Whiskey@Work

You're standing in a liquor store, staring at a wall of bottles. You have no idea what to grab. That feeling? That's exactly why pourmore.com exists. This week we sat down with Greg Cohen, the marketing guy at Pourmore, a subscription spirits club that ships hand-selected bottles straight to your door. We're talking tequila-finished bourbon, American single malt, and a cask strength rye that Greg...

George Dickel isn't a name you hear as often as his neighbor Jack, but maybe it should be. The guy was a German immigrant, a cobbler turned whiskey salesman, who landed in Nashville in the 1840s and decided limestone water was his whole personality. He never distilled a drop himself, but he staked everything on the quality of what came out of Cascade Hollow. His wife Augusta kept the whole thing r...

Rob and Houston crack open a bottle that's been sitting on the shelf way too long. Highland Park 12 Viking Honour. From Orkney, a tiny island ten miles off the northern tip of Scotland where the wind blows so hard you can tell what religion a guy is by his travel pants. The whole thing was started by a guy named Magnus, a church officer who hid barrels under the pulpit and faked a smallpox outbrea...

Rob and Mark crack open a bottle that's been sitting in the dark for a couple years in Houston's basement. This week they're pouring Driftless Glen Single Barrel Bourbon from Baraboo, Wisconsin. A double gold winner from the San Francisco Spirits Competition that most of the whiskey world still hasn't found yet. There's a geography lesson (Rob holds his own), a story about glaciers that somehow ma...

Rob and Mark sit down with Ray and Patrick from Johnson Brothers and Jason Dvorak from Mr. Liquor in Rapid City for something genuinely special. They're barrel picking a Two XO Gem of Kentucky, and if you know what that means, you already know why this episode matters. If you don't, they'll catch you up. Six barrels. One pick. And a unanimous decision that honestly surprised nobody by the end. Alo...

This one starts with a near heart attack… a very expensive bottle of Wild Turkey Master’s Keep almost takes a dive off the table, and somehow that sets the tone perfectly. From there, it turns into a laid-back deep dive into Wild Turkey’s surprisingly scrappy origin story, why the everyday stuff gets misunderstood, and what makes Master’s Keep feel like something a little different. There’s some r...

In this special bonus episode of Whiskey@Work , Mark Houston takes you inside the Mountain West Whiskey Festival at the historic Hotel Alex Johnson in Rapid City. Instead of the usual studio conversation, this episode walks through the festival itself, featuring conversations with whiskey enthusiasts, industry insiders, and newcomers discovering the spirit for the first time. Upstairs in the Presi...

This week on Whiskey@Work , the guys pour a few glasses and wander through the story behind one of the most recognizable names in Scotch. The conversation starts with the surprisingly scrappy origins of Johnnie Walker , a grocery store kid who blended tea before blending whisky, and the clever ideas that turned his family brand into a global icon. Then things get interesting on the tasting table....

On this episode of Whiskey@Work , Rob and Mark sit down with master blender Brad Benson from Little Round Still in Minnesota and dig into what happens when a small distillery decides to do things its own way. Brad walks through the unlikely path that took him from whiskey enthusiast to master blender, the challenges of making bourbon outside the traditional Kentucky map, and why Minnesota’s climat...

What starts as a casual catch-up turns into a full-on taste test showdown when Justin from Windsor Block crashes the studio mid-recording. On the table? A 20-year Canadian rye with a name you won’t forget and a flavor profile that sends the guys spiraling into childhood firecracker memories. Let’s just say not every “lost barrel” story ends in glory. Then, in true Whiskey@Work fashion, the crew pi...

This week on Whiskey@Work , we climb way past safe territory and straight into hazmat country. Rob and Mark post up at the Windsor Bar with Justin Henrichsen and crack bottles that most airlines would politely confiscate. We’re talking 140 proof and up. A Canadian cask strength that drinks suspiciously easy. A George T. Stagg that smells like a candy bar and hits like a freight train. And a 161 pr...

On this episode of Whiskey@Work , Rob and Marc pour a glass of Doc Holliday 7-Year Straight Bourbon and immediately realize something important… time matters. A lot. The conversation drifts through bourbon’s recent sales slump, the rise of canned cocktails, Four Roses changing hands, and why some whiskeys disappear only to come roaring back. Along the way, they chase tangents about Canadian grudge...

The Black Hills Stock Show is in town, so Rob and Mark cowboy things up with a bottle that feels ripped straight out of Tombstone. This week, it’s Doc Holliday Bottled in Bond from the World Whiskey Society, a whiskey built on story, character, and a whole lot of attitude. Along the way, they dig into who Doc Holliday actually was, dentist turned gunslinger, terminally ill, sharp-tongued, loyal to...

In this episode of Whiskey@Work, Rob and Mark sit down with Mitch McKeithan from the Alex Johnson Hotel to talk whiskey cycles, allocation games, and why relationships matter more than hype. They dig into how the bourbon world got here, where it’s headed, and why the Mountain West Whiskey Festival landing inside a 1920s landmark feels like fate. Along the way, there’s hotel history, celebrity run-...

This week on Whiskey@Work , Rob and Mark crack open a bottle that looks like it belongs next to a designer lamp instead of a dusty rickhouse. Frank August Case Study No. 6 is all about first impressions, from a minimalist bottle to a surprisingly bold pour. Along the way, the guys wrestle with sourced bourbon, high proof heat, price tags that raise eyebrows, and the bigger question lurking behind...

E.H. Taylor wasn’t friendly, flexible, or easy to work with. He was stubborn, loud, and obsessed with one thing… killing fake whiskey. In this episode of Whiskey@Work , we dig into the man behind the bottle, the rise of rectified whiskey, why the Bottled-in-Bond Act even exists, and how one relentless pain in the ass helped shape modern whiskey. Along the way, we taste E.H. Taylor Small Batch Bott...

New year, bad decisions. Rob and Mark kick off 2026 by talking about why New Year’s resolutions usually fall apart, how ancient civilizations handled fresh starts, and why sometimes leaning into the wrong idea feels oddly right. Along the way, they crack open Darts from Lasso Motel Whiskey, a bold, slightly rebellious bourbon finished in Armagnac, sherry, and cognac casks. The conversation wanders...

Aired back in November 2024, this episode turned into a full-on fan favorite, and for good reason. What starts as an election day hang turns into a surprisingly deep, slightly ridiculous dive into marshmallows. Yeah… marshmallows. From ancient Egypt to campfire s’mores, the guys unpack the strange history behind one of the world’s sweetest treats, then accidentally pair it with the wrong bottle. H...

Rob and Mark pour their way back through 2025, from Ireland-only Redbreast and that Seahorse-in-a-perfume-bottle, to minty Dragon’s Milk, Fiesta Fest tequilas, Lucky Bastard single malt, and the Jack Daniels Heritage Barrel that vanished in record time. They swap stories about charity raffles stacked with Pappy and Blanton’s, South Dakota’s own Black Fork Farms, a surprise Scotch awakening with Mo...

Rob hangs out with Justin Hendrickson, the owner of Windsor Block Bar and a volunteer firefighter who somehow balances whiskey, community events and a whole lot of chaos. They crack open Wild Turkey Triumph rye, dig into the wild Nemo Volunteer Fire Department bourbon raffle packed with Pappy 20, Blanton’s sets, vintage Turkey, Jack gift boxes and a pile of other unicorn bottles, and talk about ho...

Whiskey@Work hits pause on age statements and barrel talk and zooms in on the exact second whiskey is born. Rob and Mark dig into heads, hearts, and tails, how craft distillers make those tiny, risky cuts by taste and smell, and why big column stills handle it a whole different way. Then they crack open Woodinville Founders Find, a distillery-only blend of twelve year Tennessee whiskey and fifteen...

Mark and Rob fall down a kangaroo rabbit hole after spotting the boxing 'roo on a bottle of Larrikin Bourbon. From jellybean-sized joeys and deadly kicks to phantom kangaroo sightings in places that definitely are not Australia, this one hops all over the map before landing back in Kentucky. The guys share their first impressions of Larrikin’s 8-year bottled in bond bourbon, unpack the Aussie slan...

In this Whiskey@Work pour, Rob and Mark finally crack open Blanton’s after more than 260 episodes and give it the spotlight it probably knew it deserved all along. They get into the life of Albert Bacon Blanton, the Kentucky colonel who climbed from teenage distillery worker to the guy steering Buffalo Trace through prohibition, the Depression, floods and war. The guys talk warehouse H, single bar...

Rob and Mark crack open Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Heritage Barrel Toasted Barrel and dive into what makes a barrel toasted vs. charred, from Roman casks and medieval coopers to the alligator char and modern finishing moves. Michter’s, Elijah Craig, Woodford, Westland, and St. Augustine all make cameos while the guys geek out on hemicellulose, lignin, and the sweet “mouth-hug” results: creamy van...

The hunt is over. After five years of chasing down a bottle, Mark and Rob finally crack open Dragon’s Milk Bottled in Bond, a bourbon born from one of the most legendary barrel aged stouts in craft beer. From Michigan brewers to whiskey makers, New Holland Brewing’s journey sparks a wild conversation that drifts from cinnamon spiced tasting notes to ancient dragon myths and movie nostalgia. It’s a...