Barrel Talk

Sean Josephs brings his background as a certified sommelier into the Kentucky bourbon world with his unique way of blending whiskey. Instead of trying to hit the same flavor notes every time, he uses the idea of vintages to create the best possible bourbon every year.

Stephen Beam and his brother Paul are part of a family rich with whiskey history. When they started their own distillery together, Limestone Branch Distillery, It was important to pay homage to their relatives and tell their stories through bourbon.

Peg Leg Porker has become a lifestyle that is built around a barbecue and bourbon brand. A Tennessee pitmaster who’s passion for barbecue and entrepreneurial spirit brought him to open up shop in Nashville. Carey Bringle didn’t let his circonstances define him. After making the decision to amputate his leg during a battle with cancer, Carey later went on to become an award winning pitmaster.

With the help of his barbeque knowledge, he was able to make a unique bourbon. A hickory charcoal that’s a byproduct of barbecuing is used to filter the bourbon separating it from other charcoal-filtered whiskeys.

Since then, the line has expanded, with a new pitmaster reserve bourbon released in 2020 and more on the way. The growth all centers around the Peg Leg Porker brand that’s become a way of life, representing the relenting drive to push forward no matter how hard life gets.

Alex Castle knew from a young age that she wanted to make whiskey. When she got her chance to distill for the first time, there was no turning back.

After working at Wild Turkey in the heart of the bourbon belt, a message on Linked In sent her career in a direction she couldn’t foresee coming. She was now tasked with rebuilding a whiskey brand back to it’s former glory, but this time starting for scratch.

She joined Old Dominick Distillery in 2015 and begins the process of building a distillery from the ground up, starting with one of the bottles that inspired the rebirth, the pre-prohibition style Memphis Toddy.

Old Dominick released its first bottle of its own whiskey in 2019, Huling Station Whiskey. Throughout 2020 it has expanded the lineup with a wheated, blended and single barrel whiskey.

Meanwhile, Alex continues to experiment with new ideas (including a oatmeal raisin cookie bourbon) through an R&D batch only available at the distillery.

When Tim Piersant and his former co-founder decided to create a distillery in Chattanooga, Tennessee, they knew there was going to be one specific hurdle to overcome. Prohibition laws made distilling illegal in Hamilton County, and while starting in a neighboring county was an option it wasn't the dream of bringing whiskey back to Chattanooga.

Chattanooga Whiskey was born from a Facebook post in 2011. “Would you Drink Chattanooga Whiskey?” They received a resounding "Yes" so they got to work.

With the fight to change the century-old laws on the horizon, they needed to start selling whiskey. The company turned to Lawrenceburg Distillers of Indiana to source its first releases, 1816 Reserve and Cask, by January 2012 while making it clear that this whiskey wasn't from Chattanooga.

Tim says they wanted to be as transparent as possible, what they were releasing wasn't from Chattanooga, instead, the goal is to bring it to Chattanooga and make it possible to operate a distillery in their home city.

That's where the Vote Whiskey campaign was born. After stalling several times and facing opposition from other distilleries in Tennessee, the "Whiskey Bill" eventually passed in 2014 making it legal for Chattanooga Whiskey to distill its own product.

With the help of their new master distiller Grant McCracken, Chattanooga Whiskey began its road to release the first bottle of its own juice, a high malt bourbon. In 2017 it hit shelves in the experimental distillery and in late 2019 evolved into being its flagship releases, Chattanooga Whiskey 91 and Chattanooga Whiskey Cask 111.

Good whiskies start with great stories. Barrel Talk is focused on sharing those stories. Kevin Bridge sits down with leaders in the whiskey industry to hear those stories.