2019-02 “SHINY BARREL BATCH” bourbon

Back in the day, some of the distillery’s rackhouse workers would carry around “mules” – pieces of plastic tubing they carried in the front of their overalls – and use them to thief out a taste of whiskey (or two) straight from an aging barrel. Some of these men had, shall we say, prominent physiques.

When they went in for a taste, their bellies would rub on the side of the barrel, removing dust and shining it up. Some used to say, “the shinier the barrel, the sweeter the whiskey,” and most often, Dad would find these shiny barrels in the center cut of the rackhouse where the temperature and humidity were just right.  

When Dad was ready to lay down the first barrels of bourbon that would eventually bear his name, he knew it had to be in the same rackhouse location as the shiny barrels because that’s where the good stuff was. And while the days of mules are long gone, we still age Booker’s Bourbon in the middle floors of our rackhouses to uphold Dad’s high standards for his namesake whiskey. I hope you enjoy this batch as much as I do!”