More than a year after Kentucky alcohol regulators raided prominent vintage bourbon seller Justins’ House of Bourbon, the case in still in limbo.

Justins’ has sued Kentucky ABC over the raids and has attempted to have the case to shut the vintage seller down thrown out entirely.

A Frankfort judge returned more than 600 bottles of rare bourbons and other whiskeys but Justins’ is still barred from selling any of it.

The whiskey seller has accused the state of damaging several bottles, including one worth more than $100,000.

One of the owners of Justins’ House of Bourbon is currently seeking through court proceedings to reclaim his own bourbon, among which is a bottle autographed by Julian Van Winkle. A hearing has been marked for Feb. 21 to address potential conflict of interest. This is the latest situation for this high-profile case within the Kentucky bourbon world.

Justins’ House of Bourbon is a partnership between Justin Thompson and Justin Sloan. Lee Greer, an established developer from Lexington, is a silent partner in this venture. Attempts to reach Tom Bullock, the legal representative for Thompson and Sloan, for comments on this story, were unsuccessful. Greer, the silent partner, also chose not to comment. A spokesperson for the state relayed that Kentucky ABC officials do not comment on cases that are currently open.

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More than 600 whiskey bottles, reportedly valued over $2 million, are being disputed. The bottles are from Justins’ House of Bourbon.

These bottles, including over 70 bottles each of premium bourbons Blanton’s and Weller, were taken into custody by Kentucky Alcohol Beverage Control agents on January 17, 2023, from the Justins’ stores located at 601 W. Main St. Lexington and 101 W. Market St. Louisville.

An additional amount of rare and expensive bourbons, inclusive of Weller and imported Blanton’s, were seized in a simultaneous raid in January 2023 at a warehouse in Washington D.C. This is where Justins’ operates BourbonOutfitter.com, a site shipping out ordered bottles online.

The news of the raids reverberated through the bourbon industry at the time. Collectors of vintage bottles and tourists often made sure to visit these stores while touring Kentucky distillers. The allegations in the Kentucky case involved a series of supposed violations by Justins’ House of Bourbon, including the improper acquisition, possession, transport, and sale of bourbon, including Vintage Distilled Spirits, according to comments made by the ABC at the time.

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The D.C. case file alleged 11 code violations including illegally transporting alcohol into the district and unlawfully obtaining product from outside the U.S. Federal alcohol investigators placed hundreds of bottles of imported Blanton’s in “voluntary detention” while the case was sorted out.

The D.C. case file said that Sazerac, which makes Blanton’s, Weller and other premium bourbons at its Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, told federal investigators the company had been dealing with a widespread counterfeit of their product and that it was originating from the Netherlands.” A federal investigator, who said an agent already was working in Kentucky on counterfeit Sazerac bourbons, told D.C. alcohol officials: “Sazerac product is more lucrative than heroin right now.”

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While the case in the District of Columbia has been settled, with Justins’ House of Bourbon agreeing to pay $3,000 in fines and admitting to reduced violations, the Kentucky case has yet to be decided.

And things have gotten messy.

Two of the store’s owners have been arguing in Franklin Circuit Court, so far unsuccessfully, to have the Kentucky ABC case thrown out. No criminal charges have been filed.

In August 2023, Kentucky ABC charged Justins’ House of Bourbon with nine counts of administrative violations of Kentucky alcoholic beverage laws and moved to shut down the stores, which remain open and licensed. According to the state, Justins’ House of Bourbon:

Failed to report vintage distilled spirits purchases to the state;

Illegally transported bottles between its two Kentucky stores;

Illegally shipped bottles in and out of the state;

Unlawfully bought and sold alcoholic beverages;

And failed to place a sticker on vintage distilled spirits purchases on bottles to indicate they were from the secondary market.

According to the state, Justins’ also bought and sold rare bourbons that did not qualify as vintage.

Last July, shortly before the ABC notice of violation, Thompson and Sloan — but not Greer — sued the Kentucky ABC saying the bottles had been improperly seized and asked Franklin Circuit Court to declare the Kentucky Vintage Distilled Spirits law allow the purchase of rare but not necessarily old bottles.

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Franklin Circuit Court Judge Thomas D. Wingate has so far declined to wade into the controversy over whether Kentucky’s Vintage Spirits law covers current bottles such as Pappy Van Winkle, Weller and Blanton’s as well as pre-Prohibition era whiskeys and other collectible “dusties.”

But Wingate did give Justins’ House of Bourbon one big win: The store got its bottles back. It just can’t sell them.

The move came after Wingate learned that some of the seized bottles may have been damaged in a water leak at an evidence facility in Louisville. Wingate expressed “grave concern” about the way the bottles were stored after the state “admitted that some of the seized property has come into contact with rainwater and mildew,” according to court records.

Wingate queried in court what would transpire if the state was held accountable, indicating a potential $200,000 cap on damages.

“Their assertion is that (the bottles’ value is) $2.5 million, and there’s sovereign immunity. I presume he could take legal action against the Director of the officer or something akin to that, right?,” Wingate conveyed, as stated in a court document.

Wingate directed the bottles to be catalogued, photographed and given back to Justins’ for safekeeping. The retail store has been banned from selling or showcasing the bottles and has to make them open to ABC inspection whenever requested.

Nevertheless, his command made it explicit that this action was purely to deal with the storage and was not a verdict on the case against Justins’: “The ruling to instruct the return of the bottles to Plaintiffs for securekeeping does not influence the Court’s viewpoint on the legitimacy of the administrative action and should never be interpreted as the Court declaring an opinion on the administrative action.”

All 640 bottles were moved in boxes to the Lexington store on Sept. 8, recorded with photographs, and received by Justin Sloan. The bottles were then organized on shelves in a storage room and photographed once more.

Almost instantly, controversy ensued: The lawyers for Justins’ accused ABC board member Allyson Taylor of attempting to integrate a liability shield into the receipt issued for the bottles.

Wingate removed text that claimed the bottles were in a “good, undamaged condition” upon receipt.

Following this, Justins’ alleged, supported by photographic evidence in a court document, that numerous bottles were damaged while in ABC’s possession: “An invaluable bottle of Old Taylor bourbon, of which there are only two known in existence, was returned to Justins’ soggy and only partially full due to leaking or heat exposure. Another bottle of Red Hook Rye, valued at approximately $100,000, was given back by the state with a shattered and ineffective wax seal. Additionally, a bottle of Pacific Union bourbon came back showing signs of damage and scuffs all over the label. These are only some examples out of many where Justins’ inventory worth millions of dollars had torn and scratched labels, obvious water damage, content that had evaporated or labels that had faded due to exposure to heat, seals that were crumpled and dented, and broken wax.”

However, the ABC disputed all of this and submitted its own photos, showing the same bottles as they appeared in Justins’ before they were taken into custody in 2023, with closeups of the bourbon level in the “near-priceless” Old Taylor, of the cracked wax on the Red Hook Rye, and of the scratches on the Pacific Union label.

“All the damage … including the alleged ‘evaporation’ evidenced by the amount of spirits in the bottle of Old Taylor … can be seen in these photographs,” the ABC responded. Two of the bottles — the Red Hook and Pacific Union — were seized from Lexington and only boxes of bottles from the Louisville store were damaged, the state said.

And while the bottle of Old Taylor 101 was seized from the Louisville store, ABC said, its investigators took the extra precaution and kept it in a safe, unopened and not exposed to rainwater.

The question of when any bottles were damaged and who is responsible has not yet been decided.

The attorneys of ABC lodged a contempt motion against Justins’, stating that the bottles ought to have remained in their boxes, arranged according to specific groups.

Without the protection of the boxes, the Plaintiffs could attribute pre-existing damages or those caused by inadvertent mishandling or even planned actions to the Department, contended the state.

Justins’ found support in Wingate who vetoed the contempt ruling once again.

Moved possibly by interest for the bottles, in January, an investor of Justins’ House of Bourbon, Lee Greer, requested the court. He sought the return of specific bottles, including one endorsed by Julian Van Winkle, directly to him, asserting their extreme value and his personal ownership of them. These include: “Two bottles of Society of Bourbon Connoisseurs (19 years); one bottle of Old Fitzgerald 12-year Blackhawk Barrel Proof; and one bottle of Old Rip Van Winkle — Van Winkle Private Selection 15 & 20 year.”

The ABC expressed opposition, stating that Greer “does not have a role in this issue, has not made a request to participate…and has no standing to approach this Court.” ABC further stated that seeing as all the bottles, these ones included, are still involved in an ongoing ABC case (for which Greer also isn’t involved), his motion is “baseless.”

Each of the four bottles had formerly been displayed in Justins’ Exclusive and Vintage Spirits room, and three carried price tags. The fourth was tagged with “Inquire Ryan or Caro,” – these individuals being workers of Justins’, according to ABC court documentations.

If these bottles indeed belong to Greer, and not to Justins’ House of Bourbon, then their retail in the store would be unlawful, ABC asserted.

In this instance, Wingate sided with the ABC temporarily, rejecting Greer’s motion. He stated, “The court will not consider splitting the bottles” and complicating the inspection process, but Wingate did postpone the matter until the final decision of the ABC case.

Justins’ House of Bourbon requested Wingate to remove his judgement enacted in the previous autumn in the month of February, expressing ineffectiveness with the current administrative process due to the presence of prejudiced determinants.

The motion was disregarded by Wingate on Feb. 16 and the embargo sustained while the operational procedures of the Kentucky Department of Alcohol Beverage Control are happening.

While acknowledging the Plaintiffs’ vexations with the protraction of the administrative procedures, Wingate exclaims in his decree, directing the department to hasten the process.

Considering the potential need to appoint a new hearing officer, the situation becomes complicated, as the current officer may need to recuse himself due to a possible personal interest conflict as he possesses his Bourbon collection. A meeting is planned to discuss the matter on Feb. 21.

Meanwhile, Doc Crow’s, a second Kentucky vintage seller accused by the ABC of violating the Vintage Spirits law in October, last week formally admitted that the violations occurred and agreed to pay $5,000 in fines rather than face a 100-day closure.