Happy Hour — Old Forester Night at Big Hoffa’s (Part 2)

Happy Hour continues at Big Hoffa’s Barbecue in Westfield, Indiana, and things only get louder, looser, and more opinionated. Tony Katz and Fingers Malloy are still on location, still surrounded by barbecue, and still working their way through Old Forester 1897 Bottled-in-Bond, this time with a full room behind them and brisket disappearing by the pan. Joined again by Madison Tragesser from Old Forester, the conversation shifts from tasting notes to bigger questions—history, hype, and what actually matters when people buy bourbon. They dig into: why Old Forester is a brand everyone knows… and some people still skip how “heritage” competes with Instagram marketing whether high proof is overrated (and who that opinion offends immediately) how suggestion and groupthink creep into bourbon reviews and why some tasting notes deserve a little side-eye From there, Happy Hour does what it does best—wanders. The brisket conversation turns serious with Adam Hoffman, owner of Big Hoffa’s, breaking down: what makes Midwestern barbecue different why trimming matters more than people think how smoke, heat, and fat actually work together and what it takes to turn out 50–60 briskets a day without losing consistency Then the episode swerves again—into NFL chaos, coaching patience (or lack of it), and finally a casino story that starts with a quiet 7 a.m. gambling floor, briefly becomes profitable, and ends with a sentence no human should ever overhear before breakfast. There is bourbon.There is brisket.There are opinions.And there are two hot dogs that were, allegedly, worm-free. Happy Hour, Part 2 from Big Hoffa’s. Eat. Drink. Smoke.More at EatDrinkSmokeShow.com. Follow Eat Drink Smoke on social media! X (Formerly Twitter): @GoEatDrinkSmokeFacebook: @eatdrinksmokeIG: @EatDrinkSmokePodcastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.