BOURBON CLUB OF ARKANSAS · BOURBON GAMES · SEASON 1, EPISODE 3
Two one-point losses send the Bourbon Games into its final day level.
Gary Penna and Justin Mills entered Episode 3 with momentum from the Bourbon Club of Arkansas victories shown in the opening episodes. Southwest Florida Bourbon Society answered with the closest pair of challenges in the series: an 11–10 skeet win and a 14–13 victory in Matt Porter’s Matt Madness blind tasting.
For our BCA representatives, the episode is not simply about giving up a lead. Gary shoots a perfect six-for-six round, he and Justin push Florida’s three-person team to its final clay, and their developing blend receives specific guidance one day before the verdict.
This recap covers results through Episode 3 only. Start with BCA’s 40–19 opening result in Episode 1 and Gary and Justin’s Episode 2 cornhole and single-barrel victories.
11–10
Florida wins skeet by one clay.
14–13
Florida wins Matt Madness by one point.
2–2
The episode frames the clubs as level in challenges won.
Gary goes six for six on the range
Host Kaynon Castille opens the episode by leading both clubs up the hill for a skeet challenge. Each competitor receives six shots from a double-barrel shotgun. Most broken clays wins.
The numbers put BCA at a disadvantage before the first shot. Southwest Florida has three competitors and 18 total attempts. Gary and Justin are competing as a two-person team and have only 12. The episode identifies that difference openly.
Gary immediately gives Arkansas the round it needs. He breaks all six clays. Justin hits four of six, leaving BCA with 10 hits from 12 shots.
Gary says he shot competitively while serving in the Air Force and spent time around a world-champion skeet shooter. His performance turns what could have been a numbers-driven loss into a finish decided by Florida’s final two shots.
Florida needs both final shots
The on-screen grid records Florida at nine hits while BCA has finished at 10. Two Florida shots remain. Both clays have to fall, and both do. Florida takes the challenge 11–10.
Florida’s Matt supplies the decisive perfect round. He says he grew up on a farm and had extensive shooting experience, something he had not told his teammates before the challenge. Jake later says Matt carried the team.
The episode never identifies the first two Florida shooters attached to the other grid rows. Those rows show three and two hits respectively, but attaching Jake or Jason to either result would be inference rather than a disclosed fact.
Arkansas got 10 with two shooters. Florida got 11 with three.
Gary Penna’s summary after the skeet challenge
Matt Madness brings a different kind of pressure
Back inside Barrel King, Kaynon introduces Matt Porter for a four-glass blind nosing and tasting competition. Porter is Barrel King’s Chief Tasting Officer and Master Blender and the creator behind ADHD Whiskey. He brings the theatrical, intentionally confusing style associated with Matt Madness: scrambled countdowns, misdirection and scoring announcements designed to keep the competitors off balance.
The competition contains four nosing questions and four palate questions. Point values vary. Exact age answers can earn five points, answers within one year earn three, and answers within two years earn one.
The complete Matt Madness scorecard
| Question | Correct answer | Florida | BCA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nose A: whiskey type | Rye | Rye — 3 | “Which” — 0 |
| Nose B: state | Indiana | Indiana — 0 | Indiana — 0 |
| Nose C: age | 8 years | 7 years — 3 | 8 years — 5 |
| Nose D: over/under 21% rye | More | More — 3 | More — 3 |
| Nosing subtotal | 9 | 8 | |
| Palate A: age | 6 years | 8 years — 1 | 6 years — 5 |
| Palate B: whiskey type | Not disclosed | Bourbon — 0 | Corn whiskey — 0 |
| Palate C: distillery | Not disclosed | Heaven Hill — 0 | Balcones — 0 |
| Palate D: state | Kentucky | Kentucky — 4 | Texas — 0 |
| Final | 14 | 13 |
Both clubs correctly identify Indiana on the second nosing question, but Porter announces no point value and awards no points. The subtotals reconcile only if that question pays zero to both sides. The episode also never reveals the whiskey type in palate sample B or the distillery behind sample C.
BCA earns both exact age answers but misses enough of the other calls for Florida to hold on, 14–13. Porter congratulates Florida on the one-point victory.
Gary slows the blend down before the next dump
With the scored challenges complete, Gary and Justin return to the BCA blend. Their conversation shows the value of having two different working instincts at the table. Justin is prepared to move. Gary wants to verify the effect before committing more whiskey.
Their method is to pull a sample, add a small amount of O.Z. Tyler and decide whether it improves the whiskey. If the trial works, they can scale the addition into the batch. Justin compares the move to adding salt at the end of cooking: the foundation is already there, and the last component needs to sharpen it without taking over.
The discussion places the batch at roughly 500 bottle-equivalents. The source material does not settle the number perfectly: YouTube’s automatic captions render the line as 500, while an independent transcription pass renders it as 502. Because Episode 1 established a 500-bottle minimum, that small difference changes whether BCA is exactly on the floor or two bottles above it. We preserve both readings rather than choose one without better evidence.
The judges find strong potential and one missing element
Kaynon brings in Matt Porter, Barrel King Distillery Manager Matt Bunch and Jason Callori of The Mash and Drum for blind feedback on both developing blends. This is not the final judging, and no winner is selected in this session.
The episode does not announce which team made sample A or B. The assignment used in the underlying reporting—A for BCA and B for Florida—rests on the edit, continuity with the prior day’s tasting notes and Matt Bunch’s belief that B is the bourye Florida previously described. It is a supported identification, but not an on-camera reveal.
Blend A: the BCA profile
The panel finds butter, dark fruit, confectioners’ sugar and pastry notes on the nose. Callori moves from toasted bagel toward cinnamon raisin and buttery croissant. Bunch finds it somewhat ethanol-forward, while noting that the blend is fresh.
The palate is brighter and sharper than the nose suggests. Callori likes the first sip but finds the nuances flattening on the second. The shared recommendation is to bring age and sweet oak into the back end while preserving the blend’s energy.
Bunch estimates the whiskey is 85 to 90 percent complete. Porter says it has considerable potential but is missing the element that makes the drinker say “wow.” Bunch calls that missing piece a defining characteristic. The message to Gary and Justin is encouraging but specific: the blend is close, and the last decisions have to give it identity rather than merely add volume.
Blend B: Florida’s sweetness needs another gear
The other sample is markedly sweeter. The panel reaches for rock candy, coarse waffle sugar, cherry pie and cherry cobbler. The criticism is consistency rather than unpleasantness: it stays in the same sweet register instead of changing through the palate.
Bunch recommends earthiness, mature oak or rye spice to separate the middle and back of the experience. Porter is less concerned with which note appears than with the need for the whiskey to shift gears. Both blends remain works in progress.
The Bourbon Games are level going into the finale
Episode 3 gives Southwest Florida Society the response it needed. The program’s closing narration frames the clubs as tied in challenges won, with the final blend deciding the Bourbon Games.
For BCA, the day still provides reasons for confidence. Gary matches Florida’s best shooter and helps push a three-person squad to the last clay. Gary and Justin score both exact age questions in Matt Madness. Most importantly, their blend reaches the feedback table with a strong palate, recognizable direction and a short list of changes rather than a need to start over.
The final task is also the largest. Half of the money raised by both clubs follows the winner of the final blend. BCA’s whiskey needs more age and oak on the back end and the defining characteristic the judges say is still missing.
Watch Episode 3 and continue the series
Watch Bourbon Games Season 1, Episode 3 on Mixx Tank’s YouTube channel. Barrel King also maintains an official Bourbon Games page for the series and Sip Along Pack.
Continue with the Season 1 finale, where the judges select the winning blend and the inaugural Bourbon Games champion is revealed.
Sources and credits: Mixx Tank’s Bourbon Games Season 1, Episode 3, its official description, chapter markers and captions; Barrel King’s published team information; and the detailed ArkansasLiquor.com Episode 3 record. This article adapts that reporting from the Bourbon Club of Arkansas perspective. Episode footage and graphics are credited to Mixx Tank.
