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We taste through Rolling Fork’s most interesting bottles with Turner Wathan and unpack how a rum-first company ends up leading with Armagnac, Calvados, and a revived Kentucky bourbon label. Along the way, we get the real story behind Fortuitous Union, the Bourbon Deluxe comeback, and what the current whiskey market means for drinkers who want value without hype.
• Fortuitous Union build and why rum plus rye works
• Weller-barrel finishing, proof choices, and non chill filtered texture
• Fred Minnick book story, mental health honesty, and mentorship moments
• Wayward Cask approach to Armagnac and Calvados, buying containers and telling producer stories
• Why French oak and no char changes long aging, including a 42-year Armagnac
• Amburana finishes, what got overused, and when it still tastes great
• Whiskey market downturn, overproduction, DSP closures, and how to stay solvent
• Bourbon Deluxe trademark gamble, sourcing Kentucky straight bourbon, and Green River ties
• Contract production, mash bills, and a legendary 41-day rum fermentation
• Where to buy, what states can ship, and what releases to watch for
remember, www.scotchyburbonboys.com for all things Scotchy Bourbon Boys, Glenn Karen's t-shirts like I'm wearing right here. But no matter whether you listen to us or like us, make sure you like, listen, subscribe, leave good feedback, become members, and do what Kirk does all the time and leave super chats. Drink responsibly, don't drink and drive

A rum and rye blend that drinks like a serious rye, a 42-year cask-strength Armagnac that somehow stays silky, and a bourbon brand resurrected because a trademark clock was ticking. We sit down with Turner Wathan of Rolling Fork Spirits to taste, laugh, and get unusually honest about how bottles actually get made, found, and sold when they don’t fit tidy categories.

We dig into Fortuitous Union and why the “distilled spirit specialty” label can hide some of the best liquid on the shelf: foursquare rum, MGP rye, careful proofing, and a Weller barrel finish that pulls vanilla into the blend without muting spice. Turner shares how bartenders react, why tastings are the real marketing engine, and what he looks for when he’s building something meant to be opened with friends.

Then we go deep on Armagnac and Calvados through the Wayward Cask lens: container-sized buys, Gascony farmers, traveling stills, French oak that isn’t charred, and the kind of terroir detail that makes brandy feel like a “final boss” spirit. We also talk Bourbon Deluxe, the Wathen family whiskey history, why Green River Distillery became the right partner, and what the current whiskey market slowdown means if you care about value, age statements, and authenticity.

If you like independent bottlers, barrel finishing, Kentucky bourbon history, rum in bourbon barrels, and rare French brandy, this one is packed. Subscribe, share this with a spirits friend, and leave us a review so more people can find the show.

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A barrel can be magic, or it can be ruined before it ever touches whiskey. We sit down with Macaulay Mitten (Dark Arts Whiskey House, aka The Bourbon Swami) to get painfully specific about what separates a memorable finish from a disaster: producer selection, barrel handling, shipping heat, and the kind of quality control most drinkers never see.

We also crack open the America 250 release: an almost 11.5-year blend bottled at a hefty 128.28 proof. We talk about why blending at cask strength leaves nowhere to hide, how custom char and toast profiles can lift the flavors you want without dragging in bitterness, and what “bold” can taste like when it’s built with intention. Expect notes and frameworks you can use the next time you’re evaluating barrel proof bourbon, sherry cask finishing, or why proofing can change a brand’s consistency.

Then the conversation expands into what’s next at the Whiskey House: patio upgrades, cigars and pairing strategy, a caviar and whiskey event, and the launch of Noble Arts for botanical spirits. Macaulay teases a navy strength gin designed for big oils and louche, absinthe experiments that could lead to absinthe-finished rye, and more one-off drops headed toward Kentucky Bourbon Festival, including a 19-year Mizunara-aged bourbon and other serious “eat lunch first” pours.

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We catch up with Macaulay Mitten and talk through how Dark Arts turns sourced barrels into distinctive, high-impact blends with real control over finishing and flavor. We taste and break down the America 250 release, then zoom out into barrel quality, honey finishes, and the next wave of botanical spirits coming from Noble Arts.
• America 250 limited five-barrel run details, presale hiccups, Tuesday online allocation
• What Oloroso sherry finishing adds, why producer and sweetness level matter
• Barrel sourcing realities, shipping heat, spoilage risks, rejecting bad casks
• Blending at cask strength vs proofing down, consistency and complexity trade-offs
• Custom toast and char profiles per barrel to preserve and elevate core notes
• Tasting notes and why high proof does not have to drink hot
• Rye and Scotch palate talk, peat as a palate wrecker, mezcal appreciation
• Whiskey House updates, patio build-out, cigar plans and pairing strategy
• Caviar and whiskey event tease and what makes a pairing work
• Noble Arts roadmap, botanical library, navy strength gin, absinthe experiments, vodka base
• Honey barrel finish process, waiting list demand, filtration choices and haze
• Sweet and sour mash blend concept and trademark approach
• Old whiskey sourcing, 19-year Mizunara tease, avoiding tannic over-oaked barrels
• Philosophy on intent and energy in blending, why “bad whiskey” is often just preference
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We hang out with Greg Keeley from Larican Bourbon Company and trace how a military career, a Kentucky road trip and a string of coincidences turn into a real bourbon distillery with a loyal following. We taste and talk through what sells, what the maker actually likes, and how new releases get built from the barrel up.
• Greg’s path from the Royal Australian Navy and US Navy to Kentucky distilling
• Finding the farm and distillery building by pure coincidence
• Being steps from Wild Turkey and earning visitor referrals
• Building a destination experience with staff hospitality, cigar lounge and bar
• Australian identity in the brand, merch and food truck menu
• Amburana finishing and why cigar blends keep selling out
• Bottled-in-bond blending with heavy tasting and minimal note taking
• New nine-year rye details, proof preferences and how rye changes with age
• Breaking news on Deep Purple, a bottling robot and barrel-aged Manuka honey
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A distillery a quarter mile from Wild Turkey sounds like a master plan, but Greg Keeley tells us it was closer to dumb luck and a willingness to say “yes” before everything was figured out. We sit down with the Larican Bourbon Company founder to unpack how a career that spans the Royal Australian Navy and the US Navy turns into Kentucky craft distilling, and how a farm search on a random Sunday leads to the place he now calls home. Along the way, we talk about what “grain to glass” really signals to drinkers, and why “uncut and unfiltered” is more than a slogan when you’re the one making the calls.

Then we get into the fun arguments bourbon fans actually have: finishing, flavor and what the market rewards. We debate Amburana, cigar blends and the line between finished bourbon and the flavored whiskey crowd, plus why some releases sell out even when the maker personally wouldn’t reach for them first. We also hit the visitor experience side of Kentucky bourbon tourism, from being so close to Wild Turkey that guests get sent over daily, to building a welcoming space with a cigar lounge, a standout humidor and a team that earns name-checks in reviews.

If you love process, the bottled-in-bond segment delivers. Greg explains blending by tasting through dozens of barrels, trusting a simple “yes or no” palate, and refining batches without turning it into a lab experiment. We close with real-time distillery updates: a new nine-year rye coming as picks, a rare Deep Purple drop, plans for a bottling robot, and barrel-aged Manuka honey that sets up a future honey-finished bourbon with an Australian twist. Subscribe, share this with a whiskey friend, and leave us a five-star review if you want more conversations like this.

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We trace how honey moved from ancient mead to American whiskey culture, then taste modern honey expressions to see what the hype gets right. We also get honest about the messy line between “finished” and “flavored” and why labels and proof matter as much as sweetness.

• honey as one of the earliest sweeteners in alcohol and why it pairs naturally with bourbon flavours like vanilla and caramel
• the hot toddy as an 1800s remedy and how prohibition kept honey whiskey relevant
• why local honey sources and honey styles can change aroma and mouthfeel
• Dark Arts honey cask finish and what “finishing” is supposed to mean
• Green River’s real honey approach and the debate over what counts as finished versus flavored
• Starlight’s honey-barrel concept and how barrel character shows up in taste and finish
• Jim Beam Honey as a honey liqueur style product and where it fits best
• our Barrel Bottle Breakdown scoring for nose, body, taste, and finish plus the final winner

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Honey in bourbon sounds like an easy win, until you taste a few side by side and realize you’re not always drinking the same “category” of whiskey. Tonight we dig into the history that made honey a natural whiskey partner long before modern cocktails, from ancient mead traditions to the 1800s hot toddy that families still treat like medicine. Along the way, we talk about why honey works so well with bourbon’s built-in notes of vanilla, caramel, brown sugar, toasted oak, and baking spice.

Then we get practical and pour three very different bottles, including a honey-cask finished blend that leans into “liquid gold” depth, a bottle that literally involves pouring real honey into bourbon, and a craft approach that uses honey-aged barrels to layer sweetness on top of serious barrel character. You’ll hear what shows up on the nose, where the honey actually lands on the palate, and how proof changes the entire experience from rich and integrated to straight-up dessert.

We also tackle the question bourbon fans keep arguing about: where does finishing end and flavoring begin, especially when honey’s viscosity makes barrels hard to truly “empty”? If you care about transparency, labeling, and whether “a hint of sweetness” is honest, you’ll want this one.

Subscribe for more bourbon deep-dives, share this with a friend who loves honey whiskey, and leave us a review with your take: is honey-finished bourbon a gateway pour or its own lane?

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We sit down with master distiller Caitlin Bartlemay to dig into why American single malt keeps gaining ground and why McCarthy’s still stands out after decades on the shelf. We get practical about peat, Oregon oak maturation, proof, climate, and what it takes to steward a whiskey brand without chasing every trend.

• the rise of American single malt and what category recognition changes for shelves and menus
• Caitlin’s farm and winery background and how it shapes her approach to distilling
• learning the job through apprenticeship culture and the realities of early distillery work
• what defines McCarthy’s American single malt and why the core process stays consistent
• Oregon oak (Garryana) casks, reuse, cask sizes, and why time in wood is more than colour
• how warehouse climate affects proof and maturation at the base of Mount Hood
• why the six-year McCarthy’s is bottled at 100 proof and how it drinks
• tasting language, peat as an on-ramp, and the idea that whiskey should stop you mid sip
• limited experiments, special finishes, and where to watch for releases

remember www.scotchybourbonboys.com for all things Scotchy Bourbon Boys. We’ve got Glenn Karen’s in t-shirts, so check check out the website or just contact me directly. Facebook message me or mention uh comment on YouTube. And then also remember on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, X, and then we also on Apple, iHeart, and Spotify, and anywhere else that you listen to a podcast, we are there. Make whether you listen to us or watch us, make sure that you leave good feedback and become members. Leave super chats. That’s always good on thank you, Kirk, for your super chat tonight.

A peated American single malt aged in Oregon oak shouldn’t work this well and that’s exactly why we had to talk about it. We’re joined by Caitlin Bartlemay, master distiller behind McCarthy’s American Single Malt, to unpack how a whiskey can be smoky, fruity, and bold without turning into a palate-wrecker. Along the way, we get into why American single malt keeps surging, what it means when stores finally label a real “American Single Malt” section, and why bourbon fans are starting to look for something beyond dessert flavours.

Caitlin brings a rare mix of backgrounds: farm kid problem-solving, years of winery work, and a food science education built on hands-on production. That story matters because it shows up in the way McCarthy’s is made and protected. We talk through the brand’s fingerprint: peated malted barley sourced from Scotland, copper distillation, glacial-fed water, and maturation in 100% Garryana (Oregon oak) barrels, including what happens when you reuse casks over multiple cycles and why “time in wood” is about more than extractive-heavy colour.

Then we taste and debate the six-year McCarthy’s at 100 proof, from smoke character to mouthfeel to the surprising ways peat can play like mezcal in a cocktail. We also touch experiments like rum cask aging, what trends get right and wrong, and how a whiskey should make you stop mid conversation and actually notice what’s in your glass.

If you enjoy American whiskey, craft distilling, single malt, peat, barrel aging, and real production talk, hit subscribe, share this with a whiskey friend, and leave us a review where you listen. What’s your personal peat limit?

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We put the Old Fashioned to the test by tasting bottled RTDs, pre-batched bar styles, and homemade builds to see where convenience truly holds up. We dig into history, ingredients, proof, and technique, then land on what we’d actually buy again and what we’d rather fix with our own bitters and syrup.
• why the Old Fashioned stays the gold standard cocktail
• whether higher proof RTDs taste closer to a true Old Fashioned
• bitters that change everything, especially black walnut bitters
• sweeteners that work best, from agave to barrel-aged maple syrup
• the Yellowstone ready-to-serve pour and how citrus zest shifts balance
• Penelope bottled Old Fashioneds and why the black walnut stands out
• Prohibition’s influence on muddled fruit and soda habits
• the Wisconsin Old Fashioned style and the brandy versus bourbon debate
• why barrel-aged Old Fashioneds feel more integrated and smooth
• glassware and ice choices that improve texture and dilution
• how sugar makes Old Fashioneds hit harder than neat whiskey
• the bacon fat washed Old Fashioned build and why it works
• our final ranking, including why Handy and Schiller holds up best
www.scotchybourbonboys.com for all things scotchy bourbon boys. Check it out, Glenn Karen's t-shirts, and contact us. Also, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and X along with Apple, iHeart, Spotify. Whether you listen to us or watch us, make sure you leave good feedback, become members, do super chats on the podcast, and you know, everything to support us, every single cent that we get goes right back into this.

The Old Fashioned looks simple until you start comparing what’s in the glass. We line up homemade builds, bottled ready-to-drink Old Fashioneds, and bar-style barrel-aged batches to answer a real question for bourbon fans: is the classic Old Fashioned still king, or have RTD cocktails finally gotten good enough to keep stocked year-round?

CT joins us as our resident mixologist and we get hands-on with what actually changes the drink: proof, dilution, bitters, sweeteners, citrus, cherries, ice, and even the weight of the rocks glass. We taste through popular options and talk straight about what works and what tastes like “every bad bar Old Fashioned,” including how to rescue an orange-heavy pour with lemon zest, or rebalance sweetness by cutting syrup and leaning into rye whiskey or higher proof bourbon.

We also dig into Old Fashioned history, from the 1806 cocktail definition to Prohibition-era muddled fruit, plus the Wisconsin Old Fashioned tradition with soda. Then we go full experiment mode with barrel-aged flavor, smoking tools, and a showstopper: a bacon fat washed Old Fashioned built with black walnut bitters, a touch of chocolate bitters, and barrel-aged maple syrup.

If you love bourbon cocktails, bitters, and practical home bartending tips, you’ll want this one. Subscribe, share the episode with a whiskey friend, leave a review, and tell us your go-to Old Fashioned build: classic, Wisconsin-style, or something weird that somehow works?

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We taste and talk through the Blind Barrels model with Bobby, from sourcing craft whiskey to building a blind lineup that rewards curiosity over hype. We leave with a better way to buy bourbon, rye, and American single malt based on what we actually enjoy, not what the label tells us to enjoy.
• why blind tasting changes what we think we like
• how Blind Barrels gamifies guesses with QR codes
• what makes a whiskey eligible for the lineup
• the Doc Holliday barrels story and why limits matter
• how quarterly drops, member pricing, and flat-rate shipping work
• how the tasting panel selects bottles and sets the order
• scaling to thousands of members while navigating three-tier rules
• custom blending trips and the “smallest batch” concept
• the Best Of The Best tasting and the four reveals
• why we should share bottles and stop hoarding
Don’t throw them away. Put something else in there and give it to a friend. Introduce them to blinds.
vYour palate is smarter than your label loyalty, but most of us never get a fair test. We sit down with Bobby from Blind Barrels to unpack how a blind whiskey tasting kit can change the way you buy bourbon, rye, wheated bourbon, and even American single malt. Instead of debating bottles by brand, we talk about tasting A to D with no names attached, using QR codes for hints and a reveal, and scoring your guesses on age, proof, and whiskey style. It’s part whiskey education, part game night, and it gets brutally honest fast.

We dig into how Blind Barrels curates each quarterly lineup, why they focus on American craft distilleries, and what “unique” really means when you’re trying to avoid both shelf turkeys and impossible-to-find unicorns. Bobby tells stories from the sourcing trenches, including rare barrels that shock experienced tasters, the hard choices around purchase limits, and the logistics of serving thousands of members while staying inside the three-tier system and state-by-state shipping rules. If you’ve ever wondered why some bottles are hard to ship, why proof matters, or how clubs set pricing, we get specific.

Then we pour and react, breaking down what stands out, what feels classic, and what gets weird in the best way. Along the way we talk custom blending trips, barrel picks, and why the whiskey community thrives on sharing and discovery. If you want better tasting skills and better buying instincts, hit play, then subscribe, share this with your tasting group, and leave a review with the most surprising note you’ve ever found in a glass.

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