Jesse and Bob Prust meet for a catch-up lunch at Forrest Fire BBQ in Coligny Plaza.
Life comes at you quickly sometimes. The next thing you know, it’s been two years plus since you sat down for lunch with an old pal. He may have recently retired, but I’m more than certain that Bob Prust would not appreciate being labeled “old.”
To be honest, I’m not exactly certain if Bob falls into “retirement age” category. What is it? 65? I doubt he is, in fact.
What I do know is that Bob has earned the right to do whatever he wants to do. So, that’s exactly what he is doing—largely, nothing—and clearly loving every minute of it.
The island knows Bob (Uncle Bobby to some) as the owner of Hilton Head Wine & Spirits in the Plaza at Shelter Cove—a beautiful wine and liquor shop perfectly situated mid-island.
I met Bob many years ago at a wine festival in Harbour Town. We swapped business cards, and that was that. Probably more than a year later, I called on him to inquire about advertising on our television show. Apparently, I had him at hello. For the next 10 or so years, he was a client, until he retired. Thankfully, he has remained a friend.
“Mid 2020, Jane (his wife) suggested we go look at some property in the upstate and consider slowing down,” Bob told me recently during lunch on the island. “When we went up to look around and I saw some of the prices, that’s when I started waving my check book around. Then, when I saw what we could get for our house in Rose Hill, it all added up.”
Bob kept an apartment on the island. The plan wasn’t to just up and leave. Once he found himself spending much more of his time at the lake house, then it became a no-brainer.
“I turned the keys over to my long-time manager Dianne and headed for the hills. She’s done an amazing job,” he said.
Involved? “Sure, I stay involved. I can see any one of a dozen cameras from there, and I can pull up any report I want,” Bob said.
That’s the fine print. The fun part is the way he continues to “keep his hands dirty,” if you will. Bob’s a bourbon drinker. So much so, on occasion, he and his buddies have made their way up to Kentucky for some tours of the bourbon trail. For almost a decade, that passion has extended to the shop, where it is not uncommon to find them on a regular weeknight (after closing hours, of course) participating in an exercise to find the perfect bourbon blend.
The privilege of blending your own bourbon comes with the commitment to buying an entire barrel from the distillery. At $7,000-$10,000 a pop, depending, that is a significant commitment.
When the product is aged and ready, you get an entire barrel’s worth of bottles to sell in the shop. They are very clearly special edition, and they sell out pretty much every time. In May, they took delivery on barrel number 35, aged over the last eight years. That’s commitment alright.
A few years ago, Bob invited me to watch and participate in one of these blending sessions: 12-year-old Whistle Pig. It was fascinating to say the least, especially knowing that whatever we decided upon would be made into an entire barrel.
Each finished product is different, of course, with perfection most times remaining elusive. No matter, it’s the process that Bob still finds engaging. Engaging enough to help keep one foot on the island (he still comes down once a month) and one foot in the hills, which he is clearly enjoying more than he could have imagined at this point.
“No” is the flat answer when I ask if he is a golfer. “I do have a pedal kayak I take out on the lake to fish, mostly in the spring. It’s a little hot out there right now,” he said.
Almost as hot as the shop, which now, 20 plus years after he bought it, is still showing growth.
“We worked hard to continue that shop’s success when I bought it. We’ve been able to do very well. I’m grateful,” Bob said.
It’s hard not to be when your business is 4.5 hours away, in very good hands, and the view out the window is moonlight off a mountain lake with a splash of bourbon undoubtedly nearby.
We should all be so lucky.
