#18: Wild Turkey Barrel Pick with Eddie Russell

The Beast Masters were treated to an amazing barrel picking experience at Wild Turkey, hosted by none other than second generation Master Distiller, Eddie Russell.

We met Eddie at Wild Turkey's historic Warehouse A to knock open the barrels that he set aside for our selection. This oldest of Wild Turkey's rickhouses was built in the 1890's and we could not have asked for a more perfect setting or host as we settled in for an afternoon of sampling a few of what Eddie calls his, "best 100 barrels out of 700,000". Getting to crack into these barrels and taste as we listened to Eddie talk about his craft and its history made for a day we'll never forget.

In the end, our intrepid crew of Beast Masters came away with the barrel we have all come to know as, "The Hot Pickle," a super deep, flavorful, spicy nine year bourbon with a gorgeous long finish. We hope you all enjoy sipping some Hot Pickle as you listen and taste along with us.

***Update: The Hot Pickle is now sold out. If you got your hands on one we hope you're enjoying this awesome example of Wild Turkey at its finest.
We're very happy to be able to share it with you all.  

#17: Nate Woodruff of Whisky With A View

Nate Woodruff from Whisky With A View treated the Beast Masters to a stellar day of hiking and sipping great drams in New York's Hudson Valley.

Nate has developed one of the largest social media followings in the world of whisk(e)y by combining his two great loves, being in nature and drinking excellent whisky. His Whisky With a View channels feature beautiful photos of whiskies in awesome natural settings and surroundings. We had an amazing day with Nate and club members Jake, "The Whiskey Warrior" Cahill and Anthony Colasacco, proprietor of Pour, a great bar and eatery in Mt. Kisco, NY. Join us for good times, great friends and tasty drams in the great outdoors.

#16: Beast Masters Club vs Single Cask Nation

On the eve of their annual NYC Whisky Jewbilee festival, your faithful hosts Steve & Ben invite Single Cask Nation's Joshua Hatton and Jason Jonstone-Yellin into the Beast Lair for a private barrel showdown. 

Single Cask Nation is a private bottler. They brought two of their all-time favorite whiskies (last year and this year's Jewbilee special bottlings).  Beast Masters Club brought two of our favorites barrel picks and our intrepid audience decided the winner of this epic single cask battle royale.  

Tune in to find out who won this, "no drams barred," fight to the finish. Two clubs enter... everyone leaves pleasantly drunk and happy.

Huge thanks to our special guest judge, whiskey guru, Robin Robinson!

#15: Bottled In Bond With Bernie Lubbers

In this episode, Beast Masters Club unveils a new private barrel - Elijah Craig 9-year Single Barrel from Heaven Hill.

Steve and Ben talk with Heaven Hill's Bernie Lubbers, aka Professor Bottled-in-Bond, about the BiB act and what it means to the quality and history of whiskey.  Bernie takes us through a tasting of Heaven Hill's five bottled-in-bond whiskies including Parker's Heritage Bottled-in-Bond 24-Year.  

#14: Pam Heilmann, Michter's Master Distiller

Michter's Master Distiller, Pamela Heilmann sat down with the Beast Masters to talk about building a new distillery from the ground up combining the best of tradition and cutting edge science. 

Having a true expert craftsperson like Pam on the podcast is always a real treat. When she took the reigns as Master Distiller at Michter’s in 2016, Pam became the first woman since Prohibition to become Master Distiller at a Kentucky Distillers Association distillery. We talked about her history in the distilling industry, and how she used the knowledge accumulated over her distinguished career to build the new Michter’s distillery from from the ground up.   

Pam and the crew at Michter's were kind enough to tour us through the distillery in March. We were very impressed by their warm welcome and the amount of thoughtful consideration put in to all areas of the operation. You can tell that the folks at Michter's are involved in a passion project, and it shows.

Along the way, Pam gave us some terrific insight into a few of the high tech and old school techniques Michter's uses to maximize flavor by increasing spirit interaction with all the wood goodness in their oak barrels.

As fans of Michter's for quite some time, we were very excited to have Pam in New York to lead us through this tasting and explain a bit about how Michter's weaves their particular brand of whiskey magic. The whiskies featured were: Michter’s US1 Bourbon and Rye, 10 Year Bourbon and Rye (2017 editions), and Barrel Strength Rye. 

Sit back with some Michter's and play along, we hope you enjoy the 'cast.