Florida Veteran Buys Bottle of Bourbon for $40,000 to Help Keep Restaurant Chain Afloat

Since being forced to close down their eateries due to the coronavirus pandemic, Datz Restaurant Group in Tampa, Florida, has gone from 400 employees to 27. Hoping to stay afloat, owners Suzanne and Roger Perry decided to sell a 25-year-old bottle of Old Rip Van Winkle bourbon that they had in their inventory for $20,000.

In response, a military veteran and local philanthropist who wishes to remain anonymous presented them with a check for $40,000 in exchange for the rare bottle of booze. “I was so moved by that,” Suzanne Perry tells CNN. “It was really touching that someone would reach so far into their own pocket to help us survive this…What he has done for me is going to come back to him a hundred times.”