Bourbon Local: New Statewide Kentucky Show Premieres Sunday

Key Takeaways

• Bourbon Local is a new statewide show built on the Hardin Local model, with bourbon as the connective theme
• It is not bourbon-only: culture, events and business are all in scope, across Kentucky
• Hosts are Jessica Zimlich (the Bourbon Insider), Jon O'Brien (the Bourbon Bodhisattva) and Phil Taul
• The pilot airs Sunday, August 16 at 9:00 PM Eastern, live on Facebook and X
• A special guest is booked but was deliberately not named on air
• This is a house cross-promotion, not a paid sponsorship, and the show said so on air

Summary

In place of the usual guest interview, Jon O'Brien and Phil Taul used this week's spotlight to introduce Bourbon Local, a new statewide show from the same team. The concept is the Hardin Local idea stretched across Kentucky, with bourbon as the thread that ties the coverage together rather than the only thing being covered.

It matters because it is the first time the team has built something outside the county line, and because the pilot lands this Sunday.

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Phil gave the short version first. "Bourbon Local is a new show, same idea as Hardin Local, but it's statewide, and we're using bourbon as the theme that ties it."

He was careful about what that does and does not mean. "We're going to be talking about bourbon. It's not going to be just a bourbon podcast all the time. We'll be talking about culture, events, business, all everything, except we'll just have a much larger audience."

The framing he landed on is that Hardin Local is the small version of the same instinct, and Bourbon Local is what happens when you point it at a whole state. He floated the idea of eventually finding the Lexington equivalent of the Hardin Local crew and tying that in too.

On who is actually running it, Jon took over. The team came together the way most good local projects do, which is that people who had known each other a while bumped their heads together and came up with something.

Jessica Zimlich brings the industry side. She has worked in bourbon for a good while, works out of a cooperage, and is known as the Bourbon Insider. Jon brings the bar. Four years behind it, and a nickname he seems committed to: the Bourbon Bodhisattva.

Phil, by his own admission, does not have one yet. Jon raised it directly on air, suggesting the pilot might be the place to work one out organically. "You're the guy in the seat, you're the guy in the chair, you know, you're helping us out. We got to figure that out."

The pilot airs Sunday, August 16 at 9:00 PM Eastern, live on Facebook and X. There is a special guest, and the show made a point of not naming them.

One note on disclosure. Bourbon Local was this week's episode sponsor, but as a house cross-promotion rather than a paid arrangement, and Hardin Local said as much on air. The footprint was an open mention, this spotlight segment, and a mention at the close.