Pursuit United Joint Operations Bourbon Honors Veterans

Pursuit Spirits, the Louisville whiskey blender founded by Bourbon Pursuit podcast creators Kenny Coleman and Ryan Cecil, has released Pursuit United Joint Operations Bourbon for Veterans Day. The bourbon was blended with veterans on Pursuit’s ambassador team. Pursuit will donate $5 from every bottle sold to Fisher House Foundation, which gives military and veteran families a free place to stay while a loved one is in medical care.

Joint Operations combines five barrels of Pursuit United Double Oak Bourbon, each with a different stave profile. It is bottled at 108 proof, and only 825 bottles were made. The bourbon is already on shelves in states where Pursuit Spirits is distributed. A small number of bottles go on sale at Pursuit’s Whiskey Row gift shop in Louisville starting today, Wednesday, Nov. 11.

The base is a blend of straight bourbons from Bardstown Bourbon Company, a Tennessee distilling partner and Finger Lakes Distilling: two low-rye recipes and a wheated bourbon. That blend becomes Double Oak through Pursuit’s custom stave program, which it has been building since 2022.

Pursuit’s ambassadors, who include veterans of the Air Force, Navy, Army and Marines, met in Louisville earlier this year with Master Blender Ryan Cecil. They tasted barrels of Double Oak finished with different staves and built the blend from five of them:

Tobacco: an American oak stave from Independent Stave Company with a custom toast, bringing black walnut, maple and sweet cherry pipe tobacco
French Oak Medium Toast: vanilla, custard, fruit and light tannins
Oak Bomb: an American and French oak hybrid seasoned 18 months at Seguin Moreau’s Napa cooperage, adding rich cola, cherry and deep oak tannins
Sweet Shoppe: brown sugar, caramel, maple and a faint wisp of oak smoke
Crème Brûlée: custard and brown sugar

“Every veteran at the event had a different palate and a different opinion, which is exactly what you want in a blending session,” said Ryan Cecil, Co-Founder and Master Blender at Pursuit Spirits. “We kept pulling barrels until the blend made sense to everybody. None of the five barrels overpowers the others, but have different profiles. Every profile pulls in the same direction, and that’s the whole idea behind the name.”

Pursuit describes the result as a layered bourbon with bold root beer and dark fruit notes, followed by toasted oak and hot fudge, and a rich cacao finish.

Fisher House Foundation builds homes at military and VA medical centers where families can stay for free during a loved one’s treatment. It has served more than 570,000 military and veteran families since 1990.

Price and availability: Pursuit United Joint Operations Bourbon has an MSRP of $74.99 and is on sale now at retailers in Pursuit’s distribution states. Bottles are also available at the Pursuit Spirits gift shop, 722 W. Main St., Suite 100, Louisville, starting Nov. 11, 2026.