking Phoenix up there the whole time. I think June Carter does great. I think Vivian is spectacular. So for me, I'm fine. Fine with it. I got to live with Johnny Cash for a little bit.

44:42 Got to hear his voice a little bit. I was satisfied. So Brad, what would be your final score on this movie? Then, you know, I think I would give it Man, I'm honestly stuck in between a 7 and a half or an eight, like I feel like I'm 22. I feel like a seven-and-a-half is kind of what it deserves, but you know what? I think. I'm gonna give it an 8 out of 10. I think it's a solid movie. I think it has a lot going for it, is it perfect. No is a little bit Bland at certain points. Yes, but I like it. It's good. I love, Johnny Cash. I am in the exact same boat as you. I think that like, if I really wanted to put my critic glasses on and say, like objectively, Lee. What is this movie?

45:22 It's like a seven and a half but it just worked so well for me and the performances were just so. Darn Charming that. I think I'm also going to give it an 8 out of 10 now. Like are we comparing every eight out of ten movie that we gave to this? No, but like on its own merits and how much enjoyment I got out of it. It's an 8 out of 10 for me and that means that our average was really easy to calculate this week. Brad, we came out to an 8 out of 10, even, you could figure it out. That's right. But we want to know what filmin whiskey Nation thinks of this movie. So please, if you like to walk the line, if you didn't like walk the line, if you want to call us and quote, the Dewey Cox Story at us. You can do that by finding us on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook at film whiskey.

46:07 Or you can give us a phone call. You can leave us a voicemail and have your voice be heard on are you can call us at 216 800 5923. Once again, the number is two one, six eight hundred five nine two three. Or you can leave your voicemail on our anchor dot f, m / film whiskey website. Next week, we're continuing our walkthrough movies about musicians with the 2000 film, Almost Famous. So join us for that next week for the film and whiskey podcast. I'm Bob book, I'm Brad G and we'll see you next time.