Bourbon Pursuit

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Latest Episodes:

084 - How A Psychologist Became a Sensory Scientist at Woodford Reserve with Elizabeth McCall, Master Taster Feb 02, 2017

Show notes

Elizabeth McCall, Sensory Scientist and Master Taster, Brown-Forman, joins the show to share what happens behind the white curtain and how people with a psychologist degree are recruited into bourbon.

Show Notes:

Talk about your past, growing up and your education
What got you into brown spirits
Did you have family influences or connections to the spirits industry?
So I have to be honest, we have done the rounds with Master Distillers and they always give credit to people like you, but lets get an idea of your day to day responsibilities
What else happens in the lab? we need to give our listeners an idea of what’s happening behind the curtain so-to-speak
So why psychologists for being sensory scientists? go deeper there
What’s the most important sense when it comes to making a product consistent?
What does catching a cold have on the influence of the bourbon your doing that day? or do you have an addiction to Afrin nasal decongestant?
What sort of training goes into becoming a master taster?
From Matt Fisher on Facebook: Super nerdy and specific. With most bourbon drinkers using Glencairn glasses at home, why does the distillery use Copita Nosing glasses vs the Glencairn? Looking for an expert opinion of why they use the Copita.
I watched part of your presentation of change and you gave a good explanation of why people mix their bourbon with coke, explain that
Talk about your other passion of horses

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083 - The Importance of Shopping Small and Barrel Pick Popularity at Cork N Bottle with Ed Bley, Spirits and Beer Manager Jan 27, 2017

Show notes

Ed Bley, Spirits and Beer Manager at Cork ’N Bottle, joins the show to talk about their historic past with bourbon, the importance of shopping small, and his process of doing barrel picks

Show Notes:

Dive into your past and some history to what led you into bourbon
What’s the history of Cork N’ Bottle?
Talk about how you deal with allocated releases
What’s the importance to shop small and local?
What’s your process for barrel picks?
Anything special coming up?

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082 - Ending Old Scout Picks, More Age Statement Losses, and The Most Obtainable Barrel Proof on Bourbon Community Roundtable #5 Jan 19, 2017

Show notes

The Bourbon Community Roundtable #5 dicusses the theories behind Old Scout, 2017 Predictions and Easily Obtainable Barrel Proof Choices.

Show Notes:

Joined by Blake of bourbonr.com, Jordan of breakingbourbon.com, and Kerry of subourbia.com
So Smooth Ambler has discontinued their barrel program, which means no more private picks of SAOS. Thoughts?
2017 Predictions. What's going to happen?
Are there any companies that will be bought up in 2017?
Are we going to see more bottles lose age statements?
Is there a consensus favorite among the more easily "obtainable" high proof? Stagg Jr, ECBP, EH Taylor BP

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081 - Four Roses Continues Expansion with Ryan Ashley, COO and Director of Distillery Operations Jan 13, 2017

Show notes

Ryan Ashley, COO and Director of Distillery Operations, talks about how his history of beer brewing led him to distillation, the Four Roses brand, distillery expansion, and even hints at a possible Four Roses Rye.

Show Notes:

Today's Guest co-host is Linden Ferguson
Talk about your past. Where did you grow up and your education, family influence, all that
You’ve been known to be a big beer guy.
What got you into bourbon?
Talk about your job for a few minutes and your responsibilities
So before we get into it, I think this is a good time to re-introduce Four Roses to people. So talk about the uniqueness of four roses with the two yeast strains, 10 recipes, warehouses, etc
This big news is that Four Roses is investing $55 Million into expanding operations. And we have all been in remodeling projects so we know that you need to budget 15%, so we’ll say 63million. talk about that
From Michael Leeper on Facebook, What kind of issues do you struggle with as you scale up distillation?, "How do you ensure raw ingredients are available to meet your need (from grain, to glass, to packaging and ultimately labor)", "Is there a limit to how big you can grow within the Bourbon region?"
Talk about working with Brent Elliott
Are you a stout guy or hops guy?

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080 - Jim Beam Backpedals on Booker's Price Increase and Sazerac Continues Purchasing with Chuck Cowdery, Bourbon Author Jan 06, 2017

Show notes

Chuck Cowdery, Bourbon Author and media pundit, joins to talk about Jim Beam backpedaling its way out of Booker’s price increase and the unique purchases Sazerac is making to expand their footprint.

Show Notes:

Talk about how you got into bourbon in the beginning
Give the listeners a quick background on your books
The Booker's thing is on everyone's mind and you had a article calling their actions dumb and embarrassing
Sazerac has purchased the Popcorn Sutton, a building in downtown New Orleans and more recently. Possibly attributed due to the success of Fireball. What’s on the horizon for them?
Chuck on Facebook
http://chuckcowdery.blogspot.com

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079 - Old Scout Single Barrel Crazy with John Little, VP and Head Distiller at Smooth Ambler Dec 29, 2016

Show notes

John Little, VP and Head Distiller at Smooth Ambler, talks about the how the whole operation started from a note his father-in-law gave him from Time magazine. John dives into the roots of his current distillation and the single barrels seen on the market.

Show Notes:

Talk a little about your past and how you got into Whiskey
What made you want to start a bourbon company a long time ago outside of KY?
Talk about Smooth Ambler for a bit and what you offer
Talk about the name behind it as well. Smooth Ambler, Contradiction, Old Scout, etc;
So how did you learn about the distilling process since you didn’t have a background in it?
You all don’t hide the fact that a lot of what’s on the market today is sourced from MGP. But there was a question that was brought up by Ryan Lintz that asked “Why Does SA MGP sourced bourbon taste so much better than others? Is it because it’s bottled at Cask Strength? Or is it a mental hype train thing?”
The Old Scout store picks have had wild success. It seems like people can’t get enough of them
Are we ever going to see Very Old Old Scout again?
The biggest news as of late was Pernod Ricard has taken a majority stake in your company. First off, congratulations. I hope we’re going to see a new ferrari in your driveway soon, but what does this mean for your business.

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078 - What is Beam Doing?, Gifting Bourbons, and 2016 Year in Review on Bourbon Community Roundtable #4 Dec 23, 2016

Show notes

This one is going to be a heater in December! Join Bourbon Pursuit along with bloggers from Bourbonr, Subrourbia, and Sipp'n Corn to talk about these following questions and a 2016 Year in Review:

Show Notes:

Let's bring the heat. What the hell is Beam doing?!
On the last episode we talked about gifting bourbon in the $50 or $100 range. Now, what bourbons do you "want" to be gifted if you had the choice?
Was 2016 a year of dud bourbons?
What was one thing you were happy about and one thing that pissed you off in 2016?

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077 - More Than “Plain Ol’ Jimmy” with Master Distiller and Legend at Wild Turkey Jimmy Russell Dec 15, 2016

Show notes

Jimmy Russell, Master Distiller and Legend at Wild Turkey, sits down to tell his story. He thinks he’s “Plain Ol’ Jimmy” but once you hear his stories about childhood, befriending the likeness of greats in the industry, and sharing his wealth of knowledge you will see he really is an icon.

Show Notes:

I want to talk about your history before Wild Turkey.
Talk a little bit about your childhood and upbringing. Sports, basketball, track, baseball.
I know your father and grandfather were in this whiskey business, is that why you got into the bourbon industry?
Were you always around bourbon?
What made you come to Wild Turkey in beginning?
What was the state of Wild Turkey when you joined?
How big was the operation?
Who were your mentors?
How have you embraced a lot of modern distillation techniques with computers and automation taking over?
What was life like for you before the boom?
Did you ever make any radical changes to Wild Turkey?
You were best friends with the greatest minds in the industry before bourbon was cool. Talk about the comradery between people like you, Elmer, Booker, and the like.
Now that bourbon is in the spotlight, are you hesitant on taking a backseat because at 82 years old, you won’t stop and you continue to travel to talk about Wild Turkey.
Your son Eddie now has taken the spot light. What’s it mean to you that you get to trust the business to him?
From @bourbonooga: Do they wish the old distillery was still down by where Warehouse A sits?
From @Primo55: The eternal debate: Cheesy Gold Foil 12yr or Split Label 12 yr?
What do you think is the best product that ever came out of here?
Give us your thoughts on the 6-8 vs older aged bourbons?
From @BreakingBourbon: Share a drink with anyone past/present/future who would it be and why?
What are some of those things that you want to leave as a legacy?

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076 - History of Stizel-Weller and IW Harper with Kevin Didio, Manager at the Bulleit Frontier Experience Dec 10, 2016

Show notes

Kevin Didio, Manager of Kentucky Visitor Experience at Bulleit Frontier Experience, talks about his career in bourbon with multiple distilleries, dives into the history of Stitzel-Weller and IW Harper, and talks about the visitor attractions you can see at the reinstated Stitzel-Weller Distillery.

Show Notes:

Talk about your role here at the Bulleit Frontier.
Before we talk about some of the other positions you've held, Talk about how you got into bourbon. I found my calling in college, what about you?
Talk about your career with various players in the industry
Talk about more about your time at Jim Beam and what you were doing
This is also the historic site of the Old Fitzgerald / Stitzel-Weller Distillery. Now, we do have a lot of people listening for the education, so talk about the history of the distillery itself.
Can you comment on what you think made people Stitzel-Weller crazy?
Talk about what's happening on the grounds here today. Distillation? Aging? Bottling? Brands?
Is there a possibility that Bulleit can have the same product as the famed Stitzel-Weller?
Talk about the bottling happening here
Give people the small run-down of Bulleit history
Talk about Blade and Bow
It's a bit of an odd duck here because this is owned by Diageo. You've got a whole heap of brands that you can talk about. Bulleit, IW Harper, Orphan Barrels, blade and Bow etc. Talk about which one of those you have a bigger fascination with and why
At this point, I guess we never talked about some IW Harper history. Can you school us there?
Talk about a typical tour done here?
How can people schedule tours?

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075 - Best Bottles Per Dollar, Holiday Sharing, and Hunting Stories on Bourbon Community Roundtable #3 Dec 02, 2016

Show notes

Bourbon Community Roundtable #3 - we discuss best bottles for the dollar, holiday sharing, hunting stories, and Kerry’s #pappyslap

Show Notes:

Max Gordian on Bourbonr Facebook: Just curious, how long do you usually let your bourbon breathe after you pour a glass?
What's the -cheapest- bottle worth having?
The holidays are coming up with the family. We've all got family members who like bourbon but not on our level. Do you bring the goods or some of the regular stuff you want to deplete?
What's your favorite $50. That cuts out things like OWA as well as pretty much any LTO
What's the furthest you've traveled for a bottle and what did you get?
So this past week on Twitter, Kerry finally got Julian to drop a bomb.

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