Kentucky Finest

Best keep that hand hoverin’ over your trusty tumbler — there’s a wily band of sharp shootin’ spirits tearing up these parts.

Locked, loaded and ready to take over the world, these corn-fed, Kentucky-raised young’uns are taking the world by storm, one pour at a time.

Unlike their Pappy (ahem), this new band of Bourbon is shaking up the establishment with their hella good juice and take-no-prisoners approach to production. And that’s a good thing: the world desperately wants what these vigilantes got.

Ready to go out in a blaze of glory? There’s only one acceptable answer: bring it, Bourbon.

There’s no doubt about it: Bourbon is making quite the name for itself. The world just can’t seem to get enough of the stuff and stats prove it: Kentucky exported over $450 million of Whiskey in 2017 — an export value which has tripled in the past 20 years. Bourbon is booming, baby.

But why Kentucky? Simple. Even though Bourbon can be legally made anywhere in the U.S., Kentucky is responsible for 95% of its production. But a few years ago, distilleries couldn’t keep up with the global obsession with the stuff. Today, Kentucky has 73 distilleries — up 250% in the last decade. And some of the new kids are switching up a few things to stand out from the pack. 

Just ask the three Kentucky distilleries featured in this box: Noble Oak, Lexington Brewing and Distilling Company and Limestone Branch Distillery. From non-GMO grains and generous amounts of malted barley to planting trees for every, they’re tinkering with Bourbon in a way that demands that people pay attention and take notice. Shouldn’t be too hard.

Next time you sidle up to one of these vigilante Spirits at the bar, make it a double. And toast to these blazin’ new Bourbons.

Cheers!

Smartass Corner:

1) Besides offering great Whiskey, the folks at Noble Oak care a ton about the environment, too. Working with One Tree Planted, every Noble Oak bottle plants a tree in an area of need from the Redwood Forest in California, to Detroit, Michigan, and the Finger Lakes in New York. We adore their hands-on, no-beating-around-the-bush approach.

2) Limestone Branch distillery might be relatively new on the block, but the brothers Stephen and Paul Beam behind it had distilling in their blood – 7 generations before them, a certain Jacob Beam sold his first barrels of corn Whiskey in Kentucky in 1795.

3) Town Branch Bourbon was named to honor the Town Branch waterway. The very same Lexington distillery was founded upon.

4) Don’t be afraid to pair Town Branch Bourbon with meat, especially beef. Or, mushrooms and truffles and pretty much anything with earthy flavors.

5) Every so often, you’ll come across a bottle that says “Bottled in Bond.” That’s thanks to the Bottled in Bond Act of 1897. Essentially, you can count on the Bourbon being made in the U.S. from a single distillery and aged at least four years in a federally bonded warehouse.  

6) When it comes to its love for Whiskey, the U.S. put a ring on it: Bourbon was designated "The Official Spirit of America" by an Act of Congress signed by President Lyndon Baines Johnson. 

7) Before this resolution passed, Bourbon was produced in some pretty far-flung places including Juarez, Mexico and Canada.