The Bourbon Road

Welcome back, roadies! Todd and Jim are joined in the corner of Rick House in Frankfort, Kentucky by returning guest Drew Hannush of the Whiskey Lore podcast for his sixth appearance on the show. The crew had just come off a big night in Lawrenceburg attending the premiere of Bo Cumberland's documentary *Spirit of Lawrenceburg*, a film tracing the deep distilling heritage of Anderson County — and they brought a very special b...

Welcome back, Roadies, to another episode of The Bourbon Road! Tonight hosts Jim Shannon and Todd are joined by a very special returning guest — Scott Page of My Bourbon Journey — for a deep dive into the world of cigar blend whiskeys. Scott brings nearly a decade of YouTube whiskey content and a genuine passion for the cigar and whiskey pairing lifestyle, making him the perfect companion for tonight's theme. The guys e...

Welcome back to The Bourbon Road, recorded live at the Bourbon Road Bar in Simpsonville, Kentucky. Hosts Jim Shannon and Todd settle in for a double-barrel recording day — two episodes back to back — and they've dedicated this session entirely to finished whiskeys. Four bottles make it to the mat tonight, each one showcasing a different finishing technique: rum barrels, French and Appalachian oak staves, honey-coated ba...

Welcome back to The Bourbon Road, airing from the Bourbon Road Bar in Simpsonville, Kentucky. This week Jim Shannon rejoins co-host Todd after a week away, and the two dive into a four-bottle lineup that spans continents, traditions, and corn colors. The session opens with a pair of Japanese-influenced whiskeys before pivoting to a high-rye Kentucky icon and a blue corn single barrel that rounds out one of the more eclectic tasting...

Todd flies solo this week on The Bourbon Road, welcoming back Rick and Ricky Johnson of 15 Stars Bourbon for their third appearance on the show. The father-and-son team behind one of Kentucky's most decorated independent blending operations returns to walk through the newly revamped First West lineup — four expressions that mark a landmark moment for the brand: the first releases to feature whiskey distilled entirely by the 1...

Welcome back to the Bourbon Road Bar, where Jim and Todd settle in for a five-bottle session packed with limited releases, aged expressions, and a little bit of everything the whiskey world has to offer right now. Tonight's lineup spans wheat whiskey, high-rye bourbon, east-coast rye, and some serious Beam family heavy-hitters — all barrel strength, all worthy of serious attention.

On the Tasting Mat:

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Welcome back to The Bourbon Road, recording live from the Bourbon Road Bar in Simpsonville, Kentucky — better known as Jim's basement. Episode 502 brings another overflowing tasting mat, proof that the samples just keep arriving faster than the boys can pour them. This week the lineup spans the full spectrum, from a brand-new family-founded label making its debut on the show to a beloved Illinois estate distillery, a coveted ...

Welcome back to The Bourbon Road, Episode 501! Todd and Jim are joined in the Bourbon Road Bar — aka Tim's Basement — by special guest Dan Mattingly, a Roadie since 2020, Frankfurt Bourbon Society board member, and all-around bourbon enthusiast. The occasion calls for glasses raised to the 250th anniversary of America, a theme that drives most of tonight's tasting lineup, plus one very fun outlier to kick things off.

Episode 500 of The Bourbon Road is a milestone worth savoring, and hosts Jim Shannon and Todd welcome back the man who helped start it all — original co-host Randy Minnick. Randy joined Jim for the very first episodes of the show before life took him and his wife Julie to the mountains of Virginia, and tonight he returns to raise a glass and reminisce about the early days of one of bourbon podcasting's longest-running shows. ...

Jim Shannon and Todd Ritter welcome Bill Straub back to the Bourbon Road Bar — aka Jim's basement — for a deep dive into some of the most talked-about new special releases from the industry's biggest players. Bill, the co-founder of Fourgate Whiskey Company and the longtime voice behind ModernThirst.com, brings his seasoned palate and encyclopedic knowledge of mash bills to the table, making for a lively and insightful ...

Jim Shannon and Todd Ritter welcome listeners back to the Corner Rickhouse for a special episode centered around the upcoming documentary Spirits of Lawrenceburg: A Bourbon Legacy Forged Through Time. Joining them are Jerry Daniels of Stone Fences Tours — a Kentucky bourbon tourism expert and history enthusiast — and returning guest Bo Cumberland, the filmmaker behind the documentary. The conversation digs deep int...

Jim Shannon and Todd Ritter welcome back two familiar faces to the corner of Rick House in Frankfort: Diane Strong, the driving force behind the Bourbon on the Banks Festival, and Bo Cumberland, the festival's videographer and distillery film maker. Together they settle in for a relaxed preview of the 2026 Bourbon on the Banks Festival — now in its seventh year — touching on new events, expanded programming, sold-out ti...

Jim Shannon and Todd Ritter settle into the Bourbon Road bar for a warm-weather tasting session built around one unifying theme: light-proof, finished whiskeys perfect for summer sipping. The pair reconnect after Jim's trip to Branson and Todd's afternoon on the soccer sidelines, pouring five bottles that span maple syrup barrels, maple wood chunks, raw honey, port wine casks, and even an old fashioned cocktail mixer barrel —...

Jim Shannon and Todd Ritter are back at the Corner Rickhouse in Frankfort, Kentucky, just down the road from Buffalo Trace, settling in for a heritage distillery tasting that spans from the hills of Lynchburg, Tennessee, all the way through the heart of Kentucky bourbon country. The guys kick off with the latest annual drops from Jack Daniel's before crossing the state line to visit some of the storied names that built American whi...

Jim Shannon and Todd Ritter welcome Stephen Corrigan — Barrel Master and Spirits Production Manager for Latitude Beverage LLC — for a four-bottle deep dive into two of the company's brands: Wheel Horse Whiskey and Copper and Cask Spirits. Stephen shares his winding path from organic farming and European viticulture to founding a DC craft distillery and ultimately landing at Latitude, where his focus is entirely on the a...

Jim Shannon and Todd Ritter are back at the Bourbon Road bar for a dedicated rye whiskey night, working through five distinct expressions that showcase the breadth and character of American rye. From honey-finished blends to farm-strength single-grain pours, the lineup spans distilleries across Nevada, Ohio, Maryland, Kentucky, and Atlanta, giving listeners a wide-angle view of what rye whiskey looks like in 2025 and beyond.

Jim Shannon and Todd Ritter welcome Devin Puckett, Brand Representative for Old Glory Distilling Co. out of Clarksville, Tennessee, to the Bourbon Road. Devin shares the remarkable origin story of Old Glory — from founder Matt Cunningham's days as a firefighter devising a distillery plan in his mid-twenties, through the COVID pivot to hand sanitizer that ultimately funded a towering 24-foot Vendome copper column still, to the...

The Bourbon Road crew is back with an exceptional lineup of five premium pours that showcase the diversity of bourbon craftsmanship. Jim Shannon and Todd Ritter kick off with the 2025 Remus Gatsby Reserve, a 15-year-old 102.8 proof straight bourbon from MGP's Ross & Squibb Distillery, released to celebrate the 100th anniversary of F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby." This beauty delivers smoky oak, vanilla, and cinnamon no...

Welcome back to another exciting episode of The Bourbon Road! This week, hosts Jim Shannon and Todd Ritter are broadcasting from the Corner Rickhouse at the Frankfort Bourbon Society. They are joined by a very special recurring guest and friend of the show, Drew Hannish. Drew is the creator of Whiskey Lore, a seasoned whiskey historian, and the author of the new travel guide