In my life, I’ve always been one who likes to stand up for the small guy. As a former small business owner (and current), I know the value of one customer and the power of a positive referral.

I take this attitude for this post. I am a firm believer that most of the best bourbon you will ever taste is located within 20 miles of your house.

Don’t get me wrong. There are some amazing allocated bourbons that I would love to get my hands on, but that’s not going to happen. I could spend the time searching, or I can spend the time enjoying great bourbon with a great community near home.

I want to highlight a few of my favorite things in the bourbon industry that aren’t a line outside of liquor store. These are real people, making real connections, and having a good time doing it. I’m talking about the bourbon scene behind the bourbon scene.

So here we go:

1. A Taste For Whiskey – If I could give you one tip, it would be to subscribe to this channel. Jeff is a freaking whiskey savant and his tasting ability is unmatched. He’ll tell you straight up that you should buy a bottle of vanilla extract instead of buying Pappy 23 year. And then he’ll lead your taste buds on a journey to flavor town with a barrel pick from Indiana Liquor Group. In this YouTube Channel, you’ll find him with the guy that catered my wedding (Chef Jason Reynolds). Chef and I go way back and I have literally eaten his food for 4 straight years. He knows his stuff. In this YouTube channel, these two come together and pair bourbon with food. It might sound too good to be true, but it’s killer content. I will always trust the two of them with my taste buds. No questions asked.
   
   
2. Local Barrel Selects – If you visit any liquor store, the odds are you going to find a few Barrel Selects or Store Picks in house. That’s my bread and butter. How can it get better than trying something no one else will ever try again.
   
   Well – It’s even better if you know the person (or the taste profile) of the person (or people) choosing a barrel. I can stand in a liquor store and have no idea what to grab. If I walk into an ILG store, I know that a store pick is going to rock my world. I know that Jimmy’s Pick of Woodford is amazing. I know the Old Hamer picks are going to be killer. And I know Chocolate Persuasion and Fig & Honey from Yellowstone are going to be a pick that I’ll come back to time and time again. And don’t get me started on New Riff #2551 (a literal platinum level pick in a competition I wish I could judge).
   
   Short and sweet – If you know the people and you know their tastes, you know the person behind the barrel. I’ll subject that my taste buds aren’t as trained, but I can align in their ballpark.
   
   I think Indiana Liquor Group (aka every store in Muncie, Anderson, New Castle, and Marion, Indiana) and the Batesville Liquor Store are my stores that I “align” with. And I’ll trust their tasters as my own mouth (that sounds weird as hell). I hope one day I can get invited to go on a tasting with them.
   
   
3. Local Tastings and Events – I’m mentioning Indiana Liquor Group again, but it’s because they are my hometown liquor store. They are my first stop unless I want to drive to Indy to go to Storied Company. And if you look up at the picture up top, you’ll see an amazing tasting done with some great people.
   
   If you are lucky enough to attend a tasting like this, I’ll give you some tips. Come for the entire time and bring a bottle or two to share at the tasting. And you won’t be disappointed. I went to a scotch tasting and my dad and I got to try some crazy awesome scotches. I shouldn’t have had that opportunity, but it was something I will talk about for years to come.
   
   This picture above is from a tasting of barrel selects from Indiana Liquor Group. We had a chance at a bottle of Weller, but we had a great time tasting some amazing whiskey.
   
   
4. Bourbon Fantasy Leagues – This is a silly one, but it’s still all about the community. I joined the Indiana Bourbon Club after visiting Final Third Cigar Bar (a must stop). And then I saw an amazing opportunity for a fantasy football league. I won’t share the exact details of the league (I’m not sure of the legal standing of league like that), but I’ll share that I am mad I didn’t get in the top three.
   

Again – I’m not arguing there isn’t great bourbon out there. Instead, I’m saying there is a bigger value in the community than there is in the bourbon itself. I think most bourbon lovers would agree. That’s why I’ve started a Facebook Group for the lovers of this blog (Bourbon Master). I think the community is 75% of the bourbon world. The rest is just a great drink on the rock (or neat).