Chasing the Unicorn: Bourbon & American Whiskey

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 allow it here. All of it is in the American Whiskey Industry Brief, free at chasingtheunicornpodcast.com.

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, plus a grand opening in Fort Collins and the bigger industry numbers sitting behind every one of these stories.

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.

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 Industry Brief, free every morning at chasingtheunicornpodcast.com.

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. All of it is in the American Whiskey Industry Brief, free every morning at chasingtheunicornpodcast.com.

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.