(Day of Closing - 2019)

I Felt Like I Was A Bootlegger…

Immediately after closing on the old Baptist church, we desperately needed storage space.

At that point in the Holtz story, we were a major producer of products made from reclaimed Jack Daniel’s whiskey barrels. Over the years, we purchased thousands of barrels from Brown-Forman. We still use the wood today in a handful of products, including our leather flyswatters, pens, and bottle openers.

Pretty much the day we closed on the old church we moved the pews out and rolled the whiskey barrels in.  I felt like I was an old bootlegger hiding my stash in the basement.  Although I knew it was no longer a church I still felt very uncomfortable about it.

It reminded me of that old Andy Griffith episode where the two little old ladies operate an illegal moonshine still in their flower house, which Opie innocently calls it their “flower-making machine.”  Definitely worth watching!  Look at Otis buying him some flowers…

Fun Fact: 

When Jason first started redoing the commissary building, current home to Holtz, L'Etoile Patisserie, and Preservation Co., the church was still in existence. Jason asked if the church would allow the retail stores to use their parking lot during the week.  The church agreed if Jason would agree not to allow any of the retailers to sell any alcohol.

Although no alcohol has ever been sold in our buildings, you can still smell the whiskey in that old church.