Available now, Pursuit United is a limited run of 2,250 bottles of small batch bourbon whiskey bottled at 108 proof and priced at $65. It’s a blend of bourbons from three distilleries — Finger Lakes Distilling in upstate New York, Bardstown Bourbon Company out of Kentucky and an undisclosed Tennessee distillery — it will be available in a handful of states and it was made by some podcasters.

Ryan Cecil and Kenny Coleman co-founded Pursuit Spirits in 2018, offering a steady diet of single barrel expressions under the label since, but most whiskey heads know them by their voices. Coleman, Cecil and bourbon authority Fred Minnick have hosted Bourbon Pursuit, the American whiskey world’s defacto podcast of record. It is both a good thing and a sign of the times.

Setting aside flavor and production processes, what separates bourbon from other spirits is the size and focus of its enthusiast community. Reddit’s /r/bourbon alone is home to more readers than the site’s rum, gin, vodka and tequila communities combined. Bourbon groups on Facebook number in the tens of thousands, dedicated to everything from tasting groups at your local liquor store to the best methods for packing and shipping whiskey without getting busted. While it’s not true to say bourbon is the sole nerd spirit — the aforementioned booze all inspire different levels of commitment — it is easily the most successful at converting regular drinkers into nerds, in the aggregate.

Given the number of bourbon devotees, it was only a matter of time before the people seized the means of production. Groups skipping the rush for Pappy and Birthday Bourbon in favor of buying by the barrel was the first step. Coleman and Cecil’s Pursuit United is the next — a bourbon made by the bourbon community for the bourbon community (pardon the cliche).

Pursuit Spirits says the first release will be followed up by a larger one in March (some 8,000-plus bottles). Find Pursuit United available in Texas, Georgia, Kentucky or Tennessee, or online at Seelbach’s.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io