Dan now has something in common with someone who also makes terrible whiskey: Garrison Brothers founder Dan Garrison who doesn’t like rye in his mash bill. Dan you have what is widely known as an intolerant palate, which isn’t a crime. But it is extremely limiting in allowing someone to find range of flavors pleasurable. Which makes u a limited taster, pundit, and user. Thank you Dan. U never fail to show up.

Informative podcast guys. Insightful to hear about specifics of the distillations and adjustments and how you bring forward certain characteristics. Would be interesting to know how your barrels age in the grain silo compared to the main pole barn. You also touched on Wilderness Trail, and I am a big fan of theirs particularly their rye. Campari needs to do more with them...same product's have been on the shelf for years now and its time for age stated whiskies like an 8 year or higher. They are, what, a top 10 in production now? Its time for older Wilderness Trail.

Super surprised by that single Barrel. Dan, it was an absolute pleasure talking with you about this product and how you this barrel got released. I’ll be picking mine up soon!

Sadly enough we won’t see it turn into cheap older whiskey they will put it into cheap flavored fireball and apple and peanut butter junk

Some whiskies, more than others, benefit from resting after the first pour or two. My most recent example is Bruichladdich 18 yo. I found it flat when I first bought last December, so I let the bottle sit 9 months, and now I find it very aromatic and flavorful, a powerhouse of a single malt.

Great conversation guys, just the type of focused discussion that is informative and thought provoking to listen to. I'm familiar with one of the reports you reference from industry analysts, and what's amazing is that even with continued growth in demand, there will still be oversupply in a few years. And I think that doesn't factor in relatively large new distilleries that started production recently, e.g. Western Kentucky Distilling, or still under construction, e.g. Whiskey House of Kentucky and Potter Jane, many of which will be contract distillers. Clearly the industry is still bullish on demand. Not sure exactly what Dan does now at Whiskey Acres, but I think craft distillers are going to have an uphill battle. For example, I have probably 8 bottles of Whiskey Acres right now, Blue Popcorn, Bloody Butcher, BIB, BIB Rye, Cask Strength Reserve, Tokai finish rye, etc., so I don't need any more Whiskey Acres bottles in my collection. I was very willing to try a lot of craft whiskeys when they came of age at 4 Yo, but if I experienced them to be subpar, there is no-rebuy opportunity. In the case of Whiskey Acres, I do like the product, but don't need any more. Maybe when you have a 10-12 year old product that is considerably more oaky and complex, I might be a buyer, but we're a ways off. Same with other craft producers. And if you read and listen to other bourbon enthusiasts, there is a negative view point of "crafty tasting" whiskey. With the big distillers reintroducing age stated whiskeys, and their whiskeys getting older in general, they are going to outcompete craft distillers on taste and price. It will be fascinating to experience the next few years, and I, like many others I imagine, am getting really picky about what I buy. Cheers and I'll look out for you guys next time I stop at GE.

Interesting discussion guys. If you do a follow up piece on this, a few things I would be interested in (from a longstanding whiskey guy)...(1) changing market dynamics, I've talked to several distributors who say the market growth has flattened and customers are going down price in what they're willing to buy, (2) customers who only come in looking for allocated whiskey, and what that disruption is like from your perspective, and (3) what the new whiskey customers are like, because unlike folks like me who learned about whiskey by starting with the name brand shelf products and working upward, the newbies seem to just be going directly to expensive hard to get allocated products (driven by the fear of missing out). Thanks!

Listening to the podcast but figured I'd comment here. First off, I don't think grain to glass is a selling point. If your whiskey is good, it will sell. Craft bourbon outside Kentucky or Indiana has a big struggle to succeed. Most craft bourbon tastes crafty, which is to say not great. Dan is salty and a bit arrogant but what is new about that. His disrespect for a family owned brand is not surprising. The real difference between a craft distillery and one of the big six is the big six figured out how to keep making a quality product at a high volume. Down play the difficulty of making millions of bottles that keep the same taste profile but facts are that is the most difficult part.

Nice list. I would add Hard Truth to most improved. 3-4 years ago, at least for me, it was just another bottle on the shelf, but after the masterclass, I now look forward to trying new releases from them.

Hey Dan, where’s our media sample? lol!!! Looking forward to the masterclass.

Great ep. My two favorites at the tasting were the Malted Rye and the Four Grain. Looking forward to when the four grain comes to IL.

Promo_SM 👇

Hooray Matt! Thanks for everything you’ve done to organize LCWC. Our Maker’s pick ended up at: 1x Baked American Pure 3x Seared French Cuvée 0x Maker’s 46 3x Roasted French Mendiant 3x Toasted French Spice Can’t wait for it to land

Lmao, BHAKTA is available at Binnys! Largest liquor store chain in Illinois 😂😂

American single malt is the new craze

Packers taking Dallas to the wood shed 😳

Illinois weather has hit !

I’m impressed with the care you handled wild turkey with. You gave the distillery much respect for guys who haven’t delve too deep into their expressions. Cheers to that and u!!

Wild turkey has only 1 bourbon mash bill as well.

Dan strikes again…. “I do not like Buffalo trace flavor profile”

I think Weller is an example of where they introduced labels not to create artificial scarcity, but to shift extreme demand to products that are easier for them to produce. Back when there were three Weller labels, 12 Year was bottle being chased far more than Antique 107 (despite 107 being a better drinker in my opinion). Weller 12 takes nearly twice as long to produce than Special Reserve or Antique 107. They already didn't have enough of it before they started adding labels. Full Proof (then CYPB and Single Barrel) allowed them to simultaneously create new releases that stole the show from Weller 12, but which they can also produce in half the time.

The Hard Truth Harvest rye definitely had that dulce de leche nose. Very carmelized sweetened condensed milk if Dan doesn’t like that word lol😂. Good picks! The gold eagle peerless was one that blew me away and impressed me the most, though I was very hesitant given the notes/description and price point. Glad I gave it a chance! Love the scotch features and looking forward to more scotch matters as well. And please have Roberto on more! Fun add for sure 👍 Happy New Year guys!! Cheers to more fun episodes, pours and laughs 😊

JD triple mash is my favorite of the 3

I think this may be Raj Bhakta you will have??

Here's my guess: You guys are getting Eddie and Jimmy Russell for the upcoming Wild Turkey episode.

So do we get to be judges for the blend off?

Big fan of the Knob Creek line, especially Single Barrel, 12 year, and 18 year (just got to try this one at Gold Eagle's bar).

California gets all of the Benchmark varieties. Saw them all on the shelf at a Total Wine.

And as far as rules go for the blending challenge (suggestions here): no finished whiskies (includes double Oaked), no bottle blended in can exceed $80, if the blend is proofed down, include how much water is added). Just thoughts. Sounds fun! If you want listeners to opt to blend one and send it in or taste at gold eagle blind (😉) that would be fun too

Great idea on the blended whiskey idea! I’d love to do a masts class at Gold Eagle on blending. John Campbell led class on blending a possibility??

Whiskey acres should only grow blue popcorn,!

I love visiting Whiskey Acres !

Will whiskey acres blue popcorn hit Illinois stores or distillery only?

I actually did the tour at Rush Creek, what I liked about them was we got to try their White Dog while on the tour

👏 'promo sm'

That’s why I drink whiskey acres rye bottle and bond daily!

Fun episode! Couple of would you rather questions: Would you rather get a dusty bottle dusty rich with history, or a highly reviewed (positively) allocated bottle for the theoretical same price? Would you rather have only a finished bourbon or a finished rye? Would you rather have only low proof, high aged bourbon or only high proof, sub 6 year aged bourbon? Cheers guys!

Fun episode! Couple of would you rather questions: Would you rather get a dusty bottle dusty rich with history, or a highly reviewed (positively) allocated bottle for the theoretical same price? Would you rather have only a finished bourbon or a finished rye? Would you rather have only low proof, high aged bourbon or only high proof, sub 6 year aged bourbon? Cheers guys!

Drew

I will be interested to see what happens the day Buffalo Trace catches up with demand for their products, and if it will actually kill demand. If scarcity is one of the drivers of hype, then it seems natural that at least some of the hype (and therefore some of the demand driven by hype) will fade when scarcity is no longer a problem. Look at beer. Bourbon County used to be something you were excited to stand in line for once a year. Now that they're making so much more of it, there's little urgency to buy it on any given trip to the store, let alone on Black Friday - many variants are available nearly year round, you can find it on tap even in airports, and there are many other breweries producing quality barrel aged stouts that get more seriously considered (and on a more reasoned, logical basis) with Bourbon County hype exiting the picture. It seems like there might be some parallels in there for allocated bourbon. Sazerac isn't dumb... quite the opposite, they're marketing geniuses. The new Daniel Weller is essentially an experimental wheat. If it was bottled as Buffalo Trace Experimental Collection (as previous bourbons using different wheat varieties have been) instead of under a new Weller label, it wouldn't command half the MSRP they're asking, nor the $2k+ it's fetching on secondary. They know the value of scarcity, exclusivity, and hype and they know how to play those cards, so I'd be curious to understand what's going through their heads throughout this expansion and what the end game will ultimately be. The Willett 8 Year Wheated is Willett's own distillate. Essentially all the Willett Family Estate single barrel bourbons currently being released with age statements under 11 years are their own distillate too. I don't recall the current maximum age of their rye distillate. Releases of sourced stocks have gotten quite rare since their own distillate has come of age. I believe it was always intended to be a bridge to getting their own operation underway, so I don't think they have nearly the inventory of sourced product from Heaven Hill, Brown-Forman, and others like they had in the past. Other bottlings like Johnny Drum, Rowan's Creek, Pure Kentucky, etc. have also changed over to pure Willett distillate in the past few years. The bottle will either say it is distilled, aged, and bottled by Willett (in which case it's their own distillate) or it will say distilled in Kentucky, bottled by Willett/Rowan's Creek/etc. (in which case it's sourced if it's a single barrel... or in the case of batched whiskey, either sourced or possibly a blend of Willett and non-Willett distillate).

Great episode boys! Liked the in-store experience.

I appreciate what Colonel Taylor did for the industry. The bourbon is really good…opened my mind to bourbon and found that slippery rabbit hole slope. What the bottle represents is what makes it such a high in demand, tater bottle. It stands out higher with the tube too on shelves so it sets itself up for an eye catcher too. I think it’s genius. The whiskey did lose in blinds a few times but it’s still good. Just overhyped and over hunted. Buffalo trace marketing and business strategies are super smart though. Seems like they have the pulse on demands and keeping it just rare enough. We all were taters once 😂. Hopefully learned by now. Cheers guys. Fun podcast 😊

I have like 5 EH Taylor tubes you can have to put wild turkey 101 in - lol

Waiting for the whiskey acres blue popcorn release!!

Went to a tasting with the distillery rep. Tasted Fox Oden straight bourbon and double oak, and Magnus regular and cigar cut bourbon. Also the Coppercraft rye. He talked about the pumpernickel rye actually providing more sweetness and rounder flavor because of the additional starches. The double oak was fantastic!

Old elk is over priced !! Whiskey Acres is a better juice !!

I’m with Dan, wont support anything a Pritzker is involved in !!!

Jim Beam white label is the worst spirit on earth…..

Found north is amazing !! Batch #6 second summit is a BTAC killer !!

i was the first to like this video…. That’s worth a guaranteed shot at buying a bottle of WA blue popcorn this winter !!!