Chris Blatner and I select our second Pinhook Bourbon Single Barrel. This year’s Vertical Series hails from the Kentucky distillery’s eight-year-old stock of MGP barrels that the owners purchased years ago to begin their company. This year, Chris and I are selecting the barrel for Malloy’s Finest, and owner Steve Malloy sits down with us in his swanky office to taste through the three samples that Pinhook provided for us.

Guest: Steve Malloy

Hosts: Jake Hukee & Chris Blatner

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Key In The Lake

Jake is joined by old friends Chris Blatner and Wilson Torres to celebrate National Bourbon Day. The guys discuss the ever-changing notion of how Bourbon is legally defined, yet evolving new subcategories of the Native Spirit. They sip on a Leopold Bros. Bourbon single barrel, a couple new Bardstown releases and the newest hot item from Penelope.

Hosts: Jake Hukee, Chris Blatner & Wilson Torres

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Key In The Lake

Live from Delilah’s we celebrated World Whisky Day with our good friends from six distilleries from across the world. On Part 2, we get started with Eric Rosentreter of Old Elk, then we flip the script and Chris and Matt interview me about Starward Whisky (00:36:40). And to bring the house down, our spirit sherpa Nick Brady Maas of Dancing Goat closes the show (01:03:10). Listen to the personal stories of these distillery representatives and the history of their distilleries.

Guests: Eric Rosentreter & Nick Maas

Hosts: Jake Hukee, Matt Brown & Chris Blatner

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Key In The Lake

Live from Delilah’s we celebrated World Whisky Day with our good friends from six distilleries from across the world. On Part 1, we chat with Mark Boyle of Pernod-Ricard about Red Breast 12 (06:25:00), followed by Lukas Vlasnik of Woody Creek (25:33:00) and with Joe Luna of Judson & Moore (01:18:58). Listen to the personal stories of these distillery representatives and the history of their distilleries.

Guests: Mark Boyle, Lucas Vlasnik & Joe Luna

Hosts: Jake Hukee, Matt Brown & Chris Blatner

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Key In The Lake

Live from my hotel room in Estes Park, CO, I discuss the life of whiskey ambassador from this lovely landscape. I talk about selling single barrels; and developing genuine, healthy relationships in the whiskey industry.

Host: Jake Hukee

@KeyInTheLake

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Master Distiller Greg Metze joins the show to share the professional and life lessons he’s learned during four decades in the whiskey industry. Before leaving a 38-year career at Seagrams and MGP, Greg crafted custom mash bills for Old Elk. The creative freedom of working with new grain-builds inspired him to leave his legacy in Indiana of distilling 65% bourbons and 85% of ryes in the market, and blaze a new path with Old Elk by using his knowledge and passion for creating the highest quality spirits.

Guests: Greg Metze & Ross Graham

Hosts: Jake Hukee & Peter KIm

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Alex Brick, Woodinville Whiskey Ambassador joins the show talk us through the history of the Washington state distillery, and his career in the spirits industry. We sip four delightful expressions that Woodinville has to offer, including a 2022 Harvest Release Port Finished Straight Rye. Alex shares stories of Dave Pickerell, the distillery’s focus on wine-finished whiskeys and we even talk the wonders of Iceland.

Guest: Alex Brick

Hosts: Jake Hukee & Steven Dragun

Visit Woodinville Whiskey Here

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Four years ago I met a man from Australia with ambition to build his whisky brand in the United States. He held an irrational belief that was nearly contagious. In 2009, Starward founder David Vitale built a single malt distillery in Melbourne—when whisky distilling barely existed in Australia. in just 15 years, he went from hand-selling his whisky on folding tables in corporate offices to Distillery of the Year in 2022. Hear the full Starward journey from the founder’s perspective.

Guest: Dave Vitale

Hosts: Jake Hukee & Callum O’Donnell

Visit STARWARD WHISKY here

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I recap my recent visit to the Bourbon Trail to select a handful of single barrels for Malloy’s Finest, and how wonderful/individual the whiskey industry truly is. We visited Maker’s Mark, Bardstown Bourbon Co., Preservation Distillery, Starlight Distillery and the Bardstown Collection Launch.

Host: Jake Hukee

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Zak Rye of Warehouse Liquors (Chicago) shares the history of the iconic spirits purveyor, and how they’ve earned the trust of invested whiskey customers from across the country. Zak is a storyteller, a host and a retailer who’s spent time as a coffee roaster, an ambassador for the famed Compass Box, and now, leads the renovation and transformation of their upstairs space into an event/tasting room/social club.

Guest: Zak Rye

Hosts: Jake Hukee & Callum O’Donnell

Shop at Warehouse Liquors here

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