GolfCask - Originals

In Part 2 of our GolfCask Roadshow at Blue Shepherd Spirits, Brian Bailie and GolfCask Syndicate member Bo Hammond sit down with owner and head distiller Alex Colby to taste the entire lineup—from gin and barrel-finished agave spirit to bourbon, rye, American single malt, and apple brandy. The biggest surprise? Just how clean and well-crafted these young spirits are. Without years of barrel aging...

What happens when a firefighter, a DIY obsession, and one life-changing decision collide? GolfCask Founder Brian Bailie sits down with Alex Colby, owner and head distiller of Blue Shepherd Spirits in Luray, Virginia, to uncover the story behind one of Virginia's most unique nano distilleries. Joined by GolfCask Syndicate member Bo Hammond, we explore the craft, challenges, and passion behind m...

In this edition, we take a journey through golf, cigars, travel, and the stories that connect them. First, Dr. Mike Grevlos imagines a letter from philosopher Søren Kierkegaard to the modern golfer, exploring anxiety, expectation, and the search for authenticity on the golf course. Then we light up the legendary Amazon Basin cigar and discover why it's become one of the most sought-after smoke...

✈️ GolfCask Flight – Hot Summer Nights EditionThis month's Flight takes you from scorching fairways to Irish links, boutique cigar lounges, and a whiskey house built around friendship.☀️ Joe Hallett shares practical lessons on surviving summer golf, revealing why shade may be the most overlooked club in your bag when temperatures climb.⛳ Lorcan O'Connor proves that sometimes the best thin...

Tonight on The Syndicate Select Pairing Show, the crew dives into a smoky, hilarious, and surprisingly deep pairing session featuring the Leaf by Oscar Maduro cigar and two Old Raleigh blended American whiskeys. What starts as a simple tasting quickly turns into debates about retrohales, lawn stripes, putt-putt golf, and whether anyone’s dumb enough to light the cigar’s outer wrapper. The Leaf by...

Welcome to the audiobook edition of  GolfCask Whiskey University: Irish Whiskey . This immersive journal takes you deep into the history, culture, craftsmanship, and character of Irish whiskey—from the rugged landscapes of the Green Isle to the grain, mash, yeast, and distillation processes that shape every pour. Along the way, you’ll meet the faces behind the spirit, explore the traditions that b...

Step inside a hidden gem in Zebulon, North Carolina as we visit Olde Raleigh Distillery, home of “The Blend.” Meet Brandon, a blender who ditched the rulebook and built something entirely different—one barrel, one story at a time. From near disaster to cult-favorite releases, this is what happens when creativity beats convention in the whiskey world.👉 If you love golf, whiskey, cigars, and great...

This is the audiobook version of GolfCask Trails: Country Roads—a full-day journey through the hills of Maryland and West Virginia where golf, whiskey, and cigars come together the way they’re supposed to. The day starts with a demanding round at P.B. Dye Golf Club, where elevation and commitment define every shot, including the unforgettable island green on 11. From there, the rhythm shifts at De...

Whiskey in the glass, cigar in hand—and things went off the rails fast. We put an Arturo Fuente Hemingway up against five heavy hitters: Nulu Toasted Wheated Bourbon, Midwinter Night’s Dram, Balvenie Caribbean Cask 14, Kilchoman Single Cask, and Lagavulin. Some pairings elevated the cigar, some completely disappeared, and one got exposed in real time. This isn’t a polished tasting—it’s a real tabl...

Experience the raw beauty of Ireland’s northwest coast through the GolfCask Trails Atlantic Loop. From the windswept fairways of County Sligo and Strandhill to the rhythm of local pubs and emerging distilleries, this journey blends golf, whiskey, and culture into one unforgettable story. It’s not about perfection—it’s about feel, flow, and finding your rhythm between the round and the pour. If thi...

Behind every green jacket is a story—but Jack Nicklaus wore one that wasn’t even his. For over three decades, the greatest Masters champion in history slipped into a jacket that belonged to a man famous for losing a presidential election. This isn’t just a golf story—it’s about patience, pressure, and why the game doesn’t care about headlines until the final putt drops.  If you love stories where...

Golf, Guinness & the Irish Goodbye | A Sligo Story That Hit Different This wasn’t just a trip to Ireland—it turned into something more. What started as a journey to celebrate a wedding in County Sligo became a full immersion into golf, whiskey, pubs, and the kind of moments you don’t plan—but never forget. From windswept links courses to late nights over perfectly poured Guinness, this is the...

Whiskey in the glass, golf on the mind—let’s get started… This episode of the GolfCask Syndicate Selection & Variety Show takes a Rocky Patel Emerald Toro box press and runs it headfirst into a lineup of Irish whiskeys for a St. Patrick’s Month showdown. From Bushmills to Redbreast to the night’s winner Jack Ryan, the crew breaks down what actually works when pairing cigar and whiskey—while th...

We made our way to the legendary County Sligo Golf Club at Rosses Point, one of Ireland’s oldest and most storied links courses, founded in 1894. In this GolfCask Road Show stop, we sit down with David O’Donovan to uncover the history behind this championship venue, home of the prestigious West of Ireland Championship—where names like Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry, and Padraig Harrington have all left...

Before Ulysses S. Grant became a Civil War legend and President of the United States, he was a struggling farmer selling firewood on a St. Louis street corner just to feed his family. Life had knocked him down more than once. But when the Civil War erupted, the quiet, steady man put the uniform back on and returned to serve. Grant didn’t look like a heroic general. He looked tired, rumpled, and us...

Spring is here—and so is the March 2026 edition of  GolfCask Life: First Rounds of Spring . Inside this issue: ⛳ Spring swing resets and distance gains 🥃 Barrel-strength whiskey stories and tasting trails 🔥 Cigar rituals, new releases, and lighting mastery 🌍 Community, travel, and the culture behind the glass This isn’t just a magazine. It’s golf, whiskey, cigars, and connection—done the right...

In this episode of Syndicate Selection, three brave (questionable) palates take on the My Father Blue cigar while pairing it with Mellow Corn Bottled-in-Bond, Old Forester 1920 Prohibition Style, and Ardbeg Uigeadail. What starts as a straightforward cigar-and-whiskey showdown quickly spirals into debates about peated bourbon, reverse mortgages, space travel, and whether Mellow Corn belongs on the...

Most golfers think “tournament prep” means grinding harder on the range—then they show up and get punched in the face by wind, dew, travel fatigue, weird grass, and one bad swing thought. In this episode of  The Cut Line , Brian Bailie, Chris George, and Dr. Mike Grevlos break down what real event prep looks like four weeks out: keep your daily skill work steady, build a course-specific strategy,...

Pull up a stool and pour something stiff, because this is the legend of Junior Johnson—the North Carolina bootlegger who learned speed dodging revenuers, did time for it, came out smarter, faster, and rewrote American racing. Before NASCAR had rulebooks, Junior had instincts. Before drafting was a science, he felt it in his bones. He didn’t just drive fast—he understood momentum, airflow, and pres...

January is the quiet month — cold hands, slower rounds, longer pours, and the kind of stories that don’t leave you alone. In this edition of  Inside the Ropes , we explore the shape of cigars through vitolas, the soul of whiskey through second cask finishes, the resilience of golfers playing through the Blitz at Richmond Golf Club, and the long-game craft unfolding at Devil’s Dew Distillery in Wes...

Welcome to the  Syndicate Pairing —where five grown men pretend this is a refined tasting and then immediately prove it isn’t. This month’s featured cigar is the  Montecristo Espada Signature Series , a medium-to-medium-full smoke with evolving notes that swing from  peppery spice and baking spice  into  cream, cedar, espresso, dark cocoa, and a little earthy sweetness  as it settles in. To find t...

In the debut episode of  Expected Score , Brian Bailie is joined by Dr. Mike Grevlos and Chris George to unpack a phenomenon that quietly derails golfers at every level:  the Cut Line Dance . What starts as a sensible goal—making the cut, breaking a number, staying in contention—often becomes a psychological and performance trap. Players hover just above and below the line, week after week, not be...

What does it really take to average par? It’s not pretty swings. It’s not luck. And it’s definitely not hope. Par is a statistical outcome built on offense and defense—your ability to create birdie chances with your approach game and save par with your short game. In this video, I break down the exact numbers required to shoot par, explain why most golfers misunderstand them, and tell on myself fo...

In 1940, while London was being carpet-bombed, members of Richmond Golf Club did something unthinkable—they played golf. With bombs falling on the fairways and air-raid sirens screaming, they wrote wartime golf rules, marked unexploded bombs with red flags, and kept tee times like nothing could shake them. This isn’t just a golf story. It’s a masterclass in resilience, ritual, and refusing to quit...

Why the moments no one applauded mattered most! December doesn’t shout. It settles in—and tells the truth. In this episode of  Inside the Ropes , we step back and reflect on the stories that truly resonated inside GolfCask last month. Not the loudest. Not the trendiest. The ones people  stayed with . The quiet wins. You’ll revisit five standout pieces that defined December 2025: Whiskey:   Train Y...