BTS at auction with Bardstown Bourbon
The Bardstown Bourbon and Green River blender had his sights on vintage bottles of whiskey at a recent auction in New York.
It’s late January, and Dan Callaway, vice-president of product development at Bardstown Bourbon Company, is in New York to attend the Bourbon & Rye, America’s Finest Whiskeys auction at Sotheby’s. Beforehand, he sips a Bardstown Manhattan at The Elgin and explains his approach to acquiring antique whiskey.
“Bourbon has always been and will always be a relationship industry,” he says. “You could stay home and [bid] online, but getting a sense for the people, building that relationship, it’s everything. There’s so much value to going in person, showing up, being part of the experience.”
As Kentucky’s preeminent contract distiller, Bardstown is an expert in relationship building, having supplied whiskey for Jefferson’s, High West, Belle Meade, and more. They are, in other words, popular, and so, too, is Callaway, who continues to capture consumers’ imaginations. In the past several years, he has established himself as one of Kentucky’s rising Bourbon minds with transparent blends and creative collaborations. For this trip, he received word from someone at Sotheby’s that a number of antique bottles of Green River were set to go under the hammer, including one from 1910 with an estimated value between US$3,000 and US$5,000.
Bardstown purchased the Green River Distillery in 2022 to maintain its growing contract business. Green River was founded in 1885 in Owensboro, Kentucky, and is the 10th oldest licensed distillery in the state. By contrast, Bardstown Bourbon was founded in 2014, with Callaway joining in April 2018.
That summer, Bardstown began building a “living library” of whiskey, which now boasts more than 400 bottles dating back as far as 1892. Acquiring Green River not only gave Bardstown the ability to increase its contract capacity, which Callaway says was a must in order to satisfy its partner brands, it also provided it with real ties to whiskey history, and a clear path forward for its growing collection of antique pours.
“The attachment to [Green River] has been since I’ve gotten to know the brand and its history,” Callaway says. “With it coming back, the value of those bottles are starting to go up. So it’s better to go ahead and get them now.”
Callaway is nervous about other people driving up the price of the bottles. “I might not have an office when I get back if I come back empty handed,” he jokes.
Arriving at Sotheby’s, Callaway grabs his paddle, number 2005, and makes his way to the floor. The auction, which is organised alphabetically, is moving swiftly, already up to the letter B. “Once we start getting to E and F, that’s when it’s game time,” he says.
While the pre-Prohibition bottle is the main prize, Callaway is also interested in three post-Prohibition bottlings, each with an estimated value between US$2,000 and US$3,000. He doesn’t have a fixed budget but feels empowered to pull the trigger if the price is right. “I think there’s a trust level,” he says, “to know the values and where we need to go.”
As the auction moves, Callaway loosens up by throwing a bid towards an antique Californian brandy, which he eventually loses out on. Next up is Lot 124, the first of the Green River bottles. Bidding begins at US$600, and Callaway wins it for a final hammer price of US$1,200. “I had $2,000 as my limit,” he says. He wins Lots 125 and 126 for US$1,500 each and Jonny Fowle, the global head of whisky at Sotheby’s who is leading the auction, calls him “the most popular man in the room”.
And now, Lot 127, the one he’s here for. Bidding quickly escalates, and Callaway has the bottle at US$9,000 before an online bidder goes higher. Callaway, who is standing on the far right side of the auction floor, wins it at US$10,000. He lets out a huge sigh of relief having gone four-for-four on the night and treats himself to one more complimentary pour from the Sotheby’s bar. “All in, we’re below budget,” he says.
Callaway expects one of the post-Prohibition bottles to make its way into the living library where guests can order pours by the ounce, while the others will enter the Green River archives. “I also love the old label style,” he says. “I think it’s one of the coolest bottles.”
After a nightcap at The Flatiron Room, which holds an array of Bardstown and Green River whiskeys in a locker for the company, Callaway slinks off into the night, feeling good about the work he’s done.
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