Chasing the Unicorn: Bourbon & American Whiskey

Jack Daniel's answers the "quality over marketing" question with a fully specced Coy Hill Rye, while Stagg and Sazerac move in opposite directions on the secondary floor and Buffalo Trace's own shelf splits in half. Plus Fawn Weaver's bond fight, a documented 1982 Willett at auction, DISCUS's European push, California's distillery grant, and Lost Lantern's new George Dickel collection. The retail detail — the where, the when and the numbers — isn't in this episode. Platform rules for alcohol content don't allow it here. All of it is in the American Whiskey Industry Brief, free at chasingtheunicornpodcast.com.

MB Roland Distillery, one of Kentucky's first craft distilleries after the modern boom, goes to auction this December as its founders retire. We also cover Old Bardstown Bottled in Bond's trophy win against far pricier competition, the century-old Pond Fork recipe finally reaching a drinker, Chattanooga Whiskey's maple-record-finished Bad Chattanoogan, and a side-by-side review that drew a hard line through Hawaii's whole bourbon category. The retail detail — the where, the when and the numbers — isn't in this episode. Platform rules for alcohol content don't allow it here. All of it is in the American Whiskey Industry Brief, free at chasingtheunicornpodcast.com.

Maker's Mark has a bourbon called Cellar Aged moving through federal approval with no proof or age attached, and John reads that as a label still a long way from the shelf. Also this past week: Russell's Reserve's barrel-proof series moves in three different directions by vintage, and three charities built raffles around the Weller lineup, plus a rickhouse-driven Russell's Reserve surprise, Iron Smoke buying its own building, China's luxury spirits slump, a Mississippi delivery lawsuit, and Holladay's first ten-year bourbon. The retail detail — the where, the when and the numbers — isn't in this episode. Platform rules for alcohol content don...

This Sunday, Franklin lines up two twelve-year whiskeys that happen to share the exact same age statement: Penelope's Conundrum rye and Old Forester's new Tribute Series bourbon. With the age held constant, the only variable left is the grain — and that's this week's one thing to do. Also on the board: the Riley Children's Hospital raffle closes October 30 with 125 bottles still in the pool, and Virginia's lottery is running two allocated bourbons at once, free to enter. The retail detail — the where, the when and the numbers — isn't in this episode. Platform rules for alcohol content don't allow it here. All of...

This Saturday, Franklin shares five stories worth telling somebody: Wyoming Whiskey's tribute bottle to the famous bear Grizzly 399, Mike Rowe's foundation-funded Tennessee whiskey, a UK auction that just priced American bourbon in pounds, a Washington single malt aged in a nearly-vanished oak, and a new Texas distillery opening on rainwater and live music. No clock today — just the week's standouts. The retail detail — the where, the when and the numbers — isn't in this episode. Platform rules for alcohol content don't allow it here. All of it is in the American Whiskey Industry Brief, free at chasingtheunicornpodcast.com.

MGP Ingredients, the Kansas distiller that's quietly made whiskey for High West, Bulleit Rye, Templeton and dozens of other labels for 85 years, filed paperwork on October 14 to rename itself Sempreon, Inc. effective November 2 — the Nasdaq ticker flips from MGPI to CASK the same day. The episode also covers Bulleit '87, a new bourbon-rye blend built around a Mike's Hot Honey partnership and a 22-city traveling bar tour. The retail detail — the where, the when and the numbers — isn't in this episode. Platform rules for alcohol content don't allow it here. All of it is in the American Whiskey Industry Brief, free a...

Pursuit Spirits debuted Pursuit United XS Double Oak Rye this week at its Louisville storefront — a 126.2-proof rye finished nearly two years in custom Napa oak barrels. Of the 720 bottles made, 92% were already claimed by the shop's own club members before the doors opened to walk-in customers. The episode also covers Old Fitzgerald's $425 Jonathan Adler backgammon set, paired with its Bottled-in-Bond 7-Year. The retail detail — the where, the when and the numbers — isn't in this episode. Platform rules for alcohol content don't allow it here. All of it is in the American Whiskey Industry Brief, free at chasingtheunicornpodcast.com.

Barrell Craft Spirits released a new 12-Year French Toast(ed) Bourbon, blending straight bourbons from four states aged 12 to 17 years, then finished in French oak toasted to a deep "Grand Chauffe" level. It's $159.99, available now with no lottery or club wall. The episode also covers DISCUS pushing Washington to drop the last tariff on European cognac. The retail detail — the where, the when and the numbers — isn't in this episode. Platform rules for alcohol content don't allow it here. All of it is in the American Whiskey Industry Brief, free at chasingtheunicornpodcast.com.

New Riff Distilling, a decade into building its name on rye and high-rye bourbon, just released its first wheated bourbon — a 6-year, 100-proof release with three separate wheat components stacked into the mash bill. Sales open Friday through the distillery's Whiskey Club only, with no retail version announced. The episode also covers a veterans' charity raffle built around a full Weller "Rainbow" vertical. The retail detail — the where, the when and the numbers — isn't in this episode. Platform rules for alcohol content don't allow it here. All of it is in the American Whiskey Industry Brief, free at chasingtheunicornpodcast.com.

Four Roses blended a 23-year-old barrel into its 2026 Limited Edition Small Batch, alongside three younger batches, bottled raw at 109.2 proof. Most bourbon can't survive barrel aging that long without the wood overtaking the whiskey, so the episode also covers Keeper's Heart's new triple-pot-distilled Midwestern rye, a different take on an old process question. The retail detail — the where, the when and the numbers — isn't in this episode. Platform rules for alcohol content don't allow it here. All of it is in the American Whiskey Industry Brief, free at chasingtheunicornpodcast.com.

It's Sunday planning on The Cut Weekend: Idaho's lottery for five whiskeys — including a barrel-proof Russell's Reserve 13-Year and a sealed mystery fifth bottle — closes this Wednesday, free either way. Evan Williams Bottled-in-Bond and Ghostwood's new 3 Brothers Bourbon are both on shelves now, no list required. Franklin also flags Frey Ranch's November triticale release to file away for later. The one thing worth doing: pour the $19 Evan Williams Bottled-in-Bond beside something pricier and see what the hundred-proof guarantee actually tastes like. The retail detail — the where, the when and the numbers — isn't in this episode. Platform rules for alcohol content don't al...

Jacob Call spent his career as a hired gun, making whiskey for more than a hundred brands without his name on a single bottle — until last month, when he released Samuel Call Single Barrel, named not for himself but for the ancestor who started the family's distilling line in 1791. It's the centerpiece of a Saturday full of stories worth telling: a sudden leadership change at TKC Distilling, a Chattanooga Whiskey batch built around laser-engraved wooden records, a Van Winkle raffle in Louisville, and a distillery near the original Woodstock grounds closing its bankruptcy case. Franklin walks through all of it, pl...

High West's A Midwinter Night's Dram turned 20 this year, and Act 14 marks it by adding Amontillado, Oloroso, and PX Sherry finishes to the Ruby and Tawny Port casks the blend has used since 2006 — five cask types now working on one rye, bottled at 98.6 proof and sold nationwide for $124.99, no lottery required. The retail detail — the where, the when and the numbers — isn't in this episode. Platform rules for alcohol content don't allow it here. All of it is in the American Whiskey Industry Brief, free at chasingtheunicornpodcast.com.

Woodford Reserve marked its 30th anniversary this week with Triple Pot Still, a $64.99 bourbon run through all three of its copper pot stills and sold only at the Versailles distillery gift shop, with a 150-unit Louisville Stoneware decanter following October 16. Buffalo Trace also opened a free, no-lottery tasting stop in Kansas City this week. The retail detail — the where, the when and the numbers — isn't in this episode. Platform rules for alcohol content don't allow it here. All of it is in the American Whiskey Industry Brief, free at chasingtheunicornpodcast.com.

Copper & Cask built its name on small-batch drops that sold out and disappeared. "X" breaks that pattern — a barrel-proof blend of 45 MGP-distilled barrels, aged 10 to 12 years, combining a low-rye and a high-rye recipe into one $69.99 bottle meant to stay on shelves for good, not vanish after one run. The retail detail — the where, the when and the numbers — isn't in this episode. Platform rules for alcohol content don't allow it here. All of it is in the American Whiskey Industry Brief, free at chasingtheunicornpodcast.com.

Brother's Bond Straight Bourbon began selling 50ml bottles from JetBlue's onboard cart this month — its first-ever inflight placement. The label says "aged a minimum of four years" instead of a specific number, and that's by design: once a straight bourbon clears four years, federal rules stop requiring an age statement at all. The retail detail — the where, the when and the numbers — isn't in this episode. Platform rules for alcohol content don't allow it here. All of it is in the American Whiskey Industry Brief, free at chasingtheunicornpodcast.com.

A fire destroyed two of Old Crow Distillery's original brick rickhouses, structures standing since the late 1800s, on September 30. No barrels or production were touched — current operator Glenns Creek Distilling is unaffected. The episode argues why a brick building's age changes what's aging inside it, and whether rebuilding brick-for-brick is worth it. The retail detail — the where, the when and the numbers — isn't in this episode. Platform rules for alcohol content don't allow it here. All of it is in the American Whiskey Industry Brief, free every morning at chasingtheunicornpodcast.com.

This Sunday, Franklin lays out the week ahead: a free Buffalo Trace tasting flight opening Thursday in Kansas City, Starlight Distillery's new 110.8-proof Estate Collection Bourbon on shelves now for $59.99, and Lost Lantern's George Dickel single-distillery collection landing October 21. The one thing worth doing: pour the Starlight, and nose it slowly before the first sip to catch what its low barrel-entry proof actually does to seven years of oak. The retail detail — the where, the when and the numbers — isn't in this episode. Platform rules for alcohol content don't allow it here. All of it is in the American Whiskey Indu...

This week's biggest story in the glass: a 1969 Very Very Old Fitzgerald built exclusively for the Wirtz family — owners of the Chicago Blackhawks — sold at auction for £65,100, nearly sixty years after it was bottled. Franklin also covers WhistlePig's thirteenth Boss Hog release finished on an Egyptian tomb recipe, a BBQ seasoning smoked with real Pappy barrel char, a three-business patio opening in Ontario, New York, and a crowdfunding round letting everyday drinkers buy into an oat-milk bourbon cream liqueur. The retail detail — the where, the when and the numbers — isn't in this episode. Platform rules for alcohol content don't allow it here...

A Kentucky nonprofit is selling raffle tickets for a bottle Buffalo Trace's own master distiller signed by hand, and the real question isn't the odds — it's what a signature actually adds to whiskey that was already finished before the pen touched it. The Cut also looks at Jacob's Pardon, a new bourbon named for a 1935 presidential pardon. The retail detail — the where, the when and the numbers — isn't in this episode. Platform rules for alcohol content don't allow it here. All of it is in the American Whiskey Industry Brief, free every morning at chasingtheunicornpodcast.com.

Garrison Brothers and Texas outdoor brand Duck Camp are releasing a 400-bottle single barrel bourbon on Halloween morning with no lottery mechanic — 200 bottles at the distillery gate in Hye, Texas, and 200 online, both opening at the same minute. The Cut also breaks down what "single barrel" actually promises, and looks at 2XO's new national Sugarhill Gang collaboration bourbon. The retail detail — the where, the when and the numbers — isn't in this episode. Platform rules for alcohol content don't allow it here. All of it is in the American Whiskey Industry Brief, free every morning at chasingtheunicornpodcast.com.

Kentucky's Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control closed its second confiscated-bourbon auction of the year tonight — seventy seized bottles, including a complete eight-bottle Blanton's letter set and a four-bottle E.H. Taylor set, going to the highest bidder with no distributor or store standing in the way. Winners must collect in person in Frankfort. Also today: Angel's Envy prices its first-ever dual-cask rye, blending peach brandy and toasted oak finishes for the first time. The retail detail — the where, the when and the numbers — isn't in this episode. Platform rules for alcohol content don't allow it here. All of it is in the...

Wanderfolk Distillery married seven-year-old straight bourbon from Kentucky and Tennessee into a single $25 bottle called Tallbird, built for the cocktail glass instead of the sipping shelf. Because the blend names one of its source states, federal rules require it to name every state in the mix — which is why Kentucky and Tennessee both sit right there on the label. A second story: a Sedalia, Missouri cigar festival adds a tiered whiskey tasting to its first-ever lineup. The retail detail — the where, the when and the numbers — isn't in this episode. Platform rules for alcohol content don't allow it here. All of it...

Silver Brothers Distillery bottled a rye whiskey using nothing but grain grown on its own Hudson Valley land — no broker, no backup supplier if the harvest had gone wrong. Six 30-gallon barrels of Hazlet rye, bottled at 92 proof, sell for $78. A second story: a new federal order stops new bottled Canadian whisky from entering the U.S. starting tonight. The retail detail — the where, the when and the numbers — isn't in this episode. Platform rules for alcohol content don't allow it here. All of it is in the American Whiskey Industry Brief, free every morning at chasingtheunicornpodcast.com.

Franklin previews the week ahead: a New Hampshire charity raffle closing Wednesday, two Blue Note honey-cask releases from B.R. Distilling on shelves now, a low-ticket-count Project EverGreen raffle open into December, and a numbered 1,776-bottle release from Hooten Young opening for pre-sale October 14. One pairing worth pouring this week, and every date filed where you won't have to remember it yourself. The retail detail — the where, the when and the numbers — isn't in this episode. Platform rules for alcohol content don't allow it here. All of it is in the American Whiskey Industry Brief, free every morning at chasingtheunicornpodcast.com.

This week's Cut Weekend centers on WhistlePig's Boss Hog: The Golden Pharaoh, a rye finished on a recipe carved into an ancient Egyptian tomb wall. Alongside it: Four Finger Distillery's three-town Finger Blast Party, Bourbon & Beyond dropping "bourbon" from its name starting in 2027, a Ruffian mural unveiled ahead of Bourbon County's free Sunday festival, and VP Racing Fuels' purchase of Alamo Premium Distillery. Franklin closes with the week's export numbers and an invitation to weigh in on which story stuck. The retail detail — the where, the when and the numbers — isn't in this episode. Platform rules for alcohol content don't allo...

Refuge for Women, a Kentucky charity for trafficking survivors, is raffling an E.H. Taylor Warehouse C "Tornado Surviving" bottle signed by Buffalo Trace Master Distiller Harlen Wheatley — a thousand tickets at $100 each, twenty-five total chances to win. It's a rare case where a ticket, not a store relationship, is the whole path to an allocated bottle, and it raises the question of whether that's actually the fairer door in. The retail detail — the where, the when and the numbers — isn't in this episode. Platform rules for alcohol content don't allow it here. All of it is in the American Whiske...

New Hampshire's state liquor stores are raffling off 34 rare bottles — reportedly including a Pappy Van Winkle collection — for a $100 ticket, proceeds going to a veterans' nonprofit. It's a rare case of allocated bourbon access that doesn't run through a distributor or a store relationship, which raises the real question: what does "allocated" even mean, and who decides who gets a shot at it? The retail detail — the where, the when and the numbers — isn't in this episode. Platform rules for alcohol content don't allow it here. All of it is in the American Whiskey Industry Brief, free every morning at chasingt...

Root Shoot Spirits released two six-year American single malts from barley grown on its own Colorado farm — one a single barrel at 123 proof, the other a Bottled-in-Bond small batch at exactly 100 proof. Bottled in Bond is a strict 1897 law: one distillery, one season, four years aged, exactly 100 proof. Most whiskey never has to clear that bar. The retail detail — the where, the when and the numbers — isn't in this episode. Platform rules for alcohol content don't allow it here. All of it is in the American Whiskey Industry Brief, free every morning at chasingtheunicornpodcast.com.

Knob Creek's new 12 Year Old Cask Strength ($90, no lottery) and Buffalo Trace's Elmer T. Lee 40th Anniversary ($99.99, lottery, 124.8-138.6 proof) both say "cask strength" — but one is ten barrels blended to 121.2 proof, the other is one barrel's own number, unblended. Same phrase, two different mechanics, and it changes how the bottle should be read. The retail detail — the where, the when and the numbers — isn't in this episode. Platform rules for alcohol content don't allow it here. All of it is in the American Whiskey Industry Brief, free every morning at chasingtheunicornpodcast.com.

MGP has distilled the whiskey behind Bulleit Rye, High West, Templeton and more for decades without ever selling a bottle under its own name. That changed this week with Chapter One, a 10-year, 111-proof straight bourbon at $69.99. The federal disclosure rule that put "Distilled in Indiana" on all those other labels is the reason we could ever tell. The retail detail — the where, the when and the numbers — isn't in this episode. Platform rules for alcohol content don't allow it here. All of it is in the American Whiskey Industry Brief, free every morning at chasingtheunicornpodcast.com.

Kentucky's Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control has seventy confiscated bottles up for public bid this week — Old Rip Van Winkle, Blanton's, E.H. Taylor, Weller, Rock Hill Farms and a Michter's 10 Year single barrel — with bidding closing midnight September 30 and pickup only in Frankfort. Franklin also pairs two shelf bottles with no line to stand in: the newly revived Glenmore at $19.99 and Knob Creek's second-ever 12 Year cask strength at $89.99. Plus a Kentucky camp's fifteen-drawing bourbon raffle topped by a full Pappy Van Winkle collection. The retail detail — the where, the when and the numbers — isn't in this episode. Platform rules for alco...

Sotheby's wrapped its largest-ever Willett Family Estate offering this week, 328 bottles sold alongside rare Scotch and Japanese whisky at its new Nightcap Wine and Spirits Festival. Elsewhere: Nancy Garrison steps up to co-CEO at Garrison Brothers on the distillery's twentieth anniversary, Starlight Distillery's Pink Bottle Release passes twenty-three thousand dollars raised for cancer patients over five years, and Dueling Grounds Distillery marks a decade with a free whole-hog picnic in Franklin, Kentucky. Franklin walks through the week's stories worth telling somebody. The retail detail — the where, the when and the numbers — isn't in this episode. Platform rules for alcohol content don...

Remus just released the Repeal Reserve line's first rye ever, a decade into an all-bourbon run — but the real story is the mash bill behind it. Bourbon needs 51% corn, rye needs 51% rye; everything else about how the two are made is identical. Remus didn't sit near that floor. It built this whiskey on a 95% rye mash bill, about as far from the legal minimum as a distillery can get, which is why it drinks like rye turned all the way up rather than a technicality. The retail detail — the where, the when and the numbers — isn't in this episode. Platform rules...

Garrison Brothers aged its new Ranch Reserve pair four full years in new charred oak — the entire legal bourbon requirement — before moving it into Pedro Ximénez and Oloroso sherry casks shipped from Jerez, Spain, for four more years. The sherry cask doesn't make the whiskey bourbon; the bourbon was already finished being bourbon before it ever touched that second barrel. The retail detail — the where, the when and the numbers — isn't in this episode. Platform rules for alcohol content don't allow it here. All of it is in the American Whiskey Industry Brief, free every morning at chasingtheunicornpodcast.com.

Elmer T. Lee has said 90 proof on the label every year since 1986. That number was never what the barrel produced — it's what's left after water gets added to hit the same target every time. The 40th Anniversary Edition skips that step entirely, bottling uncut straight from the barrel, so the proof swings from 124.8 to 138.6 depending which barrel you land. John breaks down what "cut to proof" actually means and why an odd number on a label is usually a tell that nobody touched it. The retail detail — the where, the when and the numbers — isn't in this episode. Platform rules for al...

Old Forester's 2026 Birthday Bourbon was supposed to enter the barrel at 125 proof, the legal ceiling for new-make spirit. A Labor Day holdup left the batch sitting six extra days in a holding tank, and it vented off more alcohol than water while it waited — landing at 124.4 with no water added. The whiskey drifted on its own, before wood ever entered the picture. The retail detail — the where, the when and the numbers — isn't in this episode. Platform rules for alcohol content don't allow it here. All of it is in the American Whiskey Industry Brief, free every morning at chasingtheunicornpodcast.com.

Brown-Forman's new Kentucky Boy honors Chris Morris's 50 years at the company by blending three of his own signature whiskeys — Old Forester Birthday Bourbon, King of Kentucky, and Woodford Reserve Double Oaked. There's no age statement anywhere on the bottle. That's not an oversight: federal rule forces any age-labeled whiskey to print its youngest component's age, no matter how much older the rest of the blend is. Leaving the number off was the choice that protected the whiskey's story. The retail detail — the where, the when and the numbers — isn't in this episode. Platform rules for alcohol content don't allow it here...

It's Sunday, so Franklin trades the rearview for the windshield and takes up a question that's still unsettled: a capped raffle against a hundred named bottles versus the blind odds of a state lottery. He walks through the case for disclosed odds, the case against calling a bet a donation, and four concrete things to watch as this raffle plays out. He closes by staking his own position — and asking listeners to stake theirs before the outcome is known. The retail detail — the where, the when and the numbers — isn't in this episode. Platform rules for alcohol content don't allow it her...

Franklin sets the hunt aside for the Saturday recap, walking back through a week where the real story wasn't a bottle worth chasing but a way to tell which brands are being straight with you. From Bulleit's new permanent bottle to Redemption's barrel numbers to MGP putting its own name on a rickhouse for the first time, the week's brands split into two camps: the specific and the sentimental. Franklin checks John's calls from the week — on Garrison Brothers scarcity, on sourced-whiskey disclosure, and on Basil Hayden's "twist" — against what actually happened. The retail detail — the where, the when and the nu...