It’s everyone’s monthly favorite, the bourbon community roundtable where we invite some of the brightest minds in bourbon media to come on and go deep on some topics. And up first is the story that keeps on giving. Earlier this year Sazerac came out of the gate putting a $38.6M lawsuit in front of Republic National Distributing Company (known as RNDC). Now here we are a few weeks later and we get RNDC’s response where they are countersuing for Sazerac’s attempts at undermining the three-tier system and claiming over $10M in damages. In the second half of the show we dig into the increase of counterfeit bourbon bottles on the market and these bottles aren’t even super rare. We’re talking Four Roses Single Barrels and Weller Full Proof. Should distilleries step up and have more tamper-proof seals or is this a buyer beware type of situation? We’ve said it a million times on the show before, if you want to help combat the spread of these fakes, throw away your bottles by putting sharpie on the label or even go as far as breaking them. Don’t be that person selling empties on eBay.

Show Notes:

• Above the Char with Fred Minnick (@fredminnick) talks about single barrel programs.
• What impact will the Sazerac/RNDC lawsuit have on the bourbon industry?
• When will we see more anti-counterfeit seals?
• Who is responsible for preventing counterfeits?
• @breakingbourbon @fredminnick @drinkseelbachs @bourbonr @sippncorn
• Support this podcast on Patreon

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If you’ve listened to our show long enough you would know that it’s Kenny versus Fred and Ryan when it comes to coffee. Kenny isn’t not much of a coffee drinker but those guys can’t live without. But I’m sure there are lots of other coffee and bourbon drinkers out there and you see things like “barrel aged” coffee and immediately gravitate towards it. I mean, how could you not? We should be barrel-aging everything! But there are more correlations between coffee and bourbon that I never knew of so that’s why we invited Brian Beyke on the show. He’s the Director of Coffee for Quills in Louisville and has been all-in on coffee and bourbon for a long time. In this episode, we scratch an itch to ask all the questions about coffee that we’ve always wanted to know such as the difference in beans from small versus large scale producers, the “rare” coffee scene, buzzwords to watch out for, and Brian gives us the low-down if barrel-aging is a gimmick.

Show Notes:

• Above the Char with Fred Minnick (@fredminnick) talks about palette fatigue.
• How did you find your path into coffee?
• Do you need to spit coffee while tasting?
• What notes in coffee are you looking for when tasting?
• Is there a three-tier system with coffee?
• What’s the difference in the beans that you get versus the big name brands?
• Is there a “rare” coffee scene?
• What are the buzzwords in coffee that you need to watch out for?
• If bourbon is synonymous to Kentucky then what is the coffee equivalent?
• What’s the professional consensus of Keurig?
• Does roasting line up with toasting or charring of barrels?
• What’s best method for barrel-aging coffee?
• How do you adapt the coffee for a cold brew or nitro?
• Is there a secondary market for rare coffee?
• Is the coffee flavor wheel different than the bourbon flavor wheel?
• @abandoncoffee @abandonbourbon
• Support this podcast on Patreon

Bourbon’s rise in popularity has been a monumental shift in consumer behavior, but the reality is that it could all come crashing down really quick. Ryan, Fred, and Kenny spend some time on this episode and think about what are those threats to bourbon? We all have ideas on why it became so popular but what are those outside influences that we have no control over? Fred gives a brief history on the bourbon glut era and that starts spurring other ideas that could hurt bourbon’s popularity such as overzealous health advocates, new spirits on the rise, government taxes, or the next generation of consumers?

Show Notes:

• Above the Char with Fred Minnick (@fredminnick) talks about heritage brands.
• Is there an issue with grains, raw material, and barrel shortages?
• How has the lack of staffing in the service industry impacted bourbon?
• What caused the first glut and what can we do to prevent that?
• Did tariffs make an impact on bourbon or was it not really hindered?
• Are health reports becoming a scare tactic to reduce alcohol consumption?
• Is there any spirits that could be the next rise of vodka and kill whiskey?
• Could taxes be a big burden on stifling bourbon?
• Could the next generation just not like bourbon and kill it off?
• What happens if bourbon producers have too much greed or there is consumer fatigue?
• Support this podcast on Patreon

The stock market and the bourbon market share one thing in common. They are both impossible to time. If you get in at the right time, maybe you don’t have to wait tens of years to make a return on your investment, but if you’re too late then you could see a decline. However, in bourbon, there seems to be one person that has time working in his favor, and that’s Dixon Dedman. We invite Dixon to come on the show for a third appearance to talk about a few things because it seems like his timing is always perfect. He sold Kentucky Owl to Stoli after being on the market a short period of time, but now that he is officially done with Kentucky Owl we ask him about how he feels and what he learned through the process. After leaving Stoli, he worked with The Brindiamo Group, who we also had on the podcast back on episode 182, and he worked for them for a short period of time where he got an inside glimpse into brand and investment consulting. And now, he’s launching his own brand called 2XO which is perfect in this current climate when bourbon is hot and double barreling might be even hotter.

Show Notes:

• Above the Char with Fred Minnick (@fredminnick) talks about rubbing whiskey on your hands to nose.
• Are you still making fried chicken on the weekends?
• Do you have any regrets after selling Kentucky Owl to Stoli?
• What did you take away and learn from working with Stoli?
• How did your relationship with Brindiamo begin?
• How many barrels are there on the open market where people are flipping them?
• What profiles or types of bourbon do you like to work with?
• Is 2XO and Kentucky Owl going to be similar or different?
• Is there a healthy pipeline of barrels to continue building the brand?
• @dixon_dedman
• Support this podcast on Patreon

This episode is another Bourbon Pursuit milestone. It’s episode 400! Well, it’s technically number 668 if we include Whiskey Quickie and This Week in Bourbon, but let’s not get into the details. On this Bourbon Community Roundtable we cover two topics in depth. First is the news blitz of the whiskey fungus articles focused on Jack Daniel’s. If you’ve driven past any distillery in the past 100 or so year, you would have seen this everywhere. It also pops up in the news every year, but why is it just now making national headlines? I also ask the group if there is anything the distilleries can do to get in front of this to avoid any negative PR. The second half of the show dives into House Bill 5 that attacks the Kentucky Ad Valorem tax, in which Kentucky is the only state that taxes barrels aging and resting. We look at what this means for citizens that benefit from the tax and if we feel distilleries are already taxed enough.

Show Notes:

• Above the Char with Fred Minnick (@fredminnick) talks about teeth staining.
• Why is the whiskey fungus just now making national news even though it’s been around for years?
• What can distilleries do to make sure this argument of bad PR doesn’t happen next year?
• What could the distilleries provide to residents to make them more comfortable?
• What do you think of the Ad Valorem tax on aging barrels?
• What would the removal of the tax mean for citizens?
• @breakingbourbon @fredminnick @drinkseelbachs @bourbonr @sippncorn
• Support this podcast on Patreon

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Love it or hate it, spirit competitions are here to stay. They have such an important impact on marketing and can put a small shimmer of light on a new and upcoming brand, or it changes the course and turns a brand such as Henry McKenna into an unobtainable. In this episode, Fred Minnick and Kenny Coleman talk about multiple facets of spirits competitions because we have now lived it. We’re both enthusiasts like you so we care what bourbons come out on top, Fred has been a judge forever and now has his own competition called the ASCOTs, and we have our own brand with Pursuit United that has been entered and done favorably in many competitions. Fred and I analyze all these angle about talk about the “pay to play” scenario and how people are selected to be judges along with the best way to enter a competition as a brand owner.

Show Notes:

• Above the Char with Fred Minnick (@fredminnick) talks about the meaning of allocation.
• Fred, how long have you been a part of spirit competitions?
• Why weren’t media members typically invited to be judges?
• Why is this considered “pay to play”?
• Why is there so much confusion based on what category to submit when it’s straight bourbon vs small batch?
• Why would a bourbon society enter a spirits competition?
• What makes someone worthy enough to be a judge at a competition?
• Should you put batch numbers on your competition entry or just the brand?
• Why does MGP always perform well in competitions?
• Support this podcast on Patreon

Most people get into bourbon because we enjoy it. There is a story behind every bottle and that captivates us. But then there are times we get our hands on a bottle and start thinking twice before opening it. The secondary market for scotch has been around a while but bourbon is relatively new in comparison. There has been an increase of rare bourbons hitting high dollars at auctions and even more auction houses are starting to become legal. In this episode, Ryan, Fred, and Kenny analyze the bourbon market and give our opinions on why whiskey isn’t just for drinking anymore. We also gaze into our crystal ball and try to guess on some brands that have potential future value and then we talk about moving on from flipping bottles to flipping barrels.

Show Notes:

• Is whiskey really made for drinking and not collecting?
• Why is the value of the current whiskey market starting to decline?
• Is there a lack of marketing to get people into more higher end bottles?
• What are we drinking now that could be valuable in the future?
• People have moved on from bottles to starting to own barrels, is that a safe investment?
• Do you need to worry about the source of the barrels if you’re buying on the open market?
• For real, this is not financial advice.
• Support this podcast on Patreon

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This is BCR #77 and its always a fan favorite so here’s what we have tonight. Like bad hair and skinny jeans, trends come and go. But the same thing happens in the bourbon world. I pose a question to the group, if we see any trends fading. We start talking about stickers and barrel picks, but there are more we see happening. In the next section of the show, I ask everyone if the in-store buying experience is changing. There have been a lot of partnerships and acquisitions by Drizly, GoPuff, ReserveBar, and even Seelbachs. Are online and on-demand outlets such as these making consumers less likely to try new things? In the last part of the show, it’s a question from Brian and he wants to know are there just too many bourbon festivals?

Show Notes:

• Above the Char with Fred Minnick (@fredminnick) cigars.
• What bourbon trends are fading?
• Will Drizly/GoPuff/Seelbachs/ReserveBar kill the in-store experience?
• How can brands get people to try new things when many people will choose what’s comfortable?
• Are there too many bourbon festivals? It seems like every festival is now BLANK + Bourbon.
• @breakingbourbon @fredminnick @drinkseelbachs @bourbonr @sippncorn
• Support this podcast on Patreon

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You listen to this show because you want to be a better educated bourbon consumer. Or maybe you just went off the deep-end and started buying too many bottles and now you’re on the hunt for the next great bottle. Either way, I’m glad you’re here. But there are all sorts of new opportunities that foster deeper knowledge with some of the premier distilleries in Kentucky, most notably, in Bardstown. Sam Lacy joins the show to talk about everything from the Bourbon Capital Community Alliance. It’s an initiative from the city of Bardstown to bring in-depth and tailored educational experiences to distilleries around Bardstown along with their brand new Brindiamo Penthouse that can provide a 101-level primer for people before they hit the distilleries.

Show Notes:

• Above the Char with Fred Minnick (@fredminnick) talks bottles as an investment
• How did you get into bourbon?
• Why was there an initiative to form an alliance?
• How many partner distilleries are a part of the alliance?
• Is the Bourbon Capital Guild a private bourbon society?
• What are the distilleries asking of the city to help promote bourbon tourism?
• Is the Bourbon Capital Academy a proprietary education course that anyone can take?
• What is the Brindiamo Penthouse?
• How often are the courses being offered at the partner distilleries?
• How much does a custom distillery course cost?
• @bourboncapitalguild @bourboncapitalacademy @brindiamogroup
• Support this podcast on Patreon

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It’s Bourbon Community Roundtable #76 and this is one I’m excited to talk about because as you’re well aware, building a brand requires choosing the right distribution partners. The big shake up of the past few weeks is that Sazerac is pulling out of Republic National Distributing Company in favor of smaller, more mid-tier, and beer focused distributors in around 30 different states. So, we want to ask the roundtable a few questions. First, what would motivate Sazerac to break up this long-standing relationship? If you are a distributor that got selected, what problems are you going to experience. And lastly, as a consumer are we going to see any change like finding Pappy on the shelf at MSRP. Spoiler alert… the answer is no. Since it’s the first roundtable of 2023, we all put in our predictions and see what the future holds for bourbon this year.

Show Notes:

• Above the Char with Fred Minnick (@fredminnick) talks about dry January.
• Sazerac is leaving RNDC. What does this mean for Sazerac?
• Sazerac goes with mid-tier distributors. How do distirbutors adapt and what happens to other brands?
• Does Sazerac leaving RNDC mean anything for the end consumer?
• What are your 2023 predictions?
• @breakingbourbon @fredminnick @drinkseelbachs @bourbonr @sippncorn
• Support this podcast on Patreon

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