How did I come to this point in my life where I have chosen to blog about reviewing bourbon like a boss, for a year now? Why did I ever think this would be a topic that people would like to read about? Well honestly, I never thought this website, nor my social media posts, would ever be read; rather I started this as a creative outlet from my career. Sticking with why I started this, exactly one year later to the day, I wanted to self-reflect and put some words together on what I have learned during this adventure over the last year, and some things I look forward to over the next year.

So let’s start with the first thing Mrs. Bourbon Bossman has reminded me quite often of… that bottle is how much?!?! All kidding aside, that is a consideration that anyone should deeply think about when wanting to start a journey in bourbon, whiskey, and or scotch, as this journey can be expensive. The bourbon market has drastically changed over the past three years that I have been enjoying myself. I have seen $50 bottles of whiskies climb to over $200 now, just because of name and hype, and in my opinion not because of the quality of the product. This led to a post I wrote on How much is too much to spend on a bottle of bourbon?

Another topic that I have personally had internal battles with is how small or large my bourbon collection should be. For me, I blame the wonderful gene for collecting that I have. Mrs. Bourbon Bossman has had to put up with some crazy collections of random things over the past fifteen years. Thus, in February of 2022, I wrote an article on How many bottles are too many bottles? As you can imagine, and for those that understand the collecting gene, it has been hard not to fill an entire room full of gorgeous bottles of brown liquid. But looking back at this post, I probably need to write a follow-up to this article above, as it no longer applies to many of those previous thoughts I had. If you want a good laugh, just compare this post’s cover photo with last year’s on the above topic.

I felt it was also worth mentioning the current bourbon, whiskey, and scotch environment when it comes to reviews. To use a term from my younger days, you have your “OG” reviewers that have been on WhiskeyTube or posting to websites for over four years; in other terms before the bourbon hype. Then you have your “newbies” that have jumped on the hype train over the past two years. Now I fully admit this is me, but where Bourbon Bossman differs from the other newbies, I am not in this to make money. I have no dreams of becoming the next greatest YouTuber or having this site sponsored by the latest and greatest whiskey products. This is absolutely awesome that many out there can make money and have a career doing this, but that is not for me. I love my current career, and I want to keep this a hobby where I do not feel pressured to always write a good review or having to keep my followers up to not lose money.

Moving on to a few things that I am looking forward to in 2023, of course, the main thing has to be new bottles of bourbon! Now to clarify, I do look forward to the wonderful annual releases that many of us seek out. However, I am more excited to see what new products might be released throughout 2023. Secondly, I have already started to make plans and am ecstatic to be attending both Bastard’s Ball 2023 and Whiskey Weekend Batch 5. Next year will be the first time I attend events like this, so I do not know what to expect, but I do look forward to meeting many of the WhiskeyTubers and Writers I watch and read weekly.

Finally, I want to send a big thank you to Mrs. Bourbon Bossman for supporting me on this crazy adventure. She has been a huge supporter of mine on taking up writing again, and this has helped in more ways than I ever imagined it would. Additionally, we have had some amazing adventures together on distillery tours in Kentucky and during bourbon-hunting treks across Colorado. Of course, I additionally want to thank everyone crazy enough to follow my reviews and rants over the past year. As I mentioned above, I never intended this website to be read or used, but I am grateful it is. To those who might stumble upon these writings, I hope you enjoy them as well, and if you unfortunately do not, then there are plenty of professional websites and YouTube Channels out there, so I encourage you to head that way.

By no means have I become an expert over the past year, yet when it comes to tasting or reviewing bourbon, I sure am having fun doing it! I will continue to be very honest when it comes to reviewing and will always follow my very simple rating scale; Save It, Drink it, Mix it, Shelve it, or Donate it. So if you are curious about bourbon, whiskey, or scotch like I am, and enjoy reading reviews and the occasional random rants, please feel free to subscribe and follow my continued adventures into 2023.

Cheers! Prost! Sláinte!

Bourbon Bossman