How we decided to make this show

I have been asked a number of times how it was that we decided to make this show. And, how we ended up on the format that we use. An episode that is 30-ish minutes long, social media videos, and tasting videos. So here's how the show evolved and came about.

I have been doing tastings for friends and small private parties for quite some time. And by the end of the tasting, someone or a few someone's would say to me, "you should do a show about this". So the seed was planted, but I wasn't sure how to construct it. Especially since I know there are all sorts of YouTubers doing tasting video's. And all sorts of podcasters doing interviews with industry leaders and distilleries and experts. The market to me seemed pretty full.

After all, in this day, just about anyone can start a YouTube channel, Tik Tok channel, podcast, give out their opinions and call themselves an expert. So, I usually dismissed the idea.

Now, I have been in the Video Production business with a good friend of mine for over 20 years. Commercials, corporate videos, Long form videos, including films. We have made a couple of feature length documentaries, and it’s a format that we enjoy doing. What we really enjoy however is telling a story. And, we are always looking for a really good story to tell. It's kind of the process of documentary story telling.

So Kirk (my business partner, Director of Photography and Editor) and I were working on a documentary (with another individual), along with a couple of other smaller projects when I landed on this idea of the Great American Whiskey Cookers.

So, after lots of suggestions, and me noodling on the idea, what stuck out to me were several things.

• Everyone proclaimed to be an expert.

• Most Podcasts were great but it did not show the distillery and its operations.

• Craft distillers seemed under-represented.

• There is a bias against Craft Distillers that it's just not as good as Big Bourbon.

• Big Bourbon has all sorts of ambassadors doing tastings, but craft distillers just don't have that luxury. What would it be like to hear from the craft distiller who is making it, what they are going for in their whiskey and have them walk a person through a tasting? (I'm just lucky enough to be that person : ) )

• A lot of the YouTubers and tasters are professionals, tasting whiskey's that are either so highly allocated or out of reach price-wise that the average person just won't get the chance, and craft whiskey can be easier to find, just as good if not better if you just know where to look.

• And, what about the average, regular whiskey drinker

So…I pitched the original idea to Kirk and the other producer (Kurt - and if you don't think that that gets confusing at times, think again). They loved the initial idea. And the thought of what the prospect could be.

So, we spent quite a lot of time (about 18 months) hashing out the format, what is included, what's public and what's not. What all we wanted to film and how the show should be planned. Who does what? What do we need? How many camera's? Who's the host? Do we need a host or is it narration? Lot's, and lots of planning. The initial idea was just a show with a tasting or two. But, (as often happens when planning out a show) it quickly morphed into what we have today. And likely will continue to change as we add more components.

If you look at the first few shows , you will notice some differences from our latest shows. The supporting videos are different, and we have a bit of a different look and roll out strategy. You will likely see Kurt (another producer) in some of the early shows who has had to bow out due to other obligations. That happens in video production. It's an evolution.

We will continue to refine our process and show, and likely add a few more components/videos to the format. And, some of our Patreon supporters have given us some great ideas as well of what they want to see. The ideas keep popping up and we have to throttle ourselves back to what we can accomplish since we are a small crew.

So…there you have it. That's how the show came about. And just writing this blog post, another idea popped into my head. Damn. Now where does that fit?