The Lion King / Henry McKenna Single Barrel

0:00 In 1994, the Walt Disney Company gave us an animated epic. That 25 years later is still a fan. Favorite in 2019, Heaven Hill gives us a Single Barrel. Bourbon worth a gold medal. The movie is The Lion King, the whiskey is Henry McKenna 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.

0:45 I'm Bob book, I'm Brad G this week. We are looking at the 1994 animated classic, The Lion King, the lion king. I'm so excited to talk about this movie Brad because I am pretty sure this is the first movie I ever saw in a movie theater. My grandma took me to this, I don't remember it. Yeah, but I remember like bits and pieces, I remember walking out of the theater, you know, this movie came out 1994. So I was like three and a half years old at the time. Yeah, Brad. You were probably about the same age. This movie was such an integral part of our childhood. Yeah. Like I can't. Imagine a world where the Lion King. Did not exist. Yeah. The Lion King is one of those movies that everybody owned. Everyone had in the 90s.

1:27 Yeah. When they release this movie on VHS, is it broke like every home box office record? It was for a long, long time. The best-selling video ever. Yeah, for all the parents out there today that are tired of hearing Moana and Frozen like parents of the 90s, got tired of The Lion King. You know what's really funny is, I was watching Toy Story, a few months ago, the original, the original 495 and there's a scene where when Andy's family is moving away in the van that they're sitting in their playing Hakuna Matata. Yeah, like Pixar was even referencing. And how everyone had this movie. Everyone had the soundtrack. It was everywhere. Yeah. And this was before Pixar was owned by Disney. Right?

2:08 Yeah. Well so Disney always released Pixar's movies but they weren't like emerged Corporation at this point. But yeah. Even then like you were seeing references to how popular, The Lion King was. Yeah, and the crazy thing is Disney, I don't think ever expected this movie to be anything. I mean, they put a lot of resources in and I'm sure they were expecting it to be a hit. You know, they don't release movies that they don't want to make money. On, but like, I don't know if they were anticipating this level of recognition. Yeah. So this, this is one of those movies where I don't feel like I need to ask Brad. Did you see this before? This podcast, we could probably eat seen this movie like 50 times. Yeah. Easily Brad. As you went into this movie, you know, with a more objective, critical eye this time, knowing that we're comparing it to these other movies. Did you have any expectations that you have any fears that maybe you wouldn't like it as much when you were watching it with the critical eye?

3:00 You? What? Going into the movie? I was just excited. Yeah, I haven't seen The Lion King a really long time, but, ya know, I was really excited to watch it. I don't know if I was worried about it in any way. So we throw this movie on and I love the way this movie starts. It's so bold. It's so it's so immediate in the way that it hits you, you know, I Disney had really gotten back to prominence in the late 80s with The Little Mermaid and then, they followed that up with Beauty and the Beast, which became the first film to ever be nominated. I waited for best picture. It was like, they're crowning achievement, they followed that up with Aladdin, which was not as well received critically, but was a huge huge hit, and then they release The Lion King and The Lion King, I think, was them trying to Top Beauty and the Beast artistically musically in terms of the Epic scale of it. Yeah.

3:48 And the way that this movie hits you, right from the beginning, it's making a statement, you know, Beauty and the Beast starts with that. Nice fairytale narration, write this movie is like, you see, it says Walt Disney presents. Then the first thing is that sunrise and the African singing that's it's unfamiliar to us. You know, English speaking people and you're immediately put into the Savannah and you are fully immersed right from the get-go. Yeah, the thing about the opening scene is that not only do you have that epic, you know, song and the presentation of Simba. But then following that you have just the screen goes black and you just get this the title card, just boom. And it even has That like base hit. Yeah.

4:32 And you're just like oh man, this is gonna be the coolest thing ever. Yeah, the that opening song is its own sort of like Montage Music Video. It is like a short film unto itself. Yeah. And I honestly think that The Circle of Life movie, if you were just take those three minutes out, it's one of the best Walt Disney films I've ever seen. It tells so much of a narrative with zero dialogue. You understand exactly what's going on and I want to talk about Circle of Life at length But in order to do that, we need to set up the movie. And so, for anyone out there who hasn't somehow seen The Lion King, if you've been living under a rock for 25 years, we're gonna offer you our service. Brad explains the Lion King.

5:14 All right I don't know. Go read Hamlet. There is a lion. He is a king. Yeah the end. So The Lion King is about a young lion named Simba. Who is the I guess he'd be the prince. Sure. So he's the son of the current King James. I mean Mufasa Darth Vader Darth Vader. So he's the son of the current King. His uncle wants to be the king but because lions are very, you know, formal like an English aristocracy. He will not become the king and Simba is going to become the Kings. He's the son of the king and all that scar is very upset about this. And so, he kills Mufasa and runs Simba off the land and he takes over and then the rest of the story is.

6:00 How Simba has to deal with his failures and come back to? Become the king? Absolutely. Yeah. So this movie has tons of political Intrigue but what I love about the way that it's captured isn't just that it's, you know, the fight for the throne, it's about Duty, it's about responsibility. There's this undercurrent throughout the movie of this sort of like, spiritual Cosmic, nature of things and how things have to be in the right order. And when disorder comes in the form of Scar, taking The throne, you know, the Savannah dies, there's a drought. And when symbol regains his throne at the end of the movie, all of the vegetation comes back, there's this really out of nowhere. Yeah, there's this really interesting undercurrent that you know, you have to take your place in the circle of life, you have to fulfill your role in the community and only when you're doing that is the whole Community blessed.

6:53 So there's like this, this philosophy, underlying the whole movie. It's not just a political thriller and that's really what I love about it. Yeah, it's the idea that things in were in the world. Whether it's, I mean, essentially the animals represent humans. They are free agents morally, they make their own choices, but the only time that anything in nature will Thrive is when it is acting in the way that it was created to act. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah, and that's kind of the whole idea of the circle of life is that we have a place in society that we should fulfill Everything you see exists together in a delicate balance as king.

7:36 You need to understand that balance and respect. All the creatures from The Crawling ant to the leaping Antelope that don't read Dan elope? Yes, Cinema. But let me explain when we die our bodies, become the grass, and the antelope, eat the grass. And so, we are all connected in the great circle of life. Yeah for sure and there's no better representation of that than in the opening Circle of Life number as I said, we were going to get back to talking about this. I want to walk through that thing like a bit by bit because like I said it is a masterful piece of filmmaking. You get that sun, the sun rise and the song starts and you don't quite know what's going on.

8:19 And you start to see these animals poke their heads up over the hills of the Savannah. And there's these really bright bold colors like that. At this morning, I even noted as I was watching it there's a cheetah and behind the Cheetahs just like this like really bright orange Sky. Yeah. And they're hitting you immediately with these super bold colors. Yeah. And then all of a sudden it kind of comes down it gets more subtle. You see all these birds start to fly out of like the Riverbanks and what they do with color, what they do, with camera movement with focus, it is such a great piece of visual storytelling. And that the interesting thing for me is that Like, first off, this is our first animated film.

8:59 We've talked about which is crazy to me, as well as it should be. I think. Yeah. Oh, the lining is very worthy of our top spot as we should talk about this animation. Sure. But the interesting thing about animated films is that I think people here animated and they just think a child, you know, like this is a children's movie, right? And they and they stopped thinking critically about the movie and they start thinking critically about like, well, how is the camera movement in this movie, right? You know what are the The what are the choices that the director is making is? So as far as visual style and coloring. And the interesting thing about animated films is that you have so many more choices because you could have so many different art directors on how it's how its drawn, how it's colored, the the palette that you're going to use and you can make those choices in a live action movie, but you're a little bit more limited almost than you can do. Exactly.

9:51 Yeah. And that's the thing as we should almost look at animated movies with a more critical eye because you're not bound by the Students of physics or anything like you can reality exactly, you can make whatever you want. So every frame that's up on the screen was a purposeful choice that the director made. And so that's part of why I hate. That's part of why I hate the argument that it's just a kids movie. Yeah. Like when you talk to somebody about a really bad kids movie, The Comeback always is like it's just a kids movie boss, baby. It's just a kids movie. Like I put my kid down in front of the TV and it kept, you know, him or her occupied for an hour. That's not But that's not what I movies about, you know, now, and I have a toddler and yes, like there have been times where we just pacify him with something that he likes to watch on TV. But when you go into a film and you're looking at it as a work of art, and there's something wrong with it, it's worth pointing out well.

10:43 And I also think that what does that say about how we view children? Exactly. That we go, we'll just give him some subpar movie. Like why should why don't they deserve works of art? Absolutely pacified. Well, and we also we don't acknowledge that Kids know, crap when they see it, you've ever taken a kid to a bad kids movie, they get bored, they're running around the theater, they're not paying attention. You walk out of the theater and the thing I love about kids is that there's no filter they'll tell you that that was a bad movie. We think that anything that's made for a three-year-old. A five-year-old is good enough for them but even at a young age people can tell crap when it's presented to them and beautifully enough. They didn't really say that at all about 90s, Disney movies?

11:24 No, they really they hit their stride. They really did hit the Their stride. And in a lot of ways, the animation in this movie is the Pinnacle of what Disney had been doing right. You know, with Beauty and the Beast, they finally introduce some computer animation. If you watch the big ballroom scene, yeah, Beauty and the Beast song, all the backgrounds are computer animated. Okay. But you can tell now in 2019, it's a very rudimentary computer image and I feel like in this film even in the three years that it was between Beauty and the Beast and Lion King, the the computer animation that they use to help this movie out. It really is seamlessly Blended in, you know, and they're doing such cool things in the circle of life Montage. There's this one shot where it starts out with the, the focus is very close on a tree branch and there's ants crawling across it. Yeah.

12:11 And then they rack Focus to the back into the background and it's zebras marching and it's just like, you get these shots that Disney wasn't doing before this, right? And then the animals come up over the hill, and we get this beautiful sweeping shot that follows zazou. As he flies towards Pride Rock? Yeah. The reveal of Pride Rock, which is basically the King's throne. I mean, it's even shaped like a seat their knee. I just want Pride Rock to be a real place. I do too, man so bad. It's so cool. And the way that they're telling this story, visually, you see that all of the animals in the savannah are making some sort of pilgrimage or something big happening. And then you see Pride Rock. And as we get closer and closer, we see The Lion King there on Pride, Rock, and you don't even know his name yet you. Know who Mufasa is, but you can tell you haven't heard the Sweet.

13:00 Sweet Tones of James, Earl Jones Jones, but you still know exactly who he is, what his role is and why the other animals are kind of paying deference to him? It's good storytelling. It really is just period. Yeah, you don't have to give dialogue necessarily to give Exposition on the story. Absolutely. And, you know, we have to go back to that moment. Where Rafiki lifts? Simba up. Mmm. Baby Simba to anoint him as Essentially, you know, to present him as the Future King and what they do is there's three or four Quick Cuts where they repeat the same movement, making the upward movement of lifting Simba and they show it from like three different angles spliced by splice. And it emphasizes that this baby is going to be something special, right? I've just that his place in the circle of life, is to be the Savior.

13:52 Yeah, but what I love about it is the way they do that with film language. You don't Dialogue to show you that. It's just let's show you three Quick Cuts and you're absolutely going to get that. This kid is what the whole movie is about, right? So Brad, I want to ask you, I want to ask you a question about Mufasa. Okay, so I mean I don't know really anything about lions or their pride, right? But it seems to me that when they show the inside of Pride Rock where all of Mufasa is concubines are sleeping. Mufasa is the only male and he's got like 15 concubine. That's right. So first of all, what makes Simba's mom surabhi the queen. Yeah, and also does that mean that like all of the lion babies are Simba's?

14:37 Half-siblings like is Nala technically, Simba's half-sister the see the end. This is one of those points where part of me is like I don't care but every time I didn't notice it till this time around. I'm like oh yeah, I guess there really wouldn't be any other males. Yeah. I mean scars around. Yeah, we have no indication. That scar is like sleeping with. Other Lions. I get, he's not breeding. Yeah I guess that's one of those things where your what's it called when you like make an animal seem human like oh yeah more productive more Faisal. Yeah, I mean in the end they're a bunch of animal. I mean maybe that happens in the animal kingdom as the because the males get driven off from what I know. About lion pride, yeah, the males get driven off once they become of age and they find their own Pride. Yeah, but like the females can stay still, they hang around, you know, if he's having more children with Has daughters. Yeah I don't know how this works. We're off topic.

15:32 It was just an idea that's out there in the film. And whiskey crew listening is like a zoologist just genetics in general genetics in general. Yeah give us a call. Hit us up because this is this is a burning question and you answered we want to know. So let's change topics before we get into more genetics, it is impossible to overstate how important this movie is to the Walt Disney Corporation, right? Like You know, they had they'd come back to prominence again but they had just never done anything like this movie before and I think now in the post Lion King wake, we've seen them take on stories from other cultures and present them respectfully.

16:12 But pre Lion King, it's really all just fairy tale. Caucasian European fairy tales. Yeah and now they're like, we're gonna make a movie about the African Savanna and it's going to be infused with African tribal. Spirit is Umm and religion. Yeah, Brad. You actually have brought up a point about how unique this movie was, in the history of Walt Disney as well. Interestingly enough, this was actually kind of considered a filler movie and between years for it, like inside the Walt Disney Corporation, they kind of had this sense that any movies that was focused on animals was kind of a subpar, like yeah, we're just going to use this as a filler movie and if you were working on movies that had humans as the main characters, those were like the main movie. And you say, you know, you think about all those types of movies and so the Lion King was kind of filler in a sense that was leading up to Pocahontas.

17:05 Like all of their money was going into Pocahontas at this point that was going to be the next big hit. And Pocahontas is a great movie but it's no Lion King. No. You know what I mean? No. And so the interesting thing is, they didn't actually expect this to be very big because it wasn't based on any Source material this was Disney's very first ever movie. That was completely their own intellectual property. Interesting. It wasn't based on any stories, it wasn't. You know, like you're saying they just kind of based it on ideas of African culture, right? And they didn't based on any actual legit source material. Well, it seems like they based a little bit on Hamlet, I mean, so yes, they kind of did, but they didn't come on to that until later in the process.

17:49 So, interesting originally scar was not supposed to be a member of the family. He wasn't supposed to be moved fast as brother, he was. Supposed to be a lion that was just roaming the Plains and wanted to get in on the goodness that was Pride Rock and he wanted to steal the throne and then somebody mentioned they were like oh what if we made scar Mufasa his brother and they're like oh that would kind of make it a hamlet thing and they actually went as far as when Scar throws Mufasa off of the cliff, you know, School spoiler alert. They actually we're going to have him say, the line, good night. My sweet prince. So interesting from Hamlet and they Alike as two on the no, no, that's way too much and they actually pulled back that and a few other Hamlet references.

18:32 Interesting. And so yes, it kind of does reference reference Hamlet, but they definitely tried to be slightly innocuous about it. So, in the years since this movie came out, there has been a lot of push back on the idea that this was Disney's intellectual property because there was a Japanese anime called Kimba, the White Lion and the theory goes that they basically stole Entire story of this movie Kimba made him Simba if you if you seriously go online go to YouTube. Look up. Kimba the White Lion. The whole story is essentially The Lion King. Yeah. Like he is next in line, there's a character, I think named scar. It seems like too much of a coincidence that they didn't know that it existed. Bob, the Walt Disney Company has done no wrong ever. They've never said anything to anybody, but look, these sketchy origins of Lion, King aside, this is I mean it's a landmark movie in the history of animation and I want to talk just quickly about my favorite vocal performance in the whole movie.

19:34 Okay. Now everyone remembers James, Earl Jones. Yeah. With I mean and rightfully so yeah. The character of Mufasa you could not have found a better voice actor to teach the life lessons that Mufasa teaches than James Earl Jones, right? But I am convinced having watched this like 40 times with my toddler. Now that the best most important voice actor in the movie is Army irons, as scar, without scar, without a perfect villain. This movie does not work. Yeah, I mean, when you think about it, they show the title card for The Lion King, after circle of life. And the first thing you see is scar toying with a mouse that he found talking about how he'll never be king. I was also interested though, the very opening line of the movie.

20:20 Yeah. Other, you know, obviously, they sang at the start of chapter life, but the opening line of dialogue is scar holding a Mouse saying, I don't remember the exact line but he basically says life is not fair that I use. That's fair. Yeah. And I think that's interesting because the whole, the whole philosophy of the circle of life is that if you live life and if you, if you run in your own lane, and you follow your purpose in life than life is fair. Absolutely. And, and the proper things result from that. Yeah, life's not fair. Is it Zi? When I shall never be Kings and you shall never see the light of another day and you didn't your mother ever tell you not to play with your food?

21:11 What do you want? I'm here to announce that King Mufasa is on his way so you'd better have a good excuse for missing the ceremony this morning. Oh no looks awesome, you made me, lose my lung, you will lose more than that. When the king gets through with you, he's as mad as a hippo with a hernia. I quiver with fear and Scar, literally counters that philosophy with the very first line of dialogue and you know right away that he's the bad guy. Yeah and what they do as filmmakers is they put you in the presence of the bad guy before. There's any other characters around and you don't want to say you sympathize with him, but you understand all of his motivations right off the bat and it's in a lot of ways scar is the Of the movie. I mean, because we move fossa dies. Halfway through scars still around. Yeah, and scars.

22:03 The only one that takes you from the beginning, to the end of the film. And I really do think that Jeremy Irons Voice. Work cannot be underrated here, understated. He is like hammin it up, hardcore chewing, scenery left and right. And I kind of wish that I could see a video of him recording in real life, just in a room. Because the way that he says his lines, like, people don't actually talk like that, right? When zazou First comes in and, and confronts him. And says, Mufasa is on his way. He has this great. I quiver with fear. Yeah. And like, when you think about no one would actually say that line that way he's having a good, a grand old time recording this. Yeah. But it absolutely works for what this movie needs that villain to be. So can I tell you my big struggle with this watch through?

22:50 Yeah, let's hear it. And the, and this is one of those things where I'm like, this isn't the fault of the movie. And, anyway, it's just my personal struggle. It's kind of related to lie just growing up and becoming an adult. I struggled so much with this movie because I knew who all the voice actors were. Oh yeah. You know what I mean? And the reason I like scar so much is because, to be completely honest, like, I know the name Jeremy Irons but for me, he doesn't have a pivotal movie that I've seen. So, interesting where I'm like, oh, that's Jeremy Irons whereas like James, Earl Jones. I've seen him in enough different things that I'm like, when I hear Darth Vader talk, I hear James Earl Jones, dog. When I hear Mufasa talk, I hear. James, Earl Jones, talk. I get that. And so in the early 90s, Jeremy Irons, he wasn't like the most famous actor in the world, but he was really well. Known and respected, he had won an Oscar for best actor. So like people knew who he was, I would kind of compare him in a lot of ways, a Daniel Day-Lewis now. Yeah, not maybe not as respected because Daniel Day-Lewis is like the best ever to do it at this point. But in terms of name recognition, people know who he is, they might not be able to say like, oh, I remember him from this film.

23:53 Yeah, but he was well-known ish. Yeah. And There's almost that loss of Innocence that I kind of felt on this watch Through The Lion King where I was like, oh, that's Matthew Broderick and Jonathan Taylor Thomas, right? Listen, James, Earl Jones. And but with scar, I didn't know his voice well, enough that I was just like, oh, this is Scott. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love. I totally get that. And that's part of my concern with this remake that they're making. That's going to come out. In a couple months is that they loaded it. So full of recognizable names and voices that I worry that I'm just going to be hearing, Seth Rogen. I'm not going to hear. Pumbaa, I'm in here, Seth Rogen. And what really worries me about it. Is they recast James, Earl Jones as Mufasa again, but they didn't recast Jeremy Irons a scar. And the thing that I'm going to go into that movie wondering, is did they nail the villain because if they don't nail scar, it's not going to be as good of a movie. It's just not.

24:45 Yeah. The, the way a villain is presented and who you choose, as your villain is just as important. Yeah. As choosing your main protagonist solutely. So Brad, I want to talk a little bit about the first half of Movie like leading up to move faces, death and Simba getting run out of the pride lands. Yeah. I feel like the movie can really be split. I would almost same two-thirds. Well, yeah, third the second third with Timon, Pumbaa and in the last and it, yeah, pre symbol getting booted out, right? The first half of this movie in my opinion is incredible. It's, there's so much tension, you know, exactly what scars plotting. He sends Simba and Nala off to that elephant graveyard where they almost died.

25:26 Yep. You know you get Mufasa rescuing them. Giving them life lessons teaching Simba and as Asia tries to help rescue them to? Yeah it fails miserably. Don't forget to give mr. Bean some credit you get this wonderful foreshadowing, where Mufasa just randomly takes Simba out into the field and says hey look up at the stars. That's all our dead relatives. And that's the moment. If you've seen enough horror movies that you're, you just know the second. Somebody is, I'll be with you forever. That's, that's the second you know like that guy's about to die. Yep. Mufasa is going to get it and he does in the Very next scene and he's gonna bite the dust that pun intended. That Stampede sequence is a masterpiece of action Cinema of horror subside. Yeah, I mean, honestly, like it is, you are on the edge of your seat throughout that whole thing and it goes to some really really dark places on this watch when Scar comes up to Simba after Mufasa is dead and Simba's crying cuddling, his dead father, this movie, lays it on, On in a way that's like almost perversely dark.

26:30 Like I'm crushed as a viewer seeing that, that scar has succeeded and then scar comes up and, and gas lights and guilt trip, Simba into thinking he did it and it's the psychological manipulation. Yeah, of a child. Yeah, is horrifying, right? And that's the thing too, is, he's a kid, right in the movie. And I think that's one of the things for me. That struck me about this movie is that they play the innocence of Simba, so, well, Innocent. But it's also like that cocky arrogance, where he doesn't understand that every time he's around scar and he's like, I'm gonna be the King, right? He doesn't understand. That's what I love about that. Is that they give a relationship between Scar and Simba. That isn't just your normal protagonist, antagonist. Role their family.

27:16 Yeah and sin. Simba's mind. This is Uncle Scott. Exactly. This is somebody that I trust and love and look up to and I, I trust him. Yeah. And so you as the viewer, Who have a little more wisdom can look on that and say scars like, manipulating you symbol is trying to get you to go in the elephant graveyard but then when you watch him manipulate Simba into thinking that he killed his father that's horrifying. Yeah it really is and this movie really needed a shot of lightness after that and that's where Timon and Pumbaa come in and it is, it's calm. Its comedic relief but its necessary comedic relief because I can't even imagine how some kids make it to that point of the movie. Because it gets so, so dark.

27:59 Yeah. And it really hits on some important psychological truths. We're like when people experience tragedies on that level. Yeah, of like I killed my father. Yep. You do need a period of. I don't know if forgetfulness is the right word but like you genuinely need time. Yeah. Before you go back and deal with what happened to you, what happened to your family? Absolutely. I'm talking about like real-life tragedy. Yeah. You do need that lightness moment of rest. Spit almost. Yes, for sure. Well, I have some issues with Timon and Pumbaa and I think that we should come back after the break and talk about some everyone's favorite characters. Timon and Pumbaa because y'all are going to hate me.

28:39 I don't think they're bad. But I've got some issues with the second half of this movie. But Brad before we get into that, let's pop the cork on this bottle of Henry McKenna. What do you say the best bourbon in the world? Alright, so today we are continuing our series summer of bourbon. This is week for the summer of bourbon and we are finally I think hitting a peak here because we're trying Henry McKenna Single Barrel now. Henry McKenna has been very famous in Bourbon circles for a long time because it's a really affordable bottled in bond hundred proof Single Barrel Bourbon and it's always kind of Loan under the radar. Like I said, we explain bottled and bond. Yeah, bottle so bottled in bond is a legal distinction. I think we did with the Evan Williams a long time ago, but let's let's bring it back up.

29:33 Again, bottled in bond means that it was barreled under government supervision. It's aged at least four years and it's bottled at 100 proof and that makes it better. I don't know, that makes it better because we all know that the government you know, does things better than private businesses of course, of course. Yeah. Yeah. So this is bottled and bond its age four years. It is a single barrel. For those of you who are interested this is from Barrel 6312. It was barreled in February of 09. If any of you out there have a bottle from the exact same Barrel will give you something for free. Yeah, hit us up, send us a picture, send us a picture of you enjoying it.

30:13 But so anyway this is a pretty affordable single barrel and people have loved Henry McKenna for a long time because it flew under the radar, people really To the chase. I remember when I was a Kentucky, I asked a guy once like what's a good single barrel and he's like, dude, you got to try this Henry, McKenna, and interestingly enough, it will no longer ever fly under the radar. It's not, it does, it is sold out everywhere because this past year at the San Francisco World, Spirits competition, which is one of the biggest Spirits competitions. It not only one best bourbon it won best whiskey, it was competing against ryze. It was competing against Scott like single malt. Scotches that cost thousands of dollars were competing.

30:54 Eating against this. And in blind, tastings this whiskey. A thirty dollar, whiskey beat every whiskey. That was submitted in the competition for Best in Show, whiskey. That's insane. It is insane. And there's been a ton of pushback because people are like, hey, this is a really good thirty dollar bottle of bourbon, but is it the best I've ever had? So the hype is real about this thing. If you can find a bottle, I would recommend getting it just to say you've done it but Brad and I are going to take one for the team here and we're going to try it out and tell you what we think of this best. Show bourbon. Brad. What are you picking up on the nose here bourbon. It's got a really strong alcohol. Forward knows. Yeah, I was going to say it's definitely hitting my palate. You might have heard me cough at one point.

31:36 I had just taken a nice big whiff of it and it just kind of it. Hit me hard underneath, all that alcohol forward - though, it's got these really good classic dark bourbon notes. It's just pure brown sugar maple Brad. What else are you picking up a size of the alcohol? Definitely has an Okie. I don't there's a woodiness to it will man. That just I I just caught I don't know if you're going to catch us or not peanut butter. It smells like it has a Nutty smell it. I'm to get nothing but like, when you open a fresh jar of peanut butter. Yeah, that's what I'm picking up on this. If that helps, you understand how dark and complex this bourbon is. So, before we take a taste Brad, what would you give it on the nose?

32:23 I'm gonna give it a seven on the knows it's really complex and interesting. It has this full body to the, to the nose that I really enjoy. Yeah, I think I'll give it a seven and a half. It really does have that alcohol forward characteristic to it, but once you start to look for things and once I detected like, peanut butter, that's not something you smell on a bourbon all the time. Yeah, it's really taken off. Yeah, for sure. All right, let's give it a sip. That peanut butter. Are you getting out? Yeah, it does have that like waxy nutty flavor to it. Yeah man I tell you what, I have always struggled with bottled in bond Bourbons.

33:03 There's something about the bottling alcohol point, that I like 90 Proof. Bourbons, I like higher proof Bourbons, but hundred proof Bourbons have. Always been dicey for me, right? I find them to be like really bitter sometimes in a stringent tasting, this one. You can tell that there's a lot of alcohol in it and it is like burning my esophagus on the way to its really, really warm. After I swallow the Kentucky, hug is really the Kentucky hug, but it is not at all an unpleasant bourbon to drink, but that's not a bad thing. It hits you in all the right ways. All right, so Brad, are you picking up anything else on the taste besides peanut butter, right? As it hits my tongue.

33:45 You get the sweetness. Yeah. You kind of get that sweet caramely and it's really on the back. Tongue that you get more of the deep bodied, peanut buttery nuttiness? Yep, yep. What would you give? The taste Brad. I'm gonna give it an eight and a half. Wow, I really like the taste of. Yeah, I like it a lot to again, the higher proof. You can taste that it has a higher alcohol content to it, but it still has those really deep dark bourbon notes that I love. So, I'm gonna give it a seven on the taste Brad. How about the finish? The Finish has a little bit of bitterness on it. I don't. Did you notice that? Yeah, a bit. It just a hint of bitterness that I didn't care for. I don't know if there's just a little bit more Rye in it perhaps their what, but yeah, the Finish isn't quite as good because of that bitterness.

34:32 But you still are getting that taste of the peanut butter, that just hit the back of your tongue. Yeah. So I'm going to give the Finish about a seven. Yeah, I think I'm with you on the Finish, you know, we talked about the Kentucky hug this, you know, there's idea that it warms you going all the way down, this was a little harsh, post swallow, you know what I mean? Like you're sure finish. Harsher than I'm used to. And I don't necessarily care for that, right? Because it wasn't like it left. A lingering taste in my mouth as much as it just made its presence known like all the way down to my stomach for sure. So I'd give it a seven as well and then overall balance Brad. What do you thinking about Henry, McKenna? I think it has really good balance. There's a good nose. That leads you to the notes you would expect on the tasting and on the finish. I'm gonna give it an 8 on balance. Yeah I think I'll do the same.

35:16 It lets you know? Right up front. This is going to be a harsher alcohol. Forward, 100 Proof Bourbon and it packs a punch all the way through. But those wonderful notes of peanut butter are present all the way through if you like a little bit higher proof bourbon, then you're in for a treat with this one, I'm gonna give it an eight for sure and then we get into the most important category value. Yeah. So with this bottle it is a thirty five dollar bottle. Yeah. And state of Ohio, this bottle cost 3499 but we also have to factor in at the very least for the next I would say about six months to a year, or at least this is going to be hard to find. Yeah.

35:56 And that honestly factors into value because not only are you going to spend $35, but you actually will have to spend time trying to find this bourbon, right? So, with that, in mind, what would you give this score in value? Yeah, that's it's really hard for me to say because prior to it winning this award, I thought it was a little overpriced at $35. Yeah, I would say 30 would Be a perfect price point but it was already at 35 then it wins the award. And from there it really just depends on what you're looking for. If you're expecting that you're going to actually have the world's best bourbon in your hand, not the world's best bourbon, the world's best the worst best whiskey in your hand, then you're going to be disappointed at any price point because I just don't think this is the best whiskey I've ever had.

36:41 Yeah, however, if you want to be able to tell your friends, I got my hands on a bottle that won Best in Show whiskey 4:30. Five bucks. That's good value. I mean if you ever want to impress someone that comes over to your house and doesn't know a ton about whiskey, you can say, hey man, I've got this bottle on my shelf. It's the best whiskey in the world. Would you like some? Yeah, and only, you have to know you spent $35 on it, right? If it's worth it to you, to try it, then I would say, it's a great value, but I can't take into account the gold medal because it's not going to win the gold medal every year. Well, and you've said this off, are they might have just had a single phenomenal bear. I love this. Yeah, we don't know because our Barrel number 63124. Whatever it was.

37:26 Yeah, is different than the barrel that they tried exactly for the world's competition. Right? Francisco. Right. So on and that's unfortunate. It really is. So if you just factor in Henry McKenna, pre gold medal, I think 35 is a little pricey. Okay. I do think this is a darn good bourbon. Yeah. And for a middle shelf bourbon in that 25 to 40 dollar range. It's worth having on your shelf either way. Bit of seven and a half on value. I was literally going to give it the exact same thing. I think seven and a half is a, it's a good value, it's not perfect value. It's a little bit overpriced Prix, gold medal, postcode gold medal, if you can find it for $35, that's a really good value.

38:07 So what does that bring you out to Bob? That brings me out to a 37 out of 50. Brad was that bring you to 38 38. So we're in a 37 and a half, this is nearing you know our upper tier of Whiskey's. We've literally Ali said recently were like, man, I'm just waiting for a berth for any of our Whiskey's to hit that 40 mark. Yeah. Like, 40 out of 50. You are getting into some darn tootin good whiskey. Darn tootin. Yeah, that's right. This, this is coming close to that but it's not quite there. Would you recommend though? Yes, 100% of that. I would definitely recommend. I was a bourbon bar, a few weeks ago, and they were doing shots of this for five dollars. Oh, and that's, I mean, if you can try it for five bucks, you a Absolutely need to do that. Yeah, go for it.

38:52 So this has been Henry McKenna Brad. What do you say? We get back into talking about The Lion King. Let's do it. Alright. So that was Henry McKenna Single Barrel. That is just a darn good bourbon. That's it's really good burger man. And I can see like we kind of said in the review they might have gotten a phenomenal barrel of it and that's why it won world's best. Yeah. But for me, I think any barrel of it is going to be a really good burp. Absolutely. I mean, you know, we came out to a 37 and a half. Yeah. Which if you multiply that out to 100 it's a 75 out of 100 that it's a really, really good whiskey for sure. So let's get back into the Lion King though. We were talking about before we took A break.

39:34 I think the second half of this movie falls off tremendously from the first half. Yeah. And part of it is, I think the voice talent in the second half, I'm not a big Matthew Broderick. As Simba guy, I was going to say Matthew Broderick has kind of a wine Enos that shouldn't be there in an adult. I mean, but it works for the character because he's kind of an oversized child for a long time. Yeah. But you're removing, Jeremy Irons and James. Earl Jones from the movie for 40 minutes. Probably a large portion. And you're left with Matthew Broderick and Timon, and Pumbaa. And I think that Timon and Pumbaa is voice acting was perfect. Oh, they're phenomenal, Nathan Lane steals the show and the second half. Sure yes Timon but my issue with Timon and Pumbaa. So you know symbol goes off into the desert basically and he's about to die of thirst and starvation. Right?

40:22 Timon and Pumbaa come and pick him up. They get you know the classic Hakuna Matata song right? I can't knock Hakuna Matata even with the fart jokes like it's still, it's just so much fun. Yeah, what bothers me about Timon and Pumbaa as characters is that the script takes a turn from this really respectful austere writing to, like, let's make pop culture references and I think what, what Bob's trying to say is it was very enclosed within the frames of the movie? Yeah. Like it was, it was really respectful to African culture and then all of a sudden you've got Timon and Pumbaa singing, The Lion Sleeps Tonight you've got to In Pumbaa, you know, Pumbaa at the end of the movie says, makes a reference to In the Heat of the Night.

41:08 They call me mr. Tibbs, and comes in and says, they call me mr. Pig and it kind of takes you out of the world of the movie because you're like, wait has Timon and Pumbaa been watching American Cinema from the 1960s. Like why are they singing The Lion Sleeps Tonight? Why are they doing? The hula isn't the hula. Something that happens in Hawaii and not Africa, right? They just it pulled me out of the movie a little bit and I think you do Don't need those things to make their characters, incredibly funny because you're talking about eliminating, maybe 30 to 40 seconds of the film. And to me, it you're kind of cheapening. What you want to do with your comic relief, when you go for the really lazy easy to make pop culture, joke? That's part of why.

41:50 I like the Shrek movies don't hold up for me. They make so many references to the Matrix or things that young people, today might not recognize right, and when the whole point of it is to recognize it then your jokes. You can make a funny joke that holds up for years and years you know we watch Some Like It Hot that holds up 60 years later. Yeah. Because it's not bogged down in references to 1959 or in the course the movie 1930-something cultures are exactly. Yeah I don't know though because there's certain elements like you mentioned them singing in the jungle. Yeah that like that's something that we will understand forever. Sure I don't ever see that song going out of the public Consciousness and so for me watching the movie I didn't have Have that sense at all?

42:34 Hmm, nothing about the pop culture references or the hula through me from the culture of the movie. And I think it's because they set up Timon and Pumbaa as the comic relief. Yeah, that it didn't bother me when they use things that weren't of African culture for comic relief. Yeah, I get that. I think part of it too. Is that in the first half of the movie? There's no comic break from the tension. Yeah, when Simba is confronting scar at the end of the movie, I feel like we To be there in that confrontation. And then to keep cutting away to these characters doing the hula. It doesn't put me on the edge of my seat, the way the first half of the movie does see, I think I think you might be being a little unfair to it though, because that happens once. Yeah, they travel.

43:18 So Simba runs into Rafiki, right? And he's reminded of who he is. He talks to his dad and the Stars. Yep. And then he travels back? Yeah. And he runs into Nala and then he finds out that that Timon and Pumbaa are with her. Yep. And they say all right. What's the plan right? What am I gonna dress in Drag and do the whoo. Yeah. In that scene happens. And then the rest of the movie is super serious. Yeah. But even then like you've got Timon and Pumbaa charging the hyenas and knocking them over like bowling pins. Like there's still that comic relief. Yeah. And I just, I don't know. I feel like it could have been done better. I'm not saying it's bad. Like, obviously this movie is not bad but Timon and Pumbaa, there's some things that they give them to do in the script that I feel like, all right. You probably could have trimmed that little bit See, I think that there's something endearing about those scenes though that I wouldn't remove them from the movie. I think they add to the movie.

44:10 I mean, this is the sign of a great movie. When you're nitpicking on the level, that I'm nitpicking your. I mean like I'm not talking about huge, structural changes to the movie that need to be made. We're talking about like these 30 seconds bothered me. Yeah, you know, and I think you're wrong, also you're talking about when symbols running back to Pride Rock. I've always wondered like he must not have gone that far because he runs like in the course of like one afternoon and yeah. And and we're to believe that when Scar is sending on the females out Scavenging, for food, that they've just never made it that far. But will they made it seem like when Nala gets there? That's honestly, that's one of the things about the movie, I realized I'm like, why was now a really out there? Because initially, I thought it was, she was hunting for food, right? But then she said it's I was going to get help, right? Who does she know outside of Pride Rock that would help. Maybe she was looking for another pride of lions and she was just like going out under the guise of trying to find food, okay?

45:02 But simply did not A great job of running away because he clearly makes it back to Pride Rock in like three hours. Child. That's fair. He couldn't have gone too far. That's yeah, that's true. So Brad, I want to I want to talk about something that you reference in the first half of the show, which was this idea of the circle of life and fulfilling your responsibilities. And I really do think that this movie does a beautiful job at calling people to their place in community. Because what Disney movies do a lot is they fall into that trap of whatever you want as an individual is What you deserve, right? And if you work hard for it, you're going to it's very Americanized attitude, the rugged, individualism. But what I love about the way this movie treats, the African culture that it's dealing with is that it's all about know.

45:47 You're part of a much larger thing that's going on, you're a cog, you know, and I don't want to make it, make a sound machine. Like but you're, you're just one part of a bigger picture and we all serve a purpose in the circle of life. We've really needed you at home. No one needs me. Yes, we do. You're the king all we've been through this, I'm not the king star is. Simba. He let the hyenas take over the pride lands but everything's destroyed. There's no food. No water Sim. If you don't do something soon, everyone will starve. Can't go back. You wouldn't understand. I understand. Oh no, it doesn't matter. How gonna Matata, what Hakuna Matata. It's something I learned out here. Look, sometimes bad things happen, Simba. And there's nothing you can do about it. So why worry?

46:32 Because it's your responsibility. What about you? You left. I left to find help. And I found you don't, you understand? You're our only hope. Sorry what's happened to you? You're not the semi remember you're right? I'm not now. Are you satisfied? No just disappointed. You know you're starting to sound like my father good least one of us does but what worries me is that I feel like there's kind of these two competing narratives going on. On the one hand you've got you know you need to become who you're supposed to be. You need to take your place in the circle of life but then on the other hand you have Nala coming back. Telling symbol like Scarlet the hyenas into the pride lands and then that's what makes Simba upset. Yeah and it's kind of like so is this culture racist? Is this a class structure where hyenas are not allowed to ever be in charge?

47:29 And the fact that they would dare to mingle with lions is like some sort of a fence. Like I don't think that this narrative this philosophy of the circle of life is perfect and it certainly has some issues. So, this is my I was literally thinking I was going to say that I'm Gonna Be The Devil's Advocate. Yeah, you've already started it. For me. Cool. My struggle with the philosophy of the circle of life. Is this idea that there is a? It's almost like, there's this caste system where you are only allowed to be what you are. Yeah you can never change and if hyenas are scavengers on the edge of society that have to live on scraps and can never advance and become better. Then that's who they have to be and you're not allowed to try to advance yourself.

48:14 Yeah. A lot of ants out of that. Yeah. It definitely falls apart when you try to pull it out and extrapolate it and apply it to real life, right? One of the things that I love about the Lion. King's philosophy though is I've seen it done now in other movies. So like I don't know if you've seen black panther yet but black panther really reminds me of the Lion King in a lot of ways. And it's not just because it deals with African culture but it, you know, you go to the land of your ancestors when T'challa goes into the ancestral plane and he talks to his dad, who was the king, he kneels before his dad and my favorite line in the whole movie is when he looks at t'challa and says, stand up, you are a king, right? And, and what that line does, for people watching it in America, like young black males in America, watching that movie, I feel like it fixes, what Lion King got wrong, which is the implication in The Lion.

49:04 King is be who you are but you can never Advance. You can't not be a hyena, right? Whereas The Lion King or where's black panther was you are a king but you need to realize it and you need to step up into it. It's the story of Simba without all the baggage in a way but the interesting thing about Black Panther is Michael B Jordans character. Yeah. Does the exact same thing. He steps up and tries to be the king and he's overthrown because of it because he's not destined to tell. Maybe it is closer to the Lion King than I remembered it be. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, I mind it's not every person from wakanda that is allowed to stand up and say I am the king. It's The Kings done very true. He is a part of that part of the circle, Right, light doctoral thesis on parallels between Lion King and black panther before we go. And I know we're winding down, we cannot get out of this episode without talking about.

49:53 First of all, Hans Zimmer's score. Yes, when Simba is walking up. Pride. Rock in the rain, at the end of the movie and he Roars to announce that. He's the king that music with the drums. Oh my gosh, talk about something that's inspiring and compelling. Absolutely for me, I think the most emotionally tense moment of the movie is the Stampede and it's simply created because of the music that Hans Zimmer that compose. Yep. That seen the music is so Eerie. Yep. And it freaks you out and it takes you to a place where I don't care how many times you've seen The Lion King. You can't watch that scene and not just feel that sense of oh yeah, like there's something about that scene that Without Hans Zimmer. Composing that yep.

50:42 It's nothing. Yep. And of course Elton John songs for this film are just I mean you know and Elton was writing the melody and there was a Lyricist writing the lyrics but the combination of the way these songs Advance, the plot tell a story we talked about Singin in the Rain and how one of my issues with that movie on this watch? Was that the songs just don't Advance the plot right in this movie? You know, even a really funny simple song like I just can't. Wait, to be king that tells you a lot about Simba's character and even Hakuna Matata. Yeah. Teaches him a life lesson that he uses to move forward from the tragedy absolutely. Which he ends up like dropping when she decides to be king, he rejects, the Hakuna Matata philosophy, but at that point of the movie, it's super important and it helps us move the movie along.

51:30 So Brad, if you had to pick one song from this movie, best song in the film, what would you pick from Elton? John or from Hans Zimmer song, So else? Like actual musical sung song? I would probably say hakuna matata. Oh man, it's so good. It's so it's so fun. Can You Feel the Love? Tonight is really good but it's not my favorite. Yeah it feels that one feels super Elton. John E. Yeah, it's a ballad. It's a ballad. I would say I can't get over circle of life, just because I'm so used to watching the visuals to go along with it, right. You know what I mean? Yeah, Hakuna Matata might be A better song or I just can't wait to be king, right? But like that, first sequence will always be the Pinnacle of this movie for me.

52:18 I'm going to change my answer, I just can't wait to be king. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That I really think that that one, like you said, advances the plot, but it's so catchy. Oh, and it's so I don't know. There's something about that song that you just can't ignore. No, not at all. So, Brad, if you had to give this movie A score, what would you give it? 10/10 10/10 it like out of all the animated films. I would give another animated Disney film of 10/10 and would probably just be these two but it would just be these two would be liking this. Other one that I'm sure we'll get to at some point and I'm not going to spoil it. Now I have a feeling that I know what it is and I'm going to tell you what, my my score for this movie. I'm going to give it a nine point five. Yeah, I do think there's a couple small things that I would tweak about it but it is so visually beautiful. Breathtaking.

53:09 And in a lot of ways, the hand-drawn animation in this movie has never been topped. It's impeccable. I do think that I compare it a little bit to Beauty and the Beast and Beauty, and the Beast in my mind, I mean, it follows the classic Disney formula, but I don't know if Disney has ever made a better more polished, more efficient, movie than Beauty, and the Beast. And I think I'd give Beauty attend, and I'd give this one a nine and a half just because I'm probably comparing the two. Yeah, but there you have it. I mean I'm a tan. 9.5 brazza to 10. So we're coming out to a nine point seven five. This is Blanca type still. Yes or this is a phenomenal classic movie. You're not going to hear us, you know, give this one a negative review.

53:50 So you would say that Beauty and the Beast is the Casablanca of Disney animated films, probably. Yeah. But we wouldn't know what you have to say. So, reach out to us on social media, Brad, where can they find us? Facebook, Instagram, Twitter at film, whiskey whiskey, with an E with an E with Annie. We're not talking about Scotch here know, Film whiskey with a knee or you could give us a call and leave us a voicemail are call in line. Is 216 800 5923? That's two one. Six eight hundred five. Nine two three next week we will be back with another 25th Anniversary. Special the 1994 Quentin Tarantino classic Pulp Fiction. We are taking a hard left turn from the White Lion King into by children are not.

54:34 So welcome on next week's podcast. They sure are for the field of whiskey. This time Bob book, I'm Reggie will see you next time.