Bourbon notes with road-worn conversation.
The Bourbon Road follows Jim Shannon and Todd Ritter through premium bottles, craft releases, rye comparisons, and whiskey-road stories. The appeal is in the lived-in tasting rhythm: proof and age up front, then cherry, oak, clove, heat, dry tannin, and a few detours before the glass is finished.
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The Bourbon Road is a whiskey show with its elbows on the bar. Jim Shannon and Todd Ritter spend episodes tasting their way through bottles, flights, special releases, and the occasional promise finally kept. The structure is easy to recognize. First comes the housekeeping: proof, age, mash bill, barrel details, price, distillery location, and whatever story is printed on the bottle or attached to the release. Then the glass takes over. A pour might turn into dark cherry syrup, baked pie, clove-studded ham, sandalwood, black pepper, caramel, oak char, or a dry tannic finish that needs a second pass. The show is strongest when the two compare impressions in real time. One note lands, the other tests it, and the bottle gets a little more complicated. Some episodes are pure tasting exercises, like the extended-age Old Overholt comparison or the King of Kentucky small batches. Others stretch into the geography of American whiskey through Lost Lantern releases from places like Alabama and North Carolina. Guests add another lane. Drew Hanisch brings Whiskey Lore travel context and a broad view of distilleries across the United States. Wes Henderson and Brian Guelfo bring Saga Spirits Group, True Story, Brothers of the Leaf, and legacy talk into the room. Amzie Winning and Bo Cumberland shift the conversation toward Bourbon on the Banks, film, and local storytelling. The mood stays relaxed. It can be nerdy about barrels and proof without turning clinical. It can be affectionate about bourbon community without sounding polished. The Facebook group and road-trip chatter make the show feel tied to real people sharing real pours. At the same time, the bottle evaluations are practical enough for someone deciding what deserves space on a home bar. The Bourbon Road works best for drinkers who enjoy long-form tasting conversation, especially when the details are sensory, imperfect, and argued over in good faith. It is bourbon-forward, but rye, craft whiskey, travel, events, and distillery history all keep showing up.
Made for: For bourbon and American whiskey fans who like detailed tasting notes, side-by-side comparisons, release chatter, and stories from distilleries, events, and whiskey travel. It especially fits drinkers who enjoy friendly disagreement over what is actually happening in the glass.
What sets it apart: The show stands out through its unhurried tasting loop: bottle facts, shared sensory reactions, backstory, and a return to the pour after it changes. Its best moments feel less like formal review and more like sitting beside two whiskey-literate friends sorting out a flight together.
The Bourbon Road is two friends sharing pours and good stories with interesting guests. Each week we sip on bourbon while talking with celebrities, musicians, chefs, authors, industry experts and everyone in between. If bourbon makes it better... or even the other way around, then we want to talk about it.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Its TV & Film value is a practical glimpse at documentary production, shaped by hosts who make process talk easy and concrete.
Jim Shannon and Todd Ritter make tasting the engine of The Bourbon Road. They compare pours in real time, put precise sensory impressions into ordinary language, and ask how choices such as barrel treatment alter what reaches the glass.
A 142-proof Alabama bourbon becomes your invitation to taste slowly and argue amiably.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A relaxed five-pour whiskey flight where age, barrel choices, and shifting tasting notes keep the conversation moving.
Jim Shannon and Todd Ritter take this Bourbon Road outing through a five-pour run of top-shelf whiskey, opening with the 2025 Remus Gatsby Reserve, a 15-year-old cask-strength straight bourbon.
A high-proof Lost Lantern tasting becomes a state-by-state whiskey trip through unfamiliar distilleries, local stories, and memorable pours.
The Bourbon Road is strongest when it treats Lost Lantern's 2026 collection like a road map for American whiskey. Jim Shannon and Todd Ritter move through states and distilleries they have not tasted before, turning the flight into something broader than a proof-driven lineup.
Drew Hanisch returns to The Bourbon Road with craft pours, distillery lore, and a practical American whiskey travel guide.
The Bourbon Road brings Drew Hanisch of Whiskey Lore back into the room for an easygoing craft-whiskey episode with Jim Shannon and Todd Ritter.
A relaxed whiskey flight where tannin, spice, and oak-char shape the comparison.
The Bourbon Road treats a whiskey flight as an easy, attentive look at why one pour stands apart from another. Jim Shannon and Todd Ritter move through darker and lighter impressions, dry tannins, mid-palate spice, and oak-char character, letting each glass sharpen the next…
A relaxed bourbon conversation finds its most useful focus in Bo Cumberland's candid take on short-form filmmaking.
With Jim Shannon off in warmer temperatures, Todd Ritter eases into a bottle-in-bond conversation with Amzie Winning and Bo Cumberland. Amzie brings back notes from the Frankfurt Bourbon Society and Bourbon on the Banks, while Cumberland returns as the producer and director…
Jim Shannon and Todd Ritter mix bourbon comparisons with road stories, a distillery guide, and an easygoing drinking attitude.
Jim Shannon and Todd Ritter open with road stories before the tasting settles in. Recent recording trips come back into view, from a Zoom session to a visit with the folks at Peter E. Hart Spirits, where Civil War memorabilia sends Todd into a Perryville memory with his father.
A Midway visit turns barrel sourcing and oak age into clear, glass-level flavor talk.
The Bourbon Road visits Midway, Kentucky, as Jim Shannon and Todd Ritter talk with Sam Rock of Bluegrass Distillers about barrels in the most useful way: by keeping the wood tied to flavor.
Bourbon talk, barrel stories, messy good pours.
Bourbon reviews with memory, candor, and community.
Everyday life, thought through together.
Hosts Jim Shannon and Todd Ritter visit Sam Rock at Bluegrass Distillers' new facility in Midway, Kentucky.
Hosts Jim Shannon and Todd Ritter taste and review four whiskeys at the Corner Rick House in Frankfurt.
The Bourbon Road lines up five premium pours, including a 15-year Remus Gatsby Reserve, Old Forester 117 High Angel Share Rye, Bardstown Cascadia Gariana Oak, Redemption 10 Year Barrel Proof High Rye Bourbon, and EH Taylor Barrel Proof 14B.
Jim Shannon and Todd Ritter use Lost Lantern's spring collection to compare high-proof and lower-proof releases from Montana, North Carolina, Alabama, and Idaho.
The Bourbon Road turns into a four-state craft whiskey tasting with Drew Hanisch of Whiskey Lore, moving from James E.
Wes Henderson and Brian Guelfo discuss their new venture Saga Spirits Group and their brands True Story and Brothers of the Leaf.
Hosts Jim and Todd conduct a side-by-side tasting of Old Overholt 10, 11, and 12-year cask strength rye whiskeys.
Jim Shannon and Todd Ritter taste three King of Kentucky small batches from Brown-Forman, all aged 12 to 18 years and priced at $299.
Bo Cumberland explains why his bourbon-history films are built as short-form pieces with “instant gratification.”
Drew Hanisch discusses his new travel guide to American whiskey distilleries on the Bourbon Road Podcast.
Hosts Jim Shannon and Todd Ritter visit Bluegrass Distillers in Midway, Kentucky, and interview founder Sam Rock for the third time.
Todd interviews the hosts of the Bourbon Hunters Podcast about their show and bourbon hunting adventures.
Diane Strong previews the upcoming Bourbon on the Banks Festival on the Bourbon Road Podcast.
An episode of the Bourbon Road Podcast featuring an interview with filmmaker Bo Cumberland about bourbon culture.