My first Blanton’s bourbon was in Georgetown at the end of a long day of touring by foot and then a longer night of bar hopping. My young companion, the son of an executive, had very sore feet and said he wanted the horse stopper. I asked the bartender if we could get the stopper. She asked the manager who said the bottle wasn’t empty. I made a quick visual calculation, gambled, and asked her to pour out the remaining shots in a line.

As the filled shot glasses grew, I realized I may have underestimated the remaining contents of the spherical bottle, but with it empty and with a nod from her manager, the bartender handed me the stopper. I presented the horse and jockey to my pleased companion. We then worked the line, closed the bar, hopped in a taxi, and retired for what was left of the night.

As I write this, I am finishing off my second bottle of Blanton’s awarded for payment in full of services rendered to a local publishing company. I am now starting my own horse and jockey collection.

The barrels are dumped by hand without using machinery. There are eight different stopper designs, each with a different letter of the alphabet molded into it and topped with a figurine of a racehorse and jockey. When placed in order, spelling “B L A N T O N’ S”, the horse and jockey’s poses display eight different scenes of a horse race, from standing at the gate, to crossing the finish line with a win.