Changes to Kentucky’s Vintage Spirits Law

Want to sell the vintage whiskey collection you inherited? Thanks to a 2017 Kentucky law, the Vintage Spirits Act, you can, but new regulatory mandates restrict how many you can sell in a year and how the transaction takes place.

This Cedar Brook is from the 1800s and is a part of my collection at the Bardstown Bourbon Company.

According to the new regulations being promulgated, a non-licensed alcohol seller can only sell 24 bottles in a given year to a licensed retailer or bar. Sources tell me this was the state’s way of making sure people didn’t build alcohol distribution companies without the proper license.

In addition, the state now requires the transaction take place at the licensed holder’s facility, eliminating shipments and or handoffs off site. And the liquor store must obtain the following:

(1) The name, address, state license number, and phone number of the licensee purchasing vintage distilled spirits; (2) The name, address, and phone number of the vintage distilled spirits seller; (3) The brand name and quantity of each vintage distilled spirits package purchased; (4) The date of the purchase; and (5) The number of packages that the licensee has previously purchased from the same vin-

At the time of the purchase, the state now requires, licensees place “vintage distilled spirit” stickers on the bottles.

The regulations were introduced in June with public comment following. It moved forward without objection.

Disclosure: Fred Minnick built the Bardstown Bourbon Company Vintage Library.

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