The Most Wonderful Time of the Year – Bourbon & Banter Podcast #18

The 18th episode of the Bourbon & Banter podcast – The Most Wonderful Time of the Year - is now available for your listening and drinking pleasure. Sit back, grab a pour, and join the biggest and MOST HONEST podcast in bourbon as we celebrate the most wonderful time of the year…that’s right folks, it’s BOURBON HERITAGE MONTH!

Grab your glass and hold your liver, it’s time for a thirty-day celebration of America’s native spirit! Nobody brings you Bourbon Heritage Month like Bourbon & Banter does, and we’ve got a breakdown of all the magic and majesty that’s in store for you. We’re giving away awesome swag packs all month long, plus exclusive gifts from our partners at Breckenridge Distillery, Michter’s, Wild Turkey, and The Big O Ginger Liqueur. Be sure to enter by clicking here.

We give you the details on the best part of Bourbon Heritage Month: the 30 Days of Bourbon Challenge. Do you have what it takes to join Pops, Bob, and the rest of the Bourbon & Banter faithful? Of course you do. Listen up and line up those pours! We’re also opening up our member's community for the first time, which is the only place you can get exclusive, additional content, and thought-provoking discussions like “why would anyone create an infinity barrel?” We also take another swipe at Tony Hawk, who just released a line of skateboards with his blood in the ink. We’ll pause while you collect yourself….

Our single barrel club continues to roll along, with our Stellum pick coming up and new picks from Old Ezra Brooks and Rebel hitting this week. We close out our opening segment with news on what everyone has long been awaiting…Professor Pops! That’s right, now you and yours can enjoy expert whiskey insight from the Bourbon & Banter founder and chief drinking officer. Listen in for more information.

This month’s Whiskey News highlights a new subscription service from the folks at Jim Beam that will see rare and unreleased bottles finding their way into your collections straight from the distiller. In a report that’s not completely surprising, Americans are shopping under the influence more during the pandemic. What is surprising is that food isn’t the top-grossing category! How do you shop while drinking and not order some wings and pizza? Amazon leads the pack over Walmart, eBay, and Target combined, proving that in addition to having drunks design his spacecraft, Jeff Bezos has them paying for it too.

Although more people are shopping while intoxicated, fewer Americans say they are drinking alcohol now than in 2019 according to a new Gallup poll. A recent study showed only 60% of U.S. adults said they drink alcoholic beverages, down from 65% in 2019. So more people are lying now. Those that do admit to it can’t do it on American Airlines however, which we address as well as a new study that claims your hangover isn’t caused by dehydration.Pops and Bob then take a detour to address the 50th Anniversary of General Mill’s Monster Cereals. This has us thinking that a breakfast cereal and whiskey-tasting segment can only be around the corner. Stay tuned for more on that, and while you’re at it, be sure to send our hosts some Frankenberry, Boo Berry, and Count Chocula so they're stocked up to make it through those recordings.

In the myriad of new releases that are getting ready to hit, we look at Lux Row’s upcoming Blood Oath Trilogy featuring Pacts 4, 5, and 6. At an MSRP of $799, care to guess what our hosts thought? Then we address another limited edition, priced at $155 with an even more limited version at $350. What could it be? Listen to find out but we’ll give you a hint: it features iconic metal band Anthrax and our take on it isn’t what you might expect it to be.

We wrap the whiskey news with a late-breaking story regarding the global giant Disney and their Pirates of the Caribbean series. It seems that Disney has been yielding thousands of inquiries about a possible relaunch of the series with ascot-wearer-in-chief Fred Minnick assuming a featured role. Is it real? Listen to find out.

With so much happening in the news and for Bourbon Heritage Month, we head straight to the epic analysis of all that makes the ridiculous look sane…BOURBON BULLSHIT!

In what we can only assume is a desperate attempt to regain relevancy outside of Christmas, Mariah Carey launched an Irish cream Liqueur with a  worldwide press release that infringes on an already existing copyright. Irish-based Darker Still Spirits Company registered the trademark for Black Irish in the EU and UK, and when Carey’s team could not acquire the trademark from them, they went ahead and announced their product with the same name anyway. If that’s not a bullshit move, we don’t know what is.

Always on the lookout for those trying to cut corners when making whiskey, Pops goes in on Glyph Spirits, a company that is taking grain-neutral spirit and attempting to create whiskey by adding molecules and compounds. They have several products that all start with the same grain-neutral spirit. Yeah….

We close Bourbon Bullshit with hands-down the biggest bullshit story we’ve heard in 2021. Many of our listeners and readers are likely familiar with the recent developments concerning Slapdick Agave Whiskey (which isn’t whiskey) and our friend and former Bourbon & Banter contributor A Lil’ Dab of Bourbon. For those that aren’t familiar, we encourage you to listen to the podcast, then look into more on what happened. Coach Jason Brown, whose company makes the product, wins our award for “(insert every expletive ever uttered in the history of time) of the Year.”

As the most honest podcast in bourbon, we don't pull any punches and we tell it like we see it. If you've been searching for a bourbon podcast that provides honest commentary, to the point information, and doesn't take itself too seriously – welcome home!

Here's a complete breakdown of Episode 18 – The Most Wonderful Time of the Year:

• Whiskey News (20:05)
• Bourbon Bullshit (49:34)

Are you ready? Pour yourself a drink, get comfortable, and listen to Episode 17 using the player above or via your favorite podcast player.

We sure hope you enjoyed episode #18 of the official Bourbon & Banter podcast and that you'll consider sharing it with your friends. We'd love to hear what you think in the comments below or by sending us an email via our podcast email address.

Have a great weekend and remember to stay safe while you're spreading the bourbon gospel and learning to #drinkcurious.

Hey, wait a minute. You have listened to all of our previous episodes, right? If not, head on over to our Bourbon & Banter Podcast page to get caught up.