Membership Frequently Asked Questions

What is Patreon?

Our SLBS Membership community is the best way to enhance your bourbon experience and connect with fellow bourbon lovers in St. Louis. SLBS Membership is organized by Patreon which is short for Patronage, Patreon is an online membership platform that allows individuals to help financially support the work of the Bourbon Society and receive some really cool benefits, products and exclusive experiences along the way. You can sign up monthly or yearly (which includes one month free), and there are no associated contracts allowing you to cancel at anytime if it isn't for you.

What are the Benefits?

We currently offer 4 different benefit levels within the St. Louis Bourbon Society Membership community: STL, Single Barrel, Barrel Proof and Distillery Experience (Same Tier) levels. In short, all tiers receive welcome gifts (based on tier) and exclusive access to local classes, blind tastings, happy hours and plenty of other events. SLBS members also receive tiered access to participate in our private barrel selections, early access to event tickets and early access to barrel select releases. More information on the four tiers, and the benefits provided by each can be found here. All tiers are subject to availability.

Those Benefits sound great, can you tell me more?

Absolutely! We are so glad you theoretically asked! Here are some things our Membership community has done since its inception in January of 2020

Barrel Picks of New Riff, Old Elk , Ezra Brooks, Rebel, Woodford Reserve, Woodford Double Oaked, Larceny, Knob Creek, Wilderness Trail, Whistle Pig, Bulleit, George Remus, Buffalo Trace, Old Pepper, Maker's Mark, Starlight, Hard Truth, Penelope, Bulleit, Yellowstone and more!
Double blind tastings, and educational events with bourbon legends like Freddie Johnson, Freddie Noe, Andrea Wilson and Dan McKee from Michter's, Greg Metze from Old Elk, Chris Morris from Woodford Reserve, Brent Elliott from Four Roses, Danny Kahn from Bartons, Jackie Zykan from Old Forester, Steve Nally from Bardstown Bourbon Kentucky, Colby Frey from Frey Ranch and Bill Samuels Jr. from Maker's Mark just to name a few!
Annual Bottle share events at Tower Grove Park and Pere Marquette Lodge in Illinois.
Over a dozen bottle giveaways.
And more events are constantly being added each year, with over 35 barrel picks slated for 2022!

How does the Tier System work for SLBS Barrel Picks and Group Events?

Barrel Picks: We offer Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 access to barrel picks depending on your membership level. The way this works is as follows:

Tier one members are invited based on how long they have been a member and when their last pick was. When you do a barrel pick, we note that and send you to the end of the Tier 1 line. This helps to ensure everyone has a chance to participate, but also ensures someone who signed up last week isn't picking over someone who has been a member for 4 months and never gotten to be on a barrel pick team.
Once tier one members are contacted, if spots still remain Tier 2 members are contacted. This follows the same logic as tier one where those who have been members the longest without doing a pick are contacted first.
Once all tier 1 and tier 2 members are contacted, Tier 3 members are contacted if spots still remain following the same logic as tier one and tier two.

SLBS Events are handled in much the same way, but are not determined by how long you have been a member of any particular level. When event tickets go on sale, they are released to Tier 1, followed by Tier 2 and then finally Tier 3. For most events each tier has a 24 hour window to purchase tickets before they are released to the next tier. If tickets still remain after our entire membership has had a chance to purchase, some events may be offered to our public group. Most often though, tickets sell out before leaving our membership community.

Where does my money go?

The money from group membership is reinvested into the group to fund things like sample bottles, packaging/labeling for tasting kits, merchandise, web hosting, private group happy hours, private barrel picks and other SLBS hosted events and giveaways.

How can I sign up or find out more?

If you have additional questions that aren't answered here, feel free to email us at admins@stlbourbonsociety.com. To sign up, go to https://patreon.com/stlbourbon