Most guys can remember the exact moment baseball got its hooks in them. For Matt Lurin, it happened in Cooperstown when he was twelve years old, standing in front of a display case at the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Something didn’t look right about the mitt tagged to a 1920s ballplayer. The stitching, the padding, the wear pattern – it just didn’t match the era. The kid raised a fuss. Museum staff listened. Turns out the glove actually belonged to the same player decades later, when he was coaching in the 1950s. Because one sharp-eyed boy wouldn’t let it slide, the Hall of Fame fixed the record and sent young Matt Lurin a letter: he had just become the youngest fan ever officially recognized by Cooperstown.
Fast-forward a few decades. That same kid – now Dr. Matt Lurin – has traded scorecards for tasting glasses, but the same obsession with getting the details exactly right still drives him. This time it’s driving a brand-new bourbon called Matt’s Mitt, a six-year-old heavy-rye straight bourbon that just hit shelves from Proof and Wood Ventures.
The whiskey itself is built like an old-school ballplayer: 60% corn, 36% rye, and 4% barley, bottled at a solid 105 proof. Six years in the barrel gave it real depth – think caramel and baking spice up front, then a big rye punch that hangs around like a late-inning rally. At $59.99 suggested retail, it’s priced where a working man can grab a bottle without taking out a second mortgage, yet it drinks like something that costs a lot more.
But here’s what separates this bottle from everything else on the shelf: every single penny of profit from Matt’s Mitt goes straight to fighting cancer.
Lurin started the Water of Life Charity Event years ago because cancer had already taken too many people he cared about. Twice a year he throws two of the best whiskey parties on the planet. The Spring event is big and rowdy. The Fall version – nicknamed The WOLF – is the one serious collectors circle on their calendars. This Thursday’s WOLF starts at Keen’s Steakhouse with ridiculous food, moves to The Carnegie Club for cigars and conversation, and features tables staffed by the actual people who make the world’s rarest whiskies. Bottles show up that you normally only read about. All the money raised goes to The Life Raft Group and their work on GIST cancer research.
“When I was younger, I loved baseball — my friends and I could recite every stat on the backs of the cards,” Dr. Lurin said. “As I grew older, my passion for whiskey grew just as strong. Now my newest and perhaps greatest passion is giving back. Being able to combine all three — to celebrate baseball, savor whiskey, and support a worthy cause — is a true blessing, and I’m thrilled that Matt’s Mitt can make a meaningful difference in the fight against cancer.”
Dave Schmier, the man behind Proof and Wood Ventures, has been putting out small-batch gems for years – Deadwood Bourbon, Tumblin’ Dice, The Funk rum – always with an eye toward transparency and flavor above all else. When Lurin walked in with the idea of a charity bourbon built around that childhood Hall of Fame story, Schmier didn’t hesitate.
“Matt’s Mitt is about character,” Schmier said. “Matt’s story reminds us that passion, knowledge, and integrity define greatness—whether in baseball or whiskey. This bourbon celebrates that spirit.”
Walk into any good liquor store right now and you’ll spot the bottle immediately. The label looks like it could have come straight out of a 1950s scoreboard – cream stock, red stitching graphic running up the side, simple block lettering that doesn’t try too hard. Turn it around and there’s the story of the twelve-year-old who corrected Cooperstown, printed right on the back label. It’s the kind of bottle you buy one to drink and one to keep, because ten or twenty years from now your kids are going to want to hear that story again.
Proof and Wood didn’t cut any corners on the juice either. They dug through rickhouses to find barrels that matched exactly what they wanted: big rye spice balanced with enough corn sweetness to keep it approachable, then proofed it down to 105 so it stands up whether you drink it neat, over one big rock, or in an old fashioned on a Saturday afternoon with the game on.
In a world full of celebrity “household name” bourbons that taste like the marketing budget was bigger than the aging program, Matt’s Mitt feels like the real deal – because it is. A kid who loved the game enough to speak up when something was wrong grew into a man who loves whiskey enough to make something honest, and loves his fellow man enough to give every dime of profit away.
So the next time you’re staring at the bourbon aisle trying to decide what to bring to the buddy’s house for the playoffs, or what to pour when the fire’s going and the snow’s coming down, consider this: there’s now a bottle that lets you enjoy a damn fine Kentucky straight bourbon and swing for a bigger cause at the same time.
One kid. One glove. One hell of a good whiskey that actually does some good.
Raise a glass to that.
