This week we welcome Carey Bringle to the show from Peg Leg Porker! Thats right, on this episode we are talking WHISKEY AND BBQ! We cover everything from how to smoke the perfect boston butt to how Peg Leg Porker came to be and of course we do so all while drinking some delicious Peg Leg Porker whiskey. It’s a tasty episode this week on the Bourbon Showdown with something for everyone as long as you love whiskey, bbq and good conversation. 

This week we welcome Tara Lindley and the return of High West! Tara is of course High West’s Director of Sensory QA & New Product Development, one of the coolest titles in whiskey and her and I sit down and we talk BOU-RYE! It’s a fantastic conversation with Tara this week as we talk about what brought her to whiskey and how she has built her palette and developed her sensory skills. She also lets me geek out on how she puts her blends together and how people just getting started in...

This week we welcome Oaklore Distilling to the show! Coming to you straight from the distillery in North Carolina, we sit down with cofounders Matt Simpkins and Tom Bogan and head of sales & commercial operations Jack Shute to talk NC whiskey! We talk about how this North Carolina whiskey brand came to be, what it takes to stand up a new brand in todays whiskey landscape and all the good whiskey that is coming out of Oaklore right now. We drink through Oaklore’s Bourbon and Rye whiskey...

This week we welcome Rifino Valentine, founder of Valentine Distilling and Mayor Pingree Whiskey. We sit down and talk about how he got into the whiskey business and all the changes and growth he has seen since starting Valentine Distilling. He has an awesome perspective on what it takes to make good whiskey and has been in the game since before the boom. It was great having him on the show, learning more about the good whiskey the state of Michigan is making and tasting through some badass...

This week, Jesse welcome Ari Sussman back onto the show to talk the new Whiskey JYPSI, Explorer. The first in a series of whiskey releases that embodies that JYPSI spirit for whiskey adventure. Him and I dive into a tall pour and he walks me through what went into this inaugural Explorer release and how this whiskey truly embodies that EXPLORER spirit. We go everywhere from the forests of France to the hills of the Appalachian mountains with a pit stop in Eric Church’s backyard, we talk about...

This week we welcome Mike Montgomery and Blue Run back to the show, that’s right my buddy Mike is back on to talk all things BLUE RUN!  We talk  Trifecta and Emerald Rye, which both recently won double gold and gold respectively at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. We talk about how Blue Run got started and how Mike assembled a whiskey dream team when starting the brand, how the living legend Jim Rutledge has been such an intricate part of the Blue Run story  and of course we we...

This week we welcome Elizabeth McCall, the Master Distiller from Woodford Reserve back to the show to talk all things Kentucky Derby! We talk about how Woodford is the Presenting Sponsor of the Kentucky Derby, “The Greatest Two Minutes in Sports” and we talk about the release of the 2024 commemorative Derby bottle, featuring the artwork of Kentucky native Wylie Caudill, and of course we talk their new Woodford Reserve Kentucky Derby 150 Baccarat Edition! It’s the Kentucky Derby go home show...

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 welcome Lost Lantern Whiskey back to the show! Nora Ganley-Roper and Adam Polonski join us to talk about their new Spring 2024 Midwest Collection! We go into how every region has its own whiskey personality and how they scoured the midwest for the best whiskies possible to make up this new Sprint 2024 Collection. It’s a great conversation and I can’t thank Nora and Adam enough for coming back on the show and sharing this good whiskey with us on this weeks 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...

This week we welcome Old Elk's, Melinda Maddox to talk CASK Finishing! It's a great conversation as Mel and Jesse drink through some Old Elk Port Cask Finish, some Cigar Cut and then she invites him to be a part of the tasting panel for the NEW Old Elk Wheat Whiskey Cognac Finish! It's a great episode as we get closer to Episode 100! It's Episode 99 of The Bourbon Showdown Podcast with Melinda Maddox from Old Elk!

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,...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...