DC alcohol board orders ‘show cause’ hearing in Justins’ House of Bourbon case

Janet Patton

Justins’ House of Bourbon has been ordered to appear at a “show cause” hearing in Washington, D.C., over potential violations stemming from the January raid that found hundreds of potentially illegally transported bottles of bourbon.

The D.C. Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Board on Feb. 8 ordered the “show cause” hearing regarding Justins’ House of Bourbon after a closed meeting to review the results of a months-long investigation involving D.C., Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Texas and federal alcohol regulators.

The investigation is ongoing. No charges have been filed. Justins’ House of Bourbon remains open and licensed in Kentucky.

The case file has been forwarded to the D.C. Attorney General’s office to prepare a charging document listing potential administrative violations. The licensee must appear to “show cause” for why they should not be found liable for the violations.

A date has not yet been set for the hearing, according to ABRA. The hearing date will be set once the charging document is received by the agency.

Justins’ House of Bourbon is owned by and licensed to Justin Thompson, Justin Sloan and Phillip Lee Greer.

Justin Thompson, left and Justin Sloan, right, in the vintage bourbon room at their Justins’ House of Bourbon at the corner of Jefferson and West Main streets. Many of the bottles came from their personal collections.
Justin Thompson, left and Justin Sloan, right, in the vintage bourbon room at their Justins’ House of Bourbon at the corner of Jefferson and West Main streets. Many of the bottles came from their personal collections.

Tom Bullock, attorney for Justins’ House of Bourbon, declined to comment Thursday on the show cause order.

The case file prepared in advance of the ABRA alcohol board hearing listed 11 potential violations including illegally transporting alcohol into the District of Columbia and “unlawfully obtain(ing) product from outside of the United States with illegally altered labels, that were not approved by the federal government.”

When investigators raided the Justins’ House of Bourbon warehouse in Washington, D.C., they “voluntarily detained” hundreds of bottles of Blanton’s and other bourbon pending further investigation.
When investigators raided the Justins’ House of Bourbon warehouse in Washington, D.C., they “voluntarily detained” hundreds of bottles of Blanton’s and other bourbon pending further investigation.

In the Jan. 17 raids of the D.C., Lexington and Louisville operations of Justins’ House of Bourbon, numerous bottles of bourbon and other items were seized.

In D.C., hundreds of bottles of Blanton’s and Weller bourbons, were placed under “voluntary detention” by federal alcohol authorities.

According to the case report, investigators found that Justins’ was improperly importing hundreds of bottles of Blanton’s from the Netherlands. Investigators also said that they could not find any licensing for a Pennsylvania company called Starr Liquidation from which Justins’ allegedly bought 600 bottles of Weller bourbon.

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