Bourbon Pursuit

Picking a single barrel out of a line up seems relatively simple when compared to blending tens or hundreds of barrels together to hit a specific bourbon taste profile. Where does that process begin? Do you start with a few and keep taste testing? Is it a math formula of X spicy barrels to Y sweet barrels? This episode features Ed Bley, blender behind the underground phenomenon known as Old Baldy. We ask Ed what it's like to go from picking single barrels to learning how to blend multiple barrels to hit a distinct flavor spot. It's an art form that Ed describes as trying to perfect the "witch's hat".Show Notes: Were you trying to make something truly unique? How did you get access to the warehouse to start creating your own private label? Do most blenders have a lot of this down to a science where they know what warehouses are going to yield a specific flavor profile? Did you at one point think, well we may have just thrown away a bunch of barrels while waiting for it to marry in a tank? Were you experimenting with finished whiskies at home to perfect this? Was there a teacher that go you to this point? Are people mad because they don't have access? What's your advice to people on how they can experiment at home? What are the elements of the bourbon flavor wheel are you looking for? Do you think people get turned off from grain flavors? What problems do you run into when you scale from a few barrels to barrels in the teens or small 20s? Do you think people are a little crazy that they are paying hundreds of dollars for your blend? What's your plan for the next one? Is the best way to learn to do this is to learn how to break down single barrels? Do you think you are helping revive blended straight whiskey? Hear all of Ed's Podcast's at http://bourbonpursuit.com/?s=bley   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are you looking for an in-depth story on the Beam family history and how Fred and Freddie Noe are cementing their place in it? Look no further than the 2018 Kentucky Derby Museum's Legend Series. This episode will cover some of the fun times that were had by Booker, Fred, and Freddie and how the new release of Little Book is coming to be a yearly distribution. Fred Minnick is the host of the show as he covers many of the aspects of the family business, how they came up in the ranks, and tries to get them to divulge information time and time again.Show Notes:I didn't take any notes while I was listening. So you'll have to listen to this one for yourself and find out how awesome it is. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Will Longbranch slowly phase out Wild Turkey 81? Did you know that 92% of the entrants in the 2017 San Francisco World Spirit Awards won a medal? Did Buffalo Trace start aiming too high? We examine all of these topics much more in depth in this edition of the Bourbon Community Roundtable.Show Notes: Who's excited for the Matthew McConaughey bourbon? Was Longbranch a smart move for Wild Turkey because the Wild Turkey brand name is getting stale? Could this be the slow decline and phasing out of Wild Turkey 81? Does Wild Turkey lose something in your mind for letting Matthew put his name next to Eddie’s on the bottle? Henry McKenna wins the 2018 San Francisco World Spirit Awards as best bourbon. Was anyone surprised this wins out of 300+? Let's talk about anti-spirit award show topics. (refer back to episode 144) Do you feel it's a honey barrel and nothing that just magically showed up? A Buffalo Trace rep said no one is talking about the Four Grain or the OFC press release. Should we? Is this unimpressive news? Booker's 30th is 16 year we are all eager to try. Watch all the roundtable episodes Thanks to Blake from bourbonr.com, Nick from BreakingBourbon.com, Kerry from Sobourbia.com, Wade from tater-talk.com, and Brian Harra from Sippncorn.blogspot.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Maker's Mark is easily the most iconic brand in bourbon. But did you know the brand would have probably ceased to exist if Bill Samuels Jr didn't try and sell his Dad's whiskey? Get ready to hear the untold history of how Bill Samuels Jr turned his Dad's hobby of making whiskey from a few barrels a week into the powerhouse it is today.Show Notes: So Bill let's start from the beginning. Did you and your Dad butt heads a lot? What was your Dad's original vision? What was the original investment? At what point was your Dad "All in"? How were the hard decisions made? Talk about the next stage for you and what you were doing with Aerospace? Why did you Dad want you to be "un-engineered"? You were a summer intern in the White House? What was it during that 1 year with your Dad that made you want to stay around? Where did you fit in this puzzle? You had your first publication in the Wall Street Journal, what's next? At what point did you start taking over after your father began exiting? Talk about the growth when Rob started coming into the scene Do you get a feeling of accomplishment when you look at the distillery now? What's your idea of still being involved and enjoying retirement? So 46 was your baby Where is this industry trending? Talk about strategic pricing with supply and demand Do you see a reason why bourbon couldn't be $1000 a bottle? What niche do you think craft whiskey is solving in the market today? Is there a way they can have continued success? Listen to all of our Maker's Mark Podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The threats of a global trade war have been looming over the past few months. Sparked by an EU attempt to lower the tariff on steel imports, they targeted American products such as peanut butter and bourbon. What sort of economic impact would a bourbon tariff have on exports to other countries? How does that trickle back into Bardstown, KY and the growing market? Does it even matter? On this episode, we are joined by University of Louisville's Economic Professors, Conor Lennon and Keith Teltser, to explain the intertwined global economy and the effect a tariff has from the bourbon producers to the grain suppliers.Show Notes: How did you all get into bourbon? Explain what is a tariff? This all started as a retaliatory effort from the EU as an opposition to the US putting tariffs on imported steel. Can you give some more information to set the scene? Could this be a much ado about nothing? Could something actually never happen? Is big European growth even a target? Does the tariff even have an effect when you look at the abundance of the excise tax? When people say "Alright! More bourbon in America!" is that even a sentiment that should be encouraged? Or is that narrow-minded? What protection do you not like about Bourbon from a economist's perspective? There isn't a shortage of bourbon on the shelf. Are there other markets that haven't been tapped? Who has the biggest dog in the fight? Brown-Forman with Jack Daniels? What are those other aspects we haven't touched on that this impacts? Voters? Constituents? What other countries could remove their tariffs to bring more imported goods there? You all find the secondary market much more entertaining The academic work on bourbon prices over the last 3-4 years is on Conor's site. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What does a bourbon that receives double gold actually mean? Are the whiskies judged blind? We learn all this and more as the Executive Director of the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, Anthony Dias Blue, joins the show to give us an inside glimpse to the bourbons that can be entered and dispels some myths if it's a "pay to play" atmosphere.Show Notes: What sets your competition apart from the rest? How many different categories do you have at the event? Are all tastings done blind? Are they shelf bottles (from a standard distributor) or do distillers get to choose specific bottles they send in? Why not Jack Daniels and other major selling brands? How medals are awarded, and what those medals actually mean when we see them on a bottle? How many judges are there and how many need to rate a bourbon as Gold for it to receive a Gold Medal? Most of the time when I see a sticker on a bottle saying that this bourbon was rated as Gold or Double Gold, it doesn’t have a date on the sticker. If a bourbon is awarded a medal does it have that medal forever? Is it or can it be evaluated ever again? Does the producer have to do anything to maintain that medal? Is the "same" product is entered over multiple years and judged independently each year? How much weight should we consumers put on these awards when we see them on a brand we’ve never heard of or tried? Why have a competition at all? Is it "pay to play" and your entrance fee will automatically score you a medal? Do you see cases of "bait and switch"? Products/Sellers submit “honey” barrels to the competition to get a higher award, and then using that award to promote an inferior product. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do you snuff at $100 MGP bourbon and will sourced Dickel be the next wave of NDPs? What does House Bill 400 really mean when it comes to shipping booze from Kentucky? And finally Buffalo Trace announced their new line of CYPB but who really wanted 95 proof Weller? We touch on all these topics and more on this Bourbon Community Roundtable episode.Show Notes: What's everyone drinking tonight? Are we getting tired of seeing $100 MGP bourbons? Bourbonr and BreakingBourbon have Doc52, let's hear it Any good April fools out there? Let’s talk shipping. HB400 passed The new W. L. Weller Bourbon, CYPB edition (short for Craft Your Perfect Bourbon), is, according to those behind it, made from a wheat recipe, aged eight years on the top floors of the warehouses, and bottled at 95 proof. It is the bourbon which best fit into what over 100,200 bourbon drinkers voted most for over two years –  a wheated bourbon recipe aged for eight years that’s been matured on the top floor of the bourbon warehouse and bottled at somewhere between 90-99 proof. Although very limited, one batch of this new bourbon will be released each year, beginning this summer. The recommended price is around $40 for a 750ml bottle. First off, who said we wanted 95 proof weller? Kerry visited Bowman and Jack Rose Dining Saloon Thanks to Blake from bourbonr.com, Jordan from BreakingBourbon.com, Kerry from Sobourbia.com, and Brian Harra from Sippncorn.blogspot.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dave Pickerell is well known in the bourbon world, he was former master distiller at Maker’s Mark and owns a consulting business, Oak View Spirits, where he has designed equipment, systems and processes for about 100 distilleries worldwide including WhistlePig, Hillrock, Corsair, and many others. This episode dives into to the distilleries themselves, the pricing behind Boss Hog, and questions we would want to know from a master distiller like grain sourcing.Show Notes: As usual, lets start from the beginning. Do you remember your introduction into whiskey or bourbon? Did you think chemical engineering would lead to spirits? First off, do you get tired of talking about your past at Makers? Do you think Maker’s put you on the map? Do people still ask you to sign Maker’s stuff? It seems that consulting is becoming a pretty big business because there’s the likes of you, Jim Rutledge, Nancy Fraley, Greg Metze, and the list goes on. Is there that much demand? Are you training new distillers? Do they get off track? Master distillers today are seen is high regards as a big marketing tool and the face of the brand relies on that one person. However, you’re wearing the badge of many distilleries at one time. Are you asked to go to places to talk about a specific brand? Do you play favorites? You’re still heavily involved with WhistlePig still, correct? Talk about the brand a bit because it’s one we typically don’t talk about on the show. It’s just sourced MGPi, right? So what are you doing that’s adding a bit of pizzazz to it? Tell me, what’s up with the pricing on Boss Hog? What sort of magic are you doing that makes a $500 bottle of whiskey? You are working with craft distilleries every day, what’s the biggest challenge you see facing them? Are you trying to produce the same product at all these places? Because when I think about it you could just have the Dave Pickerall SKUs where you say here’s your 3 options, choose one and we will put everything in that bucket Whats your theory on sourcing grains? Are chewing on them? Or after distillation? Discuss year to year variation of crops affect on flavors. Discuss how sourcing grains from different parts of the world makes a difference in the finished product. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Can you name all the distilleries in Lawrenceburg? How is it possible that a straight bourbon is only 70 proof? Wade Woodard, blogger at tater-talk.com and witty comedic relief on Facebook forums, leads us through a series of bourbon brain teasers to see if we really know our stuff. Wade is an advocate for bourbon laws and makes sure that everyone is playing by the rules so he knows them inside and out. Listen to see if we get stumped and see if you can answer the questions before we can.Show Notes:None! Because I want you to listen and try to guess the answers for yourself! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Blending is an art. We've discussed it many times before and our guest today would be considered the Queen. She provides Nosing Services, meaning she is a blood hound in human form. Listen about Nancy Fraley's past and how she has carved a path as one of the world's best blenders for whiskey, rum, armagnac, and many different spirits. In the second segment of the show, we talk about her current role at Joseph A. Magnus & Co and how she mirrored the current distribution to one that was found in a family closet from pre-prohibition as well as her exploration in the Jos. A. Magnus Cigar Blend!Show Notes: This is the second Master Blender we’ve had on the show. Back on Episode 103 we featured Drew Mayville. If you didn’t get a chance to listen to it, you really should. It’s an impossible decision to wonder if the master distiller or the master blender is the real star of the show. Our guest today is renowned in the industry and gets the ever so attractive nickname “the nose”. Lets talk about you for a bit. Do you remember your first experience with whiskey or bourbon? Talk about your education and how you got your nick name When did you realize you could start a business with this? What do you do when you get a head cold? So you currently freelance for many big names in the industry as well as craft distilleries out there. What services are you offering for many of these places? What are some of the most common mistakes distillers make? Talk me through nosing new make or white dog and how you can criticize or tweak it because in my opinion it’s damn near impossible. are there certain aromas? Any examples of when you can sense something is wrong and how to fix it? What’s the worst case you came across and had to salvage something. We can keep the names innocent, but what went wrong? What else besides whiskey do you consult in? I read somewhere you’re a big fan of armagnac. Do you use the same method for judging different spirits or is there a playbook for each one? Lots of craft distilleries are looking at you to help perfect their products. How does you determine the amount of each different whiskey that goes into a blend? Does that always translate when your mixing small amounts in a lab then try to use the same percentages on a batch from barrels? Lots of people do home blending with after market products. Perhaps it’s something as simple as an infinity bottle where you take the last ounce or two from every bottle and put it in a decanter, and others that buy these small 1 gallon barrels. Is there any recipe or formula you use to know what should go into a blend? Do you find it odd or interesting that distilleries don’t do limited edition blendings with barrels from each respective distiller to form a collaboration? Talk about Jos A Magnus and what you are doing there I’ve got access to the single barrels as well as some of the infamous Cigar blend finishes. I want you to talk me through your involvement with single barrels, the standard Magnus release, Murray Hill, and we’ll finish it off with Cigar Blend Do you see barrel finishes as the future of the industry? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices