‘It Was Definitely a Surgical Strike’: Thief Breaks Into Louisville Karaoke Bar, Steals Thousands of Dollars of Bourbon

Brown-Forman’s King of Kentucky was one of the expensive bottlings stolen from NoraeBar in Louisville, Kentucky.

With Louisville revving up for the Kentucky Derby, it’s an exciting time for the city, fans of horse-racing and bourbon enthusiasts. For a popular karaoke bar in the city, however, it hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows.

Last weekend, an intruder broke into NoraeBar in the NuLu neighborhood of Louisville. The intruder stole some very valuable bottles of bourbon worth an estimated $3,000, security footage revealed.

“It was definitely a surgical strike,” Matthew Farley, the owner of the bar, told WLKY News. “It looks like they got something in through our front doors and were able to pop those panic doors open from the outside.”

A surveillance camera showed a man come to the bar at around 3 a.m. He surveyed the bar before stealing the expensive bottles of bourbon.

“He had very good taste. He stole a bottle of something called King of Kentucky. The street value is probably about $1,600 on that bottle,” Farley said, per WLKY News. “He stole something called Van Winkle 12-year, a very famous name, of course. I’d say that’s probably worth $700 to $800 or greater.”

King of Kentucky is an annual release from Brown-Forman, which owns sizable whiskey brands including Jack Daniel’s, Woodford Reserve and Old Forester. King of Kentucky retails for about $250. Because so few bottles are sold, however, the resell value of the bottles is exponentially higher. It can often eclipse Farley’s estimate of $1,600 and sell for as high as $5,000, depending on the year of the release.

Old Rip Van Winkle 12 Year, meanwhile, retails for $79.99 but resells for an average price of $1,408, according to Wine-Searcher.

The man also stole a cash drawer, but Farley said it was empty, as he never leaves money overnight.

“Despite this incident, this is an incredible neighborhood to work in,” Farley said about NuLu. “This is my favorite neighborhood to operate in in the area. I’m in no way discouraged by this. It’s the best place to be.”

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