KY man accused of illegally selling 1,700 bottles of bourbon to Fayette Mall store
A Kentucky man has been accused of a modern-day version of bourbon bootlegging: driving expensive whiskeys by the case to Lexington to sell illegally.
Ryan Orahood, of Lexington, is accused of selling thousands of bottles without a license, including more than 1,700 bottles of whiskey to Lexington liquor store Bourbon Creek, in Fayette Mall, according to a criminal complaint obtained by the Herald-Leader from the Kentucky Alcohol Beverage Control.
Documents detail how Orahood sold hundreds of cases rare, coveted bottles that sell for hundreds of dollars to whiskey collectors and bourbon tourists in allegedly illegal transactions that went on for nearly 2 1/2 years.
Orahood has been charged with 25 misdemeanor criminal counts of unlicensed manufacture, sale, storage, purchase or transport of alcohol beverages from Oct. 6, 2023, through Feb. 29, 2024.
While unlicensed individuals may sell “vintage distilled spirits” legally to a licensed store, bar or restaurant, under Kentucky statute only 24 bottles can be sold in any 12-month period. According to the state, Orahood sold 1,377 bottles on 20 different occasions during October, November and December in 2023 and 330 bottles on five occasions in January and February 2024.
Bourbon Creek declined to comment on Orahood’s case, as did Fred Peters, Orahood’s lawyer.
Officials with Kentucky Alcohol Beverage Controldeclined to comment about the case.
Orahood pleaded not guilty in February. The case is scheduled for a pre-trial conference on March 17.
Herald-Leader bourbon investigation
In June 2023, the Herald-Leader reported Orahood was the state’s top seller under the Kentucky Vintage Distilled Spirits Law, which allowed people to sell old, rare bottles to liquor stores beginning in 2018.
Court documents at the time showed he sold at least 1,141 bottles to Bourbon Creek, in Fayette Mall, from October 2021 to March 2023.
Among those sales were large quantities of bourbon sought by collectors, including Blanton’s, Eagle Rare, Weller, E.H. Taylor, Pappy Van Winkle and Woodford Reserve Double Double Oaked, among others.
The Herald-Leader discovered those rare bourbons were the main bottles being sold to stores under the Vintage Distilled Spirits Law, even though they are not old.
Mark Brown, CEO of Louisville-based liquor giant Sazerac, which makes many of those high-dollar bourbons, said at the time that loopholes that allowed people to sell any kind of bourbon fueled a “secondary, smuggled and counterfeit” market.
Lawmakers in 2024 tightened regulations on vintage distilled spirits sales, adding licensing requirements and potential jail time for repeat offender retailers that buy more than 24 bottles in 12 months from any single seller. Sellers also are limited to 24 bottles a year now, with stiff fines — up to $5,000 on third and subsequent offenses.
Licensed vintage retailers also must report purchases monthly to Kentucky Alcohol Beverage Control.
State ABC agents tracked Orahood’s sales, car
Kentucky Alcohol Beverage Control agents began investigating Orahood in late 2023, a few months after the Herald-Leader investigation published, when they said they received information he “was buying/obtaining large quantities of distilled spirits and selling the distilled spirits without a license,” according to new documents obtained under the state’s Open Records Act.
The state determined Orahood sold more than 3,500 bottles of spirits that year, sometimes using his business address in Nicholasville for the sales.
Kentucky ABC agents obtained a search warrant for his phone GPS data and call logs to “assist investigators in identifying the location of deliveries, purchases, and transactions of the distilled spirits. ... This information will also assist investigators in identifying any other individuals contacted around the time of the above listed transactions.”
According to the records, the ABC investigators also cross-referenced the sales with Flock camera images that photographed his car several times on Interstate 75 South in Kenton County a few days before he sold bottles to Bourbon Creek.
Records do not indicate where Orahood purchased the liquor he sold to Bourbon Creek and other stores.
In February 2024, investigators placed a GPS tracker on at least one of Orahood’s cars — a 2008 Lexus — for up to 90 days of surveillance, court records show.
‘Large amounts of spirits’
In the search warrant application, investigators said the tracker would help them locate other suspects and figure out “where large amounts of distilled spirits are being stored, as well as provide information on where some of these transactions are taking place.”
The scope of the bourbon moving through Orahood’s hands was signficant, according to the records.
Take November 2023 for instance, when Orahood sold to the store six times:
▪ Traffic camera records recorded the Orahood’s car around 2:30 p.m. Nov. 3, 2023, on I-75 south in Kenton County. The next day, according to ABC records, he sold Bourbon Creek 18 bottles of Blanton’s, 12 bottles of Eagle Rare, 24 bottles of Weller Special Reserve and one bottle of Weller Full Proof.
▪ Nine days later, on Nov. 12, Orahood was back with another 30 bottles of Blanton’s, 12 of Old Weller Antique 107, six bottles of E.H. Taylor Small Batch, 12 of Eagle Rare and one bottle of Caribou Crossing.
▪ On Nov. 15, Orahood sold Bourbon Creek 18 bottles of Blanton’s, 18 bottles of E.H. Taylor Small Batch, 18 bottles of Eagle Rare, 12 bottles of Weller Special Reserve, 12 bottles of Old Weller Antique 107, 22 50-milliliter “minis” of Blanton’s, one 375-milliliter bottle of Blanton’s, three of Caribou Crossing, one of Rock Hill Farms, one of Elmer T. Lee and one of Old Forester Birthday Bourbon 2023.
▪ On Nov. 21, Orahood sold Bourbon Creek 30 bottles of Blanton’s, 24 bottles of E.H. Taylor Small Batch, 30 bottles of Eagle Rare, 24 bottles of Weller Special Reserve, 24 bottles of Old Weller Antique 107, two bottles of Caribou Crossing, two bottles of Old Rip Van Winkle and one bottles of Weller CYPB.
▪ On Nov. 24, when his car was photographed again on I-75 in Kenton County, Orahood sold Bourbon Creek one bottle of Weller Full Proof, three bottles of Woodford Double Double Oaked, one bottle of Old Forester Birthday Bourbon 2022, one bottle of Old Fitzgerald 8 year and one bottle of Blanton’s Gold.
▪ On Nov. 27, Orahood sold Bourbon Creek 24 bottles of Weller Special Reserve, 24 bottles of Eagle Rare, 12 bottles of Blanton’s, and one bottle each of Old Rip Van Winkle 10 year, Pappy Van Winkle 12 year Lot B, Elmer T Lee and E.H. Taylor Single Barrel.
Fayette Mall store Bourbon Creek investigated
In March 2024, ABC officials visited Bourbon Creek, in Fayette Mall, where they seized dozens of bottles of Blanton’s, Weller, Eagle Rare and other premium bourbons, according to ABC records. They also subpoenaed the store’s records related to alcohol purchases, including financial records of all transactions with Orahood from March 13, 2023, to March 13, 2024.
One month later, alcohol regulators sent a notice of violation to Bourbon Creek owner Camille Thomas, seeking to suspend or revoke the store’s alcohol licenses for unlawful purchases from an unauthorized seller.
In September 2024, the store entered into an agreement resolving the allegations: Bourbon Creek agreed to surrender the retail package license for its sister store at Oxmoor Mall in Louisville and pay a $2,500 fine in lieu of a 50-day license suspension of the Fayette Mall store.
Bourbon Creek agreed not to contest the violations, and the Fayette Mall store was allowed to re-apply and receive a Vintage Distilled Spirits license as well as its retail liquor license and sampling license.
ABC officials returned 24 bottles of bourbon seized from Bourbon Creek, but they kept the others. It’s not clear exactly how many bottles that was.
In a statement to the Herald-Leader, the Bourbon Creek said, “We maintain Bourbon Creek never violated any laws of the Commonwealth, but it was more affordable and practical to settle as the State no longer allows you to represent yourself in matters of ABC.”
How much bourbon was being moved?
According to ABC records, Bourbon Creek made at least 70 purchases from Orahood from Oct. 20, 2021, to Feb. 29, 2024, sometimes buying dozens of bottles two days in a row, always rare premium bourbons and whiskeys.
In an affidavit filed in Fayette District Court in support of the search warrant for cell phone records, the investigators outlined a year’s worth of Orahood’s sales to Bourbon Creek:
- On January 22, 2003, Mr. Orahood sold 55 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On February 3, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 8 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On February 15, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 84 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On February 26, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 87 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On March 9, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 54 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On March 14, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 66 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On March 19, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 74 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On March 28, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 66 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On March 31, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 57 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On April 8, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 19 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On April 14, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 43 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On April 15, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 83 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On April 22, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 45 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On April 26, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 63 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On April 30, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 83 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On May 6, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 62 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On May 12, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 52 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On May 17, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 35 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On May 21, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 99 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On June 1, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 92 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On June 8, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 235 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On June 30, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 24 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On July 15, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 87 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On July 21, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 121 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On August 4, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 58 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On August 10, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 66 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On August 12, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 8 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On August 17, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 89 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On September 1, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 57 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On September 3, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 31 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On September 15, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 51 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On September 28, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 76 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On October 6, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 45 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On October 12, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 52 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On October 15, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 54 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On October 22, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 95 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On October 28, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 17 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On November 4, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 55 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On November 12, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 61 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On November 15, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 107 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On November 21, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 137 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On November 24, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 7 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On November 27, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 141 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On December 6, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 15 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On December 7, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 56 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On December 11, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 124 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On December 15, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 109 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On December 16, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 13 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On December 18, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 127 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On December 21, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 132 bottles of various distilled spirits.
- On December 31, 2023, Mr. Orahood sold 53 bottles of various distilled spirits.
This story was originally published March 14, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
