Below is an unedited anonymous guest post

This past weekend was the inaugural KY Bourbon Affair, a self proclaimed “fantasy camp” for bourbon aficionados. The event offered unique Master Distiller hosted bourbon experiences: Blend your own Four Roses Small Batch with Jim Rutledge, shoot skeet at Wild Turkey with Eddie and Jimmy Russell, drink from the very first barrel of Woodford Reserve with Chris Morris, etc.

I have been to my fair share of bourbon tours and events, but the KY Bourbon Affair was something very special. All of the VIP events were outstanding, and well worth the hundreds of dollars spent to attend.

All of them, except the Bulleit Experience at Historic Stitzel-Weller Distillery.

Chuck Cowdery was given this tour almost two years ago, and it focused entirely on the restored central office building. His comment at the time:

“I think people will be disappointed if they can’t see a little more of the distillery, in particular the inside of a warehouse and at least an outside look at the old still house.”

Since then, Diageo (DEO) announced they were spending $2,000,000 to restore the distillery. Aside from some new fencing, sod, and gravel for parking (and a$150,000 Neiman Marcus cocktail trailer), it’s not clear where any of that money was spent. While they did add a visit to the barrel-filling room and the old cooper shop to the tour, it seems little else has changed in the last two years. We too were not allowed to go inside a rickhouse nor anywhere near the still house due to “safety reasons.”

Now, I didn’t expect to see a working still, but I expected to at least see where it was, even if it was looking through a window. It was also ridiculous that we were not allowed to go inside a rickhouse, something that is offered on every otherdistillery tour. Did they not want us to see the Tennessee Whiskey aging there?

The historical content of tour was awkward. You have Bulleit, a Non-Distiller Producer (NDP), giving tours of non-functional distillery. The place is draped in history - Stitzel-Weller is where Julian “Pappy” Van Winkle made his mark in the bourbon world - but they really didn’t want to talk about it. I supposed since Buffalo Trace owns the Old Rip Van Winkle line, they don’t want to discuss their competition. However, it left them very little else to talk about; this is where barrels were filled, this is where barrels were repaired. Event the history of the Bulleit brand was glossed over.

The tour ended in the office building, which in all fairness was restored nicely. One of the rooms was devoted exclusively to the Orphan Barrel project, with Orphan Barrel banners, hand-painted barrels, and bottles of Old Blowhard and Baterhouse on the shelves. There was even a long, handmade table in the middle that looked like it was built specifically for tastings.

What would we get to try? Baterhouse, or some Old Blowhard? Maybe they would surprise us with a sample of Rhetoric, the 20 year bourbon they were already sending out to reviewers. No, we were just shuffled off into the next room and given tastings of Bulleit, Bulleit 10yr, and Bulleit Rye. Another missed opportunity.

Then as a gift, supposedly hand-selected by Tom Bulleit himself, we were given a Bulleit glass and a Mint Julep cup. That’s it? How did they not think to at least give out a bottle of bourbon? I’m not even saying they had to give out Old Blowhard (although the Heaven Hill was giving out a $200+ bottles of Heaven Hill Select), but not even a $20 bottle of Bulleit?

Overall, I got the feeling that they really didn’t put much thought or effort into making this a special event. If this had been a $10 tour, I would have few complaints, but we were paying hundreds of dollars for a top-shelf adventure, and we were left feeling ripped off.

Hopefully they will fix some of these issues before they open to the general public. Tom Bulleit is a nice enough guy, and Bulleit sells a decent enough bourbon and rye for the price, but their “Bulleit Experience” failed miserably.