There are more aging bourbon barrels than people in Kentucky, where Scott Heidorn’s love for spirits developed while he and his wife, Kathy, worked in Lexington, Kentucky. That passion became a basement bourbon and sports bar for the couple’s McCutchanville home.
“I like the taste. It has a lot of history. Bourbon is America’s drink,” Scott says.
In 2007, the Evansville natives built their McCutchanville house with Jimmy Kaster to include space for a below-ground gathering spot. The bar, built by David Clements with wood from Goliath Woodworking, took a year.
In a decade, Scott has collected 205 bourbons, some he will never open. His favorite is an Elijah Craig aged 18 years from Heaven Hill Distillery, but a rare find is a Wild Turkey aged 12 years given to him by a friend after a trip to Japan.
The Heidorns also collect and display barrel heads from their distillery travels, shown in pictures of visits with friends and family framed by Inman’s Picture Framing. Scott says at one time, they had visited every distillery on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. Since the trail has expanded, he estimates they have visited 80 percent.
The bar includes memorabilia from Scott’s time playing baseball at Reitz Memorial High School and Murray State University in Murray, Kentucky. Black lockers from Newburgh, Indiana’s The Chalky Chic hold jackets, equipment, scorecards, and trophies saved by his mother. Around the corner, a 10-by-10-foot putting green is surrounded by golf photos and memorabilia.
“This bar is a tribute to baseball, golf, bourbon, and experiences,” Scott says
