The barrel is where the magic happens and it takes years for your whiskey to achieve it’s optimal flavor. Most of us are familiar with the standard american white oak barrel with a char 4. Yet, there are hundreds, if not, thousands of combinations that go into creating a barrel from the wood species, stave seasoning, char, toasting and how it ages based on location in a geography or a floor in a warehouse. There’s one guy that does all this research and that’s Andrew Wiehebrink from Independent Stave. This is his third time on the show and this time he brings different aging experiments for us to taste through. We taste the same whiskey from different levels of a warehouse and even the same american single malt aged in texas and scotland. We also dive into the state of the barrel shortage, our shared distain of amburana, the shift to char 1, and what new innovations are coming from the barrel and oak alternative market.

Show Notes:

• Above the Char with Fred Minnick (@fredminnick) talks about will today’s bottles be a new dusty.
• Talk about what stave seasoning does for the whiskey
• Why does Kentucky have more extraction than Texas?
• What does elevation from levels on a warehouse do to the aging process?
• How often do you revisit experiments?
• Does the mashbill make a difference to your experiments?
• Would American Single Malt make more sense to use new vs used barrels?
• What did the location differences for American Single Malt experiments make?
• Has the barrel shortage been resolved?
• Do you research the human element and what consumers are looking for in taste?
• What do you think of Amburana and exotic wood species?
• How are you smoking barrels?
• Why is Char 1 creating a darker whiskey and are there diminishing returns?
• Does pot vs column still play a role?
• Where are oak alternatives heading?
• How do you design a barrel correctly for double oaking?
• Support this podcast on Patreon

Most of us scoff at celebrity whiskey because let’s be honest, most celebrities don’t care as much about the product as they do sales. But on a past whiskey quickie we reviewed Whiskey JYPSI and that one changed our mind. It wasn’t until we started diving into it that we discovered Ari Sussman. He’s a whiskey maker for many brands like Whiskey JYPSI, Three Chord, and Mammoth Distilling, but his history with spirits will fascinate you. He’s truly a student of the art where he spent years overseas bartending, discovered vintage cocktail books, and was an integral part of the first ever university distilling program at Michigan State. We talk to Ari about his past and then dive into the Whiskey JYPSI brand and how Eric Church and himself are trying to change the face of celebrity booze.

Show Notes:

• Above the Char with Fred Minnick (@fredminnick) talks about finding better bourbon in the Netherlands.
• How did you get to this point in your career?
• What old school cocktails and liqueurs fascinated you?
• Were you trying to use the University of Michigan distilling program to innovate new things?
• Can you talk about blending 50ml bottles?
• What brands did you help build?
• Why would a company want to ghost blend?
• How did you get hooked up with Whiskey JYPSI?
• Why is this celebrity brand different than others?
• How have you added in Canadian whiskey and light whiskey into a blend?
• What do you feel is more innovative in world whiskey that’s not happening in American whiskey?
• Why are you trying to be different in this celebrity world?
• Why JYPSI?
• Support this podcast on Patreon

We’re back with Bourbon Community Roundtable #94 and this one takes a single subject but it spins off into another. 2024 has seen the decline in whiskey sales and 2025 forecasts don’t look much better. So have we finally eclipsed the peak of bourbon? A few years ago, there was a flourishing secondary market, droves of new people getting into the hobby, more options on the shelf, and massive expansions from all the big player. We’ve talked about this being a side-effect of the COVID boom but we also saw american whiskey get into more gimmicks and inflated prices. But we all still need the category to grow, so what’s it going to take to reinvigorate more people to get into bourbon?

Show Notes:

• Above the Char with Fred Minnick (@fredminnick) talks about documentaries on other spirits.
• Have we eclipsed the bourbon peak?
• What can be done to make it just as popular again?
• Support this podcast on Patreon

(more…)

Many of us make pivots in our career. I had my own where I had really was focused on networking in tech early on but then after I did my first presentation to a room of 500 people, I discovered I really liked it and found a new role in technical marketing. Our guest has a similar story where he wanted to get into distilling, made a successful gin brand then tried to build a whiskey brand, but realized how hard it was and thought, how can I get more people to try our products? And that’s how Whiskey Riot was born. Bobby Finan is the Founder and Organizer of Whiskey Riot Festivals across the country and we get into his past of getting into the distilling business and how he took on personal debt to hold his position at his first company and launch Whiskey Riot simultaneously. Now Whiskey Riot is expanding to more cities so if you’re looking for a new event to attend, put this one on your list.

Show Notes:

• Above the Char with Fred Minnick (@fredminnick) talks about distilleries creating music halls.
• Before there was a festival, you had your own brand and forged your way into spirits early on.
• When you wanted to start a distillery did you have a business plan?
• What was it about your Tommy Rotter gin that really took off?
• Why didn’t your whiskey business ever take off?
• Did you think you could make people come to you instead of going out to stores?
• How were you funding Whiskey Riot?
• What was your return on investment for a typical event?
• How do you evaluate a city for a new festival?
• Why would a legacy brand vs a new brand want to go to whiskey fest?
• Support this podcast on Patreon

If you can recall your childhood, you probably remember your Dad being there but you may never have appreciated the life lessons you were taught until you got much older. And when you have kids, maybe that’s the reason you start drinking bourbon. Both of these are reasons our guest today decided to call his brand Fathertime Bourbon. Jim Gaffigan needs no introduction because we’ve all laughed at his jokes throughout the years. Family life is a facet of his standup, and food obviously, but Jim loves to say the things we’re all thinking and it’s what has made him so successful in his comedic career. Jim Gaffigan joins the show to talk about how he made the switch from beer to bourbon and what drew him in to becoming a bourbon connoisseur or as he likes to call it, a professional alcoholic. From there we dive into his new brand of Fathertime Bourbon and what it meant to incorporate generations of his family and his comedic focus into the story and design.

Show Notes:

• Above the Char with Fred Minnick (@fredminnick) talks about proofing whiskey and adding water at home.
• Can you recall a good college story with Stu Pollard?
• What made you want to go down the path of being a professional alcoholic?
• Did you find any correlation between picking barrels and your comedic routines?
• Did you have the natural progression from mixing to neat?
• Did you try and buy the rarest stuff right away or look for everyday items?
• How is bourbon perceived in your circles?
• Were there anything obvious or strange about bourbon that you discovered?
• Are you finding yourself traveling to whiskey bars now?
• How involved were you with the bottle design?
• What tips do you have for signing bottles and not letting your hands get tired?
• How did you script the social media launch for the brand?
• What easter eggs did you hide in the label?
• Is there a statement or impact you want to make with this brand?
• Support this podcast on Patreon

We’ve had the very cool opportunity to have lots of famous names on this show, and today we get to hear the story of another brand that has been in bourbon for a very long time. In fact, in this episode you get a chance to hear from someone who’s family once owned the Old Grandad label. Turner Wathen has a deep family lineage rooted in bourbon, and that originally piqued my interest because I used to own a bottle of Wathen’s bourbon. Turner dives deep into his family history and how when he wanted to get into the whiskey business, he couldn’t even use his family name. Turner shares his wild decision in 2014 by analyzing the whiskey market and feeling there is too much saturation so he dove into rum. But not just any rum, but he set himself on a mission to become the upmost recognizable independent bottler of amazing, high age stated rum, that is now Rolling Fork Spirits

Show Notes:

• Above the Char with Fred Minnick (@fredminnick) talks about NDPs and bottled in bond.
• Can you give a background into how you found out your name was famous in bourbon?
• At what point did you decide to revive the family legacy?
• Are you still balancing your day job with all this?
• When did you decide that bourbon was crowded and looked at other spirits?
• Why is sorghum a bad grain to use?
• How important is it to find rum with no additives and why is that important?
• Was Fortuitous Union a mistake or the on purpose?
• Why was there a legal battle for Fortuitous Union?
• How much of an educational hurdle did you have to overcome?
• When did you switch from the Fortuitous Union brand back to a rum focus?
• Any reason why you haven’t worked with any American rum producers?
• What is going on with all the rum taxes?
• Are we looking at the rare days of rum that would be equivalent to Van Winkle or early Jeffersons?
• Support this podcast on Patreon

It’s Bourbon Community Roundtable #93 and this time we’re talking about vintage labels. We’ve seen a resurgence of them over the past few years and there are more coming out from big distillers and smaller lesser known brands. I wanted to ask if there is any value in doing this before focusing on something more modern. There is a feeling of nostalgia but it also made me think about movie reboots and if all the good ideas are taken.

Show Notes:

• Above the Char with Fred Minnick (@fredminnick) talks about used barrels with rye whiskey.
• What value is there in reviving old labels?
• NDPs or small craft producers taking something from a family lineage
• NDP or craft just to have a story
• azerac doing the Pre-Pro bottle labels
• Big names like Beam now doing 16yr OGD
• Support this podcast on Patreon

(more…)

This is a question that has plagued me for quite some time and it was inspired by my wife. Ryan and I continuously evaluate brands as we compare what works and what doesn’t when it comes to consumers. We get caught in this trap of continually pivoting as we see other brands catch fire because of a bottle design or some element. So my wife asked me, Kenny, are you are whiskey company or a marketing company? It caught me off guard and I really had to think about the broader landscape so I wanted to make an episode where we talk about what it takes to be a whiskey company versus a marketing company. There’s probably a lot of brands out there that think of themselves as a whiskey company but in reality they are a marketing company. Here’s the thing, there’s no wrong answer. Marketing plays a crucial role in whiskey and it could be the marketing that’s in your face through point of sale, it could be bottle shapes, or even the lack of marketing to keep the mystique alive. I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation and it probably requires us to hit this topic again in the future if you send us your feedback.

Show Notes:

• Above the Char with Fred Minnick (@fredminnick) talks about Maker’s Mark and their role in bourbon resurgence.
• Where do you spend your first initial investment?
• Does the liquid even matter?
• Does having special distillation, heirloom grains, or anything else really matter?
• Can a big distiller be considered a marketing company?
• When a big distiller creates the same label with different colors and proofs, is that about the whiskey?
• How do you transition from being a marketing company to a whiskey company?
• Does it matter if you’re getting it from one source like everyone else?
• Do you need to cater to the neophytes or the mass consumer market?
• If Fred Minnick starts a brand would you put your money in marketing or the whiskey?
• Can you be a whiskey company if you are using MGP?
• Is a lack of marketing considered marketing?
• Support this podcast on Patreon

Whenever you get into a hobby that involved enthusiasts and collecting, there are trends that begin to appear. Allocations, raffles, lotteries, fakes, these are things that become common. One of those hobbies that has quite a few parallels is sneakers. Matt Kusek is a certified whiskey enthusiasts as a write for Malt Review but he’s also the host of the Swoosh Life podcast that focuses on sneaker heads. He joins the show to give us an insight into how the shoe game and bourbon have so many similarities that, in Matt’s words, sneakers are 20 years ahead of bourbon. We dive into the types of collectors, brands, sales, allocation, and so much more. If sneakers are really 20 years ahead of bourbon, who knows what the next few years has in store for us.

Show Notes:

• Above the Char with Fred Minnick (@fredminnick) talks about Buffalo Trace expansion.
• What’s the similarity between Jordan’s and bourbon releases?
• Are there raffles, lotteries, or hunts for sneakers?
• Who is the distributor and how do they own the retail store?
• If Nike is number one, who would they be compared to and who’s the next biggest?
• Mom and pop stores vs chains and how are they getting pushed out of the market?
• What about saving and storing vs wearing or drinking?
• Is it Jordan and then everyone else?
• What is the Heaven Hill or Weller of sneakers?
• Are there people that only collect one type of shoe?
• Bourbon hits all walks of life or does the sneaker enthusiasts hit all walks of life?
• Are there sneakers that don’t need marketing?
• Do you look differently at people who are rookies and buy stuff just because they want every color?
• Are there any value brands that hold up over time?
• Are there some LTOs that flop?
• Are replicas or fakes a big problem?
• Has the market gone down because everything became a limited edition?
• Was Blue Run able to sneakerize the industry in your opinion?
• @mattkusek
• Support this podcast on Patreon

You hear us talk about dusty bourbon on the show too often. We keep beating that dead horse because it’s a chance to drink history and have a completely different whiskey than what’s in the bottle today. Vintage spirits are on the rise and have gone from an underground enthusiast crowd into the mainstream. Aaron Goldfarb is a distinguished author and he joins the show to talk about his new book titled Dusty Booze. This books has a storyline with finding a dusty goldmine but goes into the story of decanters, minis, and the hunt for rare bottles. It’s now available on Amazon and lots of different outlets.

Show Notes:

• Above the Char with Fred Minnick (@fredminnick) talks about bourbon with malted barely with the highest secondary grain.
• What made you want to write a book on vintage whiskey?
• What were some of those iconic decanters that were made?
• What was the story you saw form out of the glut era?
• Did you ever talk to store owners and ask why they would sit on inventory for this long?
• Why did decanters become so popular or unpopular?
• What makes a dusty spirit different from today’s current releases?
• Did anyone come up with a better term other than dusty funk?
• Why was there a bigger market for minis back in the day?
• Talk about the storyline and how Kevin came across this goldmine and any legal implications.
• How many bar owners did you talk to about running a business on vintage spirits?
• What do you think has to be considered vintage?
• Was there any information in the book that teaches you how to date code vintage whiskey?
• Is there a chance that any store is left with any dusty bottles?
• Do you need dusty cocktail ingredients?
• @aarongoldfarb
• Support this podcast on Patreon