It’s not everyday that you hear of a podcast about “bum wine”– which is a term that I had to Google, actually. 

Bumming with Bobcat is a weekly podcast where we take a trip down to your local liquor store and cover the best of the worst in cheap booze,” explained Bum Wine Bob (the only name his listeners will recognize him by, he said). “We are mainly focusing on bum wine, beers, 40’s, and malt liquor, but no type of booze is off limits.”

Bob said that the idea came to him originally when he was thinking of doing something similar to a late night talk show but he wanted to focus it on drinking. He wanted to start off solo but eventually bring on guests to discuss their favorite drinks.

“With so many people talking about fancy wines and craft beer, I felt there should be a show to cover the other end of the spectrum of the ‘budget’ or ‘inexpensive’ variety,” said Bob.

Bob said that talking to people about their favorite drinks is the best part of his job as the host of Bumming with Bobcat. He gets to learn about different drinking habits all over the country and in the world.

“I’ve talked with guests all over the USA to get their take on the drinking scenes in their area, and I’m still working on getting some guests on from all over the world when their schedule permits,” he said.

And he’s grown quite a large following with his blog and podcast. He has around 12.8 thousand followers on Twitter and that large audience’s response to his content has been relatively positive over the years according to Bob.

“A lot of people are familiar with the cheap booze we cover after drinking it in their younger days while growing up, and there are a lot of people that enjoy it still,” he said. “It’s nice to give them a spot to talk about it, even if it’s not the ‘cool’ thing to drink anymore.”

It takes a great deal of work to find new drinks and new guests to bring onto the show– it’s no easy feat, according to Bob.

“The biggest challenge is always coming up with new ideas to keep the show exciting and interesting,” he said. “While I usually only do a show that is between a half hour and an hour in length, it does take some time to come up with a general outline of topics to cover and then recap the show to post to the podcast feed and at bumwinebob.com the next day.”

The work though, is worth it. And he keeps bringing on guests of interest and introducing new topics, all that Bob enjoys– he said that it’s hard to pick a which episode he likes best and usually feels that his most recent episode is his favorite.

Likewise, at this point, he can’t even name his favorite drink since he has tested so many. In a pinch though, he said that Bud Ice has always been a “go-to” choice for him.

You can listen to Bumming with Bobcat here and on the SFD Radio Network.