WEST VIRGINIA
FROM THE START
My family came to West Virginia in 1963, when I was four years old.
Years later, I went to WVU. In 1980, when the new stadium opened in Morgantown, I found my way to the Blue Lot outside Mountaineer Field.
That first season became important to me for another reason, too. The day the new Mountaineer Field opened was also the day I had my first date with the woman who would become my wife.
I kept coming back, through all of it, including 1984, when we finally beat Penn State after nearly three decades of trying.
Back then, the Lot was mostly mud and gravel.
"Over time, that parking lot
became part of the rhythm of my life."
Mike and his dad at the last game played at Old Mountaineer Field: November 10, 1979
THE PEOPLE
MADE IT MATTER
For decades, the same friends kept coming back.
We met in the same place before home games. Friends brought friends. Families grew. Stories got retold. Years passed.
The game gave us a reason to be there.
The people gave us a reason to keep coming back.
IT STARTED WITH
JUNGLE JUICE
For years, one of our traditions was something we called West Virginia Jungle Juice.
Bourbon. Apple cider. Champagne.
We made it before home games and poured it for friends and family. Over time, it became part of Saturday.
People started asking for it. Looking for it. Expecting it.
It was never really about the recipe.
“The drink was not the point. The ritual was.”
THEN THE LOT WENT QUIET
Then, for the first time in decades, those Saturdays disappeared.
When the season was disrupted, it made me realize how much of my life had been built around that place and those people.
The idea for Blue Lot® did not really take hold when the Lot was full.
It took hold when it was empty.
“If I ever returned to the Blue Lot, I wanted a bourbon of my own waiting when I did.”
NOW WE
MADE IT REAL
That idea eventually became Blue Lot®.
We start with six-year Kentucky bourbon, selected one barrel at a time, then bring it home to West Virginia to be finished and bottled.
Our 100 Proof flagship is brought to proof with West Virginia spring water.
And we named it after the place where the story began.
“Kentucky distilled it. West Virginia made it ours.”
The bourbon came later.
The story was already there.
BLUE LOT® BORN.
FAN RAISED.™
More than forty years of Saturdays led here. Now bring it to yours.