EmbellishPod

Wendy Peveich never planned to be here. A cardiovascular nurse practitioner working the front lines during COVID, she stumbled into whiskey as a creative outlet during the darkest days of the pandemic. That accidental passion has become Archer Eland—a 100% rye whiskey brand out of Ohio that she founded, blends, and runs as a team of one.

In this conversation, Wendy walks us through the entire journey: teaching herself whiskey through YouTube videos and standing next to legends like Fred Johnson and Steve McNally, helping build another brand before betting on herself, and the terrifying moment she bought her first finishing barrels and had what she calls her first "hyperventilating episode."

We get deep into the four expressions that make up Archer Eland's debut collection—Solstice, Aurora, Cashmere, and Suede—and the personal story each one tells. Wendy blends from end to back, reverse-engineering flavor profiles while eating pizza and salad to see how the whiskey plays with food. Aurora was her "problem child" that had to be recalculated four times. Cashmere was the moment she finally exhaled and thought, "I'm going to be okay."

This is a conversation about audacity, intentionality, and building something meant to outlast you.

Guest: Wendy Peveich, Founder & Blender, Archer Eland

Distillery Partner: Middle West Spirits (Columbus, OH)

Products Discussed: Archer Eland Solstice (104 proof), Aurora (110 proof), Cashmere (126 proof), Suede (126 proof)

Find Archer Eland: OHLQ stores (Ohio), shop.middlewestspirits.com

Connect: @embellishpod on Instagram and TikTok | www.embellishpod.com

Eight Days of Bourbon: Inside National Bourbon Week 2026 with Sam Lacy

Tickets are already selling out. Here’s everything you need to know.

A 30-Minute Ceremony That Changed Everything

Bardstown, Kentucky, 2018. A small gathering on the lawn of historic Spalding Hall. The mayor reads a proclamation. A handful of master distillers raise a glass. Thirty minutes later, everyone goes back to work.

That was the first National Bourbon Day celebration the Bourbon Capital Alliance ever put together. No tickets. No schedule. Just a toast and a handshake.

Fast forward to 2026, and it’s eight full days of events — June 14th through June 21st — across some of the most storied distillery campuses in Kentucky. Two events sold out within the first three hours of ticket sales opening. And the man sitting across from me on this episode has been there for virtually every step of the journey.

Sam Lacy is the Executive Director of the Bourbon Capital Alliance, the Bardstown-based 501(c)3 nonprofit that organizes, markets, and runs National Bourbon Week in partnership with ten distillery partners. He joined the show on the day tickets went live — March 26th — and if the constant mentions of his phone buzzing with sellout notifications were any indication, things are already moving fast.

How a Small Town Claimed Its Identity

Before there was a National Bourbon Week, there had to be a reason to build one. That reason, Sam explained, goes back to 2016, when local distillery leaders walked into a meeting with Bardstown’s mayor and economic development office and essentially said: you’re not doing this justice.

Bardstown calls itself the Bourbon Capital of the World, but at the time, there wasn’t a cohesive infrastructure to back that up. The distilleries were there — Heaven Hill, Makers Mark, Beam, Barton — but nothing tied them together into an experience a visitor could navigate or a community could rally around.

Out of that meeting came a task force, and out of that task force came the Bourbon Capital Community Alliance in 2017. Sam took over as Executive Director in 2019, initially carving out five hours a week from his day job at the tourism commission. He grew up in Bardstown, spent time in Atlanta working for Travel South USA, and came back with a perspective on what genuine destination tourism looked like. He saw what Bardstown could be.

And he quietly started building it.

Growing Up: From Three Days to Eight

The math here is pretty remarkable. The 2018 ceremony was thirty minutes. By 2019, Sam had expanded it to three days of events. COVID hit in 2020, and rather than go dark, they pivoted to virtual content and kept the momentum alive. By 2024, the first official National Bourbon Week launched as a six-day run. In 2025, seven days. And in 2026? A full eight days — starting on National Bourbon Day, June 14th, and running straight through to the following Sunday.

“We’re the bourbon capital of the world,” Sam told me. “Let’s own it.”

The other thing that makes this work, Sam was quick to point out, is the unusual willingness of the partner distilleries to cooperate. These are, in the traditional sense, competitors. They’re fighting for the same shelf space at the same liquor stores. But in Bardstown, something different happens. The distilleries understand that when a visitor leaves Heaven Hill, if somebody from Heaven Hill tells them to go visit Willett or Lux Row, everybody wins. That community-first mentality has allowed National Bourbon Week to schedule events across the week without distilleries stepping on each other — the bigger names up front, the smaller operations given prime days in the middle of the week.

“It’s a credit to them,” Sam said more than once.

What’s Happening in 2026: The Full Breakdown

So what are you actually signing up for? Here’s the shape of the week:

Sunday, June 14 — National Bourbon Day

The week kicks off with two very different vibes happening simultaneously, and honestly you could make a strong argument for attending both.

Heaven Hill opens the door — literally — with the Elijah Craig National Bourbon Day Celebration at their Bourbon Experience on Gilkey Run Road. It runs 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., it’s free to attend with registration, and it sets the tone nicely: tastings, craft demonstrations, and exclusive merchandise on-site. A low-pressure, high-reward entry point into the week.

A few miles out, Preservation Distillery is doing something altogether different. Their Boone Family Reunion Distillery Festival runs 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and is one of the more thoughtfully constructed events on the entire calendar. You get product tastings with a souvenir glass, food, a custom Clayton & Crume leather keepsake, and live seminars led by Proprietor Marci Palatella, Master of Maturation Kyle Lloyd, and Head Distiller JT Leasor. If you know Preservation’s juice — Very Olde St. Nick, Rare Perfection, the 10-year they just released — you already know why this one is worth your time. If you don’t know Preservation yet, this is your introduction. Either way, you’re not leaving disappointed.

Monday, June 15

The Beam Backyard Luau at the Beam Family Home in downtown Bardstown. Fred and Freddie Noe. Bourbon. BBQ. A backyard. They brought this one back after it sold out last year, and it sold out again — fast. If you got a ticket, you already know. If you didn’t, put it at the top of your list for 2027. One of the most genuinely fun nights in bourbon.

Tuesday, June 16

Two experiences on Tuesday, and both reward the kind of person who shows up to learn rather than just to drink.

Log Still’s Proofed by the Spring is capped at 24 guests at $150 a ticket and is led personally by founder and president Wally Dant. The premise is simple and brilliant: go to the limestone spring that feeds the distillery’s water, taste the water, taste the bourbon, understand the connection. Log Still’s campus is one of the most beautiful anywhere on the Trail — actual lodging on site, an amphitheater, rolling Kentucky hills — and doing this experience with Wally himself is the kind of thing you’d struggle to put a price on.

Old SteelHouse has two seatings for their Finish Your Own Blueprint Series Batch 002 Experience, held out at the former T.W. Samuels distillery site in Deatsville. You tour the property, take a short finishing class, and then walk out with your own Blueprint Series Batch 2 bottle and four wood cube options to finish it exactly how you want. Educational, tactile, and genuinely interactive — this is the kind of experience that makes you think differently about what’s in the glass.

Wednesday, June 17

Wednesday is the fullest day of the week and it’s not particularly close.

Lux Row kicks things off with their Front Yard BBQ with Master Distiller John Rempe — 200 tickets, the custom smoker is going, and they’re up on that hilltop campus five minutes from downtown with access to the Stonehouse and visitor center. Big, social, and exactly the kind of afternoon that slides naturally into evening.

Over at Maker’s Mark, Bill Samuels Jr. and Master Distiller Dr. Blake Layfield are hosting Bill’s Bourbon Soiree in the visitor center — cocktails, bites, and that stunning campus as your backdrop. The word “soiree” is doing real work here. This is an elegant evening.

And in Springfield, Potter Jane is running their Big Vat Blending Class — second seating, because the first one sold out within hours of tickets going live. Twelve people, maximum. Denny and Jane running the room. Go to the website to find out what “Big Vat” actually refers to.

Thursday, June 18

James B. Beam Distilling Co. hosts A National Bourbon Week Celebration at the Kitchen Table — an intimate dinner at one of the best restaurant spaces on any distillery property in the state. Thoughtful food, exceptional cocktails, and the kind of evening that earns its place on the calendar. Potter Jane also runs an additional seating of the Big Vat Blending Class for anyone who missed Wednesday.

Friday, June 19

This is the anchor. The Bourbon Capital Mash Up at Bespoke in Bond in downtown Bardstown is the event Sam Lacy and the Bourbon Capital Alliance have been building toward all week, and in its second year it’s gotten bigger and sharper.

All ten partner distilleries under one roof. Every one of them paired with a local chef or their own culinary team. Small bites designed to sit alongside a specific pour from each distillery — thoughtfully paired, a mix of savory and sweet, and enough food that you genuinely don’t need dinner beforehand. Master distillers in the room. Accessible. Approachable. All in one beautiful downtown event space.

GA tickets are $150 and get you in at 7 p.m. VIP is $375 and gets you in an hour early at 6 — plus exclusive access to Neat Bourbon Bar throughout the night, a dusty cocktail on arrival, and three dusty pours from partner distilleries across the evening. If you’re not sure what “dusty” means: we’re talking vintage whiskey. The kind of bottles that are genuinely difficult to find in the wild, let alone taste in a curated setting. Both tiers get an etched glass to keep, courtesy of Kentucky Bourbon Festival. VIP is selling faster than GA. If you’ve been sitting on it, stop sitting on it.

Saturday, June 20

Saturday is where the week becomes something a little bigger than a bourbon festival.

Limestone Branch — new partner distillery this year and a sister operation to Lux Row — opens the morning with Barrels & Biscuits with Master Distiller Stephen Beam. A brunch experience, a beautiful craft distillery, a master distiller who clearly enjoys what he does. Strong start to the day.

Downtown, Potter Jane’s Big Vat Bar Crawl kicks off in the afternoon with Denny and Jane personally leading the group through their favorite watering holes, starting with a Big Vat pour at Evergreen. The official end time is 5 p.m. The unofficial end time is whenever everyone runs out of steam. Wear comfortable shoes. Say yes to things. Hydrate before, during and after.

Out at the Amp at Log Still in Gethsemane, the Ying Yang Twins and Mike Jones are performing live on Saturday night. There is no way to make that sentence sound normal, and that’s kind of the point. It’s a bourbon distillery in rural Kentucky with a proper outdoor amphitheater, and early 2000s hip-hop legends are going to be on stage. June 20, 2026. You cannot make this up.

And back downtown, the 23rd Annual Bourbon City Street Concert — United We Jam takes over Third Street with live music, the open container district in full effect, and a Kids Zone running noon to 4 p.m. with bouncy houses, face painting, games, and putt-putt for the younger crowd. The whole town out on the street. The community cap on an extraordinary week.

Sunday, June 21 — Father’s Day

Father’s Day Bourbon Brunch & Tour at Barton 1792. Twenty-five tickets. Sold out on day one. Master Distiller Ross Cornelissen hosting a brunch and rare behind-the-scenes tour of one of the oldest continually operating distilleries in Bardstown — a property that is not normally open to the public. If you got a ticket, you have a very good Father’s Day locked in. If you didn’t, keep an eye on returns.

Why Bourbon Tourism Hasn’t Slowed Down

There’s been a lot of noise lately about the bourbon market correcting — secondary prices dropping, distilleries pulling back on production, bottles sitting on shelves longer than they used to. I asked Sam whether any of that has hit the tourism side.

Short answer: not really.

“Those folks that want to experience bourbon are still going to come here,” he said. The visitor experience component of Kentucky distilleries has evolved dramatically over the past decade. Twenty years ago, you showed up, got a tour, and left. Now there are restaurants on site, vintage whiskey programs, barrel experiences, fill-your-own-bottle events. There’s always something new, which means even people who’ve done the Trail before have a reason to come back.

In a boom market, consumer acquisition is cheap and easy. In a tighter market, events like National Bourbon Week become more important, not less — they’re one of the most efficient ways to get bourbon in front of new and returning drinkers at the same time, in the right context, with the right experience around it.

The Bottom Line

If someone asks you how to do the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, my new answer is: go to National Bourbon Week. In one week, you can hit ten distilleries, access vintage pours you won’t find anywhere else, take a blending class, eat food paired specifically to what’s in your glass, and watch the Ying Yang Twins perform at a log-cabin amphitheater in the Kentucky hills. That is not a normal week.

Tickets are at nationalbourbonweek.com. Some events are already gone. VIP for the Mashup is selling faster than GA. If you’ve been on the fence, this is your sign to get off it.

Full conversation with Sam Lacy is live now wherever you get your podcasts, and on YouTube.

EmbellishPod is an independent spirits podcast. Pinkies down, fun up. Subscribe here on Substack for episode writeups, cocktail recipes, and more. Find us at embellishpod.com or @embellishpod on Instagram and TikTok.

You’ve clicked “Buy Now” on a distillery website a hundred times. You probably have no idea what happens next.

There’s a moment every spirits enthusiast knows well. You’re on a brand’s website, maybe it’s 11pm, maybe there’s a glass in your hand already, and you find the limited release you’ve been hunting for. You click Buy Now, type in your card number, and wait. A few days later, a brown box shows up on your porch. You tear it open. Perfect. Undamaged. Done.

What you probably never thought about: the brand didn’t ship that bottle. In most cases, they couldn’t — legally.

That’s the conversation I had recently on EmbellishPod. My guest was a representative from Vista Fulfillment Group, the San Diego-based company that’s quietly become the largest spirits fulfillment operation in the United States. Vista works with over 500 brands and 20-plus marketplaces, and unless you’re deep in the industry, you’ve almost certainly never heard of them. That’s by design.

The Three-Tier System (and Why It Makes Everything Complicated)

If you’re a regular listener, you’ve probably heard me talk around the three-tier system before. But let’s break it down plainly, because it’s the whole reason companies like Vista exist.

After Prohibition ended in the 1930s, the U.S. established a mandatory structure for alcohol commerce: a product must flow from producer to wholesaler to retailer before it ever reaches a consumer. Every bottle. No exceptions. A distillery in Kentucky literally cannot ship you a bottle, even if they wanted to. The product has to move through the system.

So when you go to a brand’s website and click Buy Now, what you’re actually doing — from a legal standpoint — is transacting with a licensed retailer. The brand’s website just looks like it’s the one selling to you. The consumer sees the brand. The back end is Vista, acting as the licensed retailer, purchasing the product from a distributor and shipping it to your door.

My guest put it simply: “The consumer, for all they know, is shopping directly with the brand. But in the back end, the transaction is really happening with us.”

It’s seamless. It’s compliant. And it requires a nationwide logistics operation most people don’t know exists.

From a Back Room to a National Footprint

Vista didn’t start as some tech-forward logistics company with a vision deck and venture funding. It started in the back room of a liquor store.

The company’s founder spent his whole life in the retail alcohol business. He bought his first liquor store in 2000, grew that to multiple locations, and then in 2016 got a call from Reserve Bar — an early player in the spirits e-commerce space — asking if he could be a fulfillment partner. He said yes, figured he had the warehouse space, and thought maybe it’d cover some rent.

That’s not how it went.

By 2019, Vista had outgrown the liquor store back room and moved into a proper warehouse in California. Then COVID hit. And suddenly, everyone who couldn’t walk into a shop was ordering alcohol online. What had been a slow build became a rocket ship. By 2021 and 2022, Vista had expanded to Austin and New York City — three locations chosen to cover the entire country with reasonable shipping times.

Today they’re working with brands ranging from Bardstown Bourbon Company and Green River Distilling to Johnny Depp’s Three Hearts Rum and the cast of Vampire Diaries’ Brothers Bond Bourbon. They’re fulfilling for Men’s Journal readers. They’re powering influencer storefronts for accounts like Brewzle in Alabama, who runs a bourbon club with dedicated followers willing to buy whatever barrel he picks.

3JMS: Named After Three Sons

When Vista got serious about growth, they did something a lot of companies in their position don’t do: they built their own technology from scratch.

The system is called 3JMS — short for 3J Management Systems. The 3Js? Three sons, all whose names start with J. The founder is clearly proud of his kids. The software handles order management, inventory, shipping logistics, accounting, sales tax, credit card fees — essentially everything that makes a multi-state spirits fulfillment operation function at scale. There is no off-the-shelf solution for this, because this industry didn’t really exist before they helped build it. Every competitor that tried to bolt on existing warehouse software hit a ceiling they couldn’t grow past.

Now they’re layering in AI on the back end — not consumer-facing chatbots, but logistics tools for inventory placement, ordering patterns, and warehouse efficiency. The kind of AI that makes fewer things fall through the cracks, not the kind that replaces people.

Finding the Diamonds in the Rough

I asked what kinds of brands Vista is most excited to work with. The answer wasn’t the celebrity labels or the established names. It was the small craft distillery that doesn’t know online sales are an option.

“We want to find the brands that are not serviced,” my guest said. “Once we teach them how to do this online, they’re amazed at how much business they’re getting.”

There are no minimums. No monthly fees. If you’re a small distillery in Nebraska with a tasting room, a handful of local retail relationships, and a product you believe in — Vista will work with you. You need distribution in California, Texas, or New York to start (that’s where their warehouses are), but once that’s in place, they’ll help you access the entire country.

One of their favorite client stories involves Detrling Rum out of Alabama. Started small, was barely moving bottles when they first partnered. Now every release sells out in ten minutes.

That’s the model they’re chasing. Not just moving bottles — watching brands grow.

Why This Matters for the Spirits World

I’ve talked to a lot of brands on this show. Founders, master distillers, brand ambassadors. The question of e-commerce comes up constantly, and a lot of smaller operations treat it like this distant, daunting thing. Too complex. Too expensive. Too much infrastructure to figure out while you’re also trying to make great whiskey.

Vista’s whole pitch is that it doesn’t have to be that way. They handle the compliance. They handle the logistics. They handle the technology. The brand just has to market.

That division of labor makes a lot of sense. A small distillery’s competitive advantage is in the liquid in the bottle and the story behind it — not in navigating state-by-state shipping regulations or building a warehouse management system. Let the people who are good at that do it.

The spirits world is at an interesting inflection point right now. The boom years are cooling a little. Some brands won’t survive. The ones that figure out how to meet consumers where they are — online, on their phones, buying based on an influencer recommendation at midnight — probably will.

Vista is the infrastructure underneath all of that. Invisible, by design. Essential, by necessity.

If you run or represent a small spirits brand and want to explore e-commerce fulfillment, you can reach Vista through their website. Links will be in the show notes.

Enjoyed this one? Hit subscribe on your podcast app, drop a comment on YouTube, or share this piece with someone in the industry who needs to hear it. You can also find all of EmbellishPod’s episodes, links, and contact info at www.embellishpod.com. Pinkies down, fun up.

Zach Johnston has lived an extraordinary journey through the spirits world—from Dublin pubs during Jameson's return to Bow Street, to high-end cocktail bars in Berlin, to the pages of Uproxx as their whiskey authority, and now as Chief Brand Officer at Blackwood Distilling.

In this conversation, Zach breaks down what 20+ years abroad taught him about American whiskey's perception internationally (spoiler: they think Maker's Mark is luxury), why Blackwood chose to "create their own 5%" rather than fight for scraps from the big players, and how their unique toasted barrel process captures the nostalgic flavor profile of 1950s-era bourbon.

We dive deep into the economics of barrel sourcing in 2025, why the current "glut" is actually opportunity, and Zach's counterintuitive take on who should be selling your whiskey (hint: it's not Instagram).

Spirits Discussed: Blackwood Toasted 105 Bourbon & Rye, Blackwood Barrel Strength expressions, vintage Old Fitzgerald, Old Granddad, Wild Turkey, Lagavulin 16

Guest: Zach Johnston, Chief Brand Officer & International Sales, Blackwood Distilling | @ztpwhiskey

Links: bourbonoutfitter.com | Justin's House of Bourbon | embellishpod.com

What do you do when prescription anxiety meds leave you blank for hours? For Morgan Smith, the answer came from the South Pacific in the form of kava.

In this episode of EmbellishPod, host John Hughes ventures beyond bourbon to explore kava culture with Morgan Smith, owner and operator of KALM with Kava, one of the nation's largest kava distributors. Morgan's journey from burned-out tech professional to kava farmer on Hawaii's Big Island reveals a fascinating alternative to alcohol that's been consumed safely for thousands of years.

This conversation dives deep into:

What kava actually is and how it works

The cultural significance across Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia

Morgan's personal story from benzodiazepines to botanical alternatives

The science behind kava's calming effects

Sustainability challenges in the kava industry

The importance of testing and transparency

KALM's unique Magic Mushroom Rum (kava-based, not actual mushrooms!)

Why more Americans are seeking alcohol alternatives

Whether you're doing Dry January, exploring non-alcoholic options, or simply curious about traditional Pacific botanicals, this episode offers an educational and authentic look at a growing movement in the spirits space.

Guest: Morgan Smith, Owner & Operator, KALM with Kava Farm Location: Big Island, Hawaii Sources: Tonga, Samoa, Fiji, Vanuatu

Find KALM with Kava: Instagram/TikTok/Facebook: @kalmwithkava (Kalm with a K)

Pinkies down, fun up.

Lowland & Campbeltown: Elegance & Rarity

In this episode of the Scotch Whisky Discovery Series, we explore two Scottish regions that fought for survival in drastically different ways. The Lowlands offer approachable, elegant whisky through modern urban revival, while Campbeltown tells a darker story of near-extinction and stubborn persistence.

We start with the tragic tale of Duncan McCallum, who bought Glen Scotia Distillery in 1924 hoping to save Campbeltown whisky. By 1930, economic collapse and mounting pressure drove him to take his own life in Campbeltown Loch. Today, distillery workers claim his ghost still walks the facility.

From over 20 simultaneous distilleries in the 1880s, Campbeltown crashed to just two survivors by 1934. What saved it? Hedley Wright's 2004 decision to reopen Glengyle Distillery after 125 years, bringing the count to three and securing regional status.

Whiskeys Tasted:

Glasgow 1770 Triple Distilled (92 proof) - Lowland elegance

Glen Scotia 15 Year Old (92 proof) - Century of survival

Kilkerran Cask Strength - Traditional revival

Links:

Website: www.embellishpod.com

Instagram/TikTok: @embellishpod

Email: [email protected]

Next episode: Independent bottlers who curate exceptional casks outside corporate constraints.

A handful of years ago we took the kids to Universal Studios explicitly to visit Harry Potter attractions. My wife and I were a little too old to have cut our teeth reading those but growing up on Narnia and the Shire I’m a sucker for world building so these slotted in just right. I don’t know if there’s anything explicitly that makes these movies just slot into the whole Christmas season but it just works for us.

Thanks for reading Embellish Podcast! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

While there we had our obligatory Butterbeer beverages and...diabeetus. When I started this cocktail journey I knew I wanted to revisit that beverage, make an adult version as well as a less sweet kid version. Something you can actually drink.

I researched some existing recipes to figure out what spirit would work best for this. Lucky timing, I’d had the ladies from Don Q on the podcast a couple months back and still had bottles on hand that seemed like they’d fit the bill. That sorted the adult version, at least the spirit part.

Then came the real puzzle: which cream soda to use. I started with what was locally available and figured I’d test from there if needed. Last piece was the butterscotch. Simple enough, right? Just make some homemade syrup. I also added club soda to the build with the intent of cutting down the sweetness that had walloped us at Universal.

Three testing variables: spirit choice, cream soda selection, butterscotch type. Or so I thought.

Adult Version

Ingredients:

• 1.75oz Don Q Reserva Añejo XO

• 6oz IBC cream soda

• 3oz club soda

• Homemade butterscotch syrup

• Whipped cream topping

Build:

1. Add butterscotch syrup to stein

2. Add rum

3. Add cream soda

4. Add club soda

5. Top with whipped cream

Family Version

Ingredients:

• 6oz IBC cream soda

• 3oz club soda

• Homemade butterscotch syrup

• Whipped cream topping

Build:

1. Add butterscotch syrup to stein

2. Add cream soda

3. Add club soda

4. Top with whipped cream

The Problems That Revealed Themselves:

First hurdle was the homemade butterscotch. When it cools down, the butter congeals and becomes impossible to drizzle properly. Looked great in theory, didn’t work in practice.

Second was temperature. I’d frosted the family crest beer steins (16oz clear glass with handles), but I’d only chilled the cream soda and rum for a couple hours. Not nearly long enough. The drinks got warm and gross fast, which made the sweetness even more cloying.

Third problem: I picked up a marker note from the rum/soda mixture. The Don Q XO is a great sipping rum, but in cream soda it wasn’t working.

The kids wanted more creaminess. The whipped cream topping looked nice but didn’t solve the problem.

And finally, volume. The recipe only made about 11oz of liquid plus whipped cream. In a 16oz stein, it looked sad and half-empty.

Important Discovery:

The sweetness level was actually fine. I didn’t need to reduce sugar or butterscotch—I needed to fix everything else.

Adult Version

Ingredients:

• 2oz Don Q Reserva 7 Años

• 8oz IBC cream soda

• 4oz club soda

• Homemade butterscotch syrup

• Whipped cream topping (heavy cream, brown sugar, vanilla)

Prep:

• All ingredients refrigerated overnight

• Frost stein 20-30 minutes before building

Build:

1. Add butterscotch syrup to frosted stein

2. Add rum

3. Add cream soda

4. Add club soda

5. Top with whipped cream

Family Version

Ingredients:

• 8oz IBC cream soda

• 4oz club soda

• 2.5oz half-and-half

• Homemade butterscotch syrup

• Whipped cream topping (heavy cream, brown sugar, vanilla)

Prep:

• All ingredients refrigerated overnight

• Frost stein 20-30 minutes before building

Build:

1. Add butterscotch syrup to frosted stein

2. Add half-and-half

3. Add cream soda

4. Add club soda

5. Top with whipped cream

A little research told me bottled sodas need at least 12 hours to get cold enough. So everything went in the fridge overnight. Frosted the steins properly. Scaled up the volumes to actually fill the 16oz glasses. Switched from the Don Q XO to the 7 Años—cleaner, less complex, should work better in a mixed drink. Added half-and-half to the family version for the creaminess the kids wanted.

What Actually Happened:

Temperature was better but still not ideal. The frosted glass and overnight refrigeration helped, but the drinks still warmed up faster than I wanted.

The Don Q 7 Años gave me a different off-flavor. Not the same marker note as the XO, but still unpleasant. Started to think that maybe Puerto Rican rum style just doesn’t play nice with cream soda, regardless of age or quality.

The half-and-half added creaminess to the family version, but the whipped cream topping was still too fussy. It looked good for about 30 seconds, then started breaking down. Not practical.

Progress, but not there yet.

Adult Version

Ingredients:

• 1.5oz Don Q Reserva 7 Años

• 8oz IBC cream soda

• 3oz club soda

• 1oz heavy whipping cream

• ~1/4 tbsp Vittles Company butterscotch sauce

• Crushed ice

Prep:

• All ingredients refrigerated overnight

• Frost stein 20-30 minutes before building

Build:

1. Fill stein 1/3 with crushed ice

2. Add butterscotch sauce

3. Add rum

4. Pour 4oz cream soda

5. Add club soda

6. Add heavy whipping cream

7. Pour remaining 4oz cream soda from 6-8 inches above glass

8. Gentle stir if needed

9. Serve immediately with straw

Family Version

Ingredients:

• 8oz IBC cream soda

• 3oz club soda

• 1oz heavy whipping cream

• ~1/4 tbsp Vittles Company butterscotch sauce

• Crushed ice

Prep:

• All ingredients refrigerated overnight

• Frost stein 20-30 minutes before building

Build:

1. Fill stein 1/3 with crushed ice

2. Add butterscotch sauce

3. Pour 4oz cream soda

4. Add club soda

5. Add heavy whipping cream

6. Pour remaining 4oz cream soda from 6-8 inches above glass

7. Gentle stir if needed

8. Serve immediately with straw

This round changed everything.

Ice solved the temperature problem definitively. Frosted glass and overnight refrigeration helped, but crushed ice filling a third of the stein kept everything cold from first sip to last. I reduced the club soda to 3oz to compensate for ice melt dilution.

The butterscotch surrender: I admitted defeat on the homemade syrup. Switched to Vittles Company commercial butterscotch sauce. It’s richer, more consistent, and actually pours properly. Sometimes simpler beats “authentic.”

The cream breakthrough—this was the big one. I ditched the whipped cream topping entirely. Too complicated, didn’t hold, added steps without adding value. Instead, I integrated heavy whipping cream directly into the drink. Started testing with 1.5oz, ended up at 1oz.

Here’s what I discovered: if you build it in the right order—cream soda, club soda, heavy cream—then pour the final portion of cream soda from 6-8 inches above the glass, the force of that pour agitates the heavy cream into natural foam on top. No whipping needed. The split-pour technique creates the visual and texture you want without any extra work.

The rum adjustment: I’d initially overreacted to the off-flavor and dropped the rum down to 1.5oz from 2oz. But as I drank the test batch, I noticed the flavor improved as the drink progressed and diluted slightly. The harsh notes mellowed. Rather than chase a different spirit entirely, I decided to stick with Don Q 7 Años at the lower volume. It works(wonder if the anejo would have benefitted from a retest).

I couldn’t help myself. Things were working with IBC, but I wanted to know if there were better options. So I did a side-by-side comparison of three cream sodas in half-sized portions:

• IBC Cream Soda

• Dr Pepper Cream Soda

• Fitz’s Cream Soda

Results:

• Adults preferred IBC for the boozy version

• Kids preferred Fitz’s for the family version

Important note: The half-sized batches didn’t foam the same way the full-sized ones did. Volume and velocity physics matter for the split-pour technique I guess. This wasn’t a recipe problem just smaller portions don’t create the same effect.

Key realization: Using different sodas for different versions isn’t compromise, it’s optimization. The kids and adults have different preferences. Why force them to drink the same thing?

Adult Version - Boozy Butterbeer

Ingredients:

• 1.5oz Don Q Reserva 7 Años

• 8oz IBC cream soda

• 3oz club soda

• 1oz heavy whipping cream

• ~1/4 tbsp Vittles Company butterscotch sauce

• Crushed ice

Build:

1. Fill 16oz stein 1/3 with crushed ice

2. Add butterscotch sauce

3. Add rum

4. Pour 4oz IBC cream soda

5. Add club soda

6. Add heavy whipping cream

7. Pour final 4oz IBC cream soda from 6-8 inches above glass (creates natural foam)

8. Gentle stir if needed

9. Serve immediately with straw

Family Version - Butterbeer

Ingredients:

• 8oz Fitz’s cream soda

• 3oz club soda

• 1oz heavy whipping cream

• ~1/4 tbsp Vittles Company butterscotch sauce

• Crushed ice

Build:

1. Fill 16oz stein 1/3 with crushed ice

2. Add butterscotch sauce

3. Pour 4oz Fitz’s cream soda

4. Add club soda

5. Add heavy whipping cream

6. Pour final 4oz Fitz’s cream soda from 6-8 inches above glass (creates natural foam)

7. Gentle stir if needed

8. Serve immediately with straw

Commercial beats homemade sometimes. I started wanting homemade butterscotch for “authenticity.” Commercial sauce works better for consistency and ease. The Vittles Company butterscotch is richer than what I made anyway.

Construction technique matters as much as ingredients. The split-pour foam technique creates visual interest and texture without whipped cream hassle. Simple execution, better result.

Temperature control is structural, not optional. Sweet drinks become cloying when warm. Cold isn’t a preference, it’s a requirement for this to work.

Sometimes you overreact, then reconsider. Dropped the rum volume thinking the spirit was the problem, realized it was about dilution and timing. The lower amount worked, but not for the reasons I initially thought.

This is one family’s Butterbeer, not the definitive version. It’s the journey from an idea and Universal Studios memory to something we can actually drink at home during our Christmas Harry Potter marathon.

The split-pour foam technique turns out to be the clever part—simple execution that creates a “fancy” result without theater. Commercial butterscotch beats homemade. Different sodas for different people makes sense. And crushed ice solves problems that frosted glasses can’t.

Not an Instagram fantasy. A practical home recipe that works.

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From Combat Veteran to Ukrainian Vodka Importer: A Mission-Driven Story

We're breaking from our usual bourbon and whiskey focus for an episode you absolutely need to hear. Sam Lerman, co-founder of Spyrt Worldwide, shares one of the most compelling origin stories in the spirits industry - from Air Force security forces veteran to defense industry professional to volunteering in Ukraine during the 2022 invasion, and ultimately becoming an importer of Ukrainian vodka with a mission that extends far beyond the bottle.

Sam's journey includes smuggling suitcases of vodka across European borders, discovering that Ukrainian horilka (vodka) is an art form with 700 years of history, and building a brand where 10% of proceeds fund landmine removal efforts in Ukraine through partnerships with organizations like The Invictus Global Response.

We explore the cultural significance of Ukrainian spirits, the difference between horilka and Russian vodka, what it was like to volunteer in a war zone, and how a chance encounter with a bottle of Hetman vodka changed everything. This conversation goes deep into entrepreneurship, mission-driven business, and supporting Ukraine through commerce and awareness.

Featured Brand: Spyrt Worldwide Products Discussed: Hetman Vodka, various Ukrainian wines and spirits Availability: DC, Maryland, Virginia ABC, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, Washington, California, and online

Links:

Spyrt Worldwide: www.spyrtworldwide.com

Institute for the Study of War: www.understandingwar.org

Invictus Global Response

Ukrainian Toast: Budmo! (B-U-D-M-O)

A coworker walked into my office last week holding an old newspaper his dad had saved. He’d been going through boxes trying to figure out what his dad thought was worth keeping, and he found this article from December 22, 1974—The State Journal out of Frankfort, Kentucky. Headline: “History May Help Bourbon In Comeback Push.”

I immediately brought it back to my desk and started reading through the faded newsprint, it felt like reading today’s trade publications. Just different names and dates.

The bourbon industry in 1974 was worried. Vodka was taking over. Industry people were defending bourbon’s versatility, its heritage, its authenticity. They kept pointing to inventory levels and this “true American spirit” designation like it was going to save them. One guy insisted people would eventually realize that “drinking this 80-proof alcohol is not as good as this bourbon.”

Fifty years later, bourbon’s in almost the exact same position. Except now it’s not vodka. It’s tequila and RTD cocktails and lions and tigers and bears….oh my.

Younger consumers are moving toward lower-proof spirits, tequila, and ready-to-drink options or just not drinking at all. Those ultra-premium bourbon bottles sitting between $80-$250? They’re not moving like they used to. Price fatigue is real.

And the industry’s response? Same playbook as 1974: versatility, heritage, authenticity.

Tom Godfrey from FOCO in Barcelona told Punch: “Bourbon is a spirit that we think is one of the most versatile to mix with. If the drink is stirred, shaken or thrown, carbonated and served tall, or even blended, bourbon plays so well with so many fresh ingredients.”

That’s basically what they were saying about competing with vodka in ‘74.

HOWEVER. Bourbon’s position now is fundamentally different from 1974 in ways that actually matter:

The infrastructure is built. In 1974, they were still recovering from Prohibition. Now there are 12.6 million barrels aging in Kentucky warehouses. The Kentucky Bourbon Trail brought in 2.5 million visitors in 2024, generating over $400 million in tourism revenue. The industry supports 23,300 jobs and delivers $9.2 billion in economic impact. This isn’t a dying category scrambling for relevance. It’s a mature economic engine recalibrating.

Premium positioning is already won. Tequila and RTDs are still fighting to establish premium credibility. Some reposado sales are growing, sure, and some RTDs position as “bar-quality,” but bourbon already owns the premium American spirits space. High-end and super-premium bourbon sales grew 18% in 2024. When consumers trade up, they’re going deeper into bourbon, not leaving it.

The craft diversity. 1974 was dominated by a handful of large producers. Now there are over 100 distilleries in Kentucky alone. Craft operations are experimenting with heirloom grains like Bloody Butcher and Blue Clarage, innovative barrel finishes, sustainability practices that actually resonate with younger consumers. Charlie McCarthy from WSET notes that the variety in bourbon from char levels to barrel placement “makes bourbon an ideal spirit for mixing.” This diversity didn’t exist in ‘74.

The competition’s structural weakness. IWSR research shows consumers regularly can’t identify whether they’re drinking a malt-based or spirit-based RTD. The category is built on convenience and marketing, not loyalty to the spirit itself. Tequila’s riding a wave of celebrity endorsements and trend-driven consumption. When that cools—and it will—what’s holding it up?

Bourbon has something neither can replicate quickly: decades of aging inventory that can’t be rushed, a defined geographic identity, and a production method codified in law.

“Bourbon 3.0” positioning. The industry is entering what analysts call “Bourbon 3.0”—deeper consumer education, enhanced brand experiences, global sophistication. The Bourbon Flight summarized it well: “The focus is no longer just on what’s in the glass, but on who made it, how it was aged, and why it matters.”

Smart positioning. RTDs compete on convenience, tequila competes on trendiness. Bourbon’s doubling down on craft, story, and experience—the things that create lasting brand loyalty.

What Actually Kept Bourbon Alive

Bourbon’s survival during the vodka era came down to a combination of desperation and opportunism. Export markets (i.e. Japan) became a critical revenue source. Wild Turkey’s Eddie Russell put it bluntly: “Japan was a savior for us,” absorbing hundreds of cases when American demand had collapsed. Innovators like Elmer T. Lee (Blanton’s Single Barrel, 1984) and Booker Noe (Booker’s, 1987) created the premium single-barrel and small-batch categories, proving bourbon could command higher prices if positioned as craft rather than commodity. But distilleries also survived by keeping bottom-shelf brands alive, often dumping well-aged inventory into cheap bottles just to move product and generate cash flow. By 1980, Kentucky distilleries were making less than 1 million barrels per year but sitting on 5 million barrels of aging inventory. That meant bottom-shelf bourbon in the 1980s frequently contained older whiskey than many premium bottles today—not because distillers were being generous, but because they were desperate to monetize aging stock that wasn’t selling. The industry didn’t survive through quality focus alone; it survived through export hustle, premium innovation, and sometimes just selling really old bourbon really cheap to anyone who’d buy it.

Bourbon survived vodka’s dominance by being unapologetically itself. The industry waited out the trend, maintained quality, and was ready when consumer tastes evolved back toward flavor and complexity.

Today’s playbook, better tools: tourism infrastructure, craft innovation, global distribution, and a generation educated by craft cocktail culture to appreciate what makes bourbon special.

Reid Mitenbuler captured it: “Bourbon refuses to be rushed—drinking it is an exercise in slow sipping, just letting the concentrated bursts of honey, spice, and vanilla flavors unwind on your tongue.”

You can’t rush aging bourbon. You can’t rush building a distillery. You can’t rush creating heritage.

But you can rush a hard seltzer to market, slap a celebrity name on tequila, or reformulate an RTD when sales slow.

I think the least surprising thing about the article is the tone. It was defensive, almost precious about how bourbon should be consumed. The final quote was essentially: don’t ruin bourbon by mixing it with too much cola and sugary stuff—you might as well drink vodka.

That was Booker Noe’s era. Bourbon purists defending the spirit from being bastardized. Maybe the greater population has evolved past this but not all. What do you think happens every time someone new to the segment uses the word smooth or makes a cocktail with the wrong “premium” whiskey?

Flash forward to 2025, and Fred Noe—Booker’s son, Jim Beam’s seventh generation master distiller—has this to say about how to enjoy bourbon: “Drink it any damn way you please.”

That shift tells you everything about why bourbon’s positioned differently now. In 1974, the industry was rigid, trying to hold the line on tradition while losing market share to a more flexible competitor. Now? They’ve figured out you can honor heritage while meeting consumers where they are.

The infrastructure, the premium positioning, the craft diversity—those all matter. But the real competitive advantage is that bourbon learned not to be precious about itself while maintaining what makes it special.

After years of explosive growth that brought speculators, flippers, and casual drinkers into the category, bourbon’s returning to a smallerish audience. The explosive growth brought some new folks to the fold but many of them are tired. Ready to try something new.

In 1974, bourbon was defending itself against a spirit with no taste, no color, and no history. In 2024, it’s defending itself against convenience and celebrity and maybe exhaustion.

Fifty years ago, the industry said bourbon would survive because of its heritage and authenticity. They were right then. They’re right now.

The main difference? This time they’ve got the infrastructure and positioning to actually capitalize on it when the market corrects. And they’re not going to lose share by being inflexible about how people should enjoy it.

Which, looking at what happened with vodka, might be the lesson that actually matters.

I’ve included photos of the original 1974 clipping below. The parallels are striking, and the contrast between then and now is probably more instructive than the similarities.

What happens when a Detroit bartender who helped open America’s first fragrance bar joins one of bourbon’s most innovative distilleries? You get Jaz’min Weaver, Bardstown Bourbon Company’s traveling educator with a perspective unlike anyone else in the industry.

In this conversation, Jaz’min shares her journey from running bar programs with ever-changing five-course tasting menus to spreading the gospel of Bardstown bourbon across the nation. We dive deep into what makes Bardstown different—their organic collaboration approach, their unique barrel-finishing technique using argon gas preservation, and releases that push boundaries.

Key Discussion Points:

* The story behind Bardstown’s Cathedral Finish featuring 300-year-old French oak hand-selected for Notre Dame’s restoration

* Why Amrut was a historic moment (first American whiskey finished in Indian single malt casks)

* How Bardstown’s collaborations work: handshake deals, no money exchanged, just people excited about flavor

* The argon gas preservation method that keeps barrels wet for maximum flavor transfer

* Pairing whiskey to experiences, not just food

* Why the on-premise distillery experience will continue growing despite market contractions

Guest Bio: Jaz’min Weaver is a traveling educator for Bardstown Bourbon Company. Her background includes bartending in Metro Detroit, running bar programs at Frame (known for rotating five-course tasting menus), and helping launch the nation’s first fragrance bar. She specializes in pairing flavor to fragrance and food to beverage.

Connect with Jaz’min: Instagram: @jaz.distilled