The story of Kentucky bourbon will likely always be dominated with household names the likes of Jim Beam, Buffalo Trace and Wild Turkey, among others. When you look beyond these distilleries though you see an up and coming Kentucky craft movement producing some American whiskey of their own. One of the latest of these is Dueling Grounds Distillery, founded in 2014, and its new Linkumpinch Bourbon. Dueling Grounds...

The Ragged Branch Distillery is a whiskey making operation housed on a farm in a rural part of Virginia. This farm is owned by one Alex Toomy, who founded the distillery alongside co-owners Russell Nance and Chris Sarpy. It is from this farm distillery they’ve drawn together most of the ingredients needed for their new high wheat bourbon, which is now coming to market. The Ragged Branch Wheated Straight Virginia Bourbon,...

Today, the Kilbeggan Distilling Company celebrates the limited-edition release of Kilbeggan® Small Batch Rye, the only modern Irish whiskey of record to feature such a high quantity of rye within its mash. It is the first whiskey 100% distilled and matured at the Kilbeggan Distillery to be released since its restoration was completed in 2010. Each bottle is a testament to the spirit of the Kilbeggan community, whose...

The dishes are done, the kids are in their beds. It’s time to punctuate the day. If you’re like us, you want to treat yourself to a nice glass of whiskey. No ice, please. Maybe a few drops of water, but it’s nice to let the beautiful dram roll around the palate as you contemplate where this day has lead you and what you hope tomorrow will bring. If that’s your style (or you know someone who might appreciate a glass), here...

You probably know LongHorn Steakhouse as the casual meat-centric chain with almost 500 locations. No matter where you live, the odds are there’s a LongHorn with its cuts of beef, ribs, seafood, and other favorites within driving distance. The chain is extremely popular and has been around since the early ’80s. A LongHorn’s server might tell you that bourbon pairs extremely well with steak, but the chain has never had its...

The Chicken Cock Whiskey label, as we highlighted last year, has a long and storied history tied to Kentucky and the whiskey scene there. This effectively ended in the 1950s, when a distillery fire pretty much snuffed out the brand until it was acquired by Grain & Barrel Spirits in 2013. They began releasing bottles under the brand, albeit sourced from Indiana. Now, in a return of sorts to its Kentucky roots, Chicken Cock...

The weather is finally starting to turn cold, which means it’s almost stout season. Here in Chicago, we’re going on 20 years of Goose Island’s annual release of Bourbon County Brand Stout (BCBS). Expect an in-depth review as we get closer to the Black Friday release. For now, however, here’s a sneak peek from last week’s media tasting at the Clybourn Brewhouse...

1910 Old Fine Whiskey takes inspiration from a moment in 1910 when a fire caused the bottling line to be shut down for an indefinite period of time. At the time, there was a vat of mature whiskey waiting to be bottled, which was then stored in new, charred oak containers to rest until the line was fixed. The resulting expression was the “first-documented” double-barrelled whiskey. 1910 Old Fine Whiskey pays homage to this...

Drinks group International Beverage Holdings – the international arm of ThaiBev – unveiled the global reveal of the new Old Pulteney travel retail collection at the TFWA World Exhibition & Conference in Cannes, France last week. At a tasting event on the company’s stand, the three Old Pulteney expressions that form the reinvigorated travel retail collection were featured. The range consists of a 10yo, a 2006 Vintage, and a...

ANGEL'S ENVY®, the Louisville-based craft distiller that produces small batch, finished whiskeys including the highly celebrated ANGEL'S ENVY Kentucky straight bourbon finished in port barrels, today announced the launch of its consumer engagement platform, "500 Main." The membership-driven platform enables fans to engage more directly with ANGEL'S ENVY through a combination of on and offline experiences personalized to...

As bourbon continues to thrive in the markeplace, American whiskey fanaticism has spilled over into the mainstream thanks to social media. I mean, when did the Wall Street Journal start covering bourbon barrels? This has led to new consumers entering the bourbon fold and geeks becoming grumpy, mad about Pappy Van Winkle’s impossibility to find and disgusted with unsavory distillery marketing practices. They often lash out...

The annual fall release cycle of limited edition bourbons is in full swing right now, with most major American whiskey labels putting forth their collectible bottles. For the Angel’s Envy brand, this means it is time for the Cask Strength expression, a time honored offering now going on six years. The Angel’s Envy Cask 2018 Cask Strength bourbon, according to those behind it, is bottled at 124 proof, or 62% ABV. It is a...

So well-known that its label logo is instantly recognizable worldwide, and it goes simply by its first name, “Jack” is the most iconic American whiskey brand, period. In recent years, the 152-year old Tennessee distillery has added a few new varieties to its permanent collection, which I have covered here, including the Jack Daniel’s Rye rolled out in 2017 (a bargain!), and the more recent Bottled-in-Bond launched this...

In the early 1800s, Oscar Pepper (owner of Woodford County Distillery) and master distiller James Crow refined bourbon-making techniques such as sour mashing, copper pot distillation, yeast propagation, and the maturing of whiskey in charred oak casks. For the past 13 years, Kentucky–based distillery Woodford Reserve has honored that legacy with the limited-edition Master’s Collection bourbon series. For the first time ever...

The Limestone Branch Distillery in Kentucky, over the last several years, has gradually been making a transition from sourced whiskey to more of their own in-house distillate. A showcase for this changeover has been through the Yellowstone bourbons, of which in 2017 blended in some of their own aged spirit. Now, for 2018, they finish up the Yellowstone trilogy with a special cask finished bottling. The 2018 variety of...

Housed in a Baccarat crystal bottle, the Woodford Reserve Baccarat Edition is a travel retail exclusive and won’t go on sale in duty free stores until next May. “We are launching this luxury product in travel retail because sophisticated consumers are seeking premium brands, and Woodford Reserve leads the ultra-premium Bourbon category globally,” said Marshall Farrer, managing director of global retail travel for brand...

What were you doing twelve years ago? If you were a barrel of 2018 Old Forester Birthday Bourbon, you would be dreaming of the day that you would be part of the Oregon Liquor Control Commission's first-ever public drawing for rare and limited edition liquors. Or maybe not. We might never know what liquor dreams of, but one thing is certain: Beginning this Thursday, October 4 at 9:00 a.m., you begin your chance to own one of...

Shannon Ridge Family of Wines has announced the release of its 2016 Buck Shack Bourbon Barrel Cabernet Sauvignon. Grown in Lake County, the 100 percent Cabernet Sauvignon was first aged in traditional French and American oak barrels for 15 months, followed by three months in freshly emptied, or ‘wet’ Kentucky Bourbon barrels. The wine was then bottled in a clear Bourbon/Whiskey bottle and sealed with a custom made cork. "We...

Autumn means different things to different people but for bourbon lovers, it is time to get ready for the yearly release of Pappy Van Winkle. The ultra-rare bourbon comes from the "Old Rip Van Winkle Distillery" and is produced by Sazerac Company at its Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, Kentucky. The distillery releases around 7,000 cases - or some 84,000 bottles -each year and bourbon lovers have been known to camp...

Until recently, bourbon and coffee simply meant a shot poured in your java. Nowadays, with whiskey’s popularity, coffeemakers are creating bourbon-flavored and bourbon barrel-aged coffees. Much like flavored whiskey, flavor houses have engineered bourbon flavors that do not contain actual bourbon. You’ll find bourbon-flavored coffee next to the hazelnut and whipped cream flavors. But for the coffee purist, better bourbon...

New Belgium Brewing and Knob Creek Bourbon are proud to announce the launch of Oakspire Bourbon Barrel Ale, a 9 percent ABV, special collaboration featuring breakthrough technology to create an entirely new style of bourbon barrel ale. Bringing together Knob Creek and New Belgium’s shared passion for innovation and dedication to hard-earned flavor, Oakspire Bourbon Barrel Ale is a highly-drinkable bourbon-inspired ale which...

I like cookies. This is fact. I more than like whiskey. This is indisputably fact. Does it stand to reason, then, that I would like whiskey cookies? If you just smash together two good things, does it yield a great thing? That’s what this little taste test is about to find out, because whiskey cookies have been brought into the world and are available now, courtesy of the New Jersey-based company Bang Cookies. The online...

It’s official: after years of rumors that the powers that be would kill off everyone’s favorite Kentucky bourbon bargain, Heaven Hill 6-Year Bottled-in-Bond has been discontinued. Stock up now, everyone, because this will clear shelves faster than the dairy aisle during hurricane prep. In a statement passed around last night, Heaven Hill explained that, “with the support of our distributor partner in Kentucky, we made the...

A recent column I wrote chock full of fun bourbon facts for National Bourbon Heritage Month sparked some unexpected outcry. A couple of readers took issue with my anecdote about arguing with a chain restaurant bartender at a Dallas airport about the rules around bourbon. The bartender insisted that bourbon must be made in Kentucky or it cannot be called bourbon. I, knowing otherwise and being of a stubborn bent, tried to...

The Nelson brothers of Nelson’s Green Brier Distillery in Tennessee use the Belle Meade name on their sourced whiskies while their own whiskey matures, and this is a blend of six and nine-year-old Bourbons finished in Malmsey Madeira casks from Portugal. The nose has notes of peaches, apricots, crème brûlée, honey, and soft spices. The taste has a good balance of spices and fruits with hints of clove, allspice, peaches...

The second day of the Bourbon & Beyond festival at Champions Park in Louisville has been cancelled. In a news release Sunday morning, festival organizers said the city declared the festival site unsafe after heavy rainfall on Saturday. City officials said “persistent rain made it impossible to adequately prepare the grounds to hold a second consecutive festival day.” Danny Hayes, CEO of festival producers Danny Wimmer...

Friends, it was not a great day for an outdoor festival. I'd like to say that the rain that fell for hours at the Bourbon & Beyond fest created a bonding moment for the 30,000 in attendance, but mostly it was just cold and wet. Still there was a lot of fun stuff, from the music on three stages to the perfectly informal bourbon workshops to the dude wandering around in a Col. Sanders outfit. Here's a look at what you missed...

When Knob Creek launched in 1992, it was an anomaly. At the time, small-batch bourbon with a steep price tag was not a common sight. Since then, America has experienced a bourbon boom, with whiskey lovers willing to shell out serious cash for premium booze. Born in Kentucky and praised across the nation, Knob Creek continues to reign as a preferred small-batch whiskey (we’re partial to the single barrel). From its secret...

The Buffalo Trace Distillery again has released five limited edition whiskeys as part of their annual Antique Collection. Autumn is just around the corner and it's only a matter of time before the American tradition comes to the fore and the family-owned company based in Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky announces the whiskeys of its annual Antique Collection. Unfortunately, these selected and highly sought-after...

WOODFORD COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18) — After more than 40 years of abandonment, the Old Taylor Distillery is back open for business with a new name, Castle and Key. Wednesday marked the beginning of a new era by opening the gates to tours once again for the distillery originally built by Col. Edmond Haynes Taylor in 1887. Taylor built a cistern at the Old Taylor Distillery in the shape of a key, because he said that the Kentucky...

Twenty years ago, Ken Lewis had a vision. When he purchased a plot of land that was, essentially, a flood berm, people laughed. But in the past two decades, he’s transformed an empty space — conveniently located at the gateway to Kentucky’s Bourbon Trail — into a successful business and distillery. And while he made it look easy, getting there was a long labor of love. “Forget experience,” Lewis says. “Pick heart, soul, and...

Ohio is upping its bourbon game, and Cincinnatians can get their hands on the latest rare bottle to come to the Buckeye State later this month. Ohio is releasing rare single barrel Wild Turkey Kentucky Spirit bourbon on Sept. 21 at three Cincinnati-area liquor agencies for $49.95 plus tax. The state worked with master distiller Eddie Russell on picking out eight barrels of the bourbon, with eight liquor agencies throughout...

For all the exquisite and under-serviced single malts aging right now across Scotland, why would a publication expend words in a column dedicated to Scotch on a new bourbon? Because there’s simply so much binding both categories together in the just-released Fistful of Bourbon. From the innovation division of family-owned, global spirits powerhouse William Grant & Sons (known for prestigious Scotch brands The Balvenie and...

If you are anything like us, you are a fan of a great drink. The good folks over at Pappy Van Winkle make some of the most desirable whiskey in the world, and they are back with one of their rarest bourbons ever. This time around we get a look at Pappy Van Winkle Family Reserve 23-Year No. 10. A bottle of this blend is headed to public auction, doing so as the second-rarest still in existence. Bottles 1-5 are the property...

Each year, Old Forester releases Birthday Bourbon, a special release to commemorate the birthday of its founder, George Garvin Brown on September 2nd and this year is no different. Actually, it is a little different; this year’s bottle is the first to be bottled at the company’s new distillery in Louisville’s iconic Whiskey Row. It recently took over the same spot where it existed prior to Prohibition. The small-batch...

One of Kentucky’s newest distilleries will soon be making bourbon for a very old brand. Bardstown Bourbon Co. has announced it is now producing Chicken Cock Whiskey. The bourbon and whiskey will be made as part of Bardstown Bourbon’s Collaborative Distilling Program, which pairs master distiller Steve Nally with brands for contract distilling at the new distillery. The first 616 barrels were filled by the end of August...

Workers at Four Roses have gone from the bottling line to the picket line. On Friday (9.07), employees of the Kentucky based bourbon producer officially started to strike. 53 workers under the umbrellas of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 10D 23D as well as National Conference of Firemen and Oilers (NCFO) 320 voted unanimously to authorize the work stoppages at Four Rose’s Lawrenceburg, KY distillery and Cox...

“It Starts Here.” That’s the slogan for the newly opened Kentucky Bourbon Trail Welcome Center. Housed in the Frazier History Museum (fraziermuseum.org), it’s the starting point for visitors to plan their tours of bourbon distilleries throughout the state. Penelope (Penny) Peavler, president and CEO of the Frazier, spoke to LEO Weekly about the project and the museum. LEO: What is the Kentucky Bourbon Trail Welcome Center...

Bourbon is a distinctly American drink, but in Kentucky it is so much more than a beverage. It’s part of the commonwealth’s culture and history. It’s an $8.5 billion industry and, for visitors from around the world, it’s an experience. With the official opening of Kentucky Bourbon Trail® Welcome Center and Spirit of Kentucky® exhibition on August 30, that experience now starts at the Frazier History Museum. The opening day...

Beers aged in bourbon barrels are wildly popular among craft beer fans, and, while the relatively young practice wasn’t born here, it does have a Louisville-centric legacy of its own. That said, we know barrels and beer have been friends for a long time — how else would we have a traditional song called “Beer Barrel Polka”? European beer makers began storing beer in barrels centuries ago, but that was, of course, before...

The lore behind Bulleit Distilling Company is almost as good as its 10-year bourbon: During the 1830s in Louisville, Kentucky, Augustus Bulleit tinkered with countless whiskey varieties in search of the right flavor. When he finally found his high-rye recipe, he barreled a batch, loaded it on a boat and set sail to New Orleans to sell his prized spirit. On that trip, he vanished, never to be seen again. More than 150 years...

Returning for its fifth year, the Toast the Trees campaign will see the Bourbon producer plant one white oak tree for every photo of an Angel’s Envy drink or bottle posted to social media alongside the hashtag #ToastTheTrees. This year, Angel’s Envy has doubled its goal from 10,000 hashtags for 10,000 white oak trees in 2017, to 20,000 hashtags for 20,000 new white oak trees planted in 2018. Wes Henderson, co-founder and...

Neil Giraldo may be a hotshot rock 'n' roll guitarist after 40 years with wife Pat Benatar and other musical concerns. But these days he's hitting us with best shot -- bourbon shot, that is. It's actually Giraldo's extra-musical concerns that have turned him into a bourbon maker -- and, via his new Three Chord Bourbon brand, connected to him to Michigan and events like the Ann Arbor Blues Festival and this weekend's...

Lemonade is the drink of the summer. Well, negronis and margaritas are technically the drinks of the summer, but we've been enjoying those for three months now. As summer winds down and you open your backyard up for the last hoorah of the season, mix up a batch of boozy lemonade for your guests. This recipe for strawberry basil bourbon lemonade, resurfaced from our list of favorite summer cocktails, is a real crowd-pleaser...

Jefferson’s Bourbon has taken maturation technology to the next level with their latest release of Jefferson’s Twin Oak Custom Barrel. The brand’s newest release marks the result of a six-year project with Independent Stave Company. The small-batch bourbon producer, famous for their innovative small batch blends, has partnered with Independent Stave Company (ISC) to develop a new Jefferson’s barrel. As a result of a six-...

Bardstown Bourbon Company has become the newest distillery to join the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. The Kentucky Distillers' Association says the Nelson County distillery becomes the 14th destination on the trail, which hosted more than one million visits for the second year in a row in 2017. David Mandell, president and CEO of Bardstown Bourbon Company, says the distillery celebrates the industry's tradition while offering a...

It’s that time of year when the mornings start out cool & refreshing, but by noon in the Bluegrass, you know you’re still in the humid Ohio Valley. The kids are back in school and you’ve already binged ‘Last Chance U – Season 3‘; but, college football is still ramping up with pointless exhibition games. For Bourbon lovers, Bourbon Heritage Month is around the corner and so is the Kentucky Bourbon Festival. After judging the...

Coney Island Brewing has partnered with Brooklyn’s Cafe Grumpy to launch Freaktoberfest Big Ol’ Pumpkin Ale. Made with Café Grumpy’s signature Heartbreaker blend espresso beans, the pumpkin ale is at 6.2% abv and will be available in 6-packs of bottles and on draft throughout New York this fall. Coney Island is also launching a higher-strength Super Freak version of the brew, which is at 9.1% abv and will be available only...

Shares of Eastside Distilling Inc (NASDAQ:EAST) have been assigned a consensus broker rating score of 1.00 (Strong Buy) from the one brokers that provide coverage for the stock, Zacks Investment Research reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a strong buy rating. Brokers have set a twelve-month consensus price target of $9.50 for the company and are expecting that the company will post ($0.36) earnings per share for...

In an unprecedented move, the Kentucky Distillers’ Association and the Kentucky Bourbon Festival, co-founders of the prestigious Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame are opening up the 2018 inductee luncheon to the public. The two groups created the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame back in 2001 to recognize individuals and organizations that have made a significant and transformational impact on the states amber spirit, Bourbon...