Sean Josephs: The Sommelier Who Built America's Great Bourbon Bars and now create's a bourbon they pour.
From The meez Podcast · 1:43:28
Show by Josh Sharkey
Josh sits down with Sean Josephs, founder of Pinhook Bourbon and the new subscription-only Old Joseph's, for a conversation that traces two decades in restaurants and spirits. Sean didn't find the industry until he was 30, after five directionless years in fashion and beauty account management, before landing as a food runner at Tia Pol, the Chelsea restaurant his wife Mani opened in 2004. From there he trained under master sommelier Roger Dagorn at Chanterelle, then went on to build Char No. 4 in Brooklyn, Maysville, and Kenton's in Manhattan, all before relocating to New Orleans. Along the way he became one of the earliest people to treat bourbon the way sommeliers treat wine, pouring small tastes at a time and eventually founding Pinhook, a brand built around buying young barrels on lineage and being transparent about where the whiskey actually comes from.The conversation moves through the mechanics of the bourbon industry that most drinkers never think about: why big brands dilute their whiskey down to 80-86 proof and chill filter it to hide inconsistency between barrels, how scarcity turned Pappy Van Winkle into a cult bottle despite sharing a mash bill with Weller 12, and how vintage bottles that sold for $58 a decade ago now go for $10,000. Sean and Josh debate what connoisseurship actually means, identifying quality even in something you personally dislike, argue about when homemade beats store-bought (can you really beat Heinz), and dig into why bourbon barrels aging in Kentucky have tripled since 2012, helped along by private equity speculation. It closes on Sean's bet for what comes next: the best bourbon hasn't been made yet, and it won't come from a single distillery.Links and Resources📌 Sean's website: https://pinhookbourbon.com Follow Sean on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theseanjosephs/ Follow Sean on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-josephs-a1126573/Visit meez: https://www.getmeez.com Follow meez on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getmeez Follow Josh on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshlsharkey/?hl=en Follow Josh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-sharkey-406965b/
More episodes of The meez Podcast
More episodes
- Inside the Kitchens Feeding the World’s Biggest Events: Jennifer Bargisen of Sodexo Live!
- From Rolling Stone Dreams to Restaurant News: Sam Oches of Nation's Restaurant News, Take-Away and Extra Serving
- Ty Wilson On The Hidden Spend Quietly Eating Restaurant Margins
- Actuals beats averages, Open beats closed, and questions beat answers. With David Corts, CEO of Fresh KDS.
- Revisiting Epic Conversations: Mike Traud on What to Expect For This Year’s Chef Conference in Philadelphia
- Josh Sharkey - The meez Podcast
- Wylie Dufresne of Stretch Pizza, Du's Donuts, Alder and wd~50 (Part 1)
- Wylie Dufresne of Stretch Pizza, Du's Donuts, Alder, and wd~50 (Part 2)
- Mateo Kehler of Jasper Hill Farm
- Reem Assil of Reem's California
PodSearch is a free, independent podcast search engine. Read about PodSearch, the privacy policy or contact us.