Netflix Docu-series To Feature Kentucky's 'Pappygate' Bourbon Heist

A new documentary series on Netflix will spotlight Kentucky's infamous bourbon heist known as "Pappygate."

“It was probably a once in a lifetime case,” former Franklin County Sheriff Pat Melton told WKYT.

Pappygate is one of three cases that will be featured on the show Heist. The episode titled "The Bourbon King" will include interviews and reenactments from Melton and the man behind the bourbon theft ring, Gilbert “Toby” Curtsinger.

"Think about it. If you had an opportunity to steal if you worked in a bank with a vault wide open and nobody seeing you, are you going to do it?" Curtsinger says in the trailer for Heist.

Curtsinger made international headlines when he managed to smuggle out $100,000 worth of Pappy Van Winkle bourbon and other pricey barrels of bourbon when he worked at the Buffalo Trace Distillery in the early 2010s.

Franklin County's investigation into Curtsinger revealed a bootleg ring that involved friends from his recreational softball team reselling the premium liquor.

“Once this thing broke, we started getting more and more and we went to a white board and we had a team meeting,” Melton said. “We started drawing it and connecting the lines and all of the sudden you had engaging in organized crime.”

Curtsinger was found guilty of leading the bootleg ring in 2018 and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He was released on shock probation after 30 days behind bars.

The other two stories that will be featured on Heist are "The Money Plane" and "Sex Magick Money Murder," which is about a female-led robbery. Heist will be released on July 14.