PUBLISH DATE: April 24, 2026
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Alt text: Bourbon Club of Arkansas blending bourbon during Day Two of Barrel King Bourbon Games at Barrel King in Bourbon Missouri
Day Two of the Barrel King Bourbon Games pushed Bourbon Club of Arkansas deeper into competition and into the heart of what makes this event unique: building bourbon.
After arriving at Barrel King in Bourbon and launching both the competition and charity barrel effort on Day One, BCA returned Friday with momentum and something even more important on the line.
The day began with an early lead.
It ended with the foundation of a 500-bottle custom blend.
And along the way, BCA expanded its advantage over Florida.
Read Day One: Bourbon Club of Arkansas Barrel King Day 1: Bourbon Games and Charity Barrel Begin
Morning Update: BCA Explains the Bourbon Games Format
Before the day’s competition officially kicked into gear, Gary Penna and Justin Mills went live from Barrel King to explain what the Bourbon Games actually involve.
According to Gary, the opportunity came after Barrel King owner Jared Record reached out months earlier with an invitation to participate in a filmed multi-day competition against another bourbon club.
At the time, details were limited.
The only thing BCA knew was that the competition would span multiple days and involve several different events.
Now, with Day Two underway, the picture became clearer.
Bottle sales.
Physical competitions.
Blending.
And final judging.
Despite being down one team member, BCA entered the day determined to compete.
Watch the full morning update below:
Video Caption:
Gary Penna and Justin Mills explain Day Two of the Barrel King Bourbon Games and BCA’s early lead.
View Full Video Transcript (BCA at Barrel King)
Arrival at Barrel King
Gary Penna: Okay, I don’t know if some of you folks are going to see this or not, but good morning. As you guys figured out yesterday, Justin and I are both at Barrel King. So, what are we doing here? Why didn’t we tell anyone about this? Well, we know about as much as you did before we left, and we know a little bit more than you do now, but not much more.
The Competition Challenge
So, about four months ago I got contacted by Jared Record who owns Barrel King, and they asked if we would be interested in doing a competition against another club in April. I said, “Yeah, that sounds awesome, what are we going to be doing?” He goes, “I can’t really talk about it, but it’s going to be a YouTube-recorded competition that’s going to last over four days, and you’re going to compete against another club for different events that we’re going to do, but I can’t tell you much more about it.”
So we showed up yesterday and were interviewed, each of us; Justin was, I was. And then the way it works is it’s supposed to be three-on-three, so three members from one club and three members from the other club. Unfortunately, one of our team members wasn’t able to attend, so we’re down a player for this competition. But, you know, we’re BCA, so we’re going to do what we can, right?
Justin Mills: Right.
Round 1 Results: BCA vs Florida
Gary Penna: Yeah, so we’re going to try to step up as best we can. So yesterday, the first round, what it was, was: How good is your club at selling bottles? Well, I think we’re pretty good at it. So, they picked out one of their honey barrels—it was actually a blend that they did, it wasn’t a single barrel, I think I might have called it a single barrel, but it wasn’t. So, it was a blended bourbon that their staff specifically blended for this competition, and there was only 100 of them. So, they were able to take that bottle and make it happen a few days before we got here and let it sit.
And then what happened then is they basically called us out into the middle of the distillery and said, “All right, here’s the plan: You guys have till 8:00 PM tonight to sell as many bottles as you can. There’s 100 available. The club that sells the most will win the first round, and we’ll explain what that reward is for winning that first round later tonight.”
So, as I probably told you in the post that I did, we won! We sold 40 bottles total by 8:00 PM, and the Florida group—
Justin Mills: They sold 17.
Gary Penna: 17. Now here’s the great part: So, we have 350 members in our club; they have 6,000. So, congratulations to BCA for stepping up.
Upcoming Rounds & Blending
So, this is their blend, like I said, limited release of 100 bottles, and whoever bought one was lucky enough to get one. We don’t know what’s happening here today in round two; we’re going to find out here shortly, I think. But today is Friday, we do it all day Saturday, and then the final round is Sunday. I believe that we’re probably going to be blending a barrel at some point—would you probably say that’s true?
Justin Mills: I’d agree.
Gary Penna: Don’t know how that’s going to work or how that’s going to play out, but like I said, they have three people that are going to be blending, we have two. I don’t necessarily think there’s a disadvantage or advantage on that side, because whether we had seven of our admins here or one of our admins here, I think they would pretty much blend the same bottle. However, there are probably going to be things that involve having three people, so we’ll see how that goes.
Judges and YouTubers
We’ll give you play-by-plays throughout the day. None of this is released yet, we really don’t have much information, but this is exciting! It’s the first-ever Barrel King Bourbon Games. So, Jason Callori from The Mashed Drum is here—you saw we did a video yesterday—he’s one of the judges. We don’t know if Matt Porter might show up this week from ADHD Whiskey; there’s a YouTuber—who’s the YouTuber?
Justin Mills: They’re both YouTubers. There might be another surprise guest that we don’t know about.
Gary Penna: Yeah, we don’t know about. So there’s a new YouTuber, he’s got quite a bit of followers, I don’t know the name, I’ve never seen him before, but he runs a YouTube channel for whiskey, and they’re going to be the ones that are actually doing the videoing, or they’re doing it now. They’ve been videoing since we showed up here, basically.
We’ll keep you guys posted and let you know. I know there’s not very many people logged on, but it’s also very early in the morning, so this live stream will go taped here shortly and people will be able to look at it later. All right man, wish us luck throughout the day! You know, we’ll check in and—you guys have any questions, let us know. Justin, anything?
Justin Mills: No, thanks. We beat Florida.
Gary Penna: We beat Florida!
BCA Defeats Florida in Opening Sales Challenge
The first official challenge of the Bourbon Games tested something every whiskey club understands: bottle movement.
Each team was given access to a limited-release Barrel King blend and tasked with selling as many bottles as possible before the deadline.
BCA sold 40 bottles.
Florida sold 17.
That result gave Arkansas its first official win of the competition.
What makes that win even more impressive is scale.
BCA reportedly has around 350 members.
Florida’s competing club reportedly has more than 6,000.
Yet Arkansas won decisively.
That set the tone for Day Two.
BCA Goes Up 2-0 After Cornhole Victory
Later in the day, BCA added another win.
This time, it came in cornhole.
It may not be whiskey blending, but in the Bourbon Games, every event matters.
The victory pushed BCA to a 2-0 lead over Florida and kept momentum firmly on Arkansas’s side.
The First Barrel Dump Begins the Competition Blend
With competition points stacking up, attention shifted to the blend.
This is where the Bourbon Games move beyond club loyalty and into whiskey craftsmanship.
BCA selected its first component: an almost nine-year MGP bourbon.
This would become the foundation.
The base layer.
The structure everything else would build upon.
The target is ambitious.
More than 500 bottles.
That means every decision matters.
Watch the first barrel dump below:
Video Caption:
BCA begins its competition blend with its first MGP bourbon barrel.
View Full Transcript ▾
00:00 – Safety & Initial Procedures
Matt: Okay, make sure that the valve is closed down by your feet so that we don’t accidentally leak anything out. All the way forward is closed. You’re good.
00:15 – The MGP Base Component
Gary Penna: All right BCA, welcome to the first livestream of the event. We picked our first barrel for our blend. It’s a base. It’s a MGP almost — just over eight years, almost nine years, excuse me, MGP bourbon straight bourbon whiskey about to be dumped by Justin. And we’ll probably about 110 to 120 bottles out of this one. We’re going to build a 500 plus bottle blend. So this is going to be the first base here. Go ahead. Do you remember the procedures? Drill this hole in and then you start banging it out. And then once you roll it, take your bung, slide it on the back side of the barrel, and that’ll keep the barrel from rolling backwards.
Justin Mills: You got to push in like — you know?
Matt: Here’s what you do. Do you see that? You see that little hexagon head?
Justin Mills: Like this?
Matt: You’re going to hold it, right? Like this. Okay?
Justin Mills: All right. Appreciate it.
Matt: Appreciate it, Matt.
Matt: Hey man, that’s what I do. Helpful. That’s like my middle name.
01:45 – Dumping & Sensory Notes
Gary Penna: And then I do this to get the bung out? Yeah, hard. One time, just snap it. One time. Go. Do it.
Justin Mills: No?
Gary Penna: Yeah, yeah, there you go. First time this time. Look at you. Keep this bung right here as what I’m looking for. Then we’re going to take that slowly forward. Look at the color on that, guys. I wish you could smell this. Oh my god. Oh my god, it smells like vanilla extract right out of the jar. Smells like cracker jacks. Oh my god. Smells on my fingers.
02:30 – Future Blending Strategy
Gary Penna: All right, so I know Paul Noni is watching because he’s done it 12 times. So he’s got obviously Wiley WiFi this week. So this is the first barrel going in. We’ll go around this side and take a look, see some deets on this. All right, so right here — oh, stupid Facebook. You’ll have to read upside down, folks. Seven years, ten months. But it’s older now because it’s been in the barrel for a while. That was actually eight years, seven months ago. It goes nine year in December. It goes nine year in December, so eight and a half years. J1715 or 17J15 and we’re going to eventually add this other barrel as well right up here. This is the other barrel we’re going to be adding. We’re going to start with half of this one and then let it blend overnight. When we come back tomorrow, we’re going to taste it and if we like it, we’re going to leave it. If we don’t and we want to add a little more flavor profile, we’ll dump the rest of the bottle — barrel into it because we got to have 500 bottles plus for this event. So that means we got some stuff to do. And then we have chosen two more barrels and let’s get excited, folks, because I know you will. These are 13 year MGPs. Okay, and these will get dumped last after we blend the bulk of it. These hold a combined around just under 300 total bottles. So we just got to basically hit about another 210 to 220 with these over here. So probably two of these to be honest, two of these, and then like we did last time another barrel of something and then a little bit of splash of something like Ozy Tyler or we’ll do a little bit of the one we did last time. So this is the one we did last time. We’re planning on splashing a little bit of that back in there again because we loved it. And then a little Wild Turkey of something in. So any questions, put them in the comments and we’ll talk to you later. Cheers.
As the whiskey hit the barrel, Gary immediately noted intense vanilla and caramel aromas.
The profile was already showing promise.
Breaking Down BCA’s First Three Blend Components
By the afternoon, the blend had expanded significantly.
Current components included:
- Nearly 9-year MGP bourbon
- Nearly 9-year Green River bourbon
- 8-year O.Z. Tyler bourbon
That combination creates a mature bourbon foundation averaging around eight years old.
This matters.
Older bourbon contributes oak structure, viscosity, and depth.
That gives BCA flexibility when introducing older reserve components later.
The foundation of BCA’s Barrel King Bourbon Games blend is being built on mature sourced whiskey.
“Darkness 2”: BCA Revisits a Proven Blend Formula
One of the biggest reveals from Day Two was Gary Penna’s reference to a familiar strategy.
He called it:
Darkness 2
That appears to be a callback to a previous successful BCA blend strategy built around layered sourced whiskey and strategic finishing.
The plan for this version includes:
- building a mature foundation
- introducing older reserve barrels
- potentially adding Wild Turkey
- finishing with a specialty splash component
That last element remains undisclosed.
But the framework is becoming clear.
BCA is not experimenting.
They are refining.
Read BCA’s earlier Barrel King collaboration here:
[INSERT INTERNAL LINK TO DECEMBER BARREL KING ARTICLE]
Evening Warehouse Update: The Blend Grows
By late afternoon, the blend was growing quickly.
Gary and Justin confirmed additional barrel integration and began preparing for overnight resting.
At this point, BCA had established enough liquid to begin measuring progress toward the final requirement.
The reserve barrels remained untouched.
Those will likely shape the final profile.
Watch the warehouse update below:
[VIDEO EMBED #3 HERE]
Video Caption:
Gary Penna and Justin Mills provide a Day Two warehouse update after multiple barrel additions.
View Full Transcript & Session Metadata
Recorded: April 24, 2026 | 4:40 PM CT
Location: Barrel King Headquarters, Bourbon, MO
Participants: Gary Penna, Justin Mills
Segment 1: The Blending Strategy
Gary Penna: BCA, good afternoon update just before 5:00 PM. Most of you are probably getting home for the day, starting to settle down, so I thought I’d do a quick livestream. This will post to our site and then from there you guys can take a look at it later. So here with Justin, we are through day two; today is the beginning of the blending. We now have two full barrels and a half barrel into our mix—or actually, the third barrel is going to be posted in and dumped here very shortly. The other team has their stuff going on right now, they’re dumping theirs.
Segment 2: Component Breakdown
Gary Penna: So right now, we have an almost nine-year Green River in there, and then we have an
Justin Mills: eight-year OZ Tyler
Gary Penna: OZ Tyler in there, and then we’re about to dump an MGP in there as well—
Justin Mills: almost a nine-year
Gary Penna: almost a nine-year MGP. That’s going to be the first three of our barrels, or two and a half if you will.
Justin Mills: And we have two 13-years
Gary Penna: And we have two 13-years on reserve on the bench, and those are going to go in last. The plan is to dump a little more Wild Turkey; we’re pretty much going to repeat pretty much what we did last time for the most part—to the darkness, so “Darkness 2” if you will. It’s just too hard not to; we were just so happy with it, we want to continue that. We’re going to wind up with close to 500 bottles in this blend in the end; that’s what the number has to be for the competition, so we’re working on that right now. In a moment, they’re going to pull the last barrel. Do you need us in there for that or you know where it’s at?
Segment 3: Moving to the Warehouse
Voice in Background: I know where it’s at, but you guys want to be a part of it though!
Gary Penna: All right, we’ll be right there. All right, so we’re going to go out into the warehouse right now, go live, and show you what we’re doing. I’ll talk you through it as we go. If I… let me get us on Wi-Fi. (Sound of walking and warehouse noise) All right, why does it not let me roll around? Here we go. Okay. So, this is the group competing against us, they just dumped their last barrel—all your components dumped for today. All right, so we’re going to walk back to where we’re at and show you the barrel we’re going to dump here. It’s loud in here. Okay, where are you, my friend? I think you’re around the corner over there. Here we are.
Gary Penna: Okay, all right, so this is our barrel right here. As you can see, it says seven-year, 11 months, but actually, it’s been here for a while, so now it’s almost a nine-year MGP. No, that’s not it either. I disregard, I gotta go find it and then we’ll come back. Standby, I’ll go back here in a second—this is one we did for a competition earlier. Standby…
[COLLAPSIBLE TRANSCRIPT #3 HERE]
The Final Barrel of Day Two Goes In
As Day Two came to a close, BCA dumped its final barrel of the night.
This addition pushed the blend closer to competition volume while refining the flavor profile.
Justin Mills immediately pointed to the color.
Gary confirmed the barrel completed the intended profile for the evening.
Now the bourbon would rest.
And marry.
Overnight.
Watch the final barrel dump below:
Video Caption:
BCA dumps its final barrel of Day Two at Barrel King Bourbon Games.
View Full Audio Transcript: Pulling the Arkansas Barrel
0:00 – Introduction & The Pull
Gary Penna: I’m back. I’m back. Sorry.
Matt: Do you want me to run through the wall?
Gary Penna: Fuck you, Matt! You know those whiskey glasses are the best.
Matt: Those glasses are soft as a bastard.
Gary Penna: Oh, you goddamn beard-faced fuck. All right, so here we go. Arkansas, this is actually it. Um, we think we’re going to get about 110 bottles out of this barrel. So, this is— let me just show them what it looks like. We’re going to go in and pull a little bit right now so you can see the color on this.
Matt: 41-1.
Gary Penna: So we’re about the same spot they are, too.
Matt: Look at that color.
Gary Penna: Yeah, look at that color. Okay, so this whole guy is going in there, and I’m going to tell you what, I’m glad it is, because this barrel’s about to fall apart. Um, so this one’s going to go in and then we’ll be done for the night.
0:50 – The Blending Process
Gary Penna: We’re going to let them marry. Let them marry overnight. This is our competition from Florida. You guys are doing a great job. Yay! Um, there’s a couple Ozark Tylers that we were going to look at earlier; we decided not to do that one. All right, let me get out of the way so I don’t die. We’re about to dump the whole barrel. All right, everybody watch out. Here we go. Jason, that means you too, brother. Everybody get the fuck out the way!
Jason: I’m not safe back here!
Gary Penna: I did get the yeast note at the end. So, inside there right now, if we look over here, the judges for the evening are going to do a final judge tonight of where the blends are.
Justin Mills: Can you take these out? Do I have to dump—?
Gary Penna: No, no! Stop. This is the blend. This is the blend. Remember, I told you I blended these already. We’re good. Trust me. Okay, so these are our final blend that we’re doing for the night, okay? And this is ours with three barrels in it, two and a half barrels.
1:40 – Judging & The Final Barrel
Gary Penna: The other guys are about to dump theirs in there, and then after that, um, it’ll be day two. They’re going to judge where we’re currently at, I guess look at who’s going to win this round. Justin found this last barrel a little while ago, and it’s incredible. It was a great find and it happened to finish the flavor profile perfectly. Yeah, it’s perfect, man. It’s going to be awesome. It’s going to be awesome. Um, all right, let’s go in here and get our barrel. No, remember I told you what I did was—
Justin Mills: Your last barrel is in the middle row, right?
Gary Penna: Yes. I don’t care about the final product.
Justin Mills: Middle row. What do you mean middle— not right there obviously.
Gary Penna: It’s like three or four up.
Justin Mills: It’s, yeah, it’s over here. Behind, behind that one right there.
Gary Penna: All right, so that’s what we’re going to do. Pull it today. Yay. All right, so he’s going to pull that one here shortly. I’ll come back here in a minute right when we get the barrel.
Close & Return to TopEnd-of-Day Blend Review: BCA Reaches the Halfway Point
With the final barrel integrated, BCA stirred the blend and measured the progress.
The liquid level measured approximately 6.5 inches.
That translated to roughly 260 bottles.
That means BCA is now halfway toward its 500-bottle competition requirement.
That is significant.
This is no longer just a barrel.
It is now a large-scale custom blend in active development.
Watch the end-of-day blend review below:
Video Caption:
BCA reviews the Day Two blend after reaching approximately 260 bottles.
View Full Audio Transcript ▼
Dumping the 7-Year 11-Month MGP Barrel
Justin Mills: All right, guys, Gary’s about to put the final barrel in for today. This is a 7-year, 11-month MGP. Gary’s going to go ahead and do this.
(Sound of rhythmic hammering on a barrel bung)
Justin Mills: Two-handed.
Gary Penna: I know, I’m trying to.
Matt: No, I know. Hold it here, but hold it back a little bit, otherwise you’re going to smash your fingers.
Gary Penna: I know.
Justin Mills: There you go. Smash it again.
Gary Penna: No, that’s good. I know.
The Final Barrel of the Day
Justin Mills: You got it?
Matt: There you go.
Justin Mills: This is the last barrel we’re going to put in for today. Oh, look at that!
Justin Mills: One pull—
Gary Penna: no, no, no.
Justin Mills: Oh, shit!
Assessing the Blend and Color
Gary Penna: I told you I wasn’t far enough in. It’s okay.
Justin Mills: He smashed the bung.
(Resumed sound of heavy hammering)
Gary Penna: This bung hasn’t been pulled in a while.
Justin Mills: This is some good juice—just wait until y’all see the color on this, guys. One more time. There you go!
Justin Mills: Woo!
Justin Mills: Oh, look at that color! See that? This is our third barrel that’s going into our blend. We’ve got to get up to 500. And here in a minute, we’re going to stir it all together and kind of give you a live update of what we got. All right, guys, I’ll get to them when we start stirring everything else, so I’ll see y’all in just a bit.
Close & Return to TopWhat Happens on Day Three?
Day Three could become the most important day of the competition.
Still waiting:
- two reserve 13-year barrels
- potential Wild Turkey additions
- a possible specialty finishing component
- final judging
BCA currently leads Florida 2-0.
But the Bourbon Games are far from over.
And the final blend is still evolving.
Stay tuned.
Continue Following BCA at Barrel King
Day One: Bourbon Games and Charity Barrel Begin
[INSERT INTERNAL LINK]
Charity Barrel Showdown Coverage
[INSERT INTERNAL LINK]
Previous Barrel King Collaboration
[INSERT INTERNAL LINK]
Frequently Asked Questions
Barrel King Bourbon Games is a multi-day bourbon competition where whiskey clubs compete in bottle sales, blending, and judged whiskey creation.
Bourbon Club of Arkansas is represented by Gary Penna and Justin Mills.
BCA is targeting more than 500 bottles.
Current components include MGP, Green River, and O.Z. Tyler, with reserve 13-year barrels still pending.
