A night out at 1875: The Steakhouse calls for something extra special.
The King Cut filet. A 28 oz. Porterhouse, for those with an appetite for ambition. Can’t forget the famous Baked Lobster Mac & Cheese.
To step things up a notch: how about one of the most exclusive spirits on the planet?
Around here, we pride ourselves in creating memorable experiences and exceeding expectations. In this case, that meant going the extra mile to fulfill a guest request: finding three bottles of what is regarded as the rarest bourbon in the world this year.
This story began back on Valentine’s Day here at our steakhouse inside French Lick Springs Hotel. Before every meal at 1875, a drink cart stops by each table to offer exclusive spirits. You can taste our French Lick Personal Select Woodford Reserve. A newer addition is Huber Starlight Distillery’s Mizurana Reserve, an award-winning limited release aged 7 years in Japanese barrels. Louis XIII cognac is another top-shelf choice.
The Last Drop bottle comes in its own hand-carved white Kentucky oak rack, alongside the other exclusive spirits on the drink cart at 1875: The Steakhouse. The white gloves are donned by the steakhouse server when pouring and presenting The Last Drop to a guest.
Then there’s The Last Drop.
Consider this bourbon the best of the best. Rarest of the rare. Based in London, The Last Drop Distillers look worldwide to curate and bottle rare, one-of-a-kind releases of scotch, bourbon, rum, cognac and tequila. Here at 1875, we were fortunate to get our hands on The Last Drop’s 2026 selection in the bourbon whiskey category. It has roots from our region, in fact: a 27-year-old Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey from Buffalo Trace Distillery.
Going just off a smell test, you can tell this bourbon is something special. All sweetness and smoothness; no burn.
The taste test made a believer out of our guest who tried it on Valentine’s Day. She tried the 1 oz. pour, then had a request for Tom O’Connor, our longtime manager at 1875.
“We'd like to see if we can get a hold of three of these,” the guest inquired.
“Three individual pours?” Tom asked, to clarify. “Ma’am, this bottle is $7,600. Right now, it's selling between $17,000 and $23,000 per bottle on the open market.”
“Yes — we'd like three bottles.”
And so the search began.
This isn’t a product just sitting on a liquor store shelf or readily available from your distributor. Only 508 bottles were produced worldwide.
“I do my research, I look around, I ask my distributor to look for three bottles,” Tom explained. “It took them two weeks. They eventually get back to me. Looked worldwide, and they identified three bottles.”
Our bourbon enthusiasts were back a few weeks later to collect their bottles, which were a gift for each of their three sons. Our hotel and restaurant staffs were all buzzing about the bourbon handover, which went down as the largest individual transaction in French Lick Resort history. There were tons of photos snapped and even a security escort for the bottles.
“It’s like gold bars” in terms of the bourbon’s value, Tom pointed out with a laugh. “Everybody was up in a stir about it.”
No sooner did our guests have bourbon in hand, they had another challenge for Tom to find.
“Can you find us a 23-year Pappy Van Winkle?”
Hey, just ask. We’ll always do everything we can to deliver.
“This has reinforced our efforts to find some of the most exceptional and rarest spirits we’ve ever had access to, and share those with our guests,” Tom said. “It’s about making memories, and we love getting to do this on a daily basis.”
