Lt. Colonel Todd Lee Rust has been a member of Whiskey University since September 2022. In 2016 Whiskey University began offering Certificates, Diplomas and Degrees. Todd has earned his Bachelor of Arts Degree, Master of Science Degree and in April of 2024, his Master of Arts Degree with a double-major concentration in The Bluegrass Region and Bourbon Capital Region of Kentucky from Whiskey University.  Todd holds the Whiskey University designation of Chartered Master Whiskey Taster.

Rust is a financial advisor in Raleigh, NC. Todd Rust was born in April, 1960, in Bloomington, IL.  He met his wife, Susan, while he was working as a banker in Dallas, TX, and she was a CPA. After they were married in 1985, they moved two years later to Susan's hometown of Owensboro, Kentucky. and they lived and worked in Kentucky for 20 years before they decided to move to Durham, North Carolina, where they currently live. Todd has "adopted" Kentucky (especially the city of Owensboro) as his "home state". Says Todd, "Kentucky is my home, after all, I will be buried there in Owensboro one day!" Lt. Colonel Rust and Susan have two adult children and two wonderful grandchildren.

Todd developed an enjoyment of the taste of bourbon while living in, where else, Kentucky!! Todd's "gateway bourbon" was Wathan's 8-year-old bourbon (the brown label). But it wasn't just the great taste of bourbon (& ryes & whiskies) that drew Rust, it was the history and the stories surrounding so many of the bourbons, ryes, and whiskies that we enjoy today. “I love history and we can learn so much from it", says Rust. Todd is on the Whiskey University's Board of Directors and serves on the Founders Committee where Todd researches and writes about some of the Master Distillers and people who developed and helped to promote bourbon whiskey to what we experience and enjoy today. In short, Todd has a love of history and a love of bourbon.  Todd has become a collector of bourbons and now really enjoys the Old Forester Series of Bourbons and their "Whisky Row '' line-up as well as Peerless Bourbons and Ryes. Todd also really likes the Rabbit Hole Bourbons (“I've yet to taste one I did not like!”, says Rust). 

Today his tastes are much broader and encompassing many other brands, but Todd now prefers higher proof expressions.  His home bar (called the "Rickhouse") includes over 400 bottles, mainly bourbons and rye whiskeys but also some Irish Whiskeys and Scotch whisky’s.   Rust states: "My tastes may be expanding and developing, but my love for the history of any whiskey I choose to enjoy is foundational to truly creating a rich enjoyment of what I am drinking". This is an industry built up by hard work, dedication, and the un-rushed variable of time! You could not cut corners then and you cannot cut corners now when distilling and crafting a quality bourbon or whisk(e)y. It must be a "labor of love" to the men and women who choose to work in the various, but equally important, roles within a Distillery.