Whiskey Chasers
Nick, Chris, and Steve talk about whisk(e)y! Join us for a chat about the history and taste of aqua vitae, "Water of Life". Spend a night with a good pipe, a great glass, and fantastic conversation! We are a national group of whiskey clubs! If you are interested in joining an in-person club, reach out! If the podcast is enough for you, then join our podcast club for access to barrel picks and samples!
Episodes
We pour Redwood Empire Haystack Needle and get a high-proof bourbon that drinks surprisingly friendly while still delivering dense, layered flavour. Alongside the whiskey, we light up Cornell and Diehl King Cake and end up talking grains, sourcing, single barrels, and what makes a bottle truly worth the money.
• Redwood Empire Haystack Needle overview, Indiana exclusive single barrel and grain to glass cont...
We sit down with Blake, founder of Smokeye Hill, to talk about building a blue corn driven bourbon brand in Colorado and why their whiskey can reach serious proof without tasting like a stunt. We get into 30 gallon barrels, multi char blending, the reality of sourcing, and the slow rituals that make whiskey culture worth sticking around for.
• Smokeye Hill availability and why growth depends on making more ...
We pour Metallica’s Blackened whiskey and test whether “born in cask forged by sound” is a real finishing technique or just a loud story. We also light up Black House pipe tobacco, swap notes on what we taste, and argue about what makes a celebrity bottle worth buying twice.
• Dave Pickerell’s background and why his name adds credibility
• How sonic finishing works with subw...
Traveler Full Proof takes everything we found “fine but forgettable” about the 90 proof bottle and turns it into a high proof pour with real punch and better structure. We debate what full proof really means, how Chris Stapleton may have shaped the blend, and why this one drinks hotter than its 120 proof suggests.
• full proof vs cask strength and why barrel entry proof matters
• Chris ...
We put Eric Church’s Jypsi Explorer under a serious tasting lens and end up surprised by how intentional it feels for a sourced celebrity whiskey. Along the way, the pour opens up into root beer, cream soda, wet forest wood notes, an English pipe tobacco pairing, and a debate about what good taste looks like in public spaces too.
• what Jypsi Explorer is and how Outsider Spirits frames the Explorer Series a...
We chase a California bottle that drinks like it has a wine-world edge, then use it to talk about blending, value, and where American whiskey might be headed. Lost Monarch Cask Strength turns into a bigger debate about sourcing versus distilling, how brands scale, and why we think some “hype” bottles are a bad deal.
• music festivals and why smaller venues beat stadium shows
• Redwood Emp...
A Fourth of July pour turns into a bigger talk about what it means to live in a 250-year-old country that is still figuring itself out. We taste First West Small Batch, pair it with dark-fired Kentucky tobacco, and connect the flavor to history, technology, and the pace of change.
• first impressions of the dark-fired Kentucky tobacco and the bottle’s creek-found blue-glass vibe
• reflect...
We crack open a J Rieger Co private stock single barrel bourbon and chase the story behind how it was picked, bottled, and shared. Along the way, we pull on threads from Kansas City whiskey rules to sweet mash fermentation, then land on whether the regular shelf bottle is an easy buy.
• what a private select single barrel program looks like at the distillery
• filling your own bottle on tour an...
We pour Elijah Craig’s first Barrel Proof Rye and get stuck on one detail that changes everything: 12 years old, “uncut,” and somehow only 108 proof. We chase the science, argue about hype versus reality, and land on why this bottle feels like an outlier even if it is technically what the label says.
• why Elijah Craig rye has a reputation as a “barely rye” pour
• what m...
We pour Cedar Ridge Double Barrel Rye Batch 2 and get honest about what we love, what feels thin, and why a short finish can hold a bottle back even when the flavor is good. We also crack an aged bag of pipe tobacco and end up in a surprisingly deep debate about what “finished” should mean in American whiskey.
• the origin of the “Quintessential” name and why smart naming works ...
We finally get Steve back behind the mic, then crack open Watershed Rye Batch Three, and it immediately resets our idea of what Ohio rye can be. Between a 143.1 proof gut-punch of flavor and a long-awaited tin of Esoterica Plum Cake, we end up talking about scarcity, lotteries, and why some bottles demand patience.
• Steve’s return after tax season and what we’re pouring
• Watershed...
We sit down with Mike Trott and Harold Underdown from Four Branches Bourbon to unpack how a loss in the field turned into a whiskey built for remembrance and real connection. We also get candid about quality, pricing, veteran mental health, and why their motto “sip to remember” is a line in the sand.
• the origin story behind Four Branches and the friends they honour
• why bourbon is a ...
We crack a Hugh Hamer cherry brandy barrel finished bourbon and end up with a shockingly sweet, creamy, cherry-forward pour that drinks lighter than its proof. The real surprise is how perfectly it pairs with Plum Pudding pipe tobacco and turns the whole night into a “Nirvana smoke” kind of memory.
• Debating how to pronounce Hugh Hamer and why the name matters
• First impressions o...
- Interesting things about the distillery:
- First NEW distillery to open in Indiana after 2 years of fighting to change the laws.
- Bear Wallow has a history dating back to the prohibition
- Bootleggers used to hide from the law in Bear Wallow because of how many bears were present at that time, and people did not want to normally take the risk with the bears
- Out of Brown County
- All grains are from ...
- Interesting things about the distillery:
- This is an MGP product, but not their normal mashbill or mashbills
- Key MGP Mashbills:
- Rye Whiskey: 95% Rye, 5% Malted Barley.
- High Rye Bourbon: 60% Corn, 36% Rye, 4% Malted Barley.
- Low Rye Bourbon: 75% Corn, 21% Rye, 4% Malted Barley.
- Wheated Bourbon: 51% Corn, 45% Wheat, 4% Malted Barley.
- Light Whiskey: 99% Corn, 1% Malted Barley
- This was bottled by a small winery...
- Interesting things about the distillery:
- Became one of the first 200 Craft distilleries in the US
- Utilizes traditional Cognac and Scottish pot stills alongside pre-industrial American whiskey, cognac, and Scottish methods
- Started with beer, then wine, and then grappa before whiskey
- Double pot still
- Utilize locally sourced grains
- The owner came from a finance background and, after 2008, decided finan...
- Opened in March, not until August of 2007.
- The Farm Distillery Bill was signed in August, making it easier for people to open farm distilleries and more like a winery.
- Founding member of empire Rye
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Thank you to Bobby DeMars, founder of Blind Barrels, for joining us for an interview!
Be sure to check out Blind Barrels for a great tasting experience, and a chance to try and buy hard-to-find, craft distillery bottles!
https://www.facebook.com/BlindBarrels/
https://www.instagram.com/blindbarrels/
Website:www.whiskeychaserspod.com
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/whiskeychaserspodcast
Insta:https://www.instagram.com/whiskeychaserspodcast/
TikTok:https://www.tiktok.com/@whiskeychaserspodcast
Thanks For Listening! Tell a Friend!
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