The Bourbon Bishop

The Bourbon Bishop Husband. Dad. Community builder. Whiskey reviews & spirit-ual experiences. Tasting, storytelling, & brand perspective.
๐Ÿ“ NoVA โ€ข DC โ€ข MD
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09/09/2026

Throwing it back with this one for those not able to attend this year - we miss you!

Otherwise, so excited Iโ€™ll be able to attend my first Kentucky Bourbon Festival this year.

Hit me up if youโ€™re in town and letโ€™s connect. Iโ€™m here to collect people, not bottles!

โ€” Ethan

***eyCommunity

I went looking for a barrel and came home with a blend.I recently sat down with the Barrel King family to choose a singl...
09/08/2026

I went looking for a barrel and came home with a blend.

I recently sat down with the Barrel King family to choose a single barrel. Instead, we started experimenting with six very different whiskies.

What I enjoyed most was the people around the table. Good wh***ey, good conversation, and plenty of room to chase an idea and see where it went.

Some combinations worked. Some definitely did not. And eventually, four whiskies came together into something pretty special.

I wrote about the whole experience. First look is in the link in my bio.

Thanks to Sidney Vassallo, Matt Bunch and Matt Porter for letting me play.

โ€” Ethan

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09/08/2026

Big thanks to KingChii for hooking me up with my first humidor and officially saving my Tupperware from the cigar collection. ๐Ÿ˜‚

It looks right at home in the wh***ey room, and so far, Iโ€™m really happy with how itโ€™s performing.

Now I just need to figure out how to fill 35 liters of cigar storageโ€ฆ

Hope you all have a great Labor Day!

โ€” Ethan

**rs ***eyRoom

Pro tip: Celebrate the day before so you can rest & recover all of Labor Day.Joseph Alexander May on the incredible toma...
09/07/2026

Pro tip: Celebrate the day before so you can rest & recover all of Labor Day.

Joseph Alexander May on the incredible tomahawks.

Bardstown Bourbon Company Lochs of Jura in everyoneโ€™s glass (favorite of the day).

Hooten Young Wh***ey & Ci**rs ๐Ÿงข on the noggin.

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09/06/2026

Only one more week until I let grown men running around a field after a ball determine my entire mood. ๐Ÿˆ

Use code ๐๐‹๐ˆ๐“๐™๐Ÿ‘๐ŸŽ for 30% off Breckenridge Bourbon if youโ€™re interested.

โ€” Ethan

Okay, now for the ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ ๐ฌ๐ข๐๐ž ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ƒ๐š๐ซ๐ค ๐€๐ซ๐ญ๐ฌ ๐š๐ญ ๐Š๐๐….The first three bottles were the ones Iโ€™d hunt first.These three?Theyโ€™re...
09/05/2026

Okay, now for the ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ ๐ฌ๐ข๐๐ž ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ƒ๐š๐ซ๐ค ๐€๐ซ๐ญ๐ฌ ๐š๐ญ ๐Š๐๐….

The first three bottles were the ones Iโ€™d hunt first.

These three?

Theyโ€™re the bottles that made me stop and think, โ€œ๐Ž๐ค๐š๐ฒโ€ฆ ๐ฐ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ž๐ฑ๐š๐œ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ซ๐ฒ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐จ ๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ž?โ€ (in the best way possible).

๐Ÿฅƒ ๐‚๐ก๐ข๐ž๐Ÿ ๐€๐ฅ๐œ๐ก๐ž๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ ๐‘๐ž๐ฌ๐ž๐ซ๐ฏ๐ž ๐‚๐ฎ๐ฏรฉ๐ž โ€” 19 Year, Mizunara
๐Ÿฅƒ ๐’๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ๐ง๐จ๐ฏ๐š โ€” 21 Year, 142.7 Proof Light Wh***ey
๐Ÿฅƒ ๐…๐ฅ๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ˆ๐œ๐š๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฌ โ€” 11.5 Year, 144.4 Proof Bourbon

One is an oak experiment.
One is ridiculously old light wh***ey.
One is hazmat Kentucky bourbon that doesnโ€™t drink nearly as hot as the number suggests.

Thatโ€™s part of what makes the Dark Arts lineup fun. Six bottles, six very different ways to push wh***ey somewhere interesting.

๐’๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐Š๐๐…, especially if youโ€™re trying to decide where to spend your time and money once you get there.

And if youโ€™re going to the festival, ๐ญ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ž ๐ฐ๐ก๐š๐ญโ€™๐ฌ ๐จ๐ง ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ก๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ. If youโ€™ve already tasted one of these, I want to hear what you thought, too.

โ€” Ethan


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Dark Arts brought ๐ฌ๐ข๐ฑ ๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ฒ ๐๐ข๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ซ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐›๐จ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ” ๐Š๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ฎ๐œ๐ค๐ฒ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐›๐จ๐ง ๐…๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐š๐ฅAfter tasting through the lineup, thes...
09/04/2026

Dark Arts brought ๐ฌ๐ข๐ฑ ๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ฒ ๐๐ข๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ซ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐›๐จ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ” ๐Š๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ฎ๐œ๐ค๐ฒ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐›๐จ๐ง ๐…๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐š๐ฅ

After tasting through the lineup, these are the ๐ญ๐ก๐ซ๐ž๐ž ๐ˆโ€™๐ ๐ก๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ซ๐ฌ๐ญ:

๐Ÿฅƒ Tres Vieux Quintessence โ€” 15 Year Indiana Rye
๐Ÿฅƒ KBF Single Barrel โ€” 9 Year Oloroso Sherry
๐Ÿฅƒ 13 Year French Oak โ€” 13 Year Kentucky Bourbon

Thatโ€™s not to say the other three arenโ€™t worth hunting. Quite the opposite.

But if I had limited time, limited money, and a few stops to make at KBF, ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฌ๐ž ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐ฐ๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ž ๐ˆโ€™๐ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐š๐ซ๐ญ.

Save this for the festival so you have the short list when youโ€™re standing in front of the Dark Arts bottles.

Iโ€™ve got the full tasting notes and breakdowns on the site if you want to go deeper.

๐๐š๐ซ๐ญ ๐Ÿ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฎ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ.

โ€” Ethan


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๐“ฉ๐“ฎ๐“ทCouldnโ€™t have said it better myself, Drew.Blending = my happy placeโ€ขโ€ข
09/03/2026

๐“ฉ๐“ฎ๐“ท

Couldnโ€™t have said it better myself, Drew.

Blending = my happy place

โ€ข
โ€ข

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