Eat Drink Smoke

New year. Same rules: we don’t do a Top 10. We barely do a Top 5.
We do a Top 3 because we’re grown and tired.

In Part 1 of our “Bourbons of the Year” special, Fingers Malloy lays out his list — built on one sacred principle: keep it under $50… because we live in a world where “affordability crisis” is a real phrase people say with a straight face.

We’re also smoking an all-time favorite: Oliva Master Blends 3 (Churchill, 7x50) — Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, Nicaraguan binder/filler — and breaking down the flavors (with the official Eat Drink Smoke Notebook Method).

Fingers’ Top 3 (Under $50):

• #3: Kirkland Bottled-in-Bond (Costco) — $27

• #2: 2XO American Oak — $49

• #1: Redwood Empire Emerald Giant Rye — $35

Tony also explains why he’s still mad at Vegas… even though he can’t wait to go back.

Part 2 drops next: Tony’s Top 3.

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A new year is here, and Eat Drink Smoke does it the only way that makes sense — by waiting until the calendar actually turns.

In this episode, Tony Katz and Fingers Malloy reveal their Top Three Bourbons of the Year, based not on hype or releases, but on everything they actually reviewed on the show in 2025. No Top 10 lists. No arguments about rankings. Just the bottles that stayed with them.

Fingers lays out his value-driven list, keeping every pick under $50, including:

• Kirkland Bottled-in-Bond from Costco

• 2XO American Oak

• And his top pick: Redwood Empire Emerald Giant Rye

Tony counters with a memory-based list that ignores price entirely, featuring:

• Espy House George 1794

• Keeper’s Heart Irish & American Whiskey (110 proof)

• And a surprise number one that isn’t a bourbon or a rye: Bacoo 12-Year Rum

Along the way, they discuss:

• Why 2025 was a strange year for bourbon

• How palate changes affect what sticks with you

• The difference between “good” and “memorable”

• Why value still matters — even when it doesn’t

• And whether calling it “Bourbons of the Year” still makes sense

They’re also smoking the Oliva Master Blends 3 Churchill, breaking down flavor, strength, construction, and pairing as the conversation moves from reflection to anticipation.

Next week: Cigars of the Year.

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Christmas week calls for something familiar.

So Tony Katz and Fingers Malloy go back to the well with Jefferson’s Ocean Aged at Sea Rye (Voyage 26, Double Barrel, 96 proof) — sweet, lush, easy-drinking, and absolutely the kind of pour you reach for when you’re fighting off a cold and trying to pretend you’re “fine.”

Also in this Happy Hour:

• The IRS finally bumps the jackpot reporting threshold (about time)

• Why Vegas keeps charging more while giving less

• Costco’s possible redesign… including scanning your membership card for the food court (hot dog security is real now)

• And a story so weird it has to be true: an Amazon driver allegedly petting a porch cat… and then walking off with it

This is Eat Drink Smoke in peak form: cigars, bourbon, food, travel complaints, retail therapy, and a little “what is wrong with people?”

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As the calendar flips toward the end of the year, Tony Katz and Fingers Malloy settle in for a Happy Hour episode of Eat Drink Smoke.

The guys light up the Espinosa Knuckle Sandwich “Off Menu” TAA exclusive, a bold Pennsylvania Broadleaf box-press with unmistakable earthiness, bonfire notes, and serious heft. Fingers and Tony break down flavor, construction, pairing ideas, and whether this cigar earns a permanent spot in the humidor.

Along the way, they cover:

• A surprising ice cream recall involving… small stones

• What slowing bourbon consumption could mean for distilleries big and small

• Why Beam is pausing production — and what that says about changing habits

• The impact of Ozempic, mocktails, and generational shifts on drinking culture

• Airports are allowing non-travelers past TSA for the first time in decades

• And why airline security still feels like theater instead of protection

It’s cigars, drinks, food, travel, and culture — with plenty of side commentary — exactly the way Eat Drink Smoke does Happy Hour.

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Eat Drink Smoke closes out 2025 with a bold pairing: the Knuckle Sandwich Off Menu, a TAA exclusive cigar from Espinosa Premium Cigars and celebrity chef Guy Fieri, and Jefferson’s Ocean Aged at Sea Rye (Voyage 26, Double Barrel Dry).

Tony Katz and Fingers Malloy smoke the 6x54 box-pressed Knuckle Sandwich Off Menu, featuring a Pennsylvania Broadleaf wrapper with a Nicaraguan binder and filler. The cigar delivers a full-bodied profile with earthy, smoky notes described as bonfire and wet leaves, making it one of the most distinctive Knuckle Sandwich releases.

The bourbon is Jefferson’s Ocean Aged at Sea Rye, Voyage 26, a 96-proof double-barrel rye known for its sweetness, creamy mouthfeel, and lighter rye spice—an ideal holiday pour.

The episode also covers the end of the bourbon boom, industry production slowdowns, TSA security theater, airport guest passes, Vegas travel costs, Costco changes, food recalls, and one of the strangest news stories of the week.

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Tony Katz has a cold, his palate is compromised, and stubbornness wins.

Instead of opening something fancy, Tony goes back to the well with Kirkland Signature Bottled-in-Bond—the Costco monster bottle sourced from Barton 1792—and Fingers Malloy joins him on the same pour, both of them trying to taste anything at all. Pair it with the Crowned Heads Belgian Blue (2025)—a hefty, hard box-pressed cigar with a Mexican San Andrés wrapper—and you’ve got a holiday episode powered by congestion, sarcasm, and sheer refusal to cancel.

In this episode:

• Why, for some, hot toddies are a hard pass (because tea is gross?)

• The Kirkland Bottled-in-Bond breakdown: mash bill, 100 proof, price point, and why it’s an ideal everyday or cocktail bourbon

• The Belgian Blue details and reveal: 5.5x56, annual release, $13.50 MSRP

• The ongoing debate: annual releases vs. core cigar lines—and when “limited” just means hoarding

• Tony’s big-picture cigar theory: humidor shelf space, brand dominance, and what could be coming by 2026

• Holiday news chaos: painted Christmas trees, upside-down trees, and Tony declaring colored outdoor lights an abomination

• Nostalgia, old retail tech, and why charge plates still haunt Fingers’ dreams

It’s bourbon, cigars, food, culture, and two guys refusing to skip cigar night just because one of them can’t smell anything.

Merry Christmas.
Happy Hanukkah.
And yes, they’re smoking anyway.

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Fingers Malloy is officially the worst person in the world. At least according to Tony Katz — who is now sick, blaming Fingers for transmitting a cold through the internet, and attempting to smoke a cigar anyway like the grown man he is.

This week on Eat Drink Smoke, Tony and Fingers power through head colds, sinus misery, and questionable medical science to bring you the Crowned Heads Belgian Blue (2025) — a hard box-pressed, crease-sharp, San Andrés-wrapped cigar that might actually be capable of giving you a paper cut. Is it peppery? Cocoa-forward? Woodsy? Impossible to say when your nose is completely useless… but that won’t stop the debate.

Along the way:

• Cigars as a COLD prevention (according to the Fingers Malloy Institute of Institutes for Institutes)

• Why smoking with a cold is a terrible idea — and why they did it anyway

• Grocery stores were closing for Christmas, and the panic of running out of tarragon

• The case for growing your own herbs… or at least inventing Pocket Parsley

• HOA rules, neighbor signatures, dumpsters, and why HOAs attract a certain type

• Why parsley is pointless, basil rules, and Captain Crunch is the real garnish

• Rob Reiner, Spinal Tap, Hollywood logic, and why “the show must go on”

• The secrets to living past 90 (according to the internet), including butter, routine, walking, and sheer stubbornness

• Fingers Malloy Sr., 87 years old, eating like a legend and proving cholesterol fears are a myth

• Vacation cigars, $2 sticks, and why the ritual matters even when the flavors don’t

It’s bourbon, cigars, food, culture, and two guys refusing to cancel a show just because their sinuses are trying to kill them.

Light one up.
Or don’t.
They’ll do it for you.

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Tony Katz has a cold, and Fingers Malloy is officially the worst person in the world — because obviously he “gave it to him” through a computer connection (even though they haven’t seen each other in two weeks). Science!

The guys light up the Crowned Heads Belgian Blue (2025) — a 5.5x56 box press with a Mexican San Andrés wrapper (and a crease so sharp it could give you a paper cut) — and talk about the cruel reality of reviewing cigars when your sinuses are staging a hostile takeover. Tony powers through a retrohale attempt, Fingers talks spice early, and they get into the bigger question: are there too many annual cigar releases, and do they mess with long-term brand loyalty?

On the pour, Tony refuses to waste a “new bottle” on a busted palate and goes back to a value banger: Kirkland Signature Bottled-in-Bond (100 proof) — a Costco staple that still feels like a rare deal in bourbon.

Plus: grocery-store panic that isn’t the apocalypse, “pocket parsley,” HOA headaches, and News of the Week— including holiday outrage over painted Christmas trees.

Cigar: Crowned Heads Belgian Blue (2025) (MSRP $13.50)
Bourbon: Kirkland Signature Bottled-in-Bond (100 proof)

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It’s one of those Happy Hours where the guys aren’t drinking the same thing — because Fingers Malloy is battling a near-death chest cold and broadcasting from a separate location with Vicks, questionable medical advice, and zero sense of smell.

Tony Katz goes back to the well with Blue Run High Rye Bourbon (111 proof), breaking down why it’s a must-have despite the $90–$100 price tag, from the caramel sweetness to the rye spice and that butterscotch finish that just keeps working. Fingers, meanwhile, abandons the hot toddy plan (no honey… and no honey guy) and leans hard into holiday comfort with Evan Williams Peppermint White Chocolate Eggnog — under $10, 30 proof, and allegedly approved by “doctors everywhere.”

From there, Happy Hour does what it does best: a brutally honest conversation about money, insane car prices, $1,000 monthly payments, why paying cash still matters, and how used trucks suddenly feel like the only sane option. The guys also dig into interest rates, precious metals, AI replacing jobs, which careers are actually safe, and why some work simply can’t be automated.

No scripts. No structure.
Just bourbon, eggnog, economics, and the kind of conversation that happens when the microphones stay on, and the clock stops mattering.

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Sometimes people get sick. Sometimes they get a cold. And sometimes Fingers Malloy sounds like he’s broadcasting from the shadow realm, while Tony Katz refuses to let him anywhere near the studio because a vacation is on the calendar and priorities are priorities.

In this Happy Hour episode, Tony smokes the El Rey del Mundo “The Appointment” — a 5x60 Gordo with a Cameroon wrapper and Connecticut Broadleaf binder — while Fingers, sidelined by the creeping crud, does what he can from afar. What starts with caramel and cedar turns into a surprisingly spicy, medium-bodied cigar that delivers way more than expected — especially at $8.50 a stick.

From there, the conversation does what Happy Hour conversations do: Amazon gift nonsense, socks as an adult win, foot rubs (hard no), straw tumblers for men (also no), Spirit Airlines drama, holiday travel suffering, and a brutally honest discussion about retirement, money, bad habits, and why too many people wake up at 65 wondering where it all went.

No structure. No pressure.
Just cigars, life, and the kind of conversation that happens when the clock stops mattering.

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