While my full series on Louisville wrapped up a week or so ago, I still have one final destination to talk about from that town. This post isn't about Louisville, but more specifically, it is about Bourbon. Which is why I am adding the #whisky/whiskey tag to the post.
You might remember a while ago, I wrote a post about the Kentucky Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) cracking down on a store that was doing some bad things with their alcohol.
Basically, Justin's House of Bourbon was shipping large quantities of bourbon illegally to another location outside the state so they could sell it online. There is a lot more to the case and if you are really interested in it, I suggest you do a quick Google search.
As @mrsbozz and I were walking around in Louisville one day, I noticed we were really close to one of their locations and I just had to stop in and pick something up.
Justin's House of Bourbon is a really beautiful store. You can see in the photo above they have quite a selection of whiskey's and bourbons. If you look really far to the back of the store you can see the lighted cases with shelves of bottles. Those are the bottles that got for hundreds if not thousands of dollars.
It's easy to understand how they can have such a nice store when you consider the clientele and product they are moving.
My wife stood near the door simply to stay out of people's way and because she isn't a fan of whiskey at all. As you can see, the store was a little busy when I was there. This was actually the middle of the day, but they do have a tasting area that might have been cool to spend a little more time at.
It's in the middle of the store between the regular stuff and the really fancy stuff. You can see it on the left side of the photo above.
The people working there were quite helpful. One employee initially asked if I needed a hand and I let him know I was just looking. He gave me some space until I was ready to make a selection. I asked him what a good bourbon was to get that I could only get in Louisville. Something unique that I could take home.
He immediately handed me a bottle and when noticed the price was close to $150 I let him know that I needed something a little cheaper!
He handed me this bottle of Yellowstone Hand Picked Collection. I don't know who JHob is, but I am guessing it is either him or someone who works in the store. I've had the regular Yellowstone stuff you can get from your local store before and it was quite good so I decided to go with this.
I remember I put it back on the shelf to look around a bit more before I finally went to grab it again.
Unbeknownst to me, I picked the wrong bottle. They looked exactly the same. He was very attentive and noticed right away and said "no no, you want this bottle".
It's a pretty cool looking bottle to be honest. I like the label the most. I think I spent about $70 for this bottle and I finally got around to opening it up this past weekend to have a taste. Despite all the drama and illegal activity that is surrounding Justin's right now, it was still a pretty cool place to visit and I would go there again in a heartbeat.
I've heard the Lexington location might be shut down, so maybe that is where the illegal stuff was originating from.
I apologize if it is hard to read the label. I know the photo got a little blurry on me there. I think it is interesting how you see a lot of the same surnames pop up all over the place when you start talking about bourbon down in Kentucky.
A quick Google search will show you that Stephen Beam is in fact a seventh generation descendant of the same Beams that founded none other than Jim Beam Bourbon.
I honestly don't remember a ton about this one. I should have written this post about three days sooner. I do remember it had a definite burn to it on first taste. Which was kind of surprising to me. I have had bourbons that are bottled at a higher proof than this, but they don't seem to have the same intensity when you first taste them.
Once that "burn" subsided, I remember it being quite delicious. Many people say that you are supposed to "chew" your whiskey when you taste it. I know, it sounds weird, but it is a good method for getting the liquid in all parts of your mouth.
Different parts of our tongue taste the flavors in different ways. That's part of the reason you should never shoot whiskey or bourbon like this. If you are going to do that, you may as well stick to the cheap stuff because you aren't really going to taste it.
I can already tell this is one of those bottles that I am going to savor for a long time. It will likely have a place on my shelf for over a year before I finally finish the last drop. That's part of what I love about having so many options, I can spread them out and make them last a lot longer than if I just had one or two bottles to choose from.
I still have three unopened bottles from my recent trip to Louisville and I am really looking forward to trying them out. I'm still waiting for my friends birthday to gift him the bottle I got him as well. I hope he shares a sip with me!
Bottom line, Justin's was a pretty cool place to visit and if you ever see a bottle of Yellowstone on your store shelf, go ahead and grab it. I don't think you will be disappointed!
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$150 wow. I know high end stuff is very much a rich man's game, but it still always shocks me a little when I see it. Spending $150 on a bottle of alcohol is right up there with spending $10k on a first class international seat—it just doesn't compute.
But then again, I use a fountain pen I paid $300 for, so maybe I'm not one to speak. Haha
Great photos!
Yeah, I still haven't been able to bring myself to spend much over $70 for anything at this point. I know some of the $100+ stuff is really good, but it's just a bit of a stretch for me. Especially when there is $50 stuff that I really enjoy.
I'll do you one better—I usually only buy the cheaper $10 for 2 liters sake. I know the more expensive stuff is good, but better to develop a taste for the cheaper stuff.
You had me at bourbon! I've never tried Yellowstone but the Beam's usually produce good stuff. Is in one of those that needs that single ice cube to open up the flavor? So much good bourbon to drink out there! Thanks for sharing!
Yeah, it was a little better with a big cube than it was neat. It didn't hit quite as hard anyway and I was able to enjoy the flavors a bit more. I have a couple bottles I bought at the Beam distillery that I am looking forward to opening sometime soon.
That's pretty sweet! I love trying out new bourbons!
I do too! Thanks for stopping by!
I still drink mine with coke, but can tell them apart.., the harsh ones from those smokier types. I prefer the harsher ones.
You would probably like some of the Ryes that I have. This place doesn't allow coke. We had to go around the corner to get some rum for my wife! :)
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Indeed!
Never heard of that whiskey, but your are right, it looks like a great bottle. Oh, and by the way, I spotted this while I was on the Royal Yacht and the weekend, and thought you may be interested to see it :
They had their own specially bottled batch - but was pretty steep in price at ~$240. Although the notice says 18 years old, and the bottle only says 12 year old. If I'm paying that much, I'd want atleast an 18 year old !
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Oh wow, that does look like something special! Even 12 years isn't horrible. Most bourbon is 7 to 8 years.
What a cool post, I like it! Interesting subject:)
Thank you! We have a whole community on Hive dedicated to Whisky and Whiskey, you should check it out!
You're obsessed with beautiful places
It is a nice obsession anyway
Enjoy it!!!
Really I am pretty pedestrian if you knew me! I just get lucky and stumble upon places like this!