Craving a cool and covert community that shares your love of bourbon? Look no further than the connoisseurs of the spirit who have a heart as golden as the rye whiskey they’re sipping.
Denver-native, Benjamin Rosen, grew up around whiskey-filled glasses at family gatherings where the older men, aptly named the “Crown Royal Club”, indulged in their drink of choice. He recalls a particular story when his great-grandfather famously said to his own father, “Rosen men don’t drink gin & tonic, we drink whiskey.” The spirit was as much a part of their legacy as the multi-generational and family-run scrap-metal business was. Rosen would join the company to work alongside his father and three siblings while also pursuing his affinity for whiskey. Starting with a collection of rare Japanese whiskey bottles would eventually evolve into Rosen's hobby-turned-charity, the Colorado Bourbon and Rye Collectors (CBRC).
What began as a Facebook group of around 75 whiskey-lovers gushing over their favorite batches, became a nearly 1,000-member community when Rosen took over in 2017, realizing there was something more to unbottle here.
“There are a lot of people in our area who are searching for the finer things in life. When they think of bourbon, they think of Pappy Van Winkle and a 25 Year Old Macallan,” says Rosen. “Those products are great, but we want to help people curate their own rare collections.”
CBRC (CBRCWhiskey.com) connects Colorado locals to the organization’s custom distillery releases along with private tastings hosted by reps from national brands, and charity events aimed at pouring their financial gains back into local organizations who need it the most. The group's paying members, currently only a handful of people, have access to limited bottlings, like their debut partnership with Nashville’s Belle Meade, where Rosen chose his favorite barrel selection, which was then bottled and branded exclusively for CBRC. When sourcing bourbon, he looks for something funky and fun, while putting an emphasis on working with Colorado distilleries, including Old Elk from Fort Collins and Mythology Distillery in Denver. Rosen has loved watching people’s attitudes as collectors shift: the idea of making memories over a spirit rather than watching bottles collect dust on the mantle.
His vision to expand the mission of the group had him thinking, “we can’t just be a group of people who sit around and drink and talk about whiskey.”
So, when a member opened up about a heart issue her daughter was born with, they began a fundraiser for the Colorado division of the Pediatric Congenital Heart Association and raffled bottles to one another, raising around $2,000. Last Memorial Day was their first charity event, where they raised nearly $25,000. In addition, for every bottle sold (between three and fifteen dollars, per bottle) they donate to charities chosen by the collective, like Children’s Hospital of Colorado. To date, they have raised around $90,000. Rosen’s next move is to buy sourced whiskey, age it in barrels here in Denver and bottle it with their own CBRC private label—refining his passion into philanthropy.
When Rosen isn’t helping run the family business or seeking new charity recipients, his favorite bourbon to sip is a Wild Turkey 8 year old 101 proof, that he describes as “sweet black cherry heaven.” Cheers!
Sidebar: Cause for Change
Recently, Sam Barotz, a board member of CBRC, responded to the tragic events following the death of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement by purchasing $1,500 in gift cards from Denver’s African American-owned bars and restaurants, like NOLA Voodoo Tavern and Wittier Cafe coffee shop, to be raffled off to CBRC members.