Bourbon Showdown Podcast

This week we welcome Maker’s Mark, Master Distiller, Dr. Blake Layfield to the Bourbon Showdown, as we kick off season 11 with a big pour of Maker’s Mark Cellar Aged 2025 ! Blake and I do a deep dive not only on this delicious pour but on all things Maker’s Mark. We go through the brands history, his path to whiskey and how he became Master Distiller of one of the most recognizable brands in the w...

This week we welcome Four Roses Master Distiller, Brent Elliott back to the show to celebrate his 10th year as Master Distiller and 20th year at Four Roses! Brent reflects on two decades in whiskey—how the industry has grown, how Four Roses helped lead the single barrel movement, and how the brand continues to set the standard for quality bourbon. We crack open the 2025 Limited Edition Small Batch...

This week on The Bourbon Showdown Podcast, we’re joined by Bushmills Master Blender Alex Thomas and Stranahan’s Head Blender Justin Aden . Together, we dive deep into the art of blending and what it takes to create your favorite whiskeys. Along the way, we sip through some incredible American Single Malts and Irish Whiskeys—ranging from 10 to 21 years old—while exploring the craft, challenges, and...

This week we welcome Joseph O’Sullivan, Master Distiller at Minden Mill in Nevada and him and I sit down and talk about his Estate process for making whiskey, how he oversees every step of the grain-to-glass process on one estate – nothing is outsourced which is why when you drink Minden Mill, you are tasting whiskey that can only come from MINDEN MILL . We break down how estate distilling creates...

This week we welcome Christian Huber from Starlight Distillery to the Bourbon Showdown! The Master Distiller and a  7th Generation Distiller for Starlight Distillery, him and I sit down and we do a deep dive on Starlight, Indiana whiskey and how his family have been making spirits highlighting that farm to bottle mentality for generations. We pop the top on Starlight’s new 10 year Bourbon whiskey...

On this weeks episode of The Bourbon Showdown Podcast, we welcome Jeff Feist and Calumet Farm Bourbon! That’s right, the delicious Centennial release 18 year Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey that everyone is talking about... The possible best whisky of 2025 is here! Jeff and I sit down, crack a bottle and talk through how Calumet is one of the best whiskey’s that you may haven’t heard of, but nee...

This week we are talking to Blake Jones, Julian Jones, and David McIntyre the founders of West Fork Whiskey Company. We do a deep dive on what it means to be a distiller in Indiana and how they have built this distillery to create a whiskey brand focused on 100% Indiana grain-to-glass spirits. We talk about their Old Hamer Bourbon and what led them to the decision to double down on their dedicatio...

This week we are taking you to Bardstown Kentucky and The Bourbon Capital Alliance! We sit down with Sam Lacy, the Executive Director of the Bourbon Capital Alliance and he walks us through how it got started, how he got involved and how it has become one of the premier whiskey destinations on the bourbon trail. We talk about not only the Alliance but the Bourbon Capital Academy as well, and Sam e...

This week we welcome the Founders of Four Branches Bourbon to the Bourbon Showdown! We sit down with co-founders RJ Casey and Harold Underdown as well as whiskey legend and raconteur Gregg Snyder to do a deep-dive on Four Branches Bourbon. Rj and Harold walk me through the history of this veteran owned brand and the meaning behind it, as well as how each branch of the military is represented and h...

This week we welcome Master Distiller, Ross Cornelissen from 1792 back to The Bourbon Showdown! We do a deep dive on all things 1792 as he walks me through the history of the brand and everything they have in store for the future. He opens up the doors to the  Barton 1792 Distillery and him and I drink a lot of good whiskey on this weeks Bourbon Showdown Podcast! 

This week we welcome Master Taster, Melissa Rift from Old Forester back to The Bourbon Showdown as we talk all things President’s Choice! We do a deep dive on the newly released President’s Choice Bourbon and President’s Choice Rye as Melissa walks me through the history of these elusive offerings and the process that goes into making them so damn good! It’s a great conversation on this weeks show...

This week we welcome Bruce Russell from Wild Turkey back to The Bourbon Showdown! We sit down and crack a fresh bottle of Rare Breed and we talk Jimmy Russell! More specifically we talked about the accomplishment of Jimmy’s 70 years at Wild Turkey, the commemorative 70th anniversary bottle that bears his name and of course we shared a few pours while Bruce recounted some of his favorite Jimmy stor...

This week we welcome Dan McKee and Andrea Wilson from Michter’s to the show! Dan is of course the Master Distiller and Andrea the Master of Maturation! We got together in Kentucky a few months ago and discussed all the goodness that is Michter’s Whiskey and I have to say I can’t remember the last time I laughed so much during an interview. We talk through the Michter’s brand, their dedication to q...

This week we welcome Aaron Harris, Head Distiller at Green River to the Bourbon Showdown!  We talk about how he got into whiskey, how he became the head distiller at Green River, the history of the brand and how Green River has been has rocking and rolling across the whiskey landscape since its re-introduction in 2022.  It’s a great conversation about good whiskey with the Whiskey Without Regrets...

This week we welcome Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley, founders of Brother’s Bond Bourbon. You may know them best from their hit show the Vampire Diaries, they have now focused their attention on whiskey! We sit down and talk about all things Brother’s Bond. Everything from drinking whiskey on the set of the Vampire Diaries to being named by Forbes as one of the top 5 whiskeys in the market today....

This week we welcome Lynette Green from Jack Daniel’s and Brown-Forman to the Bourbon Showdown to talk all things Marketing and Jack Daniel’s! Lynette and I sit down and we do a deep dive on how you build a brand from a marketing perspective, we talk about how the market has changed for spirits, how her team focuses on a  global audience and how she works to bring Brown-Forman brands to the masses...

This week we welcome Pete Barger from Southern Distilling Co. to the Bourbon Showdown to talk all things Contract Distilling! We talk about how Southern Distilling Co. got started, what their goal was for North Carolina and how they are giving our state its Whiskey Identity back through their Southern Star Bourbon, Hunting Creek Straight Rye, countless other expressions and by distilling for over...

This week we welcome Glenn Thomas, the Founder and CEO of John Lee Hooker legacy spirits, maker of Boogie Chillin Bourbon and grandson of Blues legend John Lee Hooker to the show! This episode has something for everybody! We talk rock, blues, hip-hop, soap operas, we talk about what it was like growing up with John Lee Hooker as your grandfather, we talk about how he went from real estate into whi...

This week we welcome Nora Ganley-Roper and Adam Polonski from Lost Lantern back to The Bourbon Showdown to talk about their new Spring Collection. They have curated fantastic whiskey from all over the country and they walk me through how this new collection came together. This Spring Collection has whiskey from New York, New Mexico, Ohio, Texas and Indiana and I was happy to drink through a few po...

This week we welcome David Bock from A. Smith Bowman and we talk the new A. Smith Bowman, Cask Strength #4! He walks me through what went into making this new cask strength expression as well as his journey to the master distiller chair and the whiskey insight he still gets from previous master distillers as he puts his stamp on the current bourbon being put down by A. Smith Bowman.  Its a tasty e...

This week we welcome David Coors from Coors Whiskey Company to the show and we talk all things Coors! David and I pour up some bourbon goodness as we walk through the Coors whiskey catalog and he tells what led to the company’s  inception, the idea behind Five Trail and how he stood that brand up in the midst of a pandemic, how Barmen 1873 came to be and then how Blue Run got added to the portfoli...

This week we welcome Maker’s Mark back to the show! Trevor Bowles, the Manager of VIP Tour and Trade engagement at Makers Mark distillery on Star Hill Farm sits down with me and we talk whiskey! Not only is he an expert on all things Maker’s Mark, but he is a true steward of the whiskey culture. He appreciates good bourbon and the community it can create and it was a blast picking his brain for a...

This week we welcome the 2024 Master Blender of the year and Master Blender for Joseph A. Magnus & Company , Nancy Fraley to the show! Her and I sit down and we talk Blending! We talk Whiskey! We talk Joseph A. Magnus and how she came to be the master blender for that brand and how she brought what we know today as the Cigar blend to the market! We talk about that and so much more! We talk ble...

The Season 10 premiere is here! We welcome Angel’s Envy Master Distiller, Owen Martin onto the show and we talk whiskey!!! We sit down and talk about everything under the whiskey sun. We talk history, secondary finishes, how he came to be the Master Distiller for Angel's Envy while of course drinking some delicious Angel's Envy whiskey while we talk! It's a fantastic first episode of the 10th seas...

This week we welcome Wes Henderson back to The Bourbon Showdown! Wes and I sit down with a couple big pours of True Story Bourbon and Rye and he walks me through what led to this new whiskey brand. We talk about its inception, what he had to say with these new expressions and why he had to come out of retirement to buy castles and make more whiskey! Its a great conversation that I think you guys a...