Clay Walker finds his inner bourbon critic on The Fred Minnick Show

In his recent single, multi PLATINUM-selling artist Clay Walker reminds us that we all “Need A Bar Sometimes.” Now, he’s stepping into a virtual bourbon-only bar with world renowned spirits critic and best-selling author Fred Minnick on the latest episode of Minnick’s Hermes Creative Awards Platinum-winning PodcastOne podcast The Fred Minnick Show.

Clay Walker finds his inner bourbon critic on The Fred Minnick Show

Watch the full episode, here:

Minnick, a lifelong Clay Walker fan, “fanboys” over the country hitmaker and shows him the ins and outs of rare bourbons, how to sip like a professional critic and more. They sip on top-notch spirits including Michter’s 10 Year, 291 Colorado Rye Whiskey and Seelbach’s Bourbon.

Walker and Minnick discuss the following:

  • The time Minnick took a Valentine’s Day date to a Clay Walker show in Oklahoma
  • Why Walker drinks more wine nowadays although he loves bourbon/whiskey
  • Why Walker never drinks alcohol before going on stage
  • Country music’s love for including whiskey in song lyrics
  • Clay Walker 1994 vs Clay Walker 2021 and how voice lessons help him sound better than ever
  • Minnick and Walker’s experiences at the rodeo and FFA
  • How Walker has grown to embrace TikTok
  • How Walker uses his platform to speak about his experience with MS to help others

Minnick will appear on the TODAY Show this Wed., Dec. 8 to talk about his alcohol and spirits picks for holiday gifting. For more information on Minnick, visit shorefire.com/roster/fred-minnick.

Walker will perform his song “Cowboy Christmas” for CMT’s “A Tennessee Kind of Christmas” airing this Wed., Dec. 8 at 9 PM ET / 8 PM CT. For more information on Walker, visit shorefire.com/roster/clay-walker.

ABOUT FRED MINNICK:
Oklahoma-bred, Louisville, KY-based Fred Minnick, an Iraq war veteran, is an esteemed bourbon critic, Wall St Journal-bestselling author, celebrity spirits expert, festival producer and entrepreneur. His popular podcasts include “The Fred Minnick Show” and “Bourbon Pursuit” and he serves as one of Dash Radio’s celebrity hosts. Minnick is an authority in his field who has appeared on Bravo’s “Top Chef,” Discovery’s “Moonshiners,” and hosted Amazon Prime’s “Bourbon Up!” and Spirits Network’s “Frontier Filmmakers” and “The Curation Desk.” He has 15 million listeners across platforms, over 100,000 social media followers, and is acknowledged for introducing and growing an informed appreciation of whiskey.

Minnick has authored seven acclaimed books, including Whiskey Women, winner of the ForeWord INDIES’ Gold Medal and optioned by Paramour Films; Bourbon, winner of the Spirited Awards’ World’s Best Spirits Book in 2017 and named top ‘food book’ by Smithsonian Magazine; and Bourbon Curious, a Wall St Journal-bestselling ebook. Minnick has appeared in The New York Times, Scientific American, Parade, and Wine Spectator, and is the founder/former editor-in-chief of Bourbon+ magazine.

He is also a festival producer, co-creating and curating the Bourbon & Beyond Music Festival, which has featured Zac Brown Band, Lenny Kravitz, and others. He founded the Repeal Day Expo in 2020; held virtually, it features spirits exhibitors, speakers, and music.

ABOUT CLAY WALKER:
Discovered in a Beaumont area bar by noted producer and head of Giant Records James Stroud (Toby Keith, Tracy Lawrence, Tim McGraw, Kenny Rogers), Clay Walker was in his early twenties when he started rattling off a string of smash hits: “Live Until I Die,” “Dreaming With My Eyes Open,” “This Woman And This Man,” “Hypnotize The Moon,” “Rumor Has It,” “Then What,” “I Can’t Sleep” and “She Won’t Be Lonely Long.”

Four platinum albums, more than 30 charted singles and 11 No. 1’s later, Texas-native Clay Walker has built a storied career blending country’s timeless themes with music-of-the-moment timeliness. Nowhere is this more apparent than on Walker’s debut Show Dog Nashville album ‘Texas To Tennessee’ (7.30). Certainly, the realities of place are as central as this comeback album’s name implies: Nashville – busily working toward the next fresh hit; Texas – moving at its inimitable and familiar pace.

Embracing the role of social media in today’s music industry, Walker has built a following of more than 1 million fans on TikTok.

Produced by Michael Knox (Jason Aldean) and chart-topping songwriter Jaron Boyer, ‘Texas To Tennessee’ delivers smooth bore country that would feel right at home on any of Walker’s four platinum CDs. It’s a modern album that nods at an earlier era in its time economy.

About Shauna "WhiskeyChick" Castorena

Shauna "WhiskeyChick" Castorena is a freelance writer for both Country Music News and Country Music On Tour. Want to collab on some content? Email me. Want my rates for commercial promo work? Get them right here.