It's time for our annual Bourbon Bash. It will be run similarly to last year.

Bourbon Bash 2022 Rules and Regulations

In-Store pick up of raffle tickets starting Friday 11/25 (Black Friday) through Monday 11/28

• 1 ticket per person. Must show ID to receive ticket.
• During these 4 days all Single Barrel Selections will be on sale

On Thursday 12/1 we will select the winning tickets and record the order in which they were selected.

On Friday 12/2 we post the winning numbers on our website, along with a partial list of available whiskey lots. A special page will be created on the website. The winning numbers will be given a time slot to come in on Saturday 12/10 to make their selection for purchase.

On Saturday 12/10 winners will come in at assigned time and choose their purchase.

• Starting at 9:00 and having a winner assigned every 15 minutes 

• Winners who show up late for their assigned time will have to wait until after the current time slot winner has chosen, for instance if the 11:00 winner shows up at 11:35, the 11:15 winner will choose at their assigned time, the 11:30 person will choose at their assigned time, then the 11:00 winner can choose prior to the 11:45 person’s assigned time.

• All winners must show up with winning ticket at store to select purchase

• Any unsold lots will be put out for sale after the last winning time slot

Other Information

• We will create a list of the lots that the winner will see when they arrive, they will make their selection from the list and the chosen lot will be brought to register so they can purchase. The winners selection will be crossed off the list and the next winner will know what is still available, if the winner chooses not to purchase any of the baskets available, we will simple wait for the next winner, there will be no consolation prize if a winner decides not to select any of the available lots.

Starlight Single Barrel Bourbons (3 distinct Single Barrels)

In the Spring of 2021 our tasting team conducted a virtual tour and tasting with Christian Huber, distiller from Starlight Distillery in Indiana. We were impressed by the single barrel samples we tasted and purchased a Single Barrel of Straight Bourbon. The selection is non-chill filtered and bottled at cask strength (120.6 proof). It is an amazing selection. The staves for the barrel on this selection were air dried for 3 years (allowing the tannins to slowly leech out), then toasted low at a 1-2 char level. After being in barrel for 4 years the resulting bourbon has savory aromas of crème brule, leading to notes of brown sugar, and dried fruit, despite the high proof the finish is full and mellow, with very little heat. This selection landed in store in late September and already has a good following.

In August on a trip to Louisville to select single barrels from several Kentucky Distilleries we accepted an invitation to visit Starlight in person. The facility is located over the river in Indiana, a short 25 minute drive from Louisville. The distillery is located on a 600 acre Family Farm that also includes vineyards, a winery, and Farm Market. The hospitality we received from the Huber family was amazing. We tasted in the one of the barrel warehouses and were not disappointed with the variety of choices or the quality of the whiskeys! After about 2 hours of tasting we narrowed our choices for our selection down to 4 barrels. We took a break to rest our pallets and took a motorized tour of the farm, where we picked Regular and Donut Peaches straight from the trees at their perfect ripeness. We returned to the warehouse and narrowed our choice down to 2 barrels. The barrels were very different and both amazing in there own right, so we selected both. The barrels we chose were first a Double Oaked selection and an Oloroso Barrel Finished.

The Double Oaked selection undergoes it regular maturation and then is transferred into an unused charred oak barrel to age an additional 6 months. This process provides intense oak notes, enhanced vanilla flavor, and mellowed rye spice. The Oloroso barrel finished selection undergoes it regular maturation and then is finished in a Spanish Oloroso Sherry barrel for over 8 months. The time in the sherry barrel provides notes of dried cherry and orange citrus that finish with a long supple finish.

The Selections we chose in August just recently arrived at the stores.

All 3 Barrel Selections will be available to taste and offered at 10% OFF on Black Friday, November 26th!

Simsbury: 1PM-4PM

New Britain: 5PM-8PM

Hope to see you all there.