Interesting people, somewhere interesting.

You've been in rooms you paid to be in.

You know the ones. Everybody has a badge and a reason to be talking to you. You walk in with a mask on, because the guy on your left wants your contact information and the guy on your right wants to sell you something, and you can't tell which is which. One of our members, a technology consultant who has spent thirty years in rooms like that, describes it exactly that way.

Then he describes the Society: “In the Society, I've watched exactly one person attempt a direct pitch at a gathering. They were shut down right away.”

That is the whole idea. Put accomplished, curious people somewhere worth going, hand them something worth sharing, and get out of the way. No forums. No hot seats. No index card with your biggest challenge on it. What happens between the people is up to the people, and it turns out that when nobody is trying to manufacture an outcome, the outcomes get interesting.

“It was just two people trying to get to know each other. Neither one was trying to sell anything.”

You've chased bottles. This one has never been for sale.

The Difference® was blended for the Society by Roy Milner, co-founder of Blackberry Farm Brewery and our Master Blender, from some of the rarest barrels in Kentucky. The debut expression, The Foundation, took Double Gold at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition and Best of Class in Los Angeles. You will not find it at retail. You will not find it at auction or on the secondary market. It has never been sold to anyone, at any price, and it never will be. A new chapter ships to members every quarter. A few expressions are blended for a single Social, poured in that room first, and then one bottle goes to every member. That is the entire distribution.

Every expression is blended once and never repeated. When it's gone, it's gone. The members who were there have it. Nobody else ever will.

One of our earliest members describes the second expression, The Multiplier, as “a party in your mouth.” A CFO who prices everything tried to put a number on a bottle, then admitted the number missed the point: “They can't find it anywhere.” That's what a member is holding when he pours for a friend. Not a rare bourbon. Proof of a room.

The only way to the glass is to be in the room.

Every expression so far.

Two kinds. Quarterly releases ship to members as a case, blended once and never repeated, each one a numbered chapter. Social exclusives are poured in one room, on one night. Every member receives a single bottle.

If you were in the room, you tasted it first. If you weren't, one bottle is coming with a story you'll have to ask about.

The experience is the meeting.

Two Socials a year, each in a new city, each with an Adventure built around it. Last fall it was Louisville: a day through bourbon country with a group of members, ending at The Last Refuge, a room with bourbon stacked three and four stories high. Mark, who has run a company for decades and is not easily impressed, sat down and stopped talking for a minute. “Not many people in the world get to experience something this nice with this group of people.” He got, by his own account, a little choked up.

Between Socials there are Expeditions abroad. This year's is tequila in Mexico. Members who go, go because they want to. Nobody is keeping attendance.

Next up: Austin, October. Apply now and your interview happens before the room fills.

None of this was planned. All of it happened.

Three members. Three things that happened because the right people were in the same room with nothing to sell each other.

We didn't arrange any of it. We put the right people in the right room and got out of the way. The full stories are in the Bourbon Brief, the members' quarterly magazine.

Co-founded by Chris Voss.

Chris Voss spent 24 years with the FBI, led its international kidnapping negotiations, and wrote Never Split the Difference. He co-founded the Society on a conviction he's spent a career proving: the thing every deal is actually made of is trust, and trust gets built shoulder to shoulder, not across a conference table. He hosts the Socials. You'll be at his table.

Nick Nanton, co-founder, is a 24-time Emmy Award winning documentary director. Roy Milner, co-founder and Master Blender, has spent 25 years in the beverage industry and co-founded Blackberry Farm Brewery and Art of Alchemy Spirits.

Two of the three members above said the same thing about why they applied. “And then with Chris Voss, I was in.”

A seat in the room.

Membership is a monthly due, month to month. No annual contract, and no reason to stay except wanting to be in the room.

• Two Socials a year, included, each in a new city with an Adventure to match. Austin is next.
• A case of six bottles of The Difference every quarter: this quarter's expression, blended once and never again.
• Adventures and Expeditions throughout the year, open to members, priced per trip.
• The Bourbon Brief, the members' magazine, every quarter.
• A 25-minute conversation with our Membership Director before any of it, because the room is the product and we protect it.

Month to month is on purpose. A room people can leave any time has to be worth staying in, and that keeps us honest about who we admit and what we build. Nobody is here because a contract says so. Mike will walk you through the dues on your call.

For members who give bourbon away.

Some members hand bourbon to people the way other people hand out business cards, except nobody throws it away. For them there is a Gifting Allocation: more of The Difference each quarter, including Shareables®, a 200ml bottle sized for handing to someone who matters. Mike will ask whether it's for you.

Three steps. About a week. Austin is next month.

1. 01

   Apply.

   Nine questions, five minutes. Two of them matter more than the rest.

2. 02

   Talk with Mike.

   Our Membership Director, 25 minutes. He's deciding whether you'd enjoy the room and whether the room would enjoy you, and he usually knows quickly. If the answer is yes, he'll tell you on the call and invite you to join. If it's no, he'll tell you that too. He says no more often than you'd think.

3. 03

   Say yes, or don't.

   If you're in, your first case ships with the next release and your invitation to Austin follows.

This isn't for everyone. That's deliberate.

If you want a mastermind, there are extraordinary masterminds. If you want coaching, or a room that will critique your portfolio, there are extraordinary options for both, and we'll happily point you to them. If you don't much care for bourbon, this may not be the one for you, and there's no shame in that.

The Society is for accomplished, curious people who enjoy being around other accomplished, curious people, who'd rather spend a day in Louisville than a day in a conference room, and who understand why a bourbon that has never been sold is worth more than one that has. If that's you, we'd like to meet you. Mike would like to meet you first.

See the room for yourself.

Interesting people, somewhere interesting.

“You just have to come and experience it.” Charlyne, one of the first six members, when asked to describe the room to someone who's never been in one.

Every member is interviewed. Nobody buys their way in. Month to month. Austin, October.