Beast Masters Club

In the first ever Beastly Treats episode, the Beast Masters host and honor long time club member Jeff "Professor Rickhouse" Roth for a night of bourbon he will certainly never forget. We drink and chat about some of the most delicious bourbons around while we test our blind tasting chops. But that's not all... In this riveting episode: Steve sings a song, Ben says "super bourboney", Jake makes many weird noises and Jeff talks about his small palate. Its good to be beastly.

With, "Beastly Treats", we introduce a new fan / member appreciation initiative for the club. If you are an active member or listener you'll be fired up about this. Every few months, say once a quarter, we will pick an active, supporting member of the club and invite them to a night of BEASTLY TREATS. This lucky member will be invited to the Beast's lair where we will curate an epic tasting of delicious whiskeys, henceforth to be known as Beastly Treats. The chosen member will get to participate in the tasting and record their very own Beastly Treats podcast episode.

Be warned Beast Masters. If you are lucky enough to win, you will be exposed to epic whiskey that will forever raise the bar for your sipping future, VIP treatment of all kinds, bad jokes and cheesy puns, a chance to shout out your mom in the podcast world, and of course… Ben's vocabulary lessons. Stay involved, and stay in touch, tag us with #BeastlyTreats on Instagram and Facebook for chances to win a seat at future episodes of…BEASTLY TREATS!!!!

The Beast Masters sit down with Chelsea Lovett from the organic, "grain-to-bottle" Koval Distillery in Chicago. Yep, we're digging into some crafty stuff here. Ben and Steve sit in on Dana "Mrs. Beast" Zeller's interview in this episode which kicks off our exploration into the booming world of craft distilleries. Being the first legal distillery in Chicago since prohibition comes with a lot of pressure to deliver. We explore Koval's road to craft greatness, taste through their line-up of products and discuss what makes Koval's whiskies special and unique: from atypical mashbills incorporating oats and millet, to their German Kothe still. Tune in and learn a bit about the booze soaked love story of an enterprising couple who turned their shared passions into a thriving, award winning craft distilling business.

After picking the barrel of Wild Turkey bourbon that has come to be known as, "The Hot Pickle" (now sold out), the Beast Masters continued an amazing day of tasting and chatting with Eddie Russell in Warehouse A. Eddie treated the crew to an amazing single barrel Rye selected by his son, Bruce, the third generation of Russells at Wild Turkey. Then we settled in to listen to Eddie tell us about about the history and evolution of Wild Turkey and the bourbon industry in Kentucky. Tune in for a truly unique perspective on where the American whiskey industry is now and how that came to be.

Ben and Steve welcome Mike Kantor of @thebourbonreview and Dana "Mrs. Beast" Zeller as guest judges for this brutal battle.

The Smoky Beast and The Whiskey Warrior are back in the ring again! And this time, the Beast is out for blood! They are battling for the title belt once again as they enter with their choices for BEST RYE UNDER $100. The Beast lost in his own lair last time when the Warrior strutted in for the battle of Best Bourbon under $75, so you know this one is personal. Bottles will be swung, swigged and smashed as the Beast claws the Warrior down in hopes of reigning supreme and recapturing his lost belt.

Regardless of the outcome of this epic battle, you are sure to find out the best ryes on the market for under 100 bucks.So pour yourself a glass and gather round the flame BeastMasters; as Steve and Jake battle it out for your entertainment.

Smoky Beast Weapons of Choice

Pikeseville Rye 6 years / 110 proof

Michter's Barrel Proof Single Barrel Rye NAS / 114 proof

The Whiskey Warrior's Weapons

Wild Turkey 101 Rye NAS/ 101 proof

Redemption Barrel Proof Rye Batch 5 7 years 123.2 proof

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 us to choose from. 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".

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 9 year bourbon with a gorgeous long finish. We hope you all enjoy sipping some Hot Pickle as you listen along with us.

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 our other friends Jake, "The Whiskey Warrior" Cahill and Anthony Colasacco, proprietor of a great bar and eatery in Mt. Kisco, NY. Join us for good times, friendship and drams in the great outdoors. Get yourself outside! You can drink whiskey in the woods, people!

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 bring two of their all-time favorite whiskies. Beast Masters Club brings two of our favorites and the audience decides. Special guest judge: Robin Robinson.

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

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.

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. The whiskies featured were: Michter's US1 Bourbon and Rye, 10 Year Bourbon and Rye (2017 editions), and Barrel Strength Rye.

Master Distiller Dave Pickerell joins Ben and Steve to drop some serious whiskey science at our WhistlePig Old World Barrel Premiere. This episode is a true treat for whiskey lovers and whiskey nerds alike. Dave Pickerell, the man who made our private cask of WhistlePig Old World 12 Year Rye, came in to talk to the club about his history in distilling, the Old World project and all things WhistlePig. Dave has been described as the Johnny Appleseed of American whiskey and has been a key figure in reviving brown spirits and craft distilling. Specifically, Dave is one of a few folks responsible for bringing rye back to the forefront of the whiskey world. As huge rye lovers, we were super excited to have Dave sit down with us to taste through the entire WhistlePig lineup and share his stories and vast distilling knowledge. Dave gets into topics ranging from reviving George Washington's distillery at Mount Vernon to predictions on the future of the whiskey industry and why, "Rye ought to be like a good first date." Dave also brought along some of WhistlePig's brand new, "Bottled in Barn," FarmStock whiskey -- their first to contain juice distilled at the WhistlePig farm in Vermont. Grab a bottle of our WhistlePig Old World 12 Year from our Shop and sip along with us as we go deep with Dave Pickerell.