Fred Minnick joins Dan to talk bourbon, mental health, family history, and the changing rules around whiskey labeling. The conversation also gets personal, touching on pilot mental health, jujitsu, aging, and why preserving stories matters. If you want a grounded look at where bourbon is today and what its future might look like, this one covers a lot of ground.
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Key topics
- Fred Minnick talks about his book Bottom Shelf, including the paperback edition coming in February with added research on Old Crow and the people James Crow taught to distill.
- He and the hosts discuss mental health in aviation, including the stigma pilots face when seeking help and why recognizing the need for help has to come first.
- Fred shares his view that self-awareness matters more than blame, and warns against getting stuck in victim thinking or using social media outrage to validate anger.
- The conversation explores pilot medical certification, PTSD, and whether airlines are giving pilots enough support.
- Fred talks about his personal life, including building a house, selling his office, and trying to keep up during wrestling season.
- He discusses jujitsu and aging, including how he trains more selectively now and why he values safer, more sustainable rolling.
- The hosts and Fred revisit Bourbon & Beyond, which Fred helped build from its early days into one of the country’s biggest festivals.
- A major section focuses on bourbon labeling, with Fred arguing that the word “bourbon” needs stronger protection and that “whiskey” should often be the lead term for blends, finishes, or nontraditional expressions.
- Fred explains how trade agreements and legal definitions protect bourbon internationally—and why inconsistent labeling in the U.S. could create problems if other countries push for their own definitions.
- He closes on the current whiskey market, discussing American single malt, blends of straights, barrel finishes, and the quality whiskey entering wholesale as companies try to weather the next few years.
Timestamps
00:00 — Fred Minnick returns, Bottom Shelf, and the Cleveland versus Columbus mix-up
01:28 — Pilot mental health and why reaching out matters
02:58 — Recognizing when you need help
03:27 — How social media fuels blame and victim thinking
05:13 — PTSD risk and the stigma around pilots seeking care
06:11 — Paperback update, Old Crow research, and family history
07:11 — Jujitsu, wrestling, and training smarter with age
09:09 — Building Bourbon and Beyond into a major festival
10:07 — Why family stories and bourbon history need to be preserved
11:05 — The fight over protecting the word “bourbon”
13:02 — Why international bourbon labels could become a bigger issue
14:00 — Blends, finishes, and transparency on the shelf
15:28 — Scotch’s protected naming model versus bourbon
16:52 — What’s keeping bourbon moving forward
17:49 — Dusties, traditional flavor, and old-school high-rye profiles
18:48 — Wholesale barrels, NDPs, and concerns about flavor drift
19:15 — Finding a 143-proof Beam barrel worth buying
20:15 — How whiskey companies are surviving the next three years
Notable quotes
“You gotta recognize it yourself.”
“If you have a lot of money, you can do whatever the hell you want.”
Bourbon, Brass & Beyond - https://www.bourbonbrassandbeyond.com
Fred Minnick - https://www.fredminnick.com
