Swamp Sippin'

The Bourbon Gator
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Swamp Sippin' is where The Bourbon Gator sits down with the people actually shaping craft bourbon - distillery owners, blenders, and the brands doing things differently. Real conversations about what it costs to build something in whiskey, and every episode ends the same way; one thing about the bourbon world they'd drain from the swamp if they could. Pour one and pull up a chair.

Episodes

  1. Sep 26

    Swamp Sippin' Ep 9 | The Texolina Boys Roundtable | Taconic 9yr Rye Barrel Pick

    Chris from The Wright Pour and Lonnie from BourbonNBoats flew to New York and picked the Taconic 9.5 year, 124 proof single barrel rye, and they made sure your boy The Bourbon Gator got a bottle. This one beat every other rye I have had this year, and we get into the whole story of how they landed it. We cover the barrel pick that got away from somebody else, why craft beats legacy every day of the week, the honey barrel trend that needs to die, and what we would each drain from the swamp of whiskey. Grab a pour and pull up a chair. CHAPTERS 0:00 Pouring the Taconic 9yr rye 1:35 How we each fell down the whiskey hole 4:38 A thousand miles apart and somehow brothers 8:00 Lonnie, Mickey Finns, and his first barrel pick 11:41 Chris, Grand Strand, and the Ten Glen Society 16:20 The Taconic rye pick Chris and Lonnie landed in New York 24:06 Local grain, and why the white dog tastes like banana 29:06 The mason jar aging demo that made it click 31:17 Favorite whiskey moment and the hot takes 33:22 The coming NDP shakeout and sourcing vs blending 36:38 Tasting the rye 38:15 What would you drain from the swamp 40:23 Where to find the Texolina Boys Follow The Wright Pour: @The_Wright_Pour Follow Lonnie: @BourbonNBoats Follow The Bourbon Gator: @thebourbongator Swamp Sippin' is available on all platforms. Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook. Drink responsibly. Must be 21+. Chris and Lonnie picked this barrel and gifted me a bottle. All opinions are my own and nobody paid for a good review.

    Swamp Sippin' Ep 9 | The Texolina Boys Roundtable | Taconic 9yr Rye Barrel Pick

  2. Aug 14

    Is Sourcing a Craft? Inside Patel Bourbon with Hemal Patel & Joe Godfrey - Swamp Sippin' Ep. 8

    They don't distill a single drop — and Hemal Patel and Joe Godfrey will tell you straight that that's the point. This week on Swamp Sippin', I sit down with the guys behind Patel Bourbon to put one question on the table: is barrel selection its own craft? We pour through their Bespoke lineup, get into the Georgia aging, and talk radical transparency, cask strength, and giving back. DISCLOSURE: Patel Bourbon provided the four samples poured in this episode, and this episode features a giveaway of Patel Bourbon products. All opinions are my own and honest. What we pour and dig into: • 95/5 Wheat Whiskey (115 proof, 8yr 3mo) • 95/5 Rye Whiskey (127.3 proof, 9yr 6mo) • 51/45/4 Rye Whiskey (115.6 proof, 9yr 3mo) • 75/21/4 Bourbon (116.4 proof, 8yr 11mo) • Why cask strength and uncut, every time • How Georgia heat changes the barrel • The sourced-vs-craft debate, straight up GIVEAWAY — 4 Bespoke samples: • Follow @thebourbongator and @patelbourbon • Bonus entries: show proof you follow R.M. Rose and The David Downie Foundation • Comment and share the post on social media • Extra entry: drop a comment on YouTube Must be 21+ and reside in the Continental U.S. No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. See pinned comment for full rules. LINKS: • Patel Bourbon: https://patelbourbons.com | IG @patelbourbon • R.M. Rose Co.: https://rmrosestore.com | IG @rmroseco • The David Downie Foundation: https://ddfoundation.org/ | IG @daviddownie_foundation • The Bourbon Gator: @thebourbongator on all platforms CHAPTERS: 00:00 Meet Patel Bourbon — Hemal Patel & Joe Godfrey 01:59 Tasting the 95% Wheat (115 proof) 04:04 The Epicurean Philosophy in the Glass 07:05 Building the Brand Backwards From the End Goal 09:55 Collaboration, Mentorship & the Right Team 12:57 Radical Transparency on the Label 16:05 What Georgia Heat Does to the Barrel 19:05 Barrel Selection & Batch Consistency 22:01 What's Next for Patel Bourbon 25:01 Why Cask Strength & Uncut, Every Time 28:01 The David Downie Foundation 32:07 Tasting the 95% Rye (127.3 proof) 36:04 The R.M. Rose Partnership & a Double-Oak Teaser 42:08 Tasting the 75214 Bourbon (116.4 proof) 47:09 Transparency, NDAs & Educating Drinkers 52:04 Drain the Swamp & Final Pours #SwampSippin #TheBourbonGator #PatelBourbon #Bourbon #Whiskey

    Is Sourcing a Craft? Inside Patel Bourbon with Hemal Patel & Joe Godfrey - Swamp Sippin' Ep. 8

  3. Aug 7

    Girl Dad Bourbon: The Unicorn of 2026 l Swamp Sippin' Ep. 7

    Girl Dad Bourbon went from an idea to one of the fastest selling new bourbons of 2026, selling out in an hour and drawing five times its price on the secondary market. Founder Clifford Walsh joins Swamp Sippin' to tell the whole story: coming up with the brand on paternity leave, building it around being a girl dad, picking the barrel, and what it's actually like to watch strangers review the thing you made at 2am on baby duty. We get into the wheated mash bill, the pink wax, the hidden meanings on the label, the single barrel program rolling out now, and what he'd change about the bourbon world if he could. Girl Dad Bourbon is a Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, 101 proof, aged 7 years 8 months. Disclosure: Clifford sent a sample of Girl Dad Bourbon for this episode. All opinions here are my own and honest. Follow Girl Dad Bourbon: Instagram: @girldadbourbon Website and end of August pre order: thegirldadbourbon.com Follow Swamp Sippin' and The Bourbon Gator for a new craft whiskey conversations. Like, comment, and subscribe so more girl dads find their way here. Chapters: 00:00 Intro 00:25 From bourbon collector to brand founder 01:35 The idea on paternity leave, and the fraternity barrel pick 04:00 The wheated mash bill 06:00 The single barrel program 06:30 His 9 to 5 and building this at night 07:35 What his wife really thought 12:00 The label and its hidden meanings 14:50 Tasting Girl Dad Bourbon 21:30 Reading reviews from strangers 26:00 Where the brand goes next 36:00 Rapid fire: first pour, desert island, Texas whiskey 43:20 Drain the Swamp: the secondary market 49:00 Where to buy and follow #SwampSippin #BourbonGator #GirlDadBourbon #Bourbon #Whiskey

    Girl Dad Bourbon: The Unicorn of 2026 l Swamp Sippin' Ep. 7

  4. Jul 31

    Resurrecting a Dead Kentucky Whiskey l Zach Hargis- Silk Velvet l Swamp Sippin' Ep. 6

    Silk Velvet was a national whiskey brand in the 1880s. Prohibition killed it, and it sat dead for a hundred years until a family in Henderson, Kentucky found it in a stack of old bottles and brought it back. Zach Hargis, president and co founder, sits down to tell the whole story: the family split that started it all, how they revived a brand nobody remembered, and where the whiskey actually comes from. We taste one of their Single Barrel expressions, get into how he and Jacob Call select barrels, and talk honestly about what the whiskey market looks like from inside a brand that launched straight into the downturn. Plus a first look at the new Silk Velvet rye. Grab a bottle: silkvelvetwhiskey.com Follow Silk Velvet: @silkvelvetwhiskey CHAPTERS 00:00 The story nobody tells 00:30 Intro and first pour 02:00 How Zach got into whiskey 08:00 Meeting Jacob Call at Green River 12:00 1856: the family that started it all 18:00 Two distilleries, one family 22:00 Finding the brand in an attic 28:00 The bottle and the label 33:00 Tasting the Single Barrel 40:00 How they pick barrels 52:00 Launching in Henderson 1:05:00 The new Silk Velvet rye 1:20:00 What the whiskey market really looks like 1:31:00 Drain the Swamp 1:35:00 Where to find Silk Velvet Follow Swamp Sippin’ YouTube: @thebourbongator Instagram and TikTok: @thebourbongator #SwampSippin #BourbonGator #SilkVelvet #KentuckyBourbon #Whiskey

    Resurrecting a Dead Kentucky Whiskey l Zach Hargis- Silk Velvet l Swamp Sippin' Ep. 6

  5. Jul 17

    Baptized In Bourbon — April Weller Cantrell, The Bourbon Baroness | Swamp Sippin' Ep. 5

    Her name is Weller. Her fourth great-grandfather was Daniel Weller. But April Weller Cantrell will be the first to tell you she didn't grow up in a distillery — she grew up a farmer's daughter in Kentucky. Her whiskey story started in Tennessee in 2012, when a man named Lee Kennedy walked through her door and said he wanted to build a bourbon distillery. She laughed at him. Then she became his first employee, and spent the next decade getting "baptized in bourbon" — nosing, blending, building the thing from the ground up. Today she's back home in Kentucky as The Bourbon Baroness — writer, critic, and one of the more honest voices on where this industry is actually headed. We got into all of it: the women written out of whiskey's history, whether the bubble has popped or just the part everybody was looking at, sourcing and honesty, and why she thinks the smartest person in the room is the consumer holding the bottle. 🥃 GIVEAWAY — 1.75L Weller Special Reserve Follow @thebourbongator and @bourbonbaroness on Instagram, like the giveaway post, and tag two friends. 21+, U.S. only. Winner drawn Friday, July 24. Full rules on the post. ⏱️ CHAPTERS 0:00 Cold open 0:56 Welcome — the Bourbon Baroness 1:31 A Weller by blood 3:13 "Lee Kennedy walked through my door" 4:18 Baptized in bourbon 5:28 Her father, the farm, and losing him 9:10 Why she started writing — In The Glass & Beyond 13:35 Whiskey, prohibition, and the pendulum 16:34 Coming home to Kentucky 19:10 Family-friendly distilleries and Bardstown 23:00 "You don't get a feather in your hat" 28:23 Four forgotten women — Catherine Carpenter 30:54 "History — I always call it his story" 32:04 Has the whiskey bubble popped? 34:19 Why craft distilleries fail 37:06 Smoke and mirrors and the wiser consumer 43:12 Passion, intent, and a brand falling apart 45:04 NDPs, sourcing, and honesty 46:39 Texas whiskey and telling the truth on the label 49:54 Marketing, influencers, and Yellowstone 56:54 Keyboard warriors and the subjectivity of taste 59:59 What's always on her bar 1:02:14 Texas bourbon and 1845 1:04:33 The gumbo question 1:08:25 Where to find April + giveaway 📖 FIND APRIL Blog: bourbonbaroness.com Instagram / TikTok / Facebook: @bourbonbaroness 🐊 SWAMP SIPPIN' Long-form conversations with the people behind craft whiskey. New episodes every Friday. Audio on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Instagram: @thebourbongator TikTok: @thebourbongator #SwampSippin #BourbonGator #Bourbon #Whiskey #BourbonBaroness

    Baptized In Bourbon — April Weller Cantrell, The Bourbon Baroness | Swamp Sippin' Ep. 5

  6. Jul 3

    Distillerie Acadian: Louisiana's Answer to Bourbon | Swamp Sippin' Ep. 4

    A favor turned into one of Louisiana's most talked-about distilleries. In Episode 4 of Swamp Sippin', I sit down in New Iberia with Philip Mestayer of Distillerie Acadian — the distillery chosen to represent Louisiana in Lost Lantern's United States of Bourbon, the first-ever blend of straight bourbon from all 50 states. We taste through all three of their new bottled-in-bond expressions — Cajun's Cut (bourbon), Matrimony (wheated bourbon), and Horyezon (rye) — and get into the stuff most interviews skip: how Louisiana heat and humidity fight the barrel, why they dropped to 115 barrel-entry proof and slow water reduction, the criticism that reshaped the whole operation, and the experimental series (yes, the Chantilly cake whiskey). 🥃 Distillerie Acadian: distillerieacadian.com | Buy: bourbonoutfitter.com | IG/FB: @distillerieacadian 🐊 The Bourbon Gator on all platforms 🎧 Also on Spotify & Apple Podcasts Disclosure: Distillerie Acadian gifted the three bottled-in-bond samples featured in this episode. All opinions are my own. #SwampSippin #BourbonGator

  7. Jun 19

    How Texas Oak Changes Your Bourbon l Greg Standard - Standard Cooperage l Swamp Sippin' Ep. 3

    Texas just got its first cooperage — and the way Greg Standard is building barrels might change how Texas whiskey tastes. This week on Swamp Sippin’, I sat down with Greg Standard, owner of Standard Cooperage in Blanco, Texas — the first cooperage in the state. We get into how a mechanical engineer and custom home builder ended up making barrels, why Texas was buying 60,000–100,000 barrels a year from out of state, and the study Standard Cooperage funded with Texas A&M asking one simple question: does where the white oak grows change the flavor in your glass? We also talk Texas oak county by county, toast vs. char, why their staves are built Texas-tough, white-glove delivery straight from the coopers who built your barrel — and the handshake business model that flips the whole cooperage game on its head. Every episode ends the same way: one guest, one question — what’s one thing about the bourbon world you’d drain from the swamp? Don’t miss Greg’s answer. Standard Cooperage — Blanco, TX Chapters 00:00 The Birth of a Cooperage07:11 Barrel Sizes and Toasting vs. Charring13:19 Cooperage Business Model22:12 Greg's Journey to Blanco28:21 Challenges in the Cooperage Industry33:52 Reflecting on the Cooperage JourneySTANDARD COOPERAGE Website: https://standardcooperage.com Instagram / Facebook: @standardcooperage Father’s Day barrel demonstration — Sat, June 20, sign up via the Texas Whiskey Trail FOLLOW THE BOURBON GATOR / SWAMP SIPPIN’ Instagram: @thebourbongator TikTok: @thebourbongator Facebook: The Bourbon Gator Listen on Spotify & Apple Podcasts: https://open.spotify.com/show/033ljf4py05ioOmGnEWnYi?si=955f5802ca274780 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/swamp-sippin/id1896798323 New craft whiskey conversation every other Friday — hit subscribe. #SwampSippin #BourbonGator #TexasWhiskey

    How Texas Oak Changes Your Bourbon l Greg Standard - Standard Cooperage l Swamp Sippin' Ep. 3

  8. Jun 5

    She's the Distiller, He's "The Tanker" | WarTrail Spirits Broken Halo | Swamp Sippin' Ep. 2

    Laurie and Bernard Quandt left corporate New York, landed in Llano, Texas, and built a distillery where she runs the still and he runs the road. This is WarTrail Spirits — and their Broken Halo Bourbon is doing something most Texas distilleries won't: 100% Texas grains, four years old, no malted barley on purpose. In this episode we get into the science behind the iStill, why six-to-seven-day ferments matter more than most people think, the 193-proof shower Bernard took the hard way, and the kangaroo that walked into their tasting room. Plus a Drain the Swamp answer that every craft bourbon fan needs to hear. 📍 WarTrail Spirits — 122 E Main St, Llano, TX 🥃 Broken Halo Bourbon: 80% corn / 20% rye, 100% Texas grains 🔗 Follow @wartrail on Instagram ⏱️ CHAPTERS 00:00 Cold open 00:35 Why a married couple started the hardest business 02:30 Buying an iStill from a "punk rock scientist" 04:00 The 193-proof shower (Bernard's worst day) 07:30 How Laurie and Bernard split the work 11:00 From rural New York to Houston to Llano 15:00 The kangaroo in the tasting room 18:30 Why they took malted barley OUT of the mashbill 20:30 Sourcing 100% Texas grain from MBS Seed 23:00 Tasting the 94 proof and 115 proof Broken Halo 24:00 Black cherry notes and oak striping every third barrel 29:00 The distribution grind and getting into Total Wine 33:50 DRAIN THE SWAMP: "Stop chasing allocated. Drink craft." 36:30 Closing 🐊 ABOUT SWAMP SIPPIN' Long-form sit-downs with craft distillers and brand founders, hosted by Kevin — The Bourbon Gator. New episodes every Friday. ▶️ Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@thebourbongator 🎧 Also on Spotify and Apple Podcasts 📸 Instagram: @thebourbongator 🎵 TikTok: @thebourbongator 🔔 FTC: Broken Halo Bourbon was gifted by WarTrail Spirits. All opinions are my own. #TexasBourbon #SwampSippin #WarTrailSpirits #BrokenHalo #BourbonGator #CraftBourbon #TexasWhiskey

    She's the Distiller, He's "The Tanker" | WarTrail Spirits Broken Halo | Swamp Sippin' Ep. 2

  9. May 21

    Swamp Sippin' Ep. 1 - Matt Myres Acadian Lore Whiskey Co.

    Two boys with family roots in Southwest Louisiana met in Texas, built a 24-year friendship, and came home through a bottle. Episode 1: The Bourbon Gator sits down with Matt Myres of Acadian Lore Whiskey Co. to talk about what it really costs to build a whiskey brand from scratch — and what he'd drain from the swamp if he could. Pour one and pull up a chair.

    Swamp Sippin' Ep. 1 - Matt Myres Acadian Lore Whiskey Co.
  • 9 Episodes

About

Swamp Sippin' is where The Bourbon Gator sits down with the people actually shaping craft bourbon - distillery owners, blenders, and the brands doing things differently. Real conversations about what it costs to build something in whiskey, and every episode ends the same way; one thing about the bourbon world they'd drain from the swamp if they could. Pour one and pull up a chair.

Information

  • Creator
    The Bourbon Gator
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    9
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 The Bourbon Gator
  • Show Website
    Swamp Sippin'