Bourbon Showdown Podcast

It is the official SEASON PREMIERE of the Bourbon Showdown and we have our buddy John Rempe from Lux Row Distillers on the show to talk BLOOD OATH PACT 9! It’s a great interview and we were so happy to have John back on the show. We went to Kentucky and got to drink some Pact 9 with John at Lux Row and let me tell you, this is some delicious whiskey! We go through his whiskey journey to Lux Row ma...

The Bourbon Showdwon is back for a new season and we have Randy Prasse with us to talk everything Kentucky Bourbon Festival! The festival is less than a month away and Randy comes on the show to tell us about everything he has planned for the big event this year. We talk whiskey, we talk what it takes to put on a festival of this magnitude we talk all the special events he has planned all while si...

This week Jesse welcomes one of his good whiskey buddies Dan Spivey from Broad Branch Distillery onto the show! Jesse and Dan go way back and this conversation has been a long time in the making. They talk about how Broad Branch Distillery got started, the delicious whiskeys that they are currently producing and the state of North Carolina whiskey in general. They go into the history of NC whiskey...

This week Jesse welcomes Ryan Perry from Heaven’s Door back to the show! The Founder and Master Blender at Heaven’s Door, Ryan walks Jesse through his 10 year Decade Series Straight Bourbon Whiskey. They talk about the patience it takes to sit on good barrels for that long and how that patience has paid off in this 10 year offering. On top of sipping and talking about good whiskey, they also catch...

This week we welcome Lance Winters to the show! The Master Distiller at St. George Spirits, Lance is a recent inductee into the Whiskey Hall of Fame and one hell of a whiskey maker. He and Jesse sit down and go through how he went from being a nuclear engineer to spirits maker and the struggles he faced early in his career when introducing his vision for American Single Malt to an industry that ha...

This week Jesse welcomes Nick Scarff, the Master Blender & VP of Business Development at Next Century Spirits to talk about Bear Fight American Single Malt Whiskey! Nick and Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane have been working to help bring American Single Malt to the masses and they have succeeded! Jesse and Nick talk about how that partnership came to be, what their plans are for the brand a...

This week Jesse welcomes Chicken Cock Whiskeys Master Distiller Gregg Snyder to the show! Gregg walks Jesse through the history of the brand, it's ups and downs and it's reemergence on the whiskey scene. They talk about Gregg's own whiskey journey and how he has spent the last 40 + years of his career creating some of the best and best known whiskies in the industry. This is a master c...

This week Jesse welcomes Gerard Patrick Garland to the show for Irish Whiskey Day! That's right, it's St. Patrick's Day and what better way to celebrate than with a big pour of something delicious and Irish! Gerard and Jesse sit down with four unique bottles of Method + Madness and drink through all four! They go through what brought Gerard into the whiskey business and how Method + Madn...

This week I welcome my buddy Trey Wade to the show! Trey is the NEW Chief Experience Curator for Blue Run and has been selected to lead their first Private Barrel Program. Trey and I sit down and talk about his whiskey journey and how he got to Blue Run. As well as his new Chosen, Private Barrel Program and how he is bringing whiskey to the people by giving everyone a shot to be “Chosen” and be a...

This week we welcome Elizabeth McCall, the NEW Master Distiller for Woodford Reserve to the show! Elizabeth has been a guest before and we are so happy to have her back on to discuss her new role as Master Distiller for the company. She takes Jesse through her career with Woodford Reserve, and what it takes to become Master Distiller. How not only is she overseeing quality and innovation and leadi...

This week Jesse welcome Dan Callaway, the Vice President of Hospitality and Product Development at Bardstown Bourbon Co.! They sit down to talk the new Bardstown Bourbon Co. Origin Series and Dan walks Jesse through all three of their new expressions! They talk about how Dan got into whiskey and his journey from music into the whiskey world, all while drinking some of that sweet, sweet whiskey! It...

We kick off Bardstown Bourbon week today with National Brand Ambassador, Sam Montgomery! Jesse welcomes Sam to the show and they walk through the history of the Bardstown Bourbon brand, how they got started, the liquid they are creating and the top of the line facility they have created in Bardstown Kentucky. It's a great conversation and Sam and Jesse talk about everything from Bourbon to Comedy...

This week Jesse invites Cold Case Investigator Paul Holes onto the show to talk whiskey and True Crime! Paul is probably best known for his contributions to solving the Golden State Killer case using advanced methods of identifying the killer with DNA and genealogy technology. He is also an author and has written the New York Times bestseller - UNMASKED My life solving Americas cold cases. We were...

This week we welcome Andy and Charlie Nelson to The Bourbon Showdown! They walk Jesse through their families history in whiskey and how they grew up not knowing the role their family played in Tennessee spirits. They discuss the trials and tribulations of bringing their great great great Grandfathers whiskey brand back to the whiskey world and how they have taken his brand and made it their own in...

This week Jesse welcomes Brendan Coyle, the Master Distiller from High West Distillery to the show! Jesse and Brendan talk the history of High West as well as all the amazing expressions they have been responsible for. They talk about and sample A Midwinter's Night Dram: Act 10, The Prisoner's Share and High Country: American Single Malt. It's a great conversation as Brendan walks Jesse through wh...

This week we welcome Aaron Chepenik back to the show! Aaron is always a wealth of knowledge not only about whiskey and whiskey production but the logic that goes into growing a whiskey business. We always love having him on the show just to see where the conversation goes and he never disappoints! Him and Jesse talk about everything from music to muscle cars to Smoke Wagons new Rye whiskey offerin...

This week we welcome Bruce Russell back to the show! We sit down and talk about everything Wild Turkey while sipping on the newest Master's Keep, Unforgotten! It's a great conversation where we talk about everything under the whiskey sun. We talk about all the goodness Wild Turkey puts out as well as the public's fascination with some of their more limited offerings, and we go generational! We tal...

This week we welcome Ryan Lang from Middle West Spirits in Ohio onto the show. Ryan walks us through what brought him to the whiskey industry and led him to start Middle West Spirits. This is not only a good conversation about tasty whiskey but a great conversation about what it takes to get a craft distillery off the ground. Ryan serves up Whiskey 101 in this episode and it was an absolute pleasu...

You could say this episode is High on the Hog as we welcome the amazing Liz Rhoades from WhistlePig onto the show for this weeks episode. Liz walks us through the rise of WhistlePig as one the industries measuring sticks for good rye whiskey, we talk about how WhistlePig got started, what brought her to the brand and all the goodness they are producing right now. There are pig puns flying everywhe...

This week Jesse welcomes Colorado whiskey makesrs Laws Whiskey to the show! Head Distiller Sam Poirier and Barrel Manager James Kunz from Laws Whiskey join Jesse to talk about all the good whiskey they are producing and how Laws has become a quick favorite to bourbon drinkers across the country. They talk about how the brand got started and do a deep dive into whiskey production and what it takes...

This week on the Bourbon Showdown Podcast, we continue to say thank you to all of our men and women who have served this country with a Veterans Day episode focused on the story of the Horse Soldiers and Scott Neil from Horse Soldier Bourbon. This is a team of people that found themselves under extraordinary circumstances following the tragedy of 911 and how they persevered in those circumstances....

This week Jesse welcomes Mark McLaughlin from Old Line Spirits onto the show. They sit down and talk about his time in the Navy flying EA-6B Prowlers and how after more than a decade of flying off of aircraft carriers and being stationed all over the world, he and Old Line co-founder and friend from the Navy Arch Watkins decided it was time to get into whiskey. We talk about their journey from the...

This week Jesse welcomes Limestone Branch Distillery and Stephen Beam to the show! They sit down in the tasting room of Limestone Branch Distillery for a one on one about Yellowstone whiskey, the prestigious Beam name and all the goodness Stephen has been making as Master Distiller. It's a deep dive into what Stephen got into whiskey and how having the last name Beam comes with whiskey expectation...

This week Jesse welcomes TNA superstar and bourbon enthusiast Matt Rehwoldt onto the show! Jesse and Matt have a great conversation about all things whiskey and wrestling related! From his start in pro-wrestling, to his run in the WWE as Aiden English to his love of bourbon and his new home in TNA. Jesse and Matt sip on some delicious Prideful Goat whiskey from their buddy Kristopher Hart and talk...

This week on the Bourbon Showdown Podcast we welcome Michter's back to the show! One of our favorites, Andrea Wilson, the Master of Maturation comes returns to the show and brings Dan McKee, the Master Distiller with her! It is a triathlon episode this week as we discuss distilling whiskey, maturing whiskey and of course.... drinking whiskey! It is a great episode and we sincerely thank Andrea and...