Spirits & Distilling Podcast - Episodes Tagged with “Whiskey Blending”

46: Owen Martin of Angel’s Envy Applies Strategies from Scotch to Signature Kentucky Bourbon

Spirits & Distilling — Tue, 25 Nov 2025 00:00:00 -0700

Bourbon is the focus as master distiller Owen Martin joins Sydney Jones to dig into the production philosophies shaping Angel’s Envy today, from the Scotch-inspired discipline he brings to cask finishing to the blending strategy behind the brand’s new bottled-in-bond release. Owen breaks down how finishing barrels, entry proof, and batch selection influence flavor direction and why maintaining consistency across blends is becoming more complex as the distillery scales.

The conversation also explores Angel’s Envy’s operational expansion, including the new Henry County barreling and blending facility, and how shifting fill/dump operations impacts both workflow and whiskey profile. Owen shares insights into upcoming innovations—new grains, unfinished whiskey, and peated-barrel projects—while offering a practical look at balancing experimentation with a growing core portfolio.

In this episode, Jones and Martin discuss:

How Owen’s Scotch whiskey background shapes Angel’s Envy’s approach to cask finishing
Technical considerations behind the new bottled-in-bond release and its 103-proof maturation
Blending strategies for maintaining consistency across batches as the distillery scales
Development of peated-barrel and unfinished-whiskey projects
Operational shifts with the new Henry County barreling/blending facility
Innovation planning with new grain bills, malt whiskey, and future high-end finishes

And more.

G&D Chillers: G&D Chillers understands that each distillery’s chilling requirements are unique. On every distillery project, G&D offers the front-end design and engineering your team needs at no cost to you. Hank Pressley, head distiller at Moon Drop Distillery says, “Early on, we made a decision to partner with quality American-made companies. One of those companies was G&D Chillers, and we are proud of that choice. Our equipment from them has run long and strong. We put our first barrel in our rickhouse in September 2021, and in the next 3 years we have put back more than another 540 barrels. What a great decision to team up with a company like G&D Chillers.” Reach out for a quote today at gdchillers.com.

27: Ashley Barnes of The Blending House Uses Data to Drive Better Blends

Spirits & Distilling — Tue, 04 Mar 2025 16:00:00 -0700

Ashley Barnes, master blender at the Blending House, joins host Molly Troupe for an in-depth discussion of the scientific and sensorial approaches to building characterful blends. A former pharmaceutical quality chemist, Barnes was recruited by Buffalo Trace, later moved on to Four Roses, and has worked with (and learned from) some of the greats in the bourbon world. Now, at the Blending House, she works with nondistilling producers to carefully age and blend fine spirits using a variety of creative and data-driven techniques, while tracking environmental data such as temperature and evaporation to better understand long-term flavor development.

Over the course of the episode, they discuss:

Learning quality, flavor profiling, and profile maintenance from Four Roses master distiller Brent Elliott
The challenge of creating different flavors from the same barrel stock
Useful analogies for thinking about cohesive blends
Both negative and positive selection for minimizing distractions while maximizing cohesion
Controlling variables in rickhouse aging for more favorable flavor development
Ongoing research on yeast and other topics
The basics of labs for both blending quality and bottling quality
Sensory strategies for maintaining consistency through varying personal circumstances
Building the right lexicon for sensory description

And more.

G&D Chillers: G&D Chillers understands that each distillery’s chilling requirements are unique. On every distillery project, G&D offers the front-end design and engineering your team needs at no cost to you. Sid Dilawri from Filibuster Distillery says, “From the design and engineering to installation and start-up, G&D was easy to work with. We’ve had great customer service since commissioning our chiller, and I’d highly recommend them for any distillery system.” Reach out for a quote today at gdchillers.com.

17: Blender Jackie Zykan of Hidden Barn and Oduoak Debunks Lazy Assumptions about Whiskey Flavors, Blending, and Sensory

Spirits & Distilling — Tue, 15 Oct 2024 12:00:00 -0600

Jackie Zykan of Hidden Barn and Oduoak can tell you what aromas and flavors she detects when she smells and tastes whiskey, but she’d rather not put it in terms that you can connect with. After all, if she tells you she gets almond, you’ll most likely perceive and focus on that almond. But as she says in the episode, “Who cares if you ... get almond or not? I don’t care. There is no wrong or right.”

The spirited blender has strong opinions about the current state of whiskey- and bourbon-blending, education, and consumer feedback; in this episode, Zykan and Jones discuss:

Lessons learned from working behind the bar
Oak contributions to aged whiskey
The industry’s manipulation of tasting descriptors to create generic experiences
Finding workable and interesting permutations in bourbon blends
Figuring barrel volumes when working into blends
Using small bits of sometimes “flawed” whiskey to add character and an edge to a blend
Moving the bourbon community to a better language around flavor and sensory
Layering top, middle, and bass notes in whiskey-based perfume
Focusing on intentionality and going full gas, no brakes

And more.

Brought to you by:
G&D Chillers: G&D Chillers understands that each distillery’s chilling requirements are unique. On every distillery project, G&D offers the front-end design and engineering your team needs at no cost to you. Rebecca Harris, president and head distiller of Catoctin Creek recently shared, “Service after the sale is what really separates the quality of a supplier relationship. G&D Chillers has always been a phone call away when we needed them. For a small business like mine, that partnership makes all the difference.” Whether you distill batch by batch or in a continuous operation, for more than 30 years, G&D has had the proven solution. Visit them today at gdchillers.com.

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14: Nic Christiansen of Barrell Craft Spirits Pieces Together the Blended Whiskey Puzzle

Spirits & Distilling — Tue, 03 Sep 2024 17:00:00 -0600

As blender and manager of blending operations for the blend-focused brand Barrell Craft Spirits, Nic Christiansen’s job is to understand flavors, how they develop, and how they interact with each other to create harmonious wholes.

In this episode, Christiansen and host Molly Troupe discuss:

finding new avenues for flavor in blended whiskey
building micro-blends that are then married through additional barrel conditioning
the benefits and challenges of sourcing whiskey
calculating derived mash bills from the component whiskeys
taking a flavor-focused approach to blending
aging in a variety of casks and the concurrent evaluation process
designing whiskey blends around a creative brief that’s experience-based
developing blends that push past typical whiskey guardrails
protecting one’s palate
working in threes

And more.

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10: Andy Nelson, Cofounder of Nelson’s Green Brier Distillery and Belle Meade Bourbon, on the Life Cycle of a Modern Distillery

Spirits & Distilling — Tue, 09 Jul 2024 17:00:00 -0600

The last decade and a half have been a whirlwind for Andy Nelson, as the discovery of a family distilling legacy led his brother Charlie and him to pursue and launch the Nelson's Green Brier Distillery to make Tennessee Whiskey the way his great-great-great grandfather did (with a few accomodations for modernity, of course). Along the way, they also launched Belle Meade Bourbon, sourcing and blending, with the requisite learning that that entailed. Now, after selling the majority stake in the distillery to Constellation Brands, Nelson has set an independent course, consulting and helping other would-be distillery founders and operators navigate the same go-to-market maze.

In this episode, host Molly Troupe and Nelson discuss:

Building a brand story from family history
Developing and honing a solid base of blending skills before distilling and barreling whiskey
Moving past assumptions and expectations to focus on the reality of flavor in the blending process
The common misconception that smaller barrels age whiskey faster
Tennessee whiskey history and terminology, and the charcoal mellowing process
Updating a historic family recipe and process
Striking the balance between founder/owner and maker
Gaining confidence as a distiller without a background in science
Leveling up on less natural skills like sales
Bringing on a strategic distribution partner with all the benefits and challenges that entails

And more.

9: Nicole Austin of George Dickel Takes a Thoughtful and Contextual Approach to Blending Beautiful Whiskies

Spirits & Distilling — Tue, 25 Jun 2024 00:00:00 -0600

Nicole Austin has spent time in distilleries around the world, but if there’s one thing she’s learned from producing at distilleries both tiny and very large, it’s that no single blending strategy works at every scale, for every product, or with each kind of spirit. Today, as director of George Dickel and luxury American whiskey for Diageo, she has extensive tools at her disposal—from deep stocks of long-aged Tennessee whiskey to modern lab equipment. The nexus of that deeper palette of whiskies with which to blend—and deeper knowledge of those whiskies and how they age—is paying off with a number of releases that are piquing the interest of whiskey lovers.

In this episode, Austin sits down with host Sydney Jones for a distiller-to-distiller conversation on the intricacies of blending. Along the way, they discuss:

how rigorous approaches to blending can lead you astray
altering the blending approach based on the age of the spirit and ultimate intention for the release
managing blends with very small casks
safe assumptions and techniques for validating them
understanding gas chromatography and its place in the blending process
the challenge in discovering and delivering “house character” that speaks to the blender while resonating with drinkers
building a sustainable business structure
contemporary projects, including the three-chamber rye blend with Leopold Brothers
the multimode consumption of truly great whiskey

And more.

2: Ale Ochoa Takes a Scientific Approach to Sensory Evaluation and Whiskey Blending

Spirits & Distilling — Tue, 26 Mar 2024 10:00:00 -0600

Ale Ochoa is an expert sensory scientist and master blender with years of experience building sensory teams both large and small. In this episode, she outlines key parameters for sensory programs and outlines both simple and more complex ways of deploying sensory tools to improve blends, identify flaws, create more compelling descriptions, and make better spirits.

Through this episode, she covers:

Understanding flavor and aroma interactions in blends
Identifying flaws and setting thresholds for fixes
Training and validating sensory panelists
Testing methods for identifying flaws as well as positive attributes
Evaluating results in statistically significant ways
Calibrating your palate and training on attributes
Telling stories through whiskey blends

And more.

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1: Hosts Sydney Jones and Molly Troupe Share Their Favorite Distilling Techniques

Spirits & Distilling — Tue, 05 Mar 2024 09:00:00 -0700

Welcome to Episode 1 of the Craft Spirits & Distilling Podcast, featuring hosts Sydney Jones, head distiller for FEW Spirits in Chicago, and Molly Troupe, master distiller for Freeland Spirits in Portland, Oregon. Recorded live at the ACSA trade show and convention in Denver, this conversation introduces the podcast and the hosts via a deep dive into their favorite distilling techniques.

Along the way, they discuss:

distilling fresh ingredients at lower temperatures with a rotovap
navigating the TTB GRAS (generally recognized as safe) list
proofing with liquids other than water
barrel maturation in hot climates
enzyme protocols for difficult grains
whiskey-blending strategies
purposeful yeast selection, for more characterful whiskey fermentations
the flavor impacts of different factors in whiskey cask aging

And more.

Brought to you by:
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