Franklin County Sheriff Pat Melton has scheduled a news conference for Tuesday, April 14 at 1:30 pm to discuss developments in the theft of five bourbon barrels stolen from the Wild Turkey Distillery.
Update: The news conference was delayed until April 21. See updated story here.
Last month, the sheriff’s office received an anonymous tip that led to the arrest of Gilbert Thomas Curtsinger who has been a Buffalo Trace Distillery worker for more than 20 years. Police found the five barrels of what has been confirmed to be 2009 Wild Turkey bourbon hidden behind a shed in Curtsinger’s yard. Each fully loaded barrel weighs approximately 500 pounds so it’s suspected that he likely did not act alone. They also found 25 guns and a large amount of anabolic steroids in the home.
Is the Tuesday announcement related to PappyGate? In October of 2013, 65 cases of the sought after Pappy Van Winkle bourbon and Pappy Van Winkle Rye was reported stolen from Buffalo Trace Distillery. The street value for this hard to find bourbon is in the neighborhood of $26,000. To date, no one has been charged with the Pappy theft and no one has collected the $10,000 reward that has been offered.
Stay tuned as this story develops.
In the meantime, take a look at my own Onion version of what I think really happened at #PappyGate, why I think it was an inside job and how it actually happened over several years. Clearly, whoever stole the Pappy listened to a lot of Johnny Cash’s One Piece at a Time.
Ironically, this familiar warehouse view may have a whole new meaning.
