Bourbon Showdown Podcast

This week we welcome Kyle Merklein from Holladay Bourbon to the show and we sit down and talk everything Holladay! We talk about how how the brand got started, how he got started and what it takes to make whiskey in Missouri. It’s a great conversation and we dig deep into how Holladay has created such delicious whiskeys and how enamored the whiskey loving public is with them. It’s Kyle Merklein and Holladay Bourbon on this weeks episode of The Bourbon Showdown Podcast! 

This week we welcome Aaron Goldfarb, author of "Dusty Booze", and we sit down and talk dusty’s! He has written this book, which I am completely enamored with about the whiskey loving publics fascination with spirits from yester-year and how there is an entire community of whiskey hunters tracking down whiskey’s from the past. It is a phenomenal read and it was a pleasure talking to him about the book and the dusty culture on this weeks episode of The Bourbon Showdown Podcast!

This week we welcome 1792 Master Distiller, Ross Cornelissen to the show! Ross walks us through the history of 1792 and his journey to the coveted title of Master Distiller all while we sip through some amazing bottles of 1792 12 Year, Full Proof and Thomas S. Moore. We cover everything from cereal, to mushrooms to whiskey and back again all on this weeks episode of The Bourbon Showdown Podcast! 

This week we celebrate EPISODE 100 of the Bourbon Showdown Podcast! It’s a big milestone for the Bourbon Showdown and HOW do we CELEBRATE? By having Harlen Wheatley from Buffalo Trace Distillery on the show! That’s right, the Master Distiller from Buffalo Trace Distillery joins us on the program for a great conversation about whiskey, the bourbon boom, Buffalo Trace Distillery and where he sees the brand going in the future. It’s a proper celebration for our 100th episode and I can’t thank Harlen enough for coming on the show for this weeks 100th Bourbon Showdown Podcast! 

This week we welcome Majure Markow from Cathead Distillery and Old Soul back to the show! We sit down and we talk Tin Type 2, Tin Type 1, Old Soul Barrel picks and then we do what we do when we have someone at The Showdown Hotel, we DRINK the whiskey we're talking about! We talk concerts, whiskey and the blues, everything you need to make it a damn good episode for this weeks Bourbon Showdown Podcast!

This week we welcome Graham McTavish from McTavish Spirits onto the show! You might know him from The Hobbit, Game of Thrones, Outlander, Men in Kilts, his list of TV and film credits go on and on and now he adds McTavish Spirits to his long list of accomplishments! He is a modern day raconteur and we can't thank him enough for coming onto the show! It's a great conversation this week as we talk whiskey, acting, comedy and of course McTavish Spirits!

This week we welcome A. Smith Bowmans Master Distiller, David Bock to the show! A wealth of knowledge on all things whiskey, David and Jesse go through the A. Smith Bowman history, the whiskey and David's own whiskey journey to Master Distiller. All while sipping on some delicious A. Smith Bowman whiskey! It's a great conversation on this weeks Bourbon Showdown Podcast!

This week we welcome Kevin Heffernan and Steve Lemme from Tacoma FD to the show! You may know them best as Farva and Mac from ‘Super Troopers’ or Landfill and Fink from ‘Beerfest’, they stop by to talk whiskey, comedy and Tacoma FD! Tacoma FD is a hilarious show that follows the hijinks of Kevin and Steve as Firefighters in Tacoma WA and just had all 4 seasons added to Netflix so you can go on and binge every episode now! It was a great conversation! We talk Tacoma FD, we talk Super Troopers, Super Troopers 3, Pappy Van Winkle, WhistlePig, we cover the gambit and it makes for a damn good conversation! So check out Kevin Heffernan and Steve Lemme on this weeks episode of The Bourbon Showdown Podcast! 

The Bourbon Showdwon is back for a new season and we have Randy Prasse with us to talk everything Kentucky Bourbon Festival! The festival is less than a month away and Randy comes on the show to tell us about everything he has planned for the big event this year. We talk whiskey, we talk what it takes to put on a festival of this magnitude we talk all the special events he has planned all while sipping on some deliciousness from Bardstown Bourbon Company. Its a great start to the new season of the Bourbon Showdown Podcast and we're just getting started! Stay tuned for more bourbon every week on the Bourbon Showdown Podcast!

This week we welcome UFC Legend Bruce Buffer, the voice of mixed martial arts and Umberto Luchini the founder and proprietor of Wolf Spirit Distillery to talk Puncher’s Chance whiskey! It’s a great conversation where we talk Puncher’s Chance, MMA, Comedy and Whiskey Production! We also drink a lot of good whiskey and I can’t thank Bruce and Umberto enough for taking time out of their busy schedules to talk/drink some Puncher's Chance with me on this weeks episode of The Bourbon Showdown Podcast! 

This week we welcome Ari Sussman and Whiskey JYPSI to the show. We talk about the new expression from Eric Church and how this new premium whiskey came to be. We also talk about how Ari got started in the whiskey business and what's next for him and Whiskey JYPSI. It's a great conversation about Whiskey, Whiskey-making and Rock and Roll, this week on The Bourbon Showdown Podcast!

This week we welcome Founder and Distiller from FEW Spirits Paul Hletko to the show! Jesse and Paul sit down and crack a few bottles of FEW whiskey and talk about everything from prohibition to FEW being at the forefront of the current whiskey boom. They also talk about FEW's collaboration with Alice In Chains and how that collab led to the "ALL SECRETS KNOWN" expression that saw FEW whiskey finished in Tequila barrels! It's a great episode and we can't thank Paul enough for joining on this weeks episode of The Bourbon Showdown Podcast!

This week we welcome Amir Peay and Cody Giles back to the show! Amir is of course the man responsible for brining James E. Pepper back to life and Cody, the head distiller is putting down some delicious whiskey for the brand! We sit down and talk about their history, how the whiskey gets made and what went into their new Barrel Proof, James E. Pepper offering, this week on The Bourbon Showdown Podcast!

his week we welcome Lindsay Gulics and Barrell Craft Spirits back to the show for another episode of good whiskey and good conversation! Lindsay is the Regional Manager of the NorthEast for Barrell and her and I pour up a couple delicious drams and talk all things Barrell Craft Spirits! We talk about how Joe Beatrice started the brand and how far they’ve come since the company began, we talk about all the new expressions Barrell has coming out both in 2023 and in 2024 and we talk how Lindsay came to be a part of the company and her current role with Barrell. It’s a great conversation and I thoroughly enjoyed hanging out with Lindsay and learning more about her whiskey journey and the future of Barrell on this weeks episode of The Bourbon Showdown Podcast. 

This week I welcome Caryn Wells from Green River to the show! Caryn is the National Brand Ambassador for Green River and her and I got to sit down for a pour of some delicious Green River whiskey. We talk about how she got into this wonderful world of whiskey and the history behind the Green River brand. Then as always after we talk about the whiskey… we drink the whiskey! It’s a fun conversation with Caryn that I think you guys are really going to enjoy on this weeks episode of The Bourbon Showdown Podcast.

This week I welcome Celina Perez from Great Jones Distilling Co. to the program for a great conversation about all things New York City and New York City Whiskey. We go through how she got started in whiskey as well as what it took for her and the team at Great Jones to get a distillery off the ground in the middle of a pandemic. It’s a great conversation and I thoroughly enjoyed having Celina on the show. The art that she puts into her whiskey shines through on this weeks episode of The Bourbon Showdown Podcast.  

This week we welcome Victoria Horn and Brandi Bowles, the founders of Boss Molly Bourbon onto the show and we talk about everything under the bourbon sun. We talk about what it takes to start a bourbon brand, the sleepless nights spent making sure you get your recipe 100% perfect, the endless hours spent introducing your brand to new consumers and how it is all totally worth it when you see someones reaction to that first sip of good whiskey. It's a great conversation and we were super excited to welcome the ladies into the whiskey den for a great pour of Boss Molly and a damn good conversation on this weeks episode of The Bourbon Showdown Podcast.

This week we welcome Liz Rhoades and WhistlePig back to the Bourbon Showdown and we talk BOSS HOG X! That’s right, Liz is back and we do a deep dive into Boss Hog X and Robbie’s Blend, two distinct whiskey’s that properly represent why WhistlePig is and has always been at the forefront of pushing boundaries in the whiskey world! So sit back, pour a big dram of WhistlePig rye and get ready for Jesse and Liz to explore the wonderful world of WhistlePig on this weeks episode of the Bourbon Showdown Podcast! 

This week we welcome Lori Fetrick, better know as ICE from the American Gladiators to the Bourbon Showdown Podcast! Thats right Ice herself is on the show today to talk all things whiskey and American Gladiators. We talk about the new Docuseries on Netflix "Muscles & Mayhem" which acts as an unauthorized deep dive into the the American gladiator story, we talk about how she got started with the gladiators and what she has been doing since the show ended… and of course we do this while drinking on some delicious whiskey. So get your jousting sticks ready and pour up a tall glass of something tasty as we welcome Lori Fetrick to the Bourbon Showdown podcast. 

This week we welcome Bruce Russell back to the show and talk about the new Wild Turkey Generations expression! The first time in the history of Wild Turkey that there are three generations of Russell's collaborating on one bottle. We talk about how this expression came to be and what it felt like to get his name on the bottle alongside his Grandfather Jimmy Russell and his father Eddie Russell. It's a great conversation and an amazing whiskey! We can't thank Bruce enough for sitting down with us to talk Generations on this weeks Bourbon Showdown Podcast!