Tailgate Spirits LLC, maker of Blue Lot Bourbon, this week marks two years since its founding, a milestone for West Virginia brand.

The company was incorporated on July 11, 2024, and delivered its first order on August 29 that year. Two years on, Blue Lot has built its following around an idea its founder sums up in the brand’s slogan: Culture, Bottled.

“I didn’t want a bourbon that was good for West Virginia,” founder Mike Greenblatt said in a news release. “I wanted one that was good, period. Something West Virginians could be proud of.”

Greenblatt, who arrived in West Virginia at age four and graduated from West Virginia University in 1981, has been part of the tailgate culture in the same Morgantown lot since 1980, when it was still mostly mud and gravel. The brand takes its name from that lot.

Though early sales were strong, Greenblatt set out to improve the liquid itself. He turned to Green River Distilling Co. in Owensboro, Kentucky, a distillery operating since 1885 with a growing national reputation, and hand-selected a six-year single barrel.

What distinguishes Blue Lot is where it is finished. The bourbon is distilled in Kentucky, then shipped in sealed barrels to Summersville, West Virginia, where it is brought to bottling proof with West Virginia spring water, bottled, and labeled. Blue Lot 100 Proof is certified as a West Virginia Grown product by the West Virginia Department of Agriculture. The additional logistics cost more than finishing the bourbon in Kentucky, a cost the company absorbs by design.

“A bourbon that calls itself ours has to come home before it reaches the bottle,” Greenblatt said. “Kentucky distilled it. West Virginia made it ours.”

Blue Lot was built to reflect West Virginia identity without borrowing any institution’s name, logo, or marks. The brand is independent and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any university, athletic program, or conference.

At 66, with a successful company already behind him, Greenblatt describes the venture as a deliberate choice rather than a business he needed to start. “Because West Virginia earned it,” he said, “and I wasn’t willing to wait for somebody else to get around to it.”

Availability

Blue Lot Bourbon (100 Proof, SRP $84.99) is available at select retailers across West Virginia. For product information and locations, visit bluelotbourbon.com.

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About Blue Lot Bourbon

Blue Lot Bourbon is a product of Tailgate Spirits LLC, founded in 2024. Distilled in Kentucky and proofed, bottled, and labeled in Summersville, West Virginia, Blue Lot® is a premium single-barrel bourbon built around West Virginia identity and culture. Learn more at bluelotbourbon.com.