Distilled Bourbon Podcast

E7. Bourbon Mecca - Justins' House of Bourbon

• Brent Bridges, Chuck Stinnett, Brian McDaniel • Episode 7

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Looking to buy or sell a rare bourbon? Look no further than Justins' House of Bourbon!

In this episode the Distilled Bourbon Podcasters visit this impressive purveyor of impossible to find bourbons and we were amazed to find both vintage and common bourbons readily available.

Chuck interviews Justins' store manager, Brian Booth, to discover how this bourbon mecca came to be, how they validate vintage bottles and Brian shares some incredible stories of bourbons that have passed through their doors like the pre-prohibition & medicinal bottles.

The Distilled Team also report on a tasting of 5 barrel picks they enjoyed while at Justins'. Yes, they have an awesome tasting bar where you can enjoy some Pappy's, E. H. Taylor, Wellers, Blanton's, Ancient Ancient Age from the '70s, etc.

So whether you're looking for an impossible find or you just want to taste something special don't miss a trip to Justins' House of Bourbon in either Louisville or Lexington, KY!

Episode Links:
https://thehouseofbourbon.com
https://www.bourbonoutfitter.com
Justins' House of Bourbon app download

https://distilledbourbonpodcast.com/

Speaker 1:

Welcome to distill the bourbon podcast. My name is Brett I'm here with my co-host Brian and Chuck today's episode is all about vintage bottles. As you may remember, we started talking about searching for unicorns. In a previous episode, we talked about how the bourbon industry works, that three tiered system. We talked about how it's best to set yourself up for success with your local liquor store. Today is about what happens when that doesn't work and you're still searching for those bottles. So, Brian, if I were to ask you, what does vintage bourbon mean? What comes to mind?

Speaker 2:

Well, old dusty bottles, such as Pappy van Winkle, William LaRue, Weller, just the hard to find old

Speaker 3:

Bourbon

Speaker 1:

Bottles. Yeah. Check. What about you?

Speaker 3:

Uh, I think of a four really vintage bottles going back before 1984. I think of that. The tax stamps, the little strip of paper that, uh, was placed over the, the, the, the lid over the, over the bottle cap, uh, to show the taxes have been paid, but, uh, when the, the tax stamp isn't broken open, you know, that that is not only a vintage bottle, more than 35 years old, but it's never been open, which makes it super, super valuable,

Speaker 1:

Super valuable, super hard to find. And, but man, aren't they awesome when you find one, right? If you can find them, if you can find one,

Speaker 3:

I've never found one in the wild.

Speaker 1:

So if you can't find one at your local liquor store and you can't quite bring yourself to take a risk and buy one off the secondary market off of, you know, the interwebs, where are you going to go? Brian, I'm going

Speaker 2:

To Justin's house suburban in Louisville

Speaker 1:

Or Lexington Justin's house of bourbon. What a fricking amazing place that is the three of us had a chance to go there. We went into the one on 1 0 1 west market street in Louisville, and what a cool place that was,

Speaker 3:

Uh, that's my first time to go to, to the Louisville store. I had been to the Lexington store, but it had been on my mind almost from the very beginning that we do an episode about vintage bourbon. And I don't know anybody better to talk about it than the good folks at Justin's house of bourbon.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. They know they're businessman now they're our sister store is in Lexington, right. I believe that's a 6 0 1 west main correct check. You had a chance to talk to the very knowledgeable Brian Booth about vintage bottles.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. He had a manager at, uh, at the loyal store and he made some time available for it. Uh, for us. We really appreciate it. Um, justice, it's an interesting kind of store. They have, uh, what I call contemporary, uh, you know, current bottles, uh, including a bunch of their own barrel picks, uh, at what you might call conventional prices. Uh, they have some of the really old stuff, uh, for which prices don't even appear. And it's kind of like if you have to ask, uh, you probably can't afford it. Uh, but, but they also have, um, some bourbon that they had been bought from private individuals to this really hard to find things like the, uh, the Weller antique collection and, um, some of the hard to find E H Taylor's and so forth like that, uh, at, um, well there it's pricey because they're, they're buying it, uh, not from wholesalers, but from private individuals. Uh, and the rationale is, you know, if you don't want to go, w don't want to go to the hassle to try to find these, these, uh, rare unicorns, uh, you know, Justin's can make them available to you.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, absolutely. They had everything from JW, Dan, all the way to Pappy's and everything in between. I don't think I've ever been in one room that had so many bottles of Pappy and Taylor and Weller all in one place. It was pretty spectacular.

Speaker 3:

Oh, and another cool thing they do. They, they have a tasting bar there and you can taste not only, uh, some current bourbons, uh, but they do have, oh, I don't know, a half a dozen, eight, 10 vintage bourbons, uh, that, that you can taste from. So if, if you want to taste, uh, uh, 1970s era old Fitzgerald, uh, they can make that happen.

Speaker 1:

Let's take a minute and listen to the man himself, Brian Booth and our very own Chuck Stennett and find out what the professionals have to say about the vintage bourbon market.

Speaker 3:

Okay. We are at Justin's house of bourbon at 1 0 1 west market in downtown Louisville, just a five minute drive away from whiskey row. And we're talking with Brian, a manager here at Justin's house of bourbon. Uh Justin's is, uh, has locations in Louisville and in downtown Lexington, right across from Rupp arena. And one of their specialties is, uh, is selling vintage or antique old bourbon often still with the tax stamps, still on it. Brian, tell us the origin story. How did Justin's house of bourbon get started? Yeah,

Speaker 4:

So Justin south suburban here is, is a product of, uh, the two owners Mr. Justin Thompson and Mr. Justin Sloan come again and creating a great little business there for Kentucky and in the bourbon bourbon world there we got started with, of course, the idea when house bill 100 got passed, and that was in late 2017. Okay. And, and then it was, uh, enacted in, uh, in January 1st, 2018. And that basically states that, you know, we can purchase vintage spirits, you know, from private collections. And so we were open in Lexington and the second week of, uh, February, 2018, right out of the gate, right out of the gate. Very cool. Yes, sir. It's been a great ride thus far. We built, um, the second house of bourbon late October, early, November, 2019 here in Belleville. And we've been going strong.

Speaker 3:

Yes, sir. So how old of a bourbon have you all been able to get your hands on

Speaker 4:

Right now? We've got some 19 0 9 19, some 1910 out there. That's, that's pretty, that's pretty incredible call

Speaker 3:

What brands those are.

Speaker 4:

Uh, we've got, uh, I think it was Frankfurt. Distillers is one of them then old Overholt is another, we got bond and Lillard, uh, believe this from 1919. Um, we've got some 1930 and so 1932, uh, juice out there that I acquired not too long ago. So, so yeah, I mean,

Speaker 3:

Well, would that have been bottled for medicinal purposes in 32?

Speaker 4:

I believe so. Yeah,

Speaker 3:

It would be cool to own a bottle, an unopened bottle, but that said for medicinal purposes,

Speaker 4:

We've, we've, we've had a couple of those in the Justin's house, rumor bourbon realm there.

Speaker 3:

So if you don't know, during prohibition, uh, starting in 19, 19 up through whenever it was repealed, 1933, I think, uh, you could only legally acquire bourbon. If you have prescription from, from a doctor. My mom was born in 1919, and she told me years ago that when she was a little girl, when she heard somebody say something about a prescription, she figured they were talking about a bottle of bourbon or half pint bottle that, that her dad would get with a prescription because people had a lot of elements back in those days.

Speaker 4:

They did. Yes,

Speaker 3:

They did kind of alien limping around a little bit front and out myself. You acquire these old bottles from, from estate sales, uh, people who come in off the streets.

Speaker 4:

So we've got our, you know, we've got some trusted, um, you know, individuals out there that, that we call and, and they call us when they, when they, um, when they find stuff. And then of course we authenticate all bottles and, you know, that takes some time there to do what can

Speaker 3:

You tell us about how you authenticate and data

Speaker 4:

We've, you know, we've got, we've got several sources that we, uh, that we call for certain bottles, you know, talk to the owners about it. We, uh, we have a in-house, uh, whiskey historian. Her name is Ms. Caroline Paulus. I can't do what I do without her or, or the rest of my team. And at that matter, we start looking things up. We start calling people that have dealt in the vintage vintage realm for, for years and, um, you know, tax stamps, you know, check out if, if the cork looks like it's, you know, got, got the, where it should and, and the juice looks the way it should and photographs and, and picks and everything matching anything underneath the glass, there will dates and stamps then. Yeah, we, we, uh,

Speaker 3:

A new science, isn't it.

Speaker 4:

We, we try to across all our T's and all of our eyes there, but yeah, we make, we make sure that our, our clients are getting, um, authentic, uh, authentic, uh, bourbon and rye or, or whatever the vintage spirit may be. So

Speaker 3:

One bottle here on your shelf, and then at the Frazier museum, they have quite a collection of vintage bourbons. Uh, and some of these unopened bottles, it looks like there had been some evaporation. Tell us about evaporation. Yes.

Speaker 4:

So, I mean, it happens right. And, and that's common. Um, some of the operation is, is common when you get it a little too hot when it's in, when it's in some really, um, extreme conditions, you can have extreme evaporation. And then finally, what it does is, is, or if you get in sunlight or, or, you know, UV light that that's, that starts to degrade the, um, you know, the actual compound of bourbon, you know, what's in bourbon, it starts breaking it down. It starts to become cloudy. And then, you know, you, you lose that, um, use that, lose that quality there, right? So, but

Speaker 3:

No longer that beautiful Amber color. Right.

Speaker 4:

But if it's, if it's clear and there's not a lot of precipitants or floaties down at the bottom is what we like to call evaporation is, is normal, um, to an extent, but like I said, when you get to those extremes and becomes cloudy and, and degrades, then we're getting into a quality of juice that just isn't worth purchasing.

Speaker 3:

Gotcha. So there's some amazing, uh, whiskey to being released these days. And we tend to think that this is a, well, it certainly another golden age of bourbon, but the vintage bourbons that are 40, 50, 70, a hundred years old, do they have good juice back in those days?

Speaker 4:

I've got to say for the most part. Yeah. I've had, I've had, um, me and Caroline shared some pre-prohibition at the Lexington store there when we went back in our early days and it was, it was quite delicious there. I was quite skeptical. And of course, without knowing what it tastes like, you know, you just don't know. And I was thoroughly impressed really, really enjoyed some of that. Pre-prohibition there. And then I've had some of the, you know, you know, the, what people would call some of the crew to garage juice there, the Stitzel Weller from the, uh, fifties there I've, I've had Stitsel from the fifties, from the, I don't think of hanging from the sixties, but I've had some from the seventies and, uh, indefinitely the eighties there that have been just, just the Macklin. And then one that really kind of knocked my socks off was, um, some of that older Oak Grove I've had 1966 from the traveler bottle. And I'm telling you, they, they knew what they were doing. How about that? For sure. Yeah. I've had some 1948 James D pepper. That's been fantastic. Um, so yeah,

Speaker 3:

Pepper fascinates me. I grew up in Lexington and not until five years ago, had I ever heard the name, James E pepper? Uh, it's amazing history. He's right up there with Colonel Taylor in the, in the annals. And he was kind of a legendary guy for a larger than life, a horseman and so forth like that. I'm glad to see pepper has been, uh, has been reborn. Yeah.

Speaker 4:

Yeah. That rejuvenation of pepper. I'm really glad to see there in Lexington.

Speaker 3:

They have their product on the shelves there. They've got some source product right now. Yeah. So not only do you sell vintage bottles, but you also sell some current contemporary hard to find bottles.

Speaker 4:

I do. I mean, I'll go over what I introduce people to the house of bourbon with you. I welcome them in, you know, um, uh, you know, welcome to Justin's house suburban. Uh, tell them we have bottles starting around, you know, 10 to$12 on up, you know, I've got, I've got normal distribution items, I've got vintage items starting around the pre-prohibition all the way to today. You know, uh, we, we, at both of both of our bars, uh, Lexington in Lowville, you can try anything probably from the fifties or sixties to today. Um, if you want to come in and experience and taste some juice that you might not ever get to have, it's, it's a, it's a great in the mirror, memorable experience there. And, you know, we, we, we like to say, you know, let, let our house of bourbon be your home of bourbon, you know, um, for anything you should need, but it's quite incredible. We, we are, uh, it's, it's a pretty incredible business. And it's, uh, I think all of us are blessed here in the Justin's house and bourbon realm to, to, uh, be a part of what's going on right now in today's world and bourbon. Very cool.

Speaker 3:

So the, the people who buy these vintage bottles, do they put them on a shelf and keep them unopened, or do some people crack them open and have a taste,

Speaker 4:

Man, I, you know, it's across the board. I got people say, Hey, what are those investment bottles? You know? And then I've got people that are like, I want something that is good. That is, you know, that, that I'm never going to have again, or that I'm probably never going to have again. And so, yeah, it's across the board. Um, and then some people just want it for show, you know, you got the investors, you got the drinkers, it was like, I just want to have it on the shelf just to have a dusty, you know, and that's in it and it's cool within itself, you know, maybe eventually, you know, crack it open or they'll just leave it on their shelf and just pass it down, down the lineage there. So

Speaker 3:

If it appreciates it and they've got an investment on their hands. Yeah. So that was house bill 100. Is that right? Okay.

Speaker 4:

But 100, yes, sir. It states that, that we, uh, can purchase anything not readily available from distribution. So that's, that's the kind of the, uh, the, the parameter stair. So, so that's the reason why we can purchase, you know, Blanton's and other things that are kind of, um, you know, more, uh, more contemporary than some of these thirties, forties, fifties, sixties bottles.

Speaker 3:

I see that you got the entire, um, uh, Buffalo trace, uh, antique collection available for sale. You got four or five different Weller available. That is correct. 1 0 7 12 full full strength.

Speaker 4:

Yes. Oh yeah.

Speaker 3:

Yep. Uh, E H Taylor, I see out there,

Speaker 4:

I like to tell people if I don't have it, I can get it. If I can't get it, it can be God. That's also,

Speaker 3:

So do you actually hit people come in and say, I want this product. Oh yeah.

Speaker 4:

Well, we've, I've got, I've got several clients right now that I've got two of my trusted sources looking for bottles right now. Uh, as we're, as we're talking right now,

Speaker 3:

I'm assuming Justin and Justin are very knowledgeable

Speaker 4:

About this topic. Well, I mean, yeah, they have to be. Yeah. I mean, yeah. So the two Justin's have, you know, have presented bourbon. Knotel not only across the United States, but across the pond too, they've done whiskey masterclasses overseas. We as Justin's house suburban realm, we're trying to create a brand that says, Hey, you're getting quality. You you're getting authentic quality rye, bourbon, whatever that whiskey may be. So, so yeah, I mean, we're, we're very proud of what we do. Um, we very excited what we're doing and, um, we're trying to take, uh, you know, really take this to some places that, that bourbon has never been, you know, in, into that authentic world, into that prestige world, into that realm of, okay, you've got a, you've got a quality product on your hands.

Speaker 3:

So what would you say is your all's greatest find ever?

Speaker 4:

Well, I, I think, I think that probably goes, you know, per individual, um, I'm sure the two Justins have two different stories than what I have, and I'm sure, you know, Ms. Caroline or Mr. Ryan or, or, or Mr. Travis, there's got, got their, uh, got their stories too. Um, but, um, yeah, my, my, uh, model story is that a, uh, 1936, George stag came through the door yeah. From the George T stack company from Frankfurt. Yeah. So, and a 24 year age stated prior to 36. So it was pre-World war one is also pre world war one, and that's pretty incredible checked out and negotiated and, and grabbed that little guy. And, uh, that, that was, that's probably one of my coolest little guys.

Speaker 3:

Well, the war and bottled after the inner prohibition, that is a unicorn, my friend. Yep. That is awesome. So, um, anything else you want to tell us about Justin's house of bourbon?

Speaker 4:

I, I encourage people to reach out to us if, if they're just needing questions asked, um, if you've got any old bottles out there that are, you know, that are sitting on your shelf and that are intriguing, you please reach out to us. You can call our Lexington store or a local store. Uh, everybody would love to, you know, talk at you and see, uh, see what we can do.

Speaker 3:

Your website address is we,

Speaker 4:

We are, um, Justin's house of bourbon.com and we encourage everybody to go there.

Speaker 3:

1 0 1 west market downtown Louisville, the Lexington store is on west main. What's that?

Speaker 4:

And so in Lexington at 6 0 1 west main street, and that's in Lexington. And then here in Louisville, that is correct. 1 0 1 west market street. Um, here in Louisville, we also got a website called bourbon outfitter.com, no S so bourbon, outfitter.com, but please visit us on the web. Give us a call here, here at one of our stores. We'd love to chat at you and, uh, you know, see what we can make happen

Speaker 3:

To both of the stores. And it's really cool. It's there there's parts of it that are just like a museum. Uh, I saw a one gallon bottle of WL Weller from the old Steptoe Weller, uh, distillery

Speaker 4:

Age, state of seven years.

Speaker 3:

Yep. And it's engineer in a, a holder. Okay.

Speaker 4:

Well, yeah, it's in a, it's in its own cradle. Wouldn't cradle. Wouldn't in metal CR uh, what they call the cradle seven year

Speaker 3:

Tax stamp still

Speaker 4:

On it. Yep. Seven year age stated. Um, that's going to be from the mid seventies, I believe. Pretty incredible little guy. They're amazing. Um, but, and then we've got a gallon of old Fitzgerald that's going to be from the seventies as well, also from stuffer Weller also from Stittsville. Yes, sir. We also got a case from 1951, no entire case from 1951 with the holiday boxes. It comes with the bottle, the bottle within the individual boxes in those boxes within the actual 1951 case. This is old fits show. This are two cool, 19 50 12 bottles from 1951 pristine condition guide. I have

Speaker 3:

Got goosebumps on my arm right

Speaker 4:

Here. Really does. I see it? Um, so, but yeah, it's, it's, it's been an incredible ride here at Justin's house burn. Um, I'm grateful for, you know, for me being where I'm at today when things are happening today. So, but no, I appreciate y'all coming in and thank you all. Hey, thanks for

Speaker 3:

Making time

Speaker 4:

For us. It's a my pleasure. We appreciate it. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

So Chuck, that was a great interview. Thank you so much for bringing us that that guy is a professional and he knows what he's talking about. Yeah.

Speaker 3:

They really rolled out the red carpet for it. We appreciate them. Let's go

Speaker 1:

Ahead and ask our trivia question for this

Speaker 3:

Episode. Yeah, sure. So in the fall of 2021, a big announcement was made concerning bourbon. Uh, and the number is 10 million. So the trivia question is what is significant in 2021? About 10 million.

Speaker 2:

Good question. I think I know the

Speaker 1:

Answer. I bet Brian does know the answer. He knows a lot.

Speaker 3:

Well, we're going to give you the answer at the end of this episode.

Speaker 1:

Outstanding. Very good. And

Speaker 3:

Maybe we'll let Brian take a crack at it. Oh,

Speaker 2:

We'll edit that if I'm wrong.

Speaker 3:

No, we're definitely going to leave it here.

Speaker 1:

Okay. We come out of this interview with Brian and the three of us are there and the generosity continues from the good folks at the house of bourbon. They offered to give us a tasting of five barrel picks. Brian, tell us what a barrel pick is for those that may not know. I think

Speaker 2:

It is essentially a retailer going to the distillery, tasting several different barrels. Uh, most of the time it is one single barrel, but occasionally you will blend multiple barrels together. Uh, but in the case of the five, the five single barrels we tasted, they were all single barrels,

Speaker 1:

All single barrels. The first one we tried was Yellowstone. What'd you think of the Yellowstone?

Speaker 3:

Well, I have a soft spot in my heart for Yellowstone that comes out of the limestone branch distillery near Lebanon, Kentucky. And I just love limestone branch. It's a beautiful grounds. Uh, the, uh, one of the owners is, uh, a, a master landscaper. Uh, so, uh, it's, it's, they have great product. They give a great tour. Uh, they have a wonderful little cocktail bar there. They, they may, one of the most unusual cocktails I've ever had with blended bourbon and gin, and it uses a Yellowstone on bourbon. So, uh, I, I like the Yellowstone.

Speaker 2:

I thought that was really good for a single barrel high proof. I mean, it did not taste like I had proof at all. It was very good.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. It had just the right amount of bite for me. And that was great. The second one we tried is my probably second favorite out of the five and that's the George Remus. Sweet Caroline. What'd you think about that one?

Speaker 2:

It was excellent. So George remiss is actually produced by MGP, which is probably the largest sourcer or the largest source of, uh, source bourbon on the marketplace. But George Remus is their only bourbon that they produce themselves. Everything else, they sell barrels to distilleries and so forth, but it is actually a great bourbon, uh, especially for the price

Speaker 3:

And that named George Remus. Uh, you may not have heard of it. George Remus was a notorious, a bootlegger during prohibition in the 1920s, uh, did some pretty outrageous things, but, uh, he's, uh, uh, he's a dark legend in, in the bourbon industry and we might revisit his story sometime.

Speaker 1:

I love it. Uh, let me tell you, I liked that so much. I brought a bottle of home and I was happy to have it. And, uh, that goes for the next bottle as well. It was my absolute favorite. It's the new Lu toasted.

Speaker 2:

Oh, that's, that was my favorite as well. I took a bottle home. A toasted is kind of new to the market. Uh, it's a little different than charring. The barrel. It's a gentler process. Uh, it, it doesn't blacken the barrel like a char does. It's more of a brown brown color, and it really gives it more of a vanilla taste tasting notes and more spices. So I thought it was just a great bourbon. And like I said, I got one for the house to try with my wife and

Speaker 3:

I love this, the story behind the story NuLu, that's in U L U, and that is a nickname for a neighborhood in, um, just outside, just east of downtown Louisville, a new Louisville affectionately known as a new loo, uh, a bunch of cool artists and restaurants. There's a Brandy distillery in there, all kinds of cool shops. So that's where that name comes from nuclear.

Speaker 1:

So can folks find new Lew out just anywhere or is it a fairly limited right now? I'm pretty

Speaker 2:

Sure it's still fairly limited to the Louisville and Lexington markets.

Speaker 1:

So the next one we tried was the Pinhook, which was awry. I'm not the biggest Ry guy. I thought it was pretty good though. I enjoyed that one. Yeah.

Speaker 3:

Panaca is, uh, sourced out of a castle and key, uh, that, uh, reborn old E H Taylor distillery on a Glenn Creek between Versailles and, uh, and, uh, Frankfort. It's a neighbor of the Woodford reserve distillery, uh, and, uh, Caslin key, uh, is going to be released in their bourbon sometime soon. They, they released their Ry, uh, I believe that was called a resurrection, uh, last year and it's out there on the market. In fact, I saw it on the shelf there at, at Justin's. So I don't know where the Pinhook is the same, uh mashville or not.

Speaker 2:

And I enjoyed the whiskey, but out of these five is probably my least favorite. The other four were just phenomenal. And, uh, it was, it was still a good, good drink, but, uh, not my favorite.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. The last one that we're going to talk about was probably my least favorite, although it was good and I would of course drink it. It's the old soul high Ry.

Speaker 2:

I actually seen this on the bourbon, a few different bourbon pages I'm on Facebook and it was highly reviewed. Uh, it is a high rye. And again, like I said, I'm a hi, I'm a rye drinker, but, uh, this was probably my second to last favorite, but again, it was still good.

Speaker 3:

Well, here's the thing when you've got some tastings of some really good bourbon or rye, uh, you know, some things are just going to really stand out and they're going to be your personal favorite and other products could be a really fine product, but compared to something that just really hit your taste buds the right way on a particular day, you know, it just may not shine. Oh

Speaker 2:

Yeah, exactly. Because I would buy any of those bottles. I really want, they were all great. Uh, great store picks.

Speaker 1:

Now Chuck has your back was turned and you were meeting new friends. Uh, Brian and I decided to have one more tasting. We tried their

Speaker 2:

Willard 12 year check missed out. Oh my goodness.

Speaker 1:

That was some good stuff. Let me tell you

Speaker 3:

The dogs well, or 12 it's one of my favorites. It might be my favorite. Yeah, it's

Speaker 2:

Definitely my top five.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it was fantastic. But you know, I was stunned by the bottles that they had opened over there. If you went to Pappy's, you could get Happy's or any of the Blanton's that are over there. They had the old, and I'm not talking about just on the label, but it was like from the early seventies, uh, uh, old Fitzgerald and they had the ancient age and, and those may not be still a brands, but the man I wanted to try all them.

Speaker 2:

And I thought it was fair price. I think the, uh, ancient age was$20 for 1974. I mean, that's something, I mean, you don't find at every bar.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. I'll be back to that bar. I promise you because that's a, that's going to be a staple and the, and the bridges, uh, tour de Louisville.

Speaker 3:

Hey, next time I'm adjusting. I'm going to order a vintage, uh, poor of the old Fitzgerald. Uh, that was a bourbon that Pappy van Winkle, distilled and bottled at the Stetson welder distillery, just west of Louisville. Uh, it's what made, um, Pappy van Winkle fortune. And I would like to know what it tasted like back in the day,

Speaker 1:

If you want to go even farther back, let me tell ya, this place had some amazing bottles. It's almost like a museum. Once you pass the beautiful shelves of bourbons that are common to all of us, you get to these glass cases where the really special stuff is. And, you know, I'm like salivating looking at some of this stuff. Chuck, what, what do you remember from those cases?

Speaker 3:

The full collection of the, uh, the Buffalo trace antique collection, just, you know, side-by-side five brave soldiers, uh, just waiting for me to reach in and pull up my American express card and take them home.

Speaker 1:

Exactly right. Would Mrs. Stinnett approve of that. Uh, okay. Don't answer that question. Brian, what stands out to you from those amazing, uh, display?

Speaker 2:

So for me, it wasn't even about the Pappy, the BTech, it was four roses. He had every four rows, one could ever think of. Uh, he also had, uh, I've I've been looking for Evan Williams, single barrel, uh, oh 3 0 4 0 5, because I've been told those are some the best Evan Williams, single barrels that were ever produced. And they had five or six bottles there as well.

Speaker 3:

Uh, aside from that big one gallon, 1960s, uh, a bottle of, uh, WL Weller, uh, Brian had pointed out to us a bottle of the original Weller, 1 0 7 with, uh, you know, the label that obviously has been on there for a long time. I'm not sure what year that was, but that I made a point to take a picture of that.

Speaker 1:

And while we were there, somebody came in with this box, came in the front door, I actually held the door open for him. And I look over, he's pulling out these beautiful decanter bottles that look like they were much older than I was. And these tiny little glass bottles. Yeah. We're making a transaction right there in front of us.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. The little, uh, the little bottles, like you get on a, on an airplane or something like that. Uh, somebody I guess, had bought them on a, on a airplane ride and just put it in their pocket or their purse or something like that. Uh, but I didn't, I didn't want to nose in on man's transaction, but I was really curious what those bottles were and how old they were.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. So whether you want to sell or buy something unique, you could do it right there and Louisville on the corner, uh, at Justin's. And if you're looking for those rare unicorn bottles and you can't find them anywhere else, if they're to be had, you're going to be able to get them there.

Speaker 2:

Oh, and I definitely go Justin's as opposed to buying on secondary market, unless you're an expert, which I'm not I'm in the retail business, uh, because they validate each bottle that they purchased to ensure that it is what they say. It is.

Speaker 1:

One more thing I wanted to bring up about our trip to Justin's is how cool is the bourbon world and walk in there and you're going to meet somebody that you bond with immediately. Right?

Speaker 3:

So I don't want to let too much out of the bag, but, uh, we had in mind and interview that we wanted to do with somebody who's, uh, works in the Kentucky bourbon world. And I happened to hear him, a guy at the end of the bar, uh, mentioned the very thing that we wanted to do a, uh, a story about. And I went down and introduced myself and it was that very guy. So we had a great time. We spent about, while you guys were drinking well or 12, I was having a great time. You were doing business. I would do in business. I would, I was meeting this fellow and his wife, and we were exchanging stories. Uh, that happened to me so many times on the bourbon trail where you, you see somebody who's like this guy or this woman, this couple, they really care about bourbon. They've been around. They're experienced, they're asking cool questions. So let's just find out a bit about them. So that really made the visit to Justin's. I just that much more fun.

Speaker 1:

So you gotta go, you gotta go to Justin's house of bourbon, whether that's in Louisville and Lexington, uh, if he can't make it in person, visit their website, we'll put a link to that in our show notes that you can find them easily and make sure you get to the right place. You're going to enjoy that.

Speaker 3:

And they have an app for your smartphone as well. I didn't realize until after we left, but, uh, you can see all the, the product that they had to sell it, at least the, uh, the, the current stuff. Uh, so I'm, I may just have to put that on the phone and do some kind of like the Sears, uh, CA zeros wish catalog from

Speaker 1:

Back in the day. So once again, thanks to Brian and Jennifer who tended bar for us. Uh, we appreciate them and everything they did. So Chuck, you teased us with answering the trivia question. What do you get more

Speaker 3:

So, yeah. What is it a significant in the fall of 2021, about the number 10 million Brian, you, I think you have an idea is that the number of barrels aging in Kentucky, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, you know, or

Speaker 1:

Barrels, then there are citizens in the Commonwealth.

Speaker 3:

It would not that many years ago that the, uh, the, uh, the, the industry was excited to say that there were as many barrels aging as there are Kentucky residents, which is about 4 million. And then, uh, it just kept growing and growing and growing, uh, last year, distillery barreled, almost two and a half million barrels of Kentucky bourbon. That was a record. And that took us to, uh, more than 10 million. So right now there's about nearly two and a half times more barrels of bourbon aging than there are men, women, and children living in Kentucky. And

Speaker 1:

I'm okay with it. Yeah. Where do I go to pick up my

Speaker 3:

Barrels? That

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. So listen, there's one more thing we have to do. We have to say thank you to you, the listeners for giving us such a wonderful, encouragement and feedback. We thank you for that. We love constructive feedback here at distill the bourbon podcast. You can reach out to us on the internet. You can find us on Facebook and you can send us an email to info@distilledbourbonpodcast.com. And for those of you guys that have asked us, you know, how can we help grow the show? This is how you do it. You get onto wherever you listen to podcast and you hit that subscribe button that really helps us out quite a bit. And then if you don't mind, leave us a review, tell us what you honestly think. And, uh, that way more folks can find your favorite bourbon podcast. So Chuck, Brian, you guys got anything else for

Speaker 5:

Today? Yeah, it always great responsibly[inaudible].