Michter’s and Stagg Lotteries Close Monday July 20th — The Cut Weekend — S02E84

SE02E84 — On Deck

This is The Cut Weekend. I’m Franklin. Sunday’s when we trade the rearview for the windshield, so here’s what’s coming and what to do about it.

There’s one date with a clock on it this week, so let’s start there. Michter’s is running its Toasted Barrel Finish pre-order right now at a fixed national price for the first time — and that window closes this coming Monday, July 20th. If you’ve been on the fence, this is the week to get off it. Right behind that, Virginia’s George T. Stagg lottery closes that same Monday, with winners notified the following week. No purchase required to enter, and the odds run under one percent, but you can’t win a drawing you never entered. And keep an eye on the calendar past that — Sazerac’s limited domestic run of Blanton’s Gold Edition, the export-return bottle, stays open through the end of the month, and Buffalo Trace’s next E.H. Taylor release — 12 years old, a modest $54.99 price tag — ships to distributors in August, right as fall allocation season gets going. Get your name on your retailer’s Taylor list now, because eighteen thousand bottles under fifty-five dollars won’t sit on a shelf long once it lands.

Now, something to actually look forward to. Come September 10th through 13th, Bardstown hosts the Kentucky Bourbon Festival — four days built around the whole town, not just one distillery. A festival pass gets you into bourbon sampling across dozens of producers, sit-down panels with the master distillers themselves, a marketplace full of small releases you won’t find at your local store, and the headline event — the Master Distillers’ Bottle Auction, where the people who actually make the whiskey put rare bottles up for bid, often with the proceeds going to charity. It’s not a chase, it’s not a lottery — it’s a weekend where you plan the drive, book the room, and just show up to be around the people and the process. That’s a different kind of anticipation than a pre-order countdown, and it’s worth putting on your calendar now while rooms are still available.

So here’s your week, distilled to two moves. First, get your entry in on that Stagg lottery and lock your Michter’s pre-order before Monday closes both doors. Second, start thinking about Bardstown in September — block the dates, even if you don’t book the room yet.

And every drop I just walked you through — the Michter’s window, the Stagg entry, the Taylor ship date, the festival dates — those all live in the allocation calendar inside The Perfect Pour. You don’t have to hold all of it in your head. Let the app hold the dates and give you a nudge before a window closes instead of after. That’s the whole point of the tool — it does the remembering so you can do the drinking. It’s available now at theperfectpourapp.com.

That’s what’s on deck. If The Cut Weekend earned a few minutes of your Sunday, do me one favor — follow the show wherever you’re listening, so Saturday’s edition finds you on its own. The full American Whiskey Industry Brief is free every morning at chasingtheunicornpodcast.com. I’m Franklin. Pour something you like, share it with somebody worth sharing it with — and remember, your unicorn is out there.