Whenever you get into a hobby that involved enthusiasts and collecting, there are trends that begin to appear. Allocations, raffles, lotteries, fakes, these are things that become common. One of those hobbies that has quite a few parallels is sneakers. Matt Kusek is a certified whiskey enthusiasts as a write for Malt Review but he's also the host of the Swoosh Life podcast that focuses on sneaker heads. He joins the show to give us an insight into how the shoe game and bourbon have so many similarities that, in Matt's words, sneakers are 20 years ahead of bourbon. We dive into the types of collectors, brands, sales, allocation, and so much more. If sneakers are really 20 years ahead of bourbon, who knows what the next few years has in store for us. Show Notes: Above the Char with Fred Minnick (@fredminnick) talks about Buffalo Trace expansion. What's the similarity between Jordan's and bourbon releases? Are there raffles, lotteries, or hunts for sneakers? Who is the distributor and how do they own the retail store? If Nike is number one, who would they be compared to and who's the next biggest? Mom and pop stores vs chains and how are they getting pushed out of the market? What about saving and storing vs wearing or drinking? Is it Jordan and then everyone else? What is the Heaven Hill or Weller of sneakers? Are there people that only collect one type of shoe? Bourbon hits all walks of life or does the sneaker enthusiasts hit all walks of life? Are there sneakers that don't need marketing? Do you look differently at people who are rookies and buy stuff just because they want every color? Are there any value brands that hold up over time? Are there some LTOs that flop? Are replicas or fakes a big problem? Has the market gone down because everything became a limited edition? Was Blue Run able to sneakerize the industry in your opinion? @mattkusek Support this podcast on Patreon