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George Dickel isn't a name you hear as often as his neighbor Jack, but maybe it should be. The guy was a German immigrant, a cobbler turned whiskey salesman, who landed in Nashville in the 1840s and decided limestone water was his whole personality. He never distilled a drop himself, but he staked everything on the quality of what came out of Cascade Hollow. His wife Augusta kept the whole thing running after he died, which is a chapter of the story that almost nobody tells.Rob and Mark taste through the George Dickel 9 Year, dig into the cold mellowing...

Rob and Houston crack open a bottle that's been sitting on the shelf way too long. Highland Park 12 Viking Honour. From Orkney, a tiny island ten miles off the northern tip of Scotland where the wind blows so hard you can tell what religion a guy is by his travel pants.The whole thing was started by a guy named Magnus, a church officer who hid barrels under the pulpit and faked a smallpox outbreak to keep customs away. A man of God doing the Lord's work.Here's the thing about this whisky though. The peat is unlike anything else out...

Rob and Mark crack open a bottle that's been sitting in the dark for a couple years in Houston's basement. This week they're pouring Driftless Glen Single Barrel Bourbon from Baraboo, Wisconsin. A double gold winner from the San Francisco Spirits Competition that most of the whiskey world still hasn't found yet.There's a geography lesson (Rob holds his own), a story about glaciers that somehow makes a bourbon taste better, and the slow realization that Wisconsin has been quietly making something special.Ninety-six proof, five years old, warm all the way through. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rob and Mark sit down with Ray and Patrick from Johnson Brothers and Jason Dvorak from Mr. Liquor in Rapid City for something genuinely special. They're barrel picking a Two XO Gem of Kentucky, and if you know what that means, you already know why this episode matters. If you don't, they'll catch you up.Six barrels. One pick. And a unanimous decision that honestly surprised nobody by the end.Along the way they dig into the wild origin story of Two XO, what it actually means to be a blender at that level, why the Gem of Kentucky is now barrel-program-only,...

This one starts with a near heart attack… a very expensive bottle of Wild Turkey Master’s Keep almost takes a dive off the table, and somehow that sets the tone perfectly.From there, it turns into a laid-back deep dive into Wild Turkey’s surprisingly scrappy origin story, why the everyday stuff gets misunderstood, and what makes Master’s Keep feel like something a little different. There’s some real talk about proof, sweetness, and that lingering finish that hangs around longer than expected.Then things shift into a full-on recap of the Mountain West Whiskey Festival, what worked, what surprised everyone, and why the...

In this special bonus episode of Whiskey@Work, Mark Houston takes you inside the Mountain West Whiskey Festival at the historic Hotel Alex Johnson in Rapid City. Instead of the usual studio conversation, this episode walks through the festival itself, featuring conversations with whiskey enthusiasts, industry insiders, and newcomers discovering the spirit for the first time.Upstairs in the Presidential Suite, Jed Lirette leads a private tasting for raffle winners featuring Jack Daniel’s 10, 12, and 14 Year expressions along with Tanyard Hill and the Toasted Heritage Barrel.From rare pours to the camaraderie of the whiskey community, this episode captures what makes...

This week on Whiskey@Work, the guys pour a few glasses and wander through the story behind one of the most recognizable names in Scotch. The conversation starts with the surprisingly scrappy origins of Johnnie Walker, a grocery store kid who blended tea before blending whisky, and the clever ideas that turned his family brand into a global icon.Then things get interesting on the tasting table. Matt D’Hont from Johnson Brothers and Diageo stops by with a lineup that sparks plenty of reactions. The crew explores the brand-new Johnnie Walker Black Cask, a bourbon-barrel take on a classic blend designed to...

On this episode of Whiskey@Work, Rob and Mark sit down with master blender Brad Benson from Little Round Still in Minnesota and dig into what happens when a small distillery decides to do things its own way.Brad walks through the unlikely path that took him from whiskey enthusiast to master blender, the challenges of making bourbon outside the traditional Kentucky map, and why Minnesota’s climate creates a completely different kind of aging story. Along the way, the guys taste their way through several bottles including Gunflint Whiskey, Boathouse Bourbon, an eight-year rye finished in Andean oak, and a few experimental...

What starts as a casual catch-up turns into a full-on taste test showdown when Justin from Windsor Block crashes the studio mid-recording. On the table? A 20-year Canadian rye with a name you won’t forget and a flavor profile that sends the guys spiraling into childhood firecracker memories. Let’s just say not every “lost barrel” story ends in glory.Then, in true Whiskey@Work fashion, the crew pivots. They crack into Thirteenth Colony out of Georgia and stumble into a deeper conversation about forgotten whiskey history, mash bills, marketing muscle, and why some brands don’t need a celebrity face to move bottles.Oh,...

This week on Whiskey@Work, we climb way past safe territory and straight into hazmat country.Rob and Mark post up at the Windsor Bar with Justin Henrichsen and crack bottles that most airlines would politely confiscate. We’re talking 140 proof and up. A Canadian cask strength that drinks suspiciously easy. A George T. Stagg that smells like a candy bar and hits like a freight train. And a 161 proof Wyatt Earp blend that tastes like someone tucked a cigar inside the barrel and forgot about it for 13 years.Along the way, there’s scooter crashes, single barrel picks, forgotten rickhouse science,...