Hidden Gems: Must See Craft Distilleries!
If anyone has followed my Instagram story this summer, then you are aware of my Whiskey Travels series. I traveled to cities up and down the east coast and midwest to find the best whiskey stops along the way. Not every stop resulted in the discovery of a hidden gem, and not every city is of note. These distilleries had a hidden reason that they are worth a special stop on your trip.
Willett Distillery (Bardstown, KY)
Let me start by saying, before anyone decides to hate on my blog, I understand there is nothing hidden about Willett’s whiskey or the distillery. However, for those same haters, have you heard of the Willett Family Estate Single Barrel Releases? Now that I have your attention, I’ll get to the point before you ignore this post entirely.
For my readers that are less familiar with Willett, they are a family owned and operated distillery that makes fantastic whiskey. This beautiful distillery is located right outside of Bardstown, KY by a sprawling manor sitting adjacent to their lovely water source (lake). Most of you are probably familiar with their Pot Still bourbon that comes in a unique blown glass bottle designed after the distillery’s custom designed pot still hybrid.
I went to the distillery and experienced a wonderful tour from my tour guide Bob walked us through the family history and described how this whiskey is made and aged. After that, I took a brief tour of “the coolest gas station in Bardstown (The room where they fill the barrels),” or so says Bob, before passing through their rick house and back to the tasting room.
The tasting is where the fun begins. Instead of the preselected pours that generally provided at most distilleries, Willett presents you with nine different whiskeys produced by the Willett Family, and you get to pick your favorite three. (They even had a few I had not tried.) During the tasting, a gentleman came in, and they announced that there was a special release.
As you can probably guess, on the day I took my tour, the distillery was doing a release of the Willett Family Estate Single Barrel 14 year and 16 years. These are the hidden gems I refer to in the start of the blog, and they are why you need to make the Willett Distillery a stop on your whiskey journey. Unlike many distilleries that require you to enter a lottery, Willett Family Estate is released at the distillery occasionally to allow eager whiskey lovers the first taste of this precious liquid.
I know what you are thinking, there is a better chance I will to stop drinking whiskey and shut down my blog than you have of showing up on time to get one of these bottles. However, finding these bottles on the secondary market is almost impossible, and if seen, the bottle will be more expensive than the trip to the distillery. I can guarantee just going out to visit the Willett family for a tour, and a tasting is worth your time. The chance to get a bottle of the Estate release is enough to get me to stop by the gift shop every time I am in Bardstown.
Lux Row Distillery (Bardstown KY)
The new Lux Row distillery officially opened earlier this year and is one of my hidden gems. The name Lux Row maybe lesser known, but the whiskeys that they produce (Blood Oath, Rebel Yell, Ezra Brooks, and David Nicholson) indeed are not.
This shiny new distillery is located right outside of downtown Bardstown, on a hillside surrounded by peacocks (strange but quite cool). Kelsey, one of the first employees at the new distillery, gave an excellent tour of the facility and a background of the construction.
I have been a Blood Oath fan since my first sip. This whiskey is what put Lux Row on my list, but I was shocked by the quality and price of their other whiskeys. While I enjoyed the Rebel Yell and Ezra Brooks, the David Nicholson Reserve sang. Before that trip, I had never heard of it, in spite of its impressive resume. The whiskey earned Best Straight Bourbon and a Double Gold Awards in the San Francisco World Spirit Competition 2017.
David Nicholson Reserve has officially become my new sipping whiskey (until it becomes as hard to find as Weller that is). Even better, the gift shop fully stocked with premium bottles of all their brands. It was a wonderful experience made even better by finding a new favorite.
Southern Distilling Company (Statesville, NC)
I have to start with a little background on Statesville. In 1789, Fergus Sloan sold the land that is now Statesville to the United States government. Mr. Sloan had the first 250 GAL. Still, this started a long history of distilling in Statesville. He started a distilling boom that earned Statesville as “the liquor capital of the world” in the 1880s. You could say that this land was made for distilling.
Unfortunately, due to that ugly prohibition movement, Southern Distilling Company was the first licensed distiller in “the liquor capital of the world” since 1903. The new family-owned distillery opened its doors in 2017. The tour of the distillery is a very intimate experience because it is such a small distillery but my tour guide Cameron, knows his stuff.
He walked me through an in-depth description of the distilling process and the distillery history. After the tour came my favorite part; you guessed it, the tasting. Just like at Lux Row, the whiskey outshined the tour. I was impressed with their bourbon since it comes from such a young distillery, but their Rye stole my heart.
It has a sweet, nutty scent with a hint of wood. Smooth nutty flavor at the beginning taste that leads into moderate heat with a hint of cinnamon. It has a lingering heat in the finish with a sweet woody cardamom flavor.
If you are ever in North Carolina, I highly recommend this hidden gem. Even if you don’t stop by the distillery, look for a bottle of the Southern Star Rye from the Southern Distilling Company as you drive through the state. It’s worth every penny!
High Banks Distillery (Columbus, Ohio)
I have to talk about my new hometown favorite. High Banks based on the location on the Olentangy River that runs through Columbus, OH. The distillery opened this June, and it has a beautiful farm to table restaurant. The impressive part of High Banks Distillery is their rye, Whiskey War and cocktails.
What impresses me about the whiskey, aside from the taste, is the story. I am ashamed to say the event that started the whiskey war, and that nasty prohibition movement happened right in Westerville, OH, only a few miles from this distillery’s current location.
A fine gentleman and saloon owner, Henry Corbin, was a kind and diplomatic man. He was known to greet protesters with his pistols and politely ask them to leave. In my opinion, this behavior was a completely understandable way to treat whiskey haters. The protesters, as protesters so often do, did not go quietly. They blew up his saloon, not once but twice. The second attempt destroyed his saloon and started the whiskey war.
In remembrance of this event, they created Whiskey War (two-year rye). It is crafted from three sources, two from Illinois and one from Tennessee. I was shocked that Kentucky was not involved in this process but, the flavor speaks for itself.
The first thing that surprised me about this whiskey is that it does not taste like young rye. The second part was the layers of flavors that I kept discovering as I sat with my pour, new fruit and spice flavors unfolded as I slowly drank my pour. This rye is a pour that you should relax and sip to discover all of the layers, and for the price, you cannot beat it. It is quickly becoming one of my favorite sipping whiskeys.
The restaurant in the distillery makes a wide variety of cocktails, but the best one is, in my opinion, the old fashioned. Surprise, I know! They smoke wood in front of you at the bar and cover your cocktail and release that smoke at the table to give you an incredible visual experience. I liked the cocktail so much I went back two days later for another cocktail.
New Riff (Bellevue, KY)
Opened in 2014 by Ken Lewis, the company designed their distillery to mimic their bourbon. The décor showcases all-natural wood fixtures and uncolored cement walls and fixtures, giving it an aura like their non-chill filtered bourbon. The distillery provides a beautiful experience. Walking through the small distillery gave me the more intimate understanding of the New Riff distilling process and the history of this family-owned distillery.
Again, while I recommend that you check out the tour and bar, the whiskey is what brought me to this location and keeps me coming back. I sought out New Riff because I tasted OKI in the past and wanted to visit the beautiful distillery that made this fantastic bourbon. When I arrived, I was heartbroken to discover that OKI was discontinued. OKI was New Riff’s crafted whiskey that they bottled and sold while they were waiting for their whiskey to grow up and leave the barrel.
Luckily, my heartbreak did not last long! The New Riff bourbon was only two months away from the bottle, and I got one of the last spots in the Ranger Club. The Ranger Club allows whiskey lovers to buy a bottle and come back to fill the bottle four years later (be prepared for another New Riff blog in four years). Sadly, I still could not try their bourbon at that time. Knowing the quality of their crafted bourbon, I decided to hold this write up until I could taste their new bourbon.
It was an enjoyable pour. New Riff is a high rye bourbon with a nice sweet, nutty flavor. It reminds me of macadamia nut cookie, perfect for pairing with chocolate. If you pass through Ohio, Kentucky, or Indiana, you can pick up a bottle from the first batch of this fantastic bourbon. Even though you missed the Ranger Club, you can join the New Riff Whiskey Club for VIP information.
I hope you try and enjoy all of these beautiful whiskeys. Get out to their distilleries! Please comment with your suggestions of distilleries for me to try out next. I am off to yoga, Cheers!
https://www.highbankco.com/