Barrel to Bottle, The Binny's Podcast

We like to get esoteric on Barrel to Bottle, but this might be our most esoteric topic yet: Shochu (not to be confused with Soju). What is it, how is it made, what does it taste like and what do you do with it? This week we welcome Jay, Binny's resident Shochu expert/enthusiast, to answer these questions. He's here to guide us through Shochu 101, sampling Shochus from four different styles. Furusa...

Head on down to the RUM SHOW! Over the busy holiday season, we quietly got shipments of six Binny's Handpicked rums and you're in luck because we still have them in stock! Forget everything you think you know about rum, because you've been missing out on some of the best bang for your buck in the category of aged spirits. El Dorado 10-Year-Old Single Barrel 032/2023 Binny's Handpicked from Coffey...

Whose Wine Is It Anyway? Are You Smarter Than a Podcast Host? Wine, Lose or Draw! This week on Barrel to Bottle, Pat, Greg and Roger are competing to see who knows the most about wine. Your hosts, Alicia and Chris, brought along some wine to sample just so Pat wouldn't get too bored and start complaining. Mary Taylor Cahors 2020 Barista Pinotage 2022 Marc Ollivier Domaine de la Pepiere Clisson Mus...

We're back with part 2 of our two-parter covering Whisky Advocate's top 20 of 2023. Check out part 1 on our blog .  10.  Glendronach Cask Strength Batch #12 9.  Bardstown Bourbon Company Collaborative Series Foursquare Rum Cask Finish 8.  Glenmorangie A Tale of Forest Limited Release #9 Botanical Infusion 7. Dewar's Double Double 21-Year-Old Mizunara Cask Finished 6. Maker's Mark 11-Year-Old Cella...

Every year, Binny's sees more and more bottles from Whisky Advocate's Top 20 on our shelves. With seventeen bottles this year, we had to make this a two-parter.   We'll be counting down from 20 to 11 this week, check back next week for the final ten. 20. Ezra Brooks Straight Rye Whiskey 99 Proof 18. Teeling Single Pot Still Portuguese Oak Wonders of Wood 17. Crown Royal Noble Collection Barley Edi...

What's new in beer? There's ALWAYS something new in beer, because beer drinkers have become accustomed to breweries releasing a new beer every week. One positive that comes from this onslaught of new beers is breweries revisiting classic styles. Roger brought in a slew of new releases, re-releases and one rebrand, plus none of them are Czech Dark Lagers ! Urban Chestnut Czech Pilsner Pollyanna Rus...

It's yet another Whiskey Hotline episode, this must be some kind of record. Owen Martin is master distiller at Angel's Envy, but his career in the beverage alcohol industry goes back years and covers both brewing and distilling. Studying distilling at the illustrious Harriet Watt and working in Stranahan's cask-finishing program was a natural precursor to working at Angel's Envy. Angel's Envy just...

Mark Reynier has a lot to say about terroir, but this isn't a wine episode. While Mark does have an extensive wine background, his passion now is spirits terroir. After re-establishing Bruichladdich, he founded Waterford Whisky in Ireland and the Renegade Rum Distillery in Grenada. This week on Barrel to Bottle, we're sampling Waterford single malts and Renegade rum, while Mark shares his thoughts...

Czech Dark Lager is a thing, Roger isn't just willing it into existence. Over the past year many local breweries have paid homage to the style. This week, Roger brought in a Brophy's worth of Czech Dark Lagers, both local and imported, for a blind taste test. We're also pairing these beers with walnuts, Arkansas Black apples, smoked goose breast and two kinds of cheese. Na zdraví! Lev Lion Dark La...

Last week, we welcomed Binny's team of experienced buyers and asked them to pick their favorite or favorites from 2023. Now, it's Barrel to Bottle's turn to tackle this difficult question. Wine, spirits and beer, what are Barrel to Bottle's favorites from 2023?   Roger's Picks Off Color Beer for Dealing With Your Family Bell's Black Note Chris' Picks Robert Weil Kiedrich Grafenberg Riesling Spatle...

Every year, Binny's wine, spirits, beer and cigar buyers sample thousands of products to find the best stuff for the best price. Also every year, we at Barrel to Bottle ask the buyers to answer a nearly impossible question: what was at the best thing you had this year?   Heaven Hill 7-Year-Old Bottled in Bond Kentucky Straight Bourbon Domaine Tempier Bandol Rouge Cuvée Classique 2020 Penfolds Bin...

John Campbell might be a familiar name to Scotch drinkers because of his 27 years at Laphroaig. Now he's the master distiller of Lochlea, which is part of a wave of new single malt Scotch distilleries that have opened in the last few years. Lochlea grows 100% of the malt for their distillate, making them a true farm distillery. As a lowland distillery, Lochlea doesn't make peated whisky. It wouldn...

It's a Whiskey Hotline episode, which means were at the Lincoln Park store with Brett. More importantly, we're welcoming Dr. Don Livermore master blender at one of the largest distilleries on the continent, Hiram Walker. So, what is Canadian Whisky and why should you drink it? Dr. Don is here to answer these questions and explain the process of blending Canadian Whisky. J.P. Wiser's 10-year-old Bl...

Barleywine! All the cool kids are drinking it. It's a perfect food beer, especially with the holiday season approaching. Our third Barleywine episode is finally being recorded during appropriate weather, and Roger couldn't help but bring a delicious spread of cheeses, dried fruits, and crackers. Barleywine used to be all the rage with beer nerds, but sadly it has fallen by the wayside. But the sty...

As sprawling as the Binny's Handpicked Single Barrel program has become, it all started with a single cask of Scotch in 1997. The Whiskey Hotline's 2023 Signatory Handpicked Single Barrels have hit stores and this week we're sampling all eight offerings. Signatory labels are very information-heavy but leave a lot to be desired stylistically. The liquid inside is far from boring though because with...

It's that time of year again, when we at Barrel to Bottle have the opportunity to visit the Goose Island Barrel Warehouse and sample the new line-up of Bourbon County Stout. Then we race back to the studio to record our thoughts on this year's beers. Before we get into it though, we grabbed some of Goose's new Christmas IPA because Roger knows it's right up Greg's alley. It's a West Coast IPA! It'...

The Binny's Tasting Panel and wine consultants from all 45 Binny's locations have curated a list of the top 50 wines under $50 for 2023.  This week on Barrel to Bottle, we wanted to draw your attention to 10 wines that we really think you should check out, especially as the holidays approach. Trimbach Riesling 2020 Sigalas Santorini 2022 Lange Chardonnay Three Hills Cuvee 2021 Delille Cellars Chal...

Byron Copeland has worn a lot of hats at the Jack Daniel's Distillery. He started in their cooperage, where he led teams in various points of the barrel making process from making heads, to hoops, to toasting, charring, and seasoning of barrels. He's now an ambassador for Jack Daniel's and Manager of Leadership Acceleration and Maturation Innovation. Byron is also a master taster and conducts barr...

We're opening some big Napa wines that are always popular around the holidays, along with some other Napa favorites that are perfect for gifts or holiday feasts. These aren't outrageously-priced and they aren't hard to find. Today, we're tasting wines side-by-side from the Napa area to prove that there is a lot of diversity in this region. Featured this week on Barrel to Bottle: Keenan Cabernet Sa...

The Whiskey Hotline has a tough job; traveling the globe for the best spirits at the best price sampling all these spirits, making the hard decisions about which ones meet their high standards. That also means you, the customer, always have something new and unique to try. Sometimes it can be hard to make a choice, and that's where Barrel to Bottle steps in. We're here to round up some of the late...

All the way from Scotland, Stewart Buchanan is the Global Brand Ambassador for Glenglassaugh, BenRiach, and Glendronach. Stewart is one of the few global brand ambassador's Pat knows that worked in a distillery. Stewart brought three bottles of the latest offerings from Glenglassaugh. The distillery had previously been mothballed from 1986 to 2008 but since its reopening it has been subsequently s...

Chris brought too much sherry, too much food and made too many cocktails and we didn't want you to miss out so here's a bonus episode from our recent deep dive into sherry. You can see all the cocktail recipes on our blog . 

Sherry, what is it? What do you do with it? What does it go with? The answers to these questions are much simpler than you might think. Sherry isn't just for Brits. It's actually very popular with tapas, so next time you're digging into some small plates, skip the sangria and go for some PX, Manzanilla, or Cream. Like a bunch of sardines in a can, Chris has packed a lot into this week's episode. W...

If it feels like we've done multiple episodes about amaro, it's because we have a loud guy on the show who always has some amaro on him. It's actually been almost four years since we had an entire episode dedicated to Pat's favorite bitter Italian liqueur. Last time we had twelve amari, and that was only scratching the surface. Roger is back, to have his taste buds tortured by these Italian bitter...

Chartreuse has been around for centuries and always popular with mixologists. It took a global pandemic to make the French herbal liqueur a household name though. Carthusian monks have been making it by hand since the 1700s and were always able to keep up with demand. In the last few years, they have decreased production to focus more on being monks instead of liquor executives. Now you can pretty...