Aug. 31, 2021

This paid piece is sponsored by JJ’s Wine, Spirits & Cigars.

It wasn’t that long ago that bourbon was the beverage your grandfather ordered.

Now, it’s becoming a whiskey of choice for a new generation – while still honoring that proud past.

September is National Bourbon Heritage Month. Literally, this was declared by the U.S. Senate in 2007 by resolution as a way to celebrate the uniquely American history of bourbon.

According to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, “consumer interest in the category has soared in recent years,” generating nearly $4 billion in revenue for distillers in 2019.

Want a little trivia? American whiskey dates back 400 years when English colonist George Thorpe distilled the first batch of corn whiskey in Virginia. George Washington continued the tradition of distilling in Virginia and ran the largest whiskey distillery in the early years of the nation.

Bourbon was first recognized by Congress in 1964 as a distinctive product of the United States. Under federal law, bourbon must be made in the United States, consist of at least 51 percent corn and be aged in new charred oak barrels for a minimum of two years.

So do you feel armed with knowledge to fully celebrate Bourbon Heritage Month now? Because JJ’s is waiting for you.

“The idea here is to promote and involve everything American-made whiskey, particularly bourbon,” owner Tom Slattery said. “And we’ve been all about bourbon from the beginning, back in 1998, when many people didn’t give it a lot of thought because it’s what grandpa used to drink.”

Back when scotch was still king – and its price was rising – American-made bourbon sat on shelves priced under $20 per bottle in many cases.

“And people started buying them and realizing they’re pretty darned good,” Slattery said. “Here’s this eight-, 10-, 12-year-old product nobody gave a lot of thought to and suddenly it started taking off.”

JJ’s bought as much as possible in the early part of the 2000s and “everything we could get our hands on in the latter part of the decade,” he continued. “Everybody else was interested in the next flavor of vodka or rum.”

But by the 2010s, helped by a huge investment from Kentucky to attract tourists to its Bourbon Trail, the industry took off.

“The mainstay products like Pappy Van Winkle and Buffalo Trace were no longer readily available because more and more people wanted them for private collections or to sell in their bars,” Slattery said.

Fast-forward a few more years to 2014, and JJ’s took its first trip to Kentucky to buy a barrel of bourbon. That has grown to 75 barrels seven years later.

“Nobody has bought and sold more barrels of bourbon than we have in this market,” Slattery said. “We couldn’t get the products people were clamoring after, so we created unique products by buying barrels and established a reputation for picking quality. To this day, people come from all over looking for our whiskeys.”

And there has never been a better time to stop in then September, which features five Whiskey Wednesdays and other special events.

JJ’s  feature flight this first Whiskey Wednesday of the month will be a library collection of single-barrel whiskeys that Slattery will be digging out of his private stash.

“I can’t tell you what they are just yet, but I guarantee a nostalgic experience while sipping them!” he said.

This flight will be available in-house only with a bottle raffle to commence at 6:30 p.m. What’s on the raffle? To be determined, but one will be Blood Oath No. 7.

What’s going on the rest of the month? JJ’s has tastings lined up but is still figuring out the schedule, so stay tuned to the VIP email list and social media for details.

Oh — and how perfect is this — there are five Wednesdays in September, which means five Whiskey Wednesdays to grab your favorites at 30 percent off list price plus half-price flights in the JJ’s Bar.

And no matter when you visit JJ’s, order an Old-Fashioned.

“We, of course, think ours is the best, and what’s special is you can’t re-create this anywhere else,” Slattery said. “There are special ingredients you can only get here, like our house barrel-aged maple syrup and a single-barrel bourbon and a house blend of bitters that only the bartenders know how to compile. So it gives it a true uniqueness.”

Stay tuned

Slattery and the team just completed two trips to Kentucky and might have another coming, so watch for those barrels for the remainder of the year.

“People love the personalization of it,” he said. “To this day, our best-selling barrel was the one I picked with my brothers and my dad for his 70th birthday because people love the story behind it.”