Episode 3 with Ryan Cecil: Bourbon, Blending, and Building a Brand From a Basement

Welcome back to the Energy Exchange with host Alane Paulley. This episode is with Ryan Cecil of Pursuit Spirits. Ryan Cecil is the co-founder and master blender of Pursuit Spirits, a brand he built alongside his podcasting partner Kenny Coleman after a decade of running the world's largest whiskey podcast, Bourbon Pursuit. What started in a basement with two guys who openly admitted they weren't the experts turned into a platform with hundreds of thousands of followers, a lineup of award-winning spirits, and a downtown Louisville tasting room and cocktail bar called Trial and Error.Ryan breaks down how Pursuit became one of the only bourbon brands to source from multiple distilleries across multiple states, blending mash bills from Kentucky, Tennessee, and New York into a single bottle, and why being transparent about that process has set them apart in an industry full of brands that hide it. He explains the ABCs of bourbon, the difference between a single barrel and a small batch, why 60 to 80 percent of flavor comes from the oak, and what he's actually tasting for when he sits down with 50 barrel samples on a Monday morning with nothing but eggs and green tea.Then Alane brings in MagnaWave. While the two were talking, her team was quietly running one of Ryan's bourbons through a PMF session. Ryan, a master blender who has tasted thousands of barrels, did a blind comparison on camera. He found a difference and had a clear preference. What he said about which one he chose and why is worth watching the episode to hear.The conversation also covers the challenges of building a consumer brand inside a three-tier distribution system, what Ryan learned from Napa wine country about going direct to consumer, the work-life balance realities of running a third startup with 10-year-old twins at home, and what he tells people never to say when they want to sound like they know bourbon.