If you’ve ever stared at a $6,000 unicorn behind glass and wondered how anyone actually tastes it, you’ll feel right at home here. We pull back the curtain on a thriving Bentonville bourbon scene where access comes from community, not luck, complete with a speakeasy barn, disciplined barrel selections, and a 100-member club designed to share costs, spread knowledge, and raise glasses together.

Mike Hodges walks us through building a space where bottle shares and curated tastings bring people together. He breaks down the math that turns a single $150 bar pour into an evening where twenty people sample multiple legendary bottles and enjoy dinner, all while learning their palates. Then JS Bull takes the baton, detailing how he structured a legally clean, no-profit bourbon club capped at 100 members so every barrel yields at least one bottle per person. Thanks to local relationships with major distilleries, the club’s first-year lineup includes Weller Full Proof, Nashville Barrel Company Honey Cask, Rock Hill Farms private selection, and an Elijah Craig Barrel Proof that snaps from cinnamon candy to elegant oak.

Along the way, we get practical: how real barrel picks differ from mailed vials, why you should smell everything before tasting barrel proof, how age and warehouse floors shape flavor, and what to do when a dusty cork disintegrates mid-pour. We also talk brand profile consistency versus single barrel uniqueness, how to avoid overpaying on the secondary market, and why the best bottles are often the ones you share.

Pour something you’re curious about and dive in with us. If this conversation sparks ideas or makes you rethink how you chase bottles, follow the show, share it with a bourbon-loving friend, and leave a quick review so more people can find it.

More About this Episode

Inside Bentonville’s Bourbon Renaissance: How Barrel Picks, Speakeasies, and Bourbon Clubs Are Reshaping the Local Scene

Bentonville, Arkansas, has long been recognized for its entrepreneurial spirit, rooted deeply in the growth of retail giants and the evolving landscape of Northwest Arkansas. But over the last few years, a new culture has quietly taken root and begun to flourish: a vibrant, community-driven bourbon scene that blends connoisseurship with hospitality, exclusivity with inclusivity, and heritage with innovation.

This isn't just about bourbon as a drink. It's about bourbon as a shared experience, a bond that connects business leaders, creatives, collectors, and the casually curious. At the center of this movement are people like Mike Hodges and JS Bull, who aren’t simply collecting rare bottles; they’re cultivating a culture.

The Bourbon Barn: Little Flock’s Hidden Speakeasy

Let’s start with Mike Hodges, a name that’s become synonymous with high-end bourbon hospitality in Little Flock, Arkansas. On the surface, Mike’s “barn” might seem like a humble outpost, but step inside and it becomes clear that this is no average outbuilding. Instead of hay bales and horse stalls, guests walk into a mezzanine-designed speakeasy stocked with one of the most impressive private bourbon collections in the region.

What sets Mike’s venue apart isn’t just the whiskey, it’s the intentionality behind the space. It’s not a bar; it’s a gathering place. Whether it's intimate tastings or 40-person bottle shares, every experience is curated with purpose. Guests aren’t just coming to drink bourbon; they’re coming to learn, connect, and share.

Mike organizes two main types of events. One is the classic bottle share: everyone brings a bottle, and the group samples from a lineup that often includes unicorn-level pours you’d be hard-pressed to find even in major metropolitan bourbon bars. The second is a high-end tasting model, where Mike personally sources rare bottles (think: Wild Turkey Donut or Michter’s 25-Year), and attendees split the cost.

This model makes elite bourbon experiences accessible without anyone needing to spend thousands of dollars alone. Instead of $500 for a single pour at a bar, participants might spend $300–$400 to sample several rare bourbons and enjoy dinner in the process. It’s a concept that emphasizes access and community over exclusivity, and it’s working.

Building Community, One Barrel at a Time

JS Bull brings another dimension to Bentonville’s bourbon boom, one that fuses entrepreneurial strategy with a passion for the spirit.

After co-founding and later selling White Spider, a digital retail platform that supported major brands on Walmart.com, JS found himself with a rare commodity in the post-exit world: time. What followed was a period of reflection that led him back to an old passion, bourbon. But rather than simply collecting bottles, he decided to build something that would allow others to enjoy the journey with him.

The result? A private bourbon club unlike anything the area had seen.

Capped at 100 members, the club operates on a simple but powerful idea: shared access to some of the rarest private barrels available in the U.S. market. Members each contribute a fixed annual amount (around $850), which covers the cost of acquiring and distributing bottles from privately selected barrels. These aren’t just any barrels. We’re talking Weller Full Proof, Rock Hill Farms (the second private selection released in 15 years), and barrel-proof Elijah Craig that rivals anything found on the secondary market.

For context, some of these barrels, like a Michter’s 20 or a Nashville Barrel Company honey cask, are nearly impossible to acquire unless you have direct relationships with distilleries or distributors. JS has those connections, built over more than a decade of being deeply embedded in bourbon circles, including his early involvement in the Facebook group “Bourbon Exchange,” which helped shape the modern online bourbon trading community.

What sets his club apart isn’t just the quality of the selections. It’s the experience. Members are invited to tastings, mock selections, and even full-on trips to distilleries for barrel picks. In December, Heaven Hill flew in a selection of 18 Elijah Craig barrel samples to Bentonville for a private tasting at JS’s home. Members got to go through the exact process used to select a private barrel, nosing, tasting, rating, and ultimately choosing the winner.

This kind of access, combined with transparency and community, is rare. The club isn’t a moneymaker. JS emphasized that legally and ethically, it operates as a collective: friends pooling resources to buy bottles they couldn’t access on their own. And for those who go on the trips, whether it’s to Four Roses, Nashville Barrel Company, or Buffalo Trace, it’s not just about picking a bottle. It’s about understanding the craft, developing a palate, and sharing a moment that might never happen again.

The Real Value of a Private Barrel

For many people new to bourbon, the term “private barrel” can be confusing. Isn’t it just a fancy version of what’s already on the shelf?

Not quite.

Large distilleries like Buffalo Trace, Heaven Hill, and Wild Turkey produce millions of bottles a year. Their core products are blends, crafted to maintain consistent flavor profiles year after year. A bottle of Blanton’s from 2023 should taste nearly identical to one from 2021. That’s by design.

Private barrels, on the other hand, offer something unique: a single barrel selected for its distinctive character. Age, barrel location in the rickhouse, proof, grain variance, and warehouse climate all contribute to a flavor profile that’s unlike anything else. When a group like JS selects a barrel, they’re handpicking an expression that stands apart from the standard.

And these barrels aren’t just about taste, they’re about story. You know where it was picked, who picked it, and why it stood out. You might even sign the barrel or take home a stave from it. Every bottle carries a memory.

Northwest Arkansas: A Bourbon Destination in the Making?

What’s happening in Bentonville isn’t isolated. Across Northwest Arkansas, bourbon is becoming a common thread among entrepreneurs, business leaders, and community builders. Events like Gentsgiving, an annual charity auction and gathering, highlight just how integrated bourbon has become into the social and philanthropic fabric of the area.

And as people like Mike and JS continue to create spaces that blend quality with connection, it’s not hard to imagine Bentonville developing into a true bourbon destination, not because it’s home to a major distillery, but because it’s home to a culture that honors the craft.

Whether it's tasting a Michter’s 25-year in a private speakeasy or selecting a rare Weller barrel with friends, the bourbon scene here is redefining what it means to enjoy whiskey. It’s not about ego or exclusivity. It’s about access, education, and above all, community.

Final Thoughts

The rise of Bentonville’s bourbon scene is a case study in what happens when passion meets purpose. With figures like Mike Hodges curating one-of-a-kind speakeasy experiences and JS Bull building an inclusive yet elite bourbon club, the culture forming here isn’t just about bottles; it’s about belonging.

And that, perhaps more than any rare pour or perfectly aged barrel, is what makes this movement special. In a town best known for commerce, it turns out that community, camaraderie, and a little Kentucky spirit are building something even more meaningful, one bottle at a time.