Bourbon Brotherhood & Whisky Chicks Mixer Raises $36k for Vets

What do you get when you mix the Whisky Chicks and the Bourbon Brotherhood at the Bourbon Mixer? Double trouble? No, in this case you get a sold out event that raised over $36k for the Coalition for the Homeless.

The 3rd annual Bourbon Mixer recently took place at the Gillespie, an art-deco style building built in 1887, the same year The Old Taylor Distillery was built 60 miles down the road in Millville, Kentucky. Apparently, 1887 was a good year for both architecture and bourbon. The event was attended by more than 250 fans and included 13 distilleries offering guests a large selection of 45 different spirits.

The money raised for this year’s event is double what was raised in 2015. This funding will help at least 36 homeless veterans make the transition from homelessness to a new home of their own. The funds are used to pay deposits and get furniture and household goods for veterans’ new homes as part of the Rx: Housing Veterans program. In 2015 the program found homes for 838 homeless veterans in the Louisville area, and is able to keep up with the around 25 additional veterans who become homeless each month.

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Bourbon Mixer Fund Raiser Champ

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Bruce Corwin (L) Founder of Bourbon Brotherhood, Jennifer Arnett (C) Brand Ambassador for Jefferson’s Reserve Bourbon and Linda Ruffenach (R) Founder of Whisky Chicks.

There were over 100 items offered at this year’s silent auction. You can see a variety of the items in the photos below from a bottle of Michter’s, to a bottle of Woodford Reserve, to a signed photo from University of Kentucky Coach John Calipari.

This year’s fundraiser champion was Kentucky Artisan Distillery, home of Jefferson’s Reserve Bourbon. The distillery offered up the opportunity to make your own barrel of bourbon. The package includes a 5-gallon American Oak barrel, whiskey, basic bottling, cork and label, aging the barrel in the distillery warehouse, time with the master distiller, a tour and tasting and your very own bourbon barrel (empty) to take home.

Other fund raiser champs included,

Vendome Copper Whiskey Thief – If you’re not sure what that is, check out What is a Whiskey Thief?
Whisky Chicks Private Tasting & overnight stay on Whiskey Row at the Execuity Loft
Michter’s Disitllery Signature Gift Basket
JACO Limousine tour of Bourbon country
Chris Hartsfield Bourbon Watercolor Painting

Bourbon Mixer Fan Favorite Bourbon Champs

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Rabbit Hole Distilling owners Kaveh and Heather Zamanian along with Creative Director Michael Motamedi.

This year’s participating distilleries included Bulleit Bourbon, Four Roses, Jim Beam, Bluegrass Distillers, Buffalo Trace, Maker’s Mark, Heaven Hill, Evan Williams, Angel’s Envy, Jefferson’s Reserve, Woodford Reserve, Old Forester, Rabbit Hole Distilling and Brown Forman’s newest addition Cooper’s Craft.

Each guest at this year’s event was handed a chip when they arrived at the event to vote for their favorite bourbon. It’s often said that women have a better ability to taste bourbon then men however this year they were equal. The Whisky Chicks and Bourbon Brotherhood let their chips do the talking and they both voted Rabbit Hole Distilling as the fan favorite bourbon at this year’s event. Rabbit Hole Distilling contracts their distillation out with their own mash bill at another distillery. That’s all about to change as they have a brand new distillery of their own now under construction. This is certainly a brand to watch.