2015: Year of the Bourbon Patriot

Happy New Year everyone! As we bring another year to a close we’d like to thank everyone for their support and assistance in helping to spread the bourbon gospel. When we launched Bourbon & Banter a few years ago, we had no idea what to expect. All we wanted was to connect with other bourbon drinkers and help folks learn about bourbon in a pressure free environment. Back then if you had told us that by the end of 2014 we would have over 12,000 fans on Facebook, 11,000+ Twitter followers and over 1 million blog visitors we would have never believed you.

While the numbers are significant, what’s most important and humbling to us are the comments and feedback we get from the community about how we’ve helped them learn more about bourbon and connect with fellow bourbon lovers around the country. Each and everyone one of you have made Bourbon & Banter what it is today. And for that you have our deepest thanks and admiration.

As we head into a new year, we’re excited about the opportunity to continue with you on our shared bourbon journey. There’s never been a better time to be a bourbon drinker and 2015 is sure to be another amazing year for both the bourbon industry and bourbon consumer.

However, we expect the year to also bring some challenges as brands continue to struggle with the act of balancing consumer demand for whiskey, need for product innovation to spur market growth and the call from bourbon enthusiasts to honor traditional bourbon brand standards, accessibility and fair pricing.

Drawing from this challenge we’ve decided to designate 2015 as The Year of the Bourbon Patriot.

A bourbon patriot is a person who vigorously supports bourbon, its associated lifestyle, and is prepared to defend it against its detractors or those who cause harm to its reputation.

Bourbon & Banter sees the bourbon patriot as the guardian of bourbon’s soul. They are the ones that will help others navigate the increasingly complex product selection at the local liquor store, will keep brands honest about what goes into their bottles or where it’s distilled, will gather with others over bourbon to build friendships and most importantly, bourbon patriots will work to ensure that the industry continues to make great bourbon readily available to everyone in the United States at a fair price.

So whether your a bourbon novice or aficionado we hope you’ll join us by embracing 2015 as The Year of the Bourbon Patriot. We look forward to sharing another bourbon fueled trip around the sun with each and every one of you.

Cheers,

Patrick ‘Pops’ Garrett