Stephan Kurpinsky, Mr. Black’s National Brand Ambassador, joins us to share his love for coffee and the bar industry. Stephan shares his stories of 20 years experience bartending, opening/running bars and fostering communities internationally with spirits.

Callum brings a special treat for us to enjoy from the great Aberlour Distilley. Kelli and Nigal help us taste through Aberlour's 18-year-old Single Cask Selection.

Live from GNS Market, The Stockroom selects a single barrel from Starward Whisky. The Chicago-based barrel picking group chooses from five different single casks to find their selection.

Pinhook founder Sean Josephs sits down with us to explain how he’s building a whiskey brand influenced from wine. Sean details his blending process and how he curates single barrels to develop Pinhook’s yearly vintages and vertical series releases. He also shares how he and his team stay curious and authentic while being playful and having fun with creating a brand from scratch.

From The Berkshire Room in Chicago, bartender Nigal Vann of The Berkshire Room and Vannity Cocktails joins us to chat about bartending for 15 years, starting an at-home cocktail experience during the pandemic and traveling across the world to create drinks.

Live from Callum’s terrace, Brooke Burton of People’s Club joins us. Brooke is on a mission “To make Chicago smaller,” by creating events based around alcohol, art and food. Brooke shares how her background in sociology and business school molded her task to build community through personal and online interactions.

Leo’s Mayfair along with Chris Blatner (@urbanbourbonist) just released two Sagamore Spirit barrel selects, and Brett Bauer and Jessica Deans of Sagamore Spirit and Chris join us to talk about the differences of the two barrels.

On World Whisk(e)y Day we live-streamed a special event with distillery representatives from across the world. On this episode we release our conversations with the beautiful founder of Dancing Goat Distillery Nick Brady Maas.

On World Whisk(e)y Day we live-streamed a special event with distillery reprenetatives from across the world. On this episode we release our conversations with Uncle Nearest’s Master Blender Victoria Butler. Then good friend of the pod and Aberlour Master Distiller Graeme Cruickshank stops by for a spirited conversation.

Jake pays tribute to his Siberian Husky Remi Lou. She was a frequent contributor with her little barks in the background of episodes, and she put a smile on every guest’s face that she met.

Ian Hosack of Uncle Nearest joins us to announce our World Whisk(e)y Day event with Aberlour, Dancing Goat, J. Henry & Sons, Redbreast, Starward and Uncle Nearest. We discuss the rollout of the May 15th event, along with how we plan on adapting our online experiences of the past year to future in-person whiskey events/tastings.

Our dearest Matthew Brown of Blaum Bros returns. We discuss how their craft distillery is building their brand after being praised for their allocated whiskeys—that were originally sourced—and how they assemble/sustain integrity through barrel finishes, vatting and handling allocated expressions with care and precision. We also chat about the subsequent rise of craft distilleries and knowledge base of consumers; the secondary market losing their gusto of being the whiskey tastemakers; and how we the consumers are being priced out of own collections as everything is becoming a commodity these days.

Chris Blatner returns to the show to chat about the beginning of 2021. We discuss the blurred lines of being an online whiskey personality while representing a distillery, hate mail online from whiskey community and the rampant hostility that’s developed over the past year. We also enjoy the finer things in life by sipping on pours of Nulu, Kooper Family and Barrel Craft Spirits while discussing transparency of distilleries.

After an epic @SundayNightFights between Sagamore Spirit and Union Horse Distilling Co., we jumped on Instagram Live with Chris and Mikey to record an After Dark edition. Yes, Mikey Pinstripes finally makes his debut to the podcast. This wide-ranging conversation includes; building a brand on the virtual platform, the advantages of relying on whiskey influencers versus retailers, and how sustainable single barrel programs can be to build a brand.

Dudes and babes, please buckle up for this one. Dancing Goat Distillery founder Nick Brady Maas brings humor, education and so much energy to this magnetic conversation. Nick comes from a whiskey pedigree, and breathes life into the titans of the past by running his distillery and sharing his knowledge and love for whiskey.

Jake, Wilson and Callum look back on one full year of pandemic and how it affected the whiskey industry. A positive conversation includes; the development of cocktails-to-go, how brands financially supported their accounts and the discovery of the virtual experience—and its capability of allowing brands to stay in touch with friends and to grow brands beyond borders.