The Cut Weekend: The Week in the Glass — July 11, 2026 — SE02E76 — Wild Turkey 101 Beats Pricier Bottles, 3 of 4

SE02E76 — The Week in the Glass

This is The Cut Weekend. I’m Franklin. The week’s done its talking, and Saturday’s when we settle in and listen back to what it said.

If you followed along day to day, this week had a lot of noise in it — proof numbers, pre-allocation deadlines, lottery closings. But underneath all of it was one quiet argument playing out again and again: what actually makes a bottle worth what it costs.

It started Monday with Elijah Craig Barrel Proof E926 landing at retail — a federally audited Bottled-in-Bond bourbon at 130.2 proof, seventy-five dollars, no water added, no marketing dressing it up. Tuesday took that same idea further and told you where it came from — Colonel E.H. Taylor Jr., the man who lobbied Congress in 1897 to pass the law that still governs that bottle today. Bottled-in-Bond isn’t a phrase somebody in marketing came up with. It’s four federal rules, audited, enforced, and it shows up on bottles from fifteen dollars to five hundred.

Wednesday shifted from credential to timing — Four Roses’ Brent Elliott confirmed this year’s Limited Edition blend at 108.2 proof, open for pre-allocation before a single bottle reaches a shelf. Thursday reminded us that not every access story requires a chase at all — Ohio’s been running a free lottery on George T. Stagg, a bottle worth over eleven hundred dollars on the secondary, and it costs nothing but ninety seconds to enter.

Then Friday tied the whole week together. A twenty-eight dollar bottle of Wild Turkey 101 has been beating bottles two and three times its price in blind tastings all month — three wins out of four rounds. Eddie Russell said it plainest: his family’s always filled the barrel at a lower entry proof than most, and that choice pulls more flavor out of the wood over time. Price didn’t win this week. Production did.

Now, the feature, because this one’s worth circling on your calendar. Two weekends from now — Saturday, July 25th — the Richmond Beer, Bourbon and BBQ Festival sets up at the Farm Bureau Center at The Meadow Event Park in Doswell, Virginia. Noon to six. Tickets start around forty-five dollars, and you can find the details at rva.beerandbourbon.com.

This is the kind of event I like pointing you toward, because it’s not a chase and it’s not a lottery — it’s an afternoon. You walk a field, you’ve got beer on one side, bourbon on the other, barbecue smoke tying the whole thing together, and pours from bottles you might never see lined up on a shelf back home. No app notification, no midnight deadline. Just a Saturday where the whole point is slowing down and tasting things side by side — which, fittingly, is exactly what this whole week’s been about.

Mark it down. Bring somebody who’ll actually stop and talk about what’s in the glass with you, because that’s half the value of a day like that.

Now — what’s still pourable this weekend, close to home. Michter’s Fort Nelson walk-up window in Louisville runs through today, no lottery, no application, just showing up. Weller Full Proof is still sitting at forty-nine ninety-nine at plenty of accounts, no allocation required — that gap between shelf price and secondary hasn’t closed yet. And if you’re in Ohio, that George T. Stagg lottery closes tomorrow night at midnight. Free entry. Long odds. Worth ninety seconds regardless.

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