Louisville basketball legend Russ Smith diving into another local passion: Kentucky bourbon

Fred Minnick knew Russ Smith the way most everyone knows him.

As a former Louisville basketball star. As a local legend. As a larger-than-life personality.

What Minnick didn’t know, until the time a couple of years ago that he sat sipping with Smith, is that the former Cardinal is a sort of kindred spirit of spirits, a baller with a taste for — and genuine curiosity about — bourbon.

“We were going back and forth over some tasting notes,” said Minnick, a bestselling author who curates, tastes and writes about bourbon. “He’s got a good palate.”

Minnick didn’t know then that Smith would go on to launch his own private-label line, Mr. & Mrs. bourbon. But he’s not entirely surprised.

“I don’t think we’re looking at somebody who is trying to cash in on the bourbon boom because he has a name and a market,” Minnick said "I think you have someone who’s legitimately passionate about the category and wanted to get into it.”

At halftime of Saturday’s Notre Dame game at the KFC Yum! Center, Louisville will retire Smith’s No. 2 jersey, a reminder of the eight-year gap since he last played for the Cardinals. Though his professional career continues with the NBA G League’s Fort Wayne Mad Ants, it’s closer to the end than the start.

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But in the state where Smith made his name, basketball isn’t the only passion.

And one potential future for Smith lies in the bourbon business.

He’s off to a good start with Mr. & Mrs., which Smith said has done robust sales so far. The $40 blue-label and $55 green-label varieties were available this week around Louisville, as were scattered bottles of the $199 Gold Standard, aged 12 years and finished in a cabernet sauvignon cask.

Smith can’t tell all about the process of building a bourbon brand. It’s unclear what distillery — or distilleries — produced his juice, and he said he has a non-disclosure agreement that prohibits him from revealing some details.

But he did his homework.

Jonathan Blue, the former U of L trustee whose Blue Equity owns Liquor Barn and Party Mart — and whose home served as the setting for Minnick’s poolside sips with Smith — helped Smith start on the path to building his signature spirit.

Blue introduced him to experts like Minnick and Kevin Curtis of Angel’s Envy and took Smith to a tasting at Four Roses in January of 2019 that further sparked Smith’s interest.

While Blue helped start Smith down that road, Russ has been steering since.

“I’ve got to give him credit. He worked very hard, interviewed a bunch of distilleries,” Blue said. “I took him to some to start, and he literally picked the ball up himself and did it all by himself, started calling people and went and tasted and interviewed and became almost an aficionado.”

Since those early days, Smith’s notoriety has helped Mr. & Mrs. build some buzz.

Smith sent a bottle to Rick Pitino, his coach at Louisville, who tweeted that “I don’t normally drink bourbon but this is really good!” Former teammate Luke Hancock, a financial adviser and ACC Network TV analyst, said he’s bought “about 15 bottles,” some to pass out to friends and clients and others to keep for himself.

Smith will “always be loved in Louisville,” Hancock said, suggesting the former Cardinal’s standing in the city means some bourbon buyers would sooner have a bottle of Mr. & Mrs. than a 23-year-old Pappy Van Winkle.

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But the novelty wears off, and Minnick said the key is not the face on the bottle, but the bourbon inside it.

“In terms of how he’ll be judged, it’s like any celebrity,” Minnick said. “That notoriety will get you one bottle sell. The whiskey gets you everything after that. So you judge a brand like this based on the second bottle sell, not necessarily that first one.”

Minnick has a sample of Mr. & Mrs. but said he hasn’t tried it yet. A review at TheBourbonRoad.com of the 110-proof green label variety cited a nose of “jalapeño and honeysuckle with spice and vanilla” and “root beer candy with hints of oak,” and said that on the sip, “the pepper spice hits you right up front.”

The ruling: “Glad we took a chance on this bottle.”

Lots of Louisville fans have and will. Smith’s face on the label guarantees that. But he’s seeking sales to more than memorabilia buyers, stressing that “we need the people to start drinking it more so than collecting it.”

“Drink the juice,” Smith said emphatically. “Like with people who have nice sneakers: Wear the shoes.”

The jury’s out on the whether the brand has staying power. But Minnick said Smith is “in the higher echelon” of genuine bourbon interest among the celebrities he’s met. And Blue has been stuck by just how committed Smith has become, how much time and effort he’s invested on his own.

“(Bourbon is) our Napa Valley,” Blue said. “To see a local guy get behind it and be successful is a great feeling.”

And so while Louisville on Saturday will salute Smith’s previous accomplishments in the sport this city loves, he might well have a future with the spirit it savors.

Hancock will miss the jersey retirement ceremony. He had a trip previously planned. But Smith’s old teammate has an idea of how to pay tribute when he gets back to the Yum! Center.

“I’m going to be celebrating that jersey forever,” Hancock said. “Next time I’m in there, I might try to sneak me a little Russdiculous bourbon up there to toast him.”

Courier Journal columnist Tim Sullivan contributed to this story.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville basketball legend Russ Smith trying his hand at bourbon