Patreon Relaunch - Tell me what you HATE

We relaunched the Patreon this month with a bunch of new benefits, including bonus podcast episodes! I have gotten a lot of feedback from the patrons, and I am going to take that feedback and try to make the whole channel even BETTER.

That said, I want feedback from everyone, including you! I will put a link below to a short survey where you can tell me everything. What you love, what you hate, what you want to see, etc! Please take 3 minutes to let me know what you want to see so that I can improve the platform!

If the Patreon thrives, the Whiskey Noobs channel thrives. I couldn’t be doing this without the patrons - thank you all. If you’re considering it, now is a great time to show some support!

Recap: Kentucky Bourbon Festival 2025

In the blink of an eye, KBF 2025 was here and gone! It was a great time, and I was thrilled to get to meet so many of you guys. There were some great brands there as well, so I wanted to take a minute to talk about a few of the fantastic brands that I hadn’t heard of prior to this weekend:

Silk Velvet: They had a small batch and a single barrel out for tasting - the small batch was great for the price (I want to say $40 MSRP, but I can’t seem to find it online yet), but the single barrel was REALLY something special for about $80. Looking forward to seeing what this brand does next (hopefully some more distribution).

Jackson Purchase: This was a brand with a really cool story that I plan to tell on the podcast soon. Craig Beam, former master distiller at Heaven Hill, is now the master distiller of Jackson Purchase. Up to this point, the brand has done contract distilling for other companies, keeping back some of the extra with plans to potentially launch their own brand. From what I understood, their first launch was the weekend of KBF, and they brought some fantastic bourbon with them! I’m excited to sit down with Craig and learn more.

Burton James: This is the brand that I learned the least about (crazy lines at KBF this year), but I was VERY impressed with the whiskey that I tried from them. They had a 10yr 107 proof wheated bourbon that was FANTASTIC. I can’t vouch for the specific bottles that I see online from them, but I really hope to see more labels from them soon.

Of course, there were brands there that I have heard of and tried plenty of times that impressed me. Larrikin’s Cigar Lounge release was a stand out, and I am really hoping to get my hands on one for some pairings. Town Branch also had a 15yr single malt that was probably the most (pleasantly) unique whiskey I tried all weekend. I also FINALLY got to try Penelope’s Wheated Bourbon, which was great! I am sure there are more that I am forgetting, but those ones really stand out in my recollection.

Cigar Review: AVO Syncro Nicaragua Fogata

The AVO Syncro Nicaragua Fogata is one of those cigars that I was able to throw 3 whiskeys at and get three awesome pairings (what’s the deal with that long @$$ name though?!). Smooth chocolatey notes meet a little bit of pepper and leather for a REALLY intriguing puff. When I paired it with 3 bourbons, two of them made it sweeter and more approachable, while the last one (KC12) made it a little more peppery, but still tasty.

The EH Taylor in the photo above was the stand out, though, with some fantastic fruit notes showing up on the pairing! This might be my favorite cigar from the PPC in the past couple of months. Just a really fantastic smoke!