Bourbon & Banter Podcast #36 – Welcome to the Hellidays

The 36^th episode of the Bourbon & Banter podcast – Welcome to the Hellidays – is now available for your listening and drinking pleasure. We’re here to help you through the ridiculousness of the holidays, or “hellidays” as may be more appropriate. That’s right, we all learn a new word in this episode!

Pops recaps St. Louis’ Whiskey in the Winter festival, sharing his thoughts on the tenth annual event that brings together over four hundred different expressions. He ponders the questions many have for these types of events, like why can’t brands have knowledgeable people pouring their products? Maybe it’s time to throw some innovation into these events as well, although we’re not sure Bob’s desire to throw whiskey at late-arriving patrons is the way to go.

The Bourbon & Banter Community continues to roll strong as we set up our new community platform on Discord because, like everyone else, we’ve had it with Facebook.

We’re looking at 2024 to have a renewed focus for our Bourbon & Banter Single Barrel Group, which recently selected excellent barrels while at Four Roses and Green River Distilleries. Both should be coming to our retail partner soon, so be on the lookout for those to drop.

The WHISKEY NEWS starts with two new experiences being launched by Pursuit Spirits in downtown Louisville. These look like great opportunities, even though Pops and Bob go back and forth on whether being OSHA-safe hinders enjoying those experiences.

Just in time for the holidays, we’ve found Blanton’s!…in book format. That’s right, you may not find the bottle, but you can grab a new book detailing everything to know about Warehouse H at Buffalo Trace, where the famous single barrel is aged. In a story that seems too disgusting to be true, Candy Cane Malort has set off a firestorm of controversy in Chicago, and US whiskey tariffs are about to hit strong in Europe, prompting a special plea to Santa Claus to take care of one more thing before closing out the year.

The NEW RELEASES spotlight kicks off with Old Forrester wanting to put Scotch in your bourbon, much to Bob’s dismay. Other new releases are headed to us from Chattanooga Whiskey, Heaven Hill, Puncher’s Chance, and Milam & Greene.

Pops then brings us news about our Bourbon & Banter F.U.C.K.S. team (forensic under-cover knowledge seekers) discovering that despite sinking, the next release from Jefferson’s Bourbon isn’t lost after all. A pro tip emerged from this story: carry a little bourbon when diving with sharks.

Bourbon & Banter’s cocktail editor Erin Petrey joins us for the second installment of Bourbon & Bangin’, a look at the dating scene the more bourbon-inclined. This month Erin brings us a warning to those of you who may be looking to find a holiday hookup and shares why Rock Hill Farms isn’t something that she’s seeking out again any time soon.

We close the episode with the most honest segment in all of bourbon podcasting…BOURBON BULLSHIT. Pops returns to his experiences at Whiskey in the Winter to focus more on the brands who spend money to be there but then don’t show up…literally. In a year that we’re glad to see come to an end, there also weren’t any real home runs when thinking about new whiskey releases that are easily accessible to everybody. We close the segment by reminding everyone one thing about finished whiskey: if it were distilled properly in the first place, you wouldn’t have to go through all that.

As the most honest podcast in bourbon, we don’t pull any punches, and tell it as we see it. If you’ve been searching for a bourbon podcast that provides honest commentary, to-the-point information, and doesn’t take itself too seriously – welcome home!

Here’s the breakdown for Episode #36 – Welcome to the Hellidays.

·       17:46          Whiskey News

·       31:02          New Releases

·       48:10          Bourbon & Bangin’

·       1:00:00       Bourbon Bullshit

Are you ready? Pour yourself a drink, get comfortable, and listen to Episode 36 using the player above or via your favorite podcast player.

Warning: If you’re not comfortable with unapologetic, independent thinking, plus a healthy dose of swearing, you might want to skip this one folks. It’s recorded at barrel strength with full-throttle banter.

We sure hope you enjoyed Episode 36 of the official Bourbon & Banter podcast and that you’ll consider sharing it with your friends. We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below or by emailing us.

Have a great weekend and remember to stay safe while you’re spreading the bourbon gospel and learning to #drinkcurious.

Hey, wait a minute. You have listened to all our previous episodes, right? If not, head on over to our Bourbon & Banter Podcast page to get caught up.