Who is Pot & Column?
I started my Bourbon journey relatively late in life, discovering it when I was 43 years old. Exhausted from running my own data consulting agency, I had somehow managed to forget how to enjoy the very life I was trying to carve out for myself. The wife told me I needed a hobby, and by happenstance someone purchased me a bottle of Jeffersons Twin Oak. I was hooked.
For the next 18 months I dedicated 100% of all my “hobby energy” into the wonderful world of whiskey, bourbon, and rye. I read every book I could get my hands on, got certified as an Executive Bourbon Steward from Stave & Thief, purchased an insane amount of products, made a database to manage all my products, started hosting tastings, and took a trip out to Kentucky’s bourbon trail.
This site is just a natural extension of my growing passion. While there are countless long-winded review sites, I have never found a good site that aggregates everything about the bourbon “lifestyle”. My hope is that this site can serve that need. Leveraging my background in data, analytics, and research I hope to create a “one stop shop” that serves as an approachable entry point for the newbie and aficionado alike.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Your Day Job?
I own and operate a niche data, analytics, and operations consulting group in central California. I love research, data, and business problems. Drop me a line if you need some help, especially if you are in the Bourbon industry!
Do You Use AI on Your Site Content?
Our written content is generated by humans, but let’s be clear: we use AI tools like Chat GPT, Perplexity, and others to research our topic/data. We are a data consultancy, so we use the tools we live in daily. I also use AirTable to share data and generate many data images in Tableau.
Are you site pictures AI Generated?
Abso-freaking-lutely! I am a data scientist and a Bourbon drinker. None of that lends itself to being a good artist. I LOVE AI-generated images and videos and plan on using them heavily. I love that this site can showcase bourbon and technology at the same time. I also use product photos from various sites and Envato Elements for my royalty-free graphics and images.
How is the site funded?
I have three funding sources as of now: my own wallet, the Amazon Affiliate program, and ads that I run. As of now (and I plan on keeping it this way), any distillery does not fund me, and no products are shipped to me for review. I am attracted to the bourbon industry because I love traditional values, transparency, and camaraderie. I hope that this site reflects those values every day.
How do you get your product news?
I signed up for every distillery newsletter I could find, linked my data scrapers/aggregators to all of their news pages, and review them daily. It is a very manual and painstaking process, one that I hope spares other people from having to do so.