
The Scotchy Bourbon Boys
The Scotchy Bourbon Boys love Whiskey and every thing about the industry! Martin "Super Nash", Jeff "Tiny", Rachel "Roxy" Karl "Whisky" and Chris "CT" all make up The Scotchy Bourbon Boys! Join us in talking everything and anything Whiskey, with the innovators, and distillers around the globe. Go behind the scenes of making great whiskey and learn how some of the best in the whiskey industry make their product! Remember good whiskey means great friends and good times! Go out and Live Your Life Dangerously!
The Scotchy Bourbon Boys
Dusty Bottles, Living History: Inside Revival Vintage Spirits
Brad Bonds welcomes listeners to Revival Vintage Spirits and Bottle Shop in Covington, Kentucky, where vintage whiskeys tell the story of American distilling from Prohibition to present day. Located just minutes from the interstate at the unofficial start of the bourbon trail, Revival offers a unique experience with rare and historic spirits that can't be found anywhere else.
• Revival Vintage Spirits occupies a historic 1800s building that once served as Covington's YMCA
• Dusty bottles aren't just old whiskeys—true dusties have tax strips from before 1984
• Well-preserved vintage spirits can remain good for decades or centuries if properly sealed
• Revival makes rare spirits accessible by offering affordable quarter-ounce pours of pre-prohibition whiskey
• The shop occasionally features medicinal prohibition bottles complete with original prescriptions
• Revival hosts distillers and brand owners regularly for special events and tastings
• The store serves as both a bottle shop and bar, creating a comprehensive whiskey experience
• Brad and his business partner are working to change Kentucky law to improve vintage spirit regulations
• Small distilleries can partner with Revival to showcase their products and connect with enthusiasts
• Whiskey collecting is comparable to baseball card collecting, but with the added benefit of consumption
If you're passing through Cincinnati or Northern Kentucky, stop by Revival Vintage Spirits, ask for Brad personally, and experience a true grain-to-glass journey from the past to your present.
Step into the fascinating world of vintage spirits as we join Brad Bonds at Revival Vintage Spirits and Bottle Shop in historic Covington, Kentucky. Just minutes from Cincinnati, this extraordinary establishment serves as both the gateway to bourbon country and a living museum of American whiskey history.
Brad guides us through the remarkable journey of Revival, from its humble beginnings to its current home in a beautifully restored 1800s building that once housed Covington's YMCA. More than just a bottle shop, Revival represents the preservation of whiskey heritage, offering enthusiasts the chance to taste spirits that most people only read about in books.
The conversation delves deep into what makes "dusty" bottles special – those time capsules of whiskey history featuring tax strips from before 1984 that capture production methods long since abandoned. Brad explains the remarkable stability of properly stored vintage spirits, which can remain perfect for decades or even centuries, unlike wine or other collectibles. We explore the delicate art of bottle assessment, learning how clarity, fill level, and label condition impact both value and the drinking experience.
What sets Revival apart is its commitment to accessibility. While some establishments might charge $1,000 per ounce for pre-Prohibition whiskey, Brad shares stories of offering quarter-ounce pours for $40, allowing hundreds of people to experience liquid history. His philosophy shines through in every aspect of the business: "We're trying to figure out a way every day to be fair to who we buy from and fair to who we sell to."
The passion behind Revival is infectious as Brad compares whiskey collecting to baseball cards, but with one crucial difference – "this is the final frontier, because you can choose to buy a bottle from us and collect it, o
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Middle West Spirits was founded in 2008, focusing on elevating the distinct flavors of the Ohio River Valley. Their spirits honor their roots and reflect their originality as makers, their integrity as producers and their passion for crafting spirits from grain to glass. Their Michelon Reserve line reflects their story from the start to the bottle, to your glass, with unique weeded and rye bourbons, and also rye and wheat whiskeys, the Michelon brand is easy to sip. It might be a grain-to-glass experience, but I like to think of it as uncut and unfiltered from their family to yours.
Speaker 2:Take a picture for me.
Speaker 1:We're on the couch. We've been in a while. We're short from the couch.
Speaker 3:We love what we do. We're drinking and burning and we're talking some shit, but we're telling the truth. Yeah, we're the Scotchie Burning Boys Raising the hell and making some noise.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're the Scotchie Burning Boys now yeah, all right, welcome back to another podcast of the Scotchy Bourbon Boys. I love location podcasts. It's one of my favorite things to do, and we are at Revival Vintage Spirits and Bottle Shop here in Covington, kentucky with Brad Bonds Anybody who's listened you guys have seen our lives and you've seen a couple of our podcasts and know a little bit about Brad, but there's a lot of people that don't know about you, and that's what we want to do today is get that out there. How are you?
Speaker 2:doing, doing great man. I just want to say like thanks so much for the constant support. Scotchy Bourbon Boys are awesome. I was just telling Tiny I've been seeing him more than a lot of high school friends that haven't even made their way down and you know you've probably been here about 20 times. So you know, thank you guys so much for everything.
Speaker 1:It's such an awesome, awesome destination and stop Plus, we're the Scotchy Bourbon Boys and that's all whiskey that we do. And so when you're headed down to Kentucky and when you're going down to Kentucky, it's mostly bourbon, a little bit of American whiskey, a little bit of rye, but it's mostly bourbon. But it's such a great stop on the way down for us because I mean we go right by it. I mean you are literally three minutes off 71 and we're, and we're here.
Speaker 2:We're the start of the bourbon trail Right.
Speaker 1:Or the end.
Speaker 1:Yeah, either or I mean it's. You've been the end and the start many times for us, but we always want to. We there's so much that we learn when we come down. There's stuff that you have here all the time that isn't something that I even that you needed.
Speaker 1:Right Until I met you, Brad, I knew of the Dusty, but there's very. I probably only had a couple and then to meet you and have the education about it that you give out to so many of your customers, have the education about it that you give out to so many of your customers and so many, and then to see you grow into your place here, which is amazing. And you know, you're probably at only at about 60% of what you're going to be. I mean, there's so much more that is happening. But to open this place it's just a beautiful store You've gone into becoming a bar owner and then use the upstairs vintage bottle shop is just amazing. Uh, when you were at the smaller place, it was very, very personal there's no doubt about it, but it couldn't. I mean, I imagine there's sometimes groups of people that came in and there was a lot of people like hanging out outside while everybody and kind of taking and this right now. You go up there and it's all accommodating.
Speaker 2:I mean, there's enough to get your, you know, get some room and you're not knocking over bottles like the other place, like you got some breathing area.
Speaker 1:And your storage for the bottles and prep of the bottles coming is that it's just.
Speaker 2:This is now the space that you know you've envisioned right, we can definitely grow into it. So, uh, I felt like um, at the other shop. We were almost, uh, like a little kid with a tight little shirt on and you'd be looking at us like, man, your mom needs to buy you a new shirt. It's a little too tight. And now it's like uh, uh, it's like I got my mom's nightgown on and you're almost like, hey, man, you need to grow into that nightgown.
Speaker 2:But uh, or it's like your girlfriend wearing your sweatshirt so just gotta, you know, get some more meat on our bones in here.
Speaker 1:Yeah well, but at the same time it's such a you know, talk about the, the space itself. It's historic, it's part of Covington.
Speaker 2:Yeah, this building was built in the 1800s and at one point was the YMCA for the whole city, so a lot of folks still remember swimming in this area just probably 100 feet, you know just that way. Basically this was like a locker room or who knows what. It was also a school at one point and a bookstore and so it was blank, for nothing was in here for about 10 years, and so it's really cool to be a part of, you know, bringing back the city and revitalizing it, and there's just so much to do down in Covington, so much good food, really nice place to stay. Literally right on the other side of this wall is Hotel Covington, and so one of the nicest hotels in the state of Kentucky. You can really treat yourself with the amenities of everything and walk right across the street and get you know Ripple Winery, get some small bites and you have Libby's and Canole's and the Well and everything's local. The only place really within a probably a half mile of here that's a big company is Jimmy John's that's serving food.
Speaker 1:So, as long as you don't need a Jimmy John's, every single thing down here is local part of the the bourbon and whiskey history of kentucky, because of the fact that this is this is the the crossing point. It's there. It's maysville right and and covington over to cincinnati within two minutes away. It's. It's kind of like I think you're closer to the ballparks in cincinnati than the people who live in Cincinnati because they got to go through downtown and get there. You guys can just drive across the bridge and you're just right there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're right here you got the best of really the best of all worlds in this city. The buildings, I'd say, are a little bit cheaper than Cincinnati, the camaraderie here is better, and then if you have a condo or something on our side of the river, you're looking at that city and you have a better view well, it's so much.
Speaker 1:It's small town, it's still the. The downtown area is preserved historically and it's not a it's not a huge city, but if you want the huge city, it's crossed right across the river and exactly, and and like, like I said, I mean you know that george remus walked these streets and his gang and whatever, and prohibition and there were. You know, the right down in newport was where he was running his pharmacies that were producing the you know the certificates to actually get the whiskey, I mean, and then when you think about that, and now you're a part of it because you're, you've, you're historic, and so then let's talk about one of the things that you could actually do. Do you now, if you came down here today, do you have medicinal prohibition, whiskey or bourbons, or, and from time to time you do. I don't know if you have it today, but we, we do have uh bottles that you can purchase.
Speaker 2:Right now I've uh echo springs from 1916 to 22 and a granddad upstairs from 1916 to 26 that even has the medicinal uh prescription stuck to the label. You're about a week late, though. We had a two gallon carboy of cedar brook from 1902 to 1914. That was on the bar, so there was pre-prohibition pre-prohibition.
Speaker 2:There was 10 fifths in that and we did uh 40 a quarter ounce on that. I shared it with probably six to eight hundred people and, uh, it lasted about three months and so it's gone. So, if you know, you never know what you're missing here, or that's a bottle that I would say at bardstown bourbon company, or you know a bar in manhattan or in Vegas or whatever, you're $1,000 an ounce. So we were doing $160 an ounce or $40 a quarter ounce, and we're trying to figure out a way every day to be fair to who we buy from and fair to who we sell to, and I don't need to be a multimillionaire If we can just treat people fairly and get folks in the game. That's literally the whole mindset around this business.
Speaker 1:That's. I mean it's awesome. That's awesome and plus you're going to be sponsoring. You're the sponsor of the Scotchy Bourbon Boys bus tour, so it's the revival Scotchy Bourbon Boys, kentucky Bourbon Boys bus tour and we are looking forward to that. That's just one of the things. But but for me, the education about Dusty's. Now I the other day I was thinking about Dusty's what actually? So there's no rules of what a Dusty is Like.
Speaker 2:There's no actual definition I would say, the average person getting into bourbon thinks that if they have a little dust on the bottle it's a Dusty from 2022 or something, and a Dusty for me it has to have a tack strip. So typically the tack strip stopped in 1984. And it has some true 40-year-old plus dust on it. But no, I'd say the bourbon community, if it's a 2015 or a 2020 and they're maybe just a little dirty at their house, it has some dust, then they name it a Dusty.
Speaker 1:Chat GPT said it has to be at least for it to be a Dusty, according to what she searched the internet. Internet for for me was that it has to be at least a decade or decades old. So she was saying 10 to 20 years is where it would be in there. But there was no specific. You know, there's no term of um congress hasn't, hasn't made a, you know, a statement that a Dusty is 20 years old.
Speaker 2:Well, so the law for Dusty's in Kentucky.
Speaker 1:For collectibles.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for collectibles, for us to purchase it. Technically it's got to be from last year and I can't get it from a distributor and then it's a vintage bottle.
Speaker 1:So, in other words, as soon as it's out of distribution and the next batch is out, it's considered the state of Kentucky. Yes, I think it's a vintage.
Speaker 2:Yes, I mean, you know, and we do have some bottles that we purchase off the public that are, you know, newer, that we can't get from a distributor. But our focus is, you know, something like this Like it's got a tack strip. You know there's no barcode to scan it. I mean, how do you ring this thing up? Right, like it's. You know that that's a time capsule and that's a dusty and uh, you know, like I'll, I'll die on my Hill.
Speaker 1:Well, and then the other aspect. Uh well, I didn't silence that, let's let that go. That go, there we go. Sorry about that, folks it's silence now. Yeah uh, but but you know when you're getting into you're talking about 40 years old, 1984. So I as a kid collected baseball. So collecting bourbon is very similar because of the market. But the only thing there's no government intervention on baseball cards like there is on alcohol.
Speaker 2:It's not a controlled substance.
Speaker 3:You can't really drink it Right, right, right right.
Speaker 1:But you know and it's consumable. So you know how much is left is how you know if it's really good. Most people consume it. But when I collected baseball cards I was 1973, 1974, I was collecting and I thought 1954, 53, 20 years old was an old baseball card as a kid. Now I've collected ever since and I still do it a little dabble a little but I still think 1954, 1953 are the old cards. They are the old cards and even though 1983 is now, you know, or 1985 is now 40 years away, so it's twice as old as the fifties cards that I was collecting before. But I don't consider them old. I guess it's just your perspective, right?
Speaker 2:No, I think we all have our own, and then I love that you brought that up. I mean, what we're doing here, basically, is collecting baseball cards for grown people, and, uh, you can collect cards, or you can collect paintings, or we have our feet on a rug, you know, you can collect books. The thing is, though, you can't eat those, and so you can even have a Model T car or something you can't eat the chair of it, I guess. But you know what we're doing here. It's the final frontier, and you can choose to buy a bottle from us and collect it, or you can pop it open and consume it, and so I don't think there's anything left on the planet.
Speaker 2:You know, beer and wine really don't stand the test of time. The biggest misconception of our parents was to age their wine, and, you know, unless it's like a Lafitte, rothschild or a Port or something, it just even then it doesn't stand the test of time, and it's unless it's in the right atmosphere and each bottle is its own time capsule. But, uh, these bourbon bottles are typically 80 proof or higher, and, and really just all the lick liquor in general Scotch rum, gin, tequila, vodka, you name it and it as long as the seal is good and it's in a uh, a good place in the house and not in a musty basement or in a shed outside, I mean like a bottle like this is going to stay good, you know, probably a century or two after I'm gone. You know it's, the fill level is good, the clarity is good, and you know so it's going to stay so from a standpoint.
Speaker 1:Just as far as educating me clarity, ok, so I've now had dealt with quite a few. So what are? So if a bottle turns like, when you see it, it's cloudy, it's obvious, like it's oxidized, you can so when it's when it's oxidized for a certain amount. And I actually have a bottle of weller special reserve that I opened six years ago that still has about two aces left of it and I was doing a tasting it and I noticed there was a little cloudiness to it. So what is the cloudiness? Does it actually make the whiskey taste bad or is it? Does it make it poisonous?
Speaker 2:I mean it's not going to be like it's not going to kill you, okay, um it's just not going to be as good.
Speaker 2:it'll be a little off-putting, um. And so you know, I try to tell folks like, if, if you're gonna buy a bottle for me and maybe every uh christmas you bust it out with your wife or your friends or whoever and you want it for the last five or ten or twenty years, um, once the bottle gets about halfway, maybe put that into like a pint and then when it goes you know halfway of that, maybe put it in a half pint, and then you know you want the little amount of air as possible. And I think when bottles get you know where there's like two fingers left or a fourth of it left.
Speaker 1:You should almost put it into even just finish it, if even that's usually what I do, but let's just say, like I have a william luru weller, that's getting down there. I should definitely just get one of my 100 milliliter sample bottles and put it in there. Keep the air, then I'm not gonna for one. You lose with that much air, it's gonna evaporate a certain amount of of it. And then two I mean I store everything stored in a cool, dry place for me but two when it gets to the evaporation. But then you also don't want it to go to turn.
Speaker 2:The only downfall, I think, is just as a human being, visually you want to see it come out of that original container.
Speaker 3:And so another way.
Speaker 2:I've even heard of folks putting, you know, glass marbles in a bottle to like raise the fill level and what they're putting in isn't like plastic or anything. And then I've also heard of folks using like an argon gas like you would use with wine, and you create that like burial barrier. Yeah, they sell those, yeah.
Speaker 1:They sell that ability to do that and create that. Now, you're right completely. It's kind of like I get a lot of samples sent to me and when I get one and most of the time when I'm talking with distillers, when I ask for a sample, I don't mind a hundred milliliter bottle of five of the different bottles and everything and that's fine with me. Or you pull it from a barrel and you have the sample, but it's not the same. Now when you pull it from a barrel it's kind of special because it was from the barrel and you got it out, yeah, but when you get a sample up it's not the same as having a full bottle. Now sometimes you're getting samples that people haven't bottled yet, which is kind of cool in itself and that's different. But I would say you're right, is that it's all part of the collecting aspect of it, or having it is that you pour it out of the bottle that it was in and people get to see that bottle. You're usually sharing it kind of thing. So I mean, that's the part that I think is really kind of a cool aspect of what you do, especially the bottles.
Speaker 1:When you go upstairs in the shop, you know the shop is. What we probably could do is, once we're done with the podcast, I'll keep us on live on Facebook and we'll just go up there and walk the shop before we sign off so everybody can see it. But you know, like you said, you know now it's got to be so as far as, what do you do with? And I kind of know the answer. But you can answer the question for everybody. You find a bottle. The seal's intact, it's beautiful, you can see the liquid is really good, it's something special, but the label's been just totally trashed.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, that's a drinker. That's even more of a reason to open it up.
Speaker 1:Because when people are going to pay the kind of money they want they want everything. They want it so they can put it on their collection they're going to pay that kind of money. That's what they want.
Speaker 2:I mean, I'm literally grading each bottle as a baseball card. Where's the fill level? Where's the clarity? Where's the tax trip? Before we met today, I got a call from a gentleman. Basically every day I get calls. People want to sell us stuff 24 hours a day. And so guy calls me. He's like hey, I have some old bottles. There's some old bourbon and scotch and rum and they're from the forties, fifties and sixties. What is it worth? And I'm like I have no idea. You know, send me some photos of what you got, because, like you know, it's if I dealt in baseball cards and you're like, oh, I got a Mickey Mantle and you call me. You know, how do I know if I haven't seen?
Speaker 1:it. Well, I got it, or they go. I got a couple Yankees and then I got a couple Milwaukee Braves and I caught a couple Chicago Cubs. Well, caught a couple of Chicago Cubs. Well, if they're just commons they're still worth something. But it's not like having the Mickey Mantle. And what would what would be the Mickey Mantle 1953 baseball card, mickey Mantle, worth? You know what is it.
Speaker 2:I mean that would probably be the like an old Fitzgerald or something or an old Forrester from back then. You know it's a. It just shows you like what we have upstairs, like if you're looking for Magic Johnson and I have Larry Bird and Michael Jordan. I don't have your card. So you know if I have a 53, you know old fits and an old Forester. But all of a sudden you I don't know you want you know an early times or something. I don't, I don't have the early times. But what's funny is the Forester is a better product than early times and technically you could have settled with something better, but it doesn't say early times on it.
Speaker 1:This is yeah, and I mean I don't know. So you do get people coming in for specific bottles all day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean it's like for a birth year or you know, like their dad drank, you know. Cuddy Sark or whatever you know they want to relive those good times with their, their friends and family, and so, yeah, they're totally in search of that one thing, and if I don't have it, I don't have what they want.
Speaker 1:Well, and then they can. There's an aspect of it then you can search for them somewhat, right, yeah, I can put them on the list to give them a call.
Speaker 2:And you know, the future would be like off of our website, like having a wish list and you kind of type typing up to us like what you're wishing for and then when we get it in, it notifies you. In a perfect world. We're just. We're just not there yet. All right, this is supposed to post. I've got a question for me.
Speaker 1:Okay, we got Matt Lison. I think you know Matt he's, he's watching. But if anybody has a question, live, feel free to put it up on the comments. What else? There was one other. Yeah, like you covered the private, you'll do a private event. I mean. So one of the coolest things if you love bourbon, whiskey, scotch, and you want to have something special for your friends. It's from the top to the bottom, I mean, but you're going to get a good experience, that's the whole thing. So you know, you got to contact, we got the hours out there.
Speaker 2:Now, if you're looking for a fun experience or a fun event, I mean you could totally rent us out, where we're closed to the public. We'd have to talk about the pricing to that. But if you're okay with still being open and customers can come in during your event, there's no like upfront cost and you basically would you know. If you wanted to have a budget for a bar tab, we can work with you any kind of way. Or if you want individuals to pay for it, you know, happy to work with folks. We don't have food either, so we use Ripple, which is an awesome small bite wine shop across the street, for catering and charcuterie and pizza. But you could bring, you know, jimmy John's or Kroger's or you know however you want to foresee your event to be. We can accommodate that.
Speaker 1:That's excellent.
Speaker 2:So we'll end the actual podcast and then everybody on Facebook will go upstairs and check that out. I'll leave you guys with. If you're passing through Cincinnati, northern Kentucky, put us on your list, stop by, come hang out, ask for me. Personally, I would love to give you the tour and seriously appreciate your time and listening today. All right, so.
Speaker 1:Matt's watching and working on this. So Randy Ford says thanks for the information. He looks forward to meeting you in person. Do you have any Garrison Brothers high rye?
Speaker 2:Not right now, but that could change Later. Today I could buy some bottles and that might be one of the bottles that comes in. So I'm really in search of just older spirits. But you can't pepper this place with tack strips because, folks, we're the final frontier of liquor. I think once you've tried everything, we have what your dad drank and what your grandpa drank, and that's really what I'm looking for.
Speaker 2:But in the same breath of that, you know we do buy new collections, because you can't pepper our upstairs with multi-thousand dollar bottles and things that the final frontier and people might be at level one still. And so you know, we have some Eagle, rare and Blantons and unfortunately we didn't get those from a distributor yet because we haven't really built up an allocation. But you know, we try to be fair with those and we can have something that you're you know, hopefully something that you're looking for. And you know, maybe if we don't have what you're looking for, like that Garrison Brothers, I have 700 other bottles that might, you know, tickle your fancy. You didn't know you needed.
Speaker 1:Yeah, randy, when you come, that's probably yeah, but Brad's capable when he's out there. If you put him on a search he probably will look for it and he lets you know. I mean, there's no doubt what you come across has to be sometimes. So. Do you ever get one of those where it's just like, oh damn, if it just would have been this. Like it's the coolest bottle, but it's like you know, like it's just not for the store, but you just wish it was you know, kind of thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, say, like a Weller Millennium would like be a perfect bottle Like you can't. Really, it has no secondary value. Stores are struggling to sell it for cost. I'd love to have one of those. It's just you know. It would tie up a ton of our capital for what you know, and so that's a great example. Really, any high-end Buffalo Trace product right now that isn't moving at all, like the Double Eagle, rare or an OFC or something like that, those are bottles we'd love to have. They just really make absolutely no sense for me or any business to buy them. I don't think unless you're Prov in DC and he's got access to the congressmen that have the money to buy that stuff for entertainment whatever.
Speaker 1:Oh, hlq just announced the millennium. They're gonna do three different. I saw raffle things. That'd be a raffle. I wouldn't be in the only the only one. I mean they have blanton's golden and, yeah, straight from the barrel. Okay, but the, the, that collection which is of the, the prohibition bottles, that special collection, that's like, I believe, a grand for four or five bottles or whatever.
Speaker 2:You're not even really sure what the secondary on is.
Speaker 1:On, yeah, but I mean at the same time, that's the only thing I'd be interested in, because if I had four or five bottles and they're 250 a piece, or you know, you know, or two then that's, that's a doable thing.
Speaker 2:But just think about that, right, if you're lucky enough to win that and then you wanted to resell it to me, you'd probably want to make something and then I'd need to resell it. You know, there's not much meat on the bones, it's not a feasible thing for me.
Speaker 1:Well, the second, the, the current secondary market. Isn't you? You're? You're right, because the distilleries and they rightfully should have have raised their prices on those type of bottles where they were selling them for so low before, and then they'd sell for $750, $1,000 on secondary. And people always say, well, secondary is this and secondary is that, and I'm like no secondary is you're paying retail for a bottle of bourbon and then you're going to pay the guy a price for getting it for you.
Speaker 2:Well, I'd say any bottle other than that Blanton's. You're basically bailing out the Ohio liquor system just by purchasing that. So I would say don't buy it. Let those come down and let them take the hit, because you know they've been raking in the cash for decades. Now, like it's about to reverse a little bit and I think it needs a little bit of a correction. And you know those would be bottles I had a hard pass for me.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, at this point there's no doubt, because that market, the distilleries are getting some of the money and they sell them at those prices. You know, it's not like those bottles don't sell, it's just that there's no secondary value then for them.
Speaker 2:There's a lot of liquor stores. They're sitting on the shelves, you know, collecting dust, tying up their capital. So they're not going to sit on my shelf.
Speaker 1:No, and what you do for people is this shop is exactly it. It's like you find bottles from people that are structurally and visually sound and then you present them to people who might want them, and there's a price for that one rent. You got to pay rent to have a shop and everything to your time and effort to find them. Then your reputation that you spent years and years building, you know, and that all has to go into what you're purchasing, and then you can understand where the price comes from you know, well, all those bottles they're releasing other than the Blanton's Gold.
Speaker 2:You know the Weller I'm looking for a Weller with the tack strip, those Prohibition bottles that are relabeled with whatever four-year product in there, like I'm looking for the actual prohibition label of it. Um, and then what was the other one, the ofc? I'd wanted ofc from prohibition.
Speaker 1:So there's literally pretty much nothing being released today that I could even care about well, though I I care about the ofc a little bit because I I've never even like. Like, when it got released in in ohio, the first time, I believe, for the whole state in the raffle was three bottles. Yeah, it's so rare and it's so limited, limited. I'd like to at least try it. But and and I love it, but you've actually had a bottle of ofc pre-pro prohibition in here, right?
Speaker 2:yeah, we have a couple times, so I mean that's that's what I'm now.
Speaker 1:That's what I would want.
Speaker 1:That more than the new one yeah because I don't know is there, is there, and I've always said this. It's like I understand why the prices are what they are, because it's it's a limited amounts, it's it's um availability, and then it comes down to how old it is. I mean, I understand it, people don't. How old it is doesn't always mean good bourbon, but it does mean it had to sit in a barrel for 10 years and be, you know, taken care of, and that there's a price to let something sit for 10 years, plus they're paying taxes and everything on it as they go.
Speaker 2:So there's always that you know, and so but you know, you figure that could have been just an Eagle Rare, that's a $40 bottle, and then they're putting it in a bottle that they're selling for thousands. So I mean, it's just, it's all about the label. You know that's what a blind is good for to really figure out what you like. And money doesn't buy. You know money doesn't buy bur. You know money doesn't buy taste. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:And it's just like collecting, yeah, I mean. Uh, I mean, if a bourbon all of a sudden becomes a wacky package that you wanted back then, which I believe was windex, a windex wind hex it was called, and everybody just wanted that one, yeah, that's kind of how bourbon works, right every once in a while, that's all everybody wants. Like buffalo trace is the the current? That's all everybody wants. Like Buffalo trace is the the current? That's what everybody wants.
Speaker 2:So a thing that's constantly asked to me is uh, you know, hey, what should I be drinking? What should I be finding? Um, I think you know, if maker's mark or wild turkeys your jam and you can go to Kroger liquor store and just pick it up for 20, 30 bucks, who cares what I say? Who cares what you say?
Speaker 1:Who cares what Fred Minnick says? Like you know, buy what you like it's personal.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I mean taste is subjective, so but I will say us and Fred Minnick and you offer up stuff that that most people didn't even know existed, like exactly, for instance, you know, when you're talking about old, stubborn it's, it's a, it's a very small brand and we present it and we get it out there. But if we didn't do that, I would have a problem because nobody would know about it. You know, you know and that's. And if you want to get bigger and bigger, people have to know about what you're doing, and that's that's really kind of how it works. That's that's the value of of what you're doing here. Yeah, like most of those you you show me here's a scotch from 1911 and I didn't, I'd never heard of that before. I'm not in whatever, and it's kind of like. Then you all of a sudden it's kind of like waking yourself up to um. You know, you collected um baseball cards your whole life, but you always did tops and then you realized there was tobacco cards.
Speaker 2:And upper deck.
Speaker 1:Yeah, back in the whatever, when you used to buy tobacco, you'd get the cards and it's just like that opens up a whole new world. If you never knew that, and that's kind of how it is, I think you should do the book. You should have the collector's guide to bourbon and just do the whole thing, because you get the bottles in, take pictures of everyone and put it into a book.
Speaker 2:Yep, I mean, the future is incredible. So, yeah, be on the lookout for a possible book.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because I've seen books of just current bourbons, or you know, and it's like you know. And then there's an aspect of me getting into this as late out for a possible book. Yeah, because I've seen books of just current bourbons, or yeah, or you know, and it's like you know, and then there's an aspect of me getting into this as late, as I did so when I started in 2019, so since 2017, I was looking at the weller, the weller special reserve. You got up there and that bottle compared to what the green, I'm like that's what. And that's just 2015. Exactly, you know, they changed. So much has changed in 10 years, like you know weller.
Speaker 2:Whatever isn't used goes on to be pappy, basically, you know. And then I set this bottle up here, we didn't even talk about it, but then you got stitzel weller.
Speaker 3:So oh my god, you can see that right here.
Speaker 2:and so this is the last year of this foil top. It's a 72, 73, but uh, this is an eight-year bourbon and Pappy died in 65. And so this was barreled right around 1964, 1965. So what's in here was made by the smoking man and you know it's amazing, and Pappy pretty much today lives off the coattails of this. But as a human being, if you want a Pappy 15 for a 40th birthday or whatever and I don't have that and I have this I mean this is going to be 100 times better. But people are just blinded by what they want.
Speaker 1:That other one has the coolest label in the history of all labels. In my opinion, that's one of the reasons of its popularity, with him smoking a cigar on there, but he had absolutely nothing to do with it. Exactly, it's his brand and they do that, but his family has curated it throughout, whatever, but he didn't do it. Yeah, and they do. In my opinion, they do a good job.
Speaker 2:Well, I feel like I'm a brand ambassador for pappy. You know, like I'm a brand ambassador for the dead, and so, uh, you know we're like there isn't really any uh brands that are current, that like we're brand ambassadors for what was the oldest whiskey that you've ever?
Speaker 2:seen? Um, well, I, I've sampled a Pendennis Club 1893, 125 proof bourbon before, and so that was one of the oldest. And I've had some bottles without labels that look maybe older than that. That could have been even older, but yeah, the Barnyard funk on some of those and just the butterscotch and tobacco and brown sugar. It basically, uh, it's like a a you open that up, I mean the smell just like takes over a building, so and the taste is amazing. It's like nothing ever made. But each bottle is its own time capsule and if it's hazy or cloudy or didn't hold, um, it'll not taste good at all. So we've, I've been super fortunate, um, you know, to live the dream and do what I love and, uh, and taste stuff that only billionaires could dream of, almost so.
Speaker 1:Right, and and well, just as a podcaster, it's the same thing with me. Uh, the one thing that I I I think you probably learned this too is that it seems like you never want to force it. You just kind of let it come to you, right?
Speaker 2:It's a tough thing, man, in life, because you want it now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but it seems like if you sit back and let it come to you eventually everything just keeps coming and coming. I mean there's nights that I've had where just you didn't think it was going to be anything special and you end up at a bar. You know I what was it called house of commons in, uh, in frankfurt. We were there that night and people that had you know bourbon on the banks they had bought bottles that you know an auction and they were opening them up and sharing them and I mean it was just crazy.
Speaker 2:No, I think that's in life Like I've. My wife hates it, but every day I'm just winging it basically. And so if you don't really have like a rigid schedule or plan, like what do you? You can't be let down, you know. And and so it's so cool, like someone could. It'd be hilarious if someone walked in and tried to sell to me right now. You guys would think it would be planned, but you know, I never know what's coming in or who, what we're going to sell or buy. And so you know, we're never really let down and every day is a journey and it's a fun one, man, and uh, it's so cool to just uh do what you love and we'll just sit here with you today. Man, it's like you messaged me like yesterday, like you want to do a podcast.
Speaker 1:I'm like of course I threw it out there. I mean, you know it's fine, it's funny because sometimes you try and schedule it and the schedule won't get done. I mean, I was booking hotels last night because I didn't know if I was going to be in the Louisville. I'm after this, I'm going down to Louisville staying the night at the Brown, and then I'm coming back to Frankfurt spending the night in Frankfurt and then Sunday morning going back to Louisville, you know, but coming down. And today I didn't have anything specific planned because, you know, I had it turned out to be Saturday when everything was happening. So I, like, you know, like to come down and wing it. And then I was just like I'm going to ask you can't have something happen if you don't ask, right, and here we are. Well then, the person at least that person, when you were talking about those tailors and what was the other brand? Van Hook, van Hook, at least.
Speaker 2:That woman, when she saw the bottle, asked if there was full ones, because if she would have, oh, there you go and just said nothing that never would have happened, and then you know it just. It's such a humbling thing that uh people I don't even know are telling other people to come to us, you know, and, um, what do you pay for something like that? There's no amount of money you can put on uh word by mouth and uh positive word by mouth.
Speaker 1:So well, you can tell, meeting you you're real. I mean, it's all real.
Speaker 2:There's no snook show here.
Speaker 1:No, you're genuinely a great person and your personality is perfect for this. I mean, I feel like when I first met you, I was in the what was it Stranger Things movie, Because you got that kind of you're wearing a hat. I forget which hat it was. Uh, it was green. Yeah, the weller hat and it's all foam and it's from the 80s weller hat and I mean it was it's the coolest hat. But at the same time, you know that's just you. That aspect of what everybody loved about that movie is what you bring across here. It's retro. You have that retro because bourbon does have a retro aspect of it and that collecting of when we were kids, when we weren't drinking bourbon Right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, wink, wink. No, the only stuff we were drinking is trying to figure out how to raise the level back up in the bottle without getting caught right.
Speaker 2:I was that guy too, so that's what I have to watch out for. Luckily, every deal we do happens here, so I'm not getting anything shipped to me or anything like that, and so we have to inspect every single bottle and the integrity of it, because I was that kid that I refilled all my parents' stuff with water. Who knows what the hell I put in there, they got to bring it to you.
Speaker 1:That's the rule. That's how you stay out of trouble completely.
Speaker 2:Yeah, in the state of Kentucky, the transaction has to happen here at our premise. So yeah, it's a pain point for us, but you know we want to stay on the up and up.
Speaker 2:If it's the right deal, you just fly them in, Well and you and just to give my business partner a shout out. So Shannon Smith and I are the owners here, and so it's a really good yin and yang because I get to have a lot of fun and she keeps me legal. So having an alcohol beverage attorney, pay our taxes and do our payroll and we actually have a house bill. We're trying to change the vintage spirit law and we can only buy 24 bottles a year, and so we're trying to make it to where we can buy more, not only for us but for neat bourbon bar, justin's, house of Bourbon and Watch Hill Proper any of them. You know we want to. We want to make the law more friendly to a place like this because as the law sits, like you know, if I can only buy 24 and you have a thousand bottles, like we're going to lose tax revenue and tourism to selling on Facebook or whatever. I mean.
Speaker 2:It is what it is, but you know, when you take it to this level, like we talked earlier, this is the hardest thing that the path of least resistance for me is my mom and dad making me peanut butter jelly sandwiches and using their wifi at their house and having no rent to pay and having Penske truck shipped in and and shipping those products out and buying all my parents, neighbors Ferraris, you know, and it's like what the hell am I doing here with the rent and the payroll, jesus Christ? So but no, we're navigating this for to ship. You know to do things the right way and you know I don't want my assets taken. I don't want to be the IRS looking into us or you know, the ATF or the alcohol beverage control, and so at the end of the day, if you were always doing the right thing, there's nothing to worry about, you know. So my only worry is making my payroll and being fair to my customers and fair to my employees.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and come down, because it's an experience just like any other bourbon thing. When you go to a distillery or whatnot. When you come here to revival, it's an experience. Um, there, there you can meet people, People that come off. They also have release parties for some of the single barrels. Also, you'll have distillers here talking about their whiskeys we just had.
Speaker 2:Ian with MGP, or Ross Squibb was just here this week and we've had New Riff and the Neelys and Stephen Fonte and Bernie Lovers week and we've had, you know, new Riff and the Neelys and Stephen Fonte and Bernie Lovers and so, uh, you know, if you're listening and you have a small distillery or you don't feel like you're getting the word out enough, like you know, give us a shout, we're.
Speaker 2:McBrayers yeah, the McBrayers. Uh, we love Bill and his father and uh, we're the pickup destination for that brand. You know, and uh ask, pocket whiskeykey. My homie, derek Trucks, you know super passionate vintage spirit guy and bourbon guy and launched a brand and we're one of the few in the United States to carry that. So you know, if you're a small guy out there, reach out. We're happy to talk to you and we'd love to have you down and do a little event and carry your product here in my bottle shop.
Speaker 1:So, all right, everybody that's perfect, and carry your product here in my bottle shop. All right, everybody that's perfect. My man, wwwscotchybourbonboyscom, make sure that you check us out for everything we got Glen Cairns. We got t-shirts. Also, remember Facebook, instagram, youtube and X, and then also Apple, iheart and Spotify. No matter what you watch or listen, make sure you like, listen, subscribe, comment and leave good feedback. Remember good bourbon and whiskey and spirits equals good times with good friends. Make sure you drink responsibly, don't drink and drive and live your life uncut and unfiltered. Little Steve-O will take us out. No, yes, an unfiltered little steve-o will take us out.
Speaker 3:No, yes, let's try it one more time. There we go. Oh, show me the way to the next whiskey bar. Oh, don't ask why. Oh, don't ask why, show me.
Speaker 1:Oh, I'm just going to end it anyways.