From Cask Cartel, this is The Cartel Hour. George Remus, the man, the myth and the legend. Kind of similar to MGP, also relatively shrouded in mystery. One of the biggest distilleries you may never have heard of, this is what happens when the distillery behind many of the brands you know and love steps out and showcases their own brand. And of course, we’re joined by none other than MGP’s Master Blender, David Whitmer.

From Cask Cartel, this is The Cartel Hour. Ever wanted to take a tour of all of the scotch regions, find their differences, learn about the places, all in one episode? Well you’ve come to the right place. We taste a little something from each of the six scotch regions: Highlands, Speyside, Lowlands, Campbeltown, Islay and Islands. We drank from Ardbeg, Oban, Springbank, Craigellachie, Highland Park and Bladnoch.

From Cask Cartel, this is The Cartel Hour. Still Austin is making waves with their completely grain to glass whiskey and rye based gin, with many more interesting iterations to come. We chatted with Head Distiller John Schrepel and General Manager Brandon Joldersma about what makes Texas whiskey unique and why Austin is poised to be a leader in the next generation of American craft distilling.

From Cask Cartel, this is The Cartel Hour. AnCnoc is made by the Knockdhu Distillery, in the picturesque village of Knock in Aberdeenshire. We chat with distiller manager Gordon Bruce about the old school distilling techniques, water sourcing, how to correctly judge PPM of peat, and more. If you’re a scotch fan and you’ve never heard of AnCnoc, spoiler: they make absolutely exquisite single malt.

From Cask Cartel, this is The Cartel Hour. Cedar Ridge may be in the heart of Iowa corn country, but don’t let this fool you. They’re much more than bourbon, which we discuss with Director of Operations and distiller Murphy Quint. With interesting ratios of rye, and more importantly, making the best American Single Malt that Seth and I have tasted on the show, they poised to make Iowa a distilling household name.

From Cask Cartel, this is The Cartel Hour. Michter’s is the American small batch whiskey company you’ve definitely heard of. But you may have heard of them more in the context of chasing down their rare releases. Today we talk with John Shutt about the excruciating detail that goes into crafting some of the best American whiskey on the market today.

From Cask Cartel, this is The Cartel Hour. When he’s not banging on kegs with fire shooting in every direction, Shawn “Clown” Crahan is masterminding more Slipknot content, including the No. 9 Iowa Whiskey. Delightfully unique to Clown’s insane genius, we sat down with the man himself to talk how he bottled his creativity with the help of Cedar Ridge Distillery.

From Cask Cartel, this is The Cartel Hour. In this episode we talk to Lobos 1707 founder Diego Osorio about the unique marriage of sherry cask finishing and the solera system from Spain with the sweet and smoky tequila flavors of Mexico. Lobos, backed by Lebron James, is no joke, this is some of the best tequila and mezcal we have had on the show, period.

From Cask Cartel, this is The Cartel Hour. In this episode we talk the creativity and philosophy surrounding single barrel picks, why they have gotten so popular and where bourbon, whiskey, and even scotch single barrel picks are going in the future with Micah Rochelle and Brandon Hunt. You can learn more about Bourbon Charity and donate to their cause here: https://bourboncharity.org/

From Cask Cartel, this is The Cartel Hour. In this episode we talk Creek Water Whiskey, music, and the Slumerican lifestyle with artist and entrepreneur Yelawolf. Click on the link to purchase what we drank: Yelawolf Creekwater American Whiskey https://bit.ly/CreekWater Yelawolf Creekwater Cinnamon Whiskey https://bit.ly/CreekWaterCinnamon You can learn more about Yelawolf including his music, art, tour dates, movies, and other entrepreneurial endeavors including Slumerican here: Yelawolf.com

A hardworking man always has his drink of choice, and for Terry, that’s bourbon. Teaming up with master distiller Jacob Call with Green River Distilling in Owensboro Kentucky, and taking direction from spirits industry veteran Ryan McElveen, Bradshaw Bourbon was born. We chat with Terry and the team about their first ever drink, the process of designing a bourbon from the ground up, and of course, we had to grill Terry on Super Bowl predictions. 

Raj Bhakta sometimes comes off as a larger than life character. As the founder of Whistlepig, he got a chance to take a neglected stash of liquid and create a brand. He’s taking that same playbook and applying it to Armagnac with Bhakta Brandy, with the same kind of Wild West spirit of leading boldly into uncharted territory. We chat with Raj about this historic liquid, which has up to 150 year old juice, the story it has to tell as well. Bhakta Armagnac 50 Year Old https://bhaktabrandy.com/

On this podcast, we tasted somewhere over 250 spirits total this year, learning an immense amount in the process. This is our year end episode where we highlight our favorite spirits that we drank in 2020 on the Cartel Hour. Seth and I talk behind the scenes of shooting and recording the episodes and funny stories, recounting the great moments, all while revisiting the best of the best. BUFFALO TRACE ANTIQUE COLLECTION WINNERS: Please email [email protected] to claim your prize!

Barrell is the kind of company the craft spirits industry needs at its forefront. A wild sense of exploration coupled with a desire to create something never done before that borders on reckless abandon. Kids in a whiskey candy shop that are guided not by marketing or profit margins, but by their own palettes. The kind of mad scientist genius that is both polarizing and invigorating, and no matter what the outcome, always discussion worthy. Join us and Will Schragis as we learn all about...

With over 500 micro distilleries operating on the island of Haiti creating, Clairin is a wildly unique local spirit that remains relatively unexplored in the world of cane distillate. Natural, uncut, unfiltered and different from everything you’ve ever had before, it’s time to explore the world of Clairin with one of the most knowledgeable rum experts we’ve ever encountered: Kate Perry from La Maison & Velier.

When the San Francisco World Spirits Competition Managing Director Nicolette Teo decided to branch off and launch a spirits competition in Los Angeles, she knew she needed to keep all of the integrity that competition was known for while putting her own spin on it. The LA Spirits Awards focuses on diversity of judges, marketing support for the winners, and awards that hopefully better represent the wider consumer population.

Tequila may have been given to us humans as a result of quarreling gods, but that doesn’t mean it’s reach hasn’t spread far from its origin in Mexico. We talk with the first Hawaiian Tequila brand owner Les Kekahuna as well as brand ambassador Andres Garcia to talk about Embajador Tequila, from generations of family distilling to the intricacies of barrel aging.

After Chris Fredrickson found plans for distilling equipment as a part of a long lost family legacy, his interest in whiskey skyrocketed from being a connoisseur to a creator. Dubbed The Whiskey of the North, Traverse City is making waves with not only their unique climate for aging up in Michigan but also harnessing the Cherry Capital of the World to create products that do justice to the sweet and sour fruit.

Kyle Search, founder of Sip Shine, flew out from Michigan to Los Angeles to come sit down with The Cartel Hour. We taste the core Sip Shine lineup: Arnold Shiner, Razz-Berry Shineade, and Shineberry Sweet Tea, then chat with master blender Will Reed and owner Rod Woodroff about creating Buffalo Chip American Whiskey, a blend of corn, wheat, and rye. Finally, Seth makes a cocktail with Sip Sine and Buffalo Chip whiskey together.

The Real McCoy, was he a man, myth or legend? Was Barbados the true birthplace of Rum? What do age statements on a bottle of the sugarcane distilled spirit really mean? Does a beard make you a rum master? We talk about the entire lineup of Real McCoy with brad ambassador Nathan Hazard as well as a special tasting of early distillate through a pipette into our glasses to a selection from their special rare releases. This is the Real McCoy.

Paul John Indian Single Malt Whiskey. From the coasts of Goa, Paul John is making sure they do every possible process of the whiskey making in and authentic to India. We were joined by the Whiskey Monster himself Koray Ozdemir, brand ambassador to Paul John and independent taster of thousands of whiskeys, as well as Jeremiah Caleb, bartender from one of the most prominent Indian restaurants in Los Angeles, Spice Affair.

Welcome back to Part 2 of the Buffalo Trace podcast. If you haven’t seen part one, go back an episode to the beginning where we got to taste Old Charter, E.H. Taylor Single Barrel, Eagle Rare, and Weller Antique 107 On this episode we jump right back in with Katy O’Donnell from Sazerac, and Wen Yeh and Arash Farzaneh from the Los Angeles bar neat to taste Weller 12, Hancock’s Reserve, Elmer T. Lee, Rock Hill Farms, and the extremely rare and coveted George T. Stagg.

Part 1 of a 2 Part Episode on Buffalo Trace. We drank Old Charter, E.H. Taylor Single Barrel, Eagle Rare, two different Wellers, Antique 107 and Weller 12, Hancock’s Reserve, Elmer T. Lee, Rock Hill Farms, and the extremely rare and coveted George T. Stagg. We were joined by Katy O’Donnell from Bond & Royal, a subsidiary of Sazerac who owns and distributes Buffalo Trace, as well as Wen Yeh, the owner of local Los Angeles whiskey bar Neat, and head bartender Arash Farzaneh.

We drink Mezcal with legendary mezcal expert Max Reis.