Table of contents for Bourbon 2025 in Bourbon

November 7, 1996 was a terrifying day for the residents of Bardstown, Kentucky. Lightning had struck one of the warehouses at Heaven Hill, igniting it in flames, which soon spread to include seven warehouses and the 1935 distillery thanks to 70 mile per hour winds. Nearly 100,000 barrels of whiskey went up in flames, creating a river of flaming bourbon that scorched its way through the distillery grounds. Miraculously, no one was hurt or killed in the fire, but Heaven Hill found itself without a distillery. As is completely unique to the Kentucky bourbon industry, several other distilleries agreed to make barrels for Heaven Hill for a while, including Jim Beam and Brown-Forman. In 1999, Heaven Hill bought the Bernheim II plant in Louisville, Kentucky and continued production there. On…

Embark on a celestial adventure as the twinkling stars light your path across a North American desert to the magnificent Sangre De Cristo Mountains, where the enchanting city of Santa Fe, New Mexico, awaits. Nestled in the foothills of the Northern Rio Grande Valley at the southern tip of the majestic Rocky Mountains, Santa Fe sits at an elevation of more than 7,000 feet, proudly claiming the title of America’s highest capital city and the third highest city in the nation. Santa Fe is home to a hidden gem, As Above, So Below Distillery, manifested by distiller and founder Caley Shoemaker. Shoemaker began her career in craft spirits in 2009 at Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey. As she advanced, she immersed herself in all aspects of the spirits production process, including grain…

Despite its more than 200-year history, the James B Beam Distilling Company remains at the forefront of innovation, committed to continuing to push a once-stagnant whiskey category into new directions. With more than 30 projects scheduled to meet completion by 2025, the Beam Distilling Company shows it isn’t content with the status quo or resting on its historical laurels. A few days before September, aka National Bourbon Heritage Month, the company unveiled its first innovation from Booker’s Bourbon since 2019: Booker’s Bourbon The Reserves. This expression is the first of a new, annual limited-release series by eighth-generation master distiller Freddie Noe in dedication to his grandfather, the late sixth-generation master distiller Booker Noe, and his invaluable contributions to the bourbon world. The Reserves is a blend of eight to 14-year-old…

Though Balmorhea may sound like a warm inviting castle in which to hide from bleak Scottish winters, it is quite the opposite. It is truly an oasis. Amid seemingly endless, flat, hot, dry miles of the Chihuahuan Desert, San Solomon Springs gushes about 20 million gallons (76,000 cubic meters) of crystal-clear water a day into Balmorhea State Park. Cool water filtered through limestone flows underground about 30 miles (48 kilometers) down from the Davis Mountains, emerging like a river. Bands of Jumano, Mescalero Apache, and Comanche people watered horses there and farmed crops of corn and peaches. Big game hunters frequented the spring 11,000 years ago. Rare and endangered species, unique to the Trans-Pecos region, thrive in the marshes downstream. “It’s a Texas treasure,” says Dan Garrison, founder of Garrison…

Ouita Michel is speaking to me from her cabin that dates back 200 years, on a parcel of land in Woodford County, Kentucky. I caught her early, before she started a busy day. A founder of a bakery, a bar, an events business, a cooking studio, and no fewer than seven restaurants, she has become a local culinary icon and passionate ambassador for Kentucky’s fabulous food and drink. Ouita grew up in Kentucky and studied at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, before following her dreams to the bright lights of New York City as a young woman. There she met her husband, a ninth-generation New Yorker who was firm in his belief that the big city was the center of the world. After years working in kitchens, the couple…

The Henderson family, best known for founding the Angel’s Envy brand, has announced a new distillery in Versailles, Kentucky. In 2010 the Angel’s Envy brand launched, followed in 2016 by the Angel’s Envy Distillery in Louisville, Kentucky. The brand was founded by father-son team Lincoln and Wes Henderson, and several of Wes’ sons joined the company as soon as they were old enough to do so. Lincoln Henderson, a retired master distiller, was known for helping to build the Woodford Reserve brand. The family’s new brand was the first Kentucky bourbon to be finished, making the Henderson family pioneers in the American finished whiskey category. Lincoln passed away in 2013 just as construction was beginning on the distillery, and the brand continued under the guidance of his son and grandsons.…

Widow Jane Distilling was first launched in 2012, sourcing barrels while waiting for its own stocks of whiskey to mature. One of the ways it found to differentiate its products in the marketplace was to use limestone water from a nearby well, which was trucked in. The next focus was grain, which was a considerably more difficult and involved project. “We immediately were obsessed with the quality of materials,” says Widow Jane vice president Michelle Clark. “We had brought in some private barrel stocks that we were releasing as single barrels and had access to a really unique limestone water from upstate from Rosendale that we were bringing in to proof all of our whiskeys. As we started to look at what the most important component of making our own…

Until a little over a decade ago, there were basically three distilleries in Tennessee: George Dickel’s Cascade Hollow, Pritchard’s, and the most ubiquitous American distillery of all time, Jack Daniel’s. Tennessee has a longer history of Prohibition than the rest of the US. It began there in 1910, a decade before the rest of the country, and didn’t end until 1938, five years after nationwide repeal. Even during times that distilling was legal, Tennessee distilleries struggled because of the always-looming threat of going dry. This culture gave rise to the illicit moonshine culture, and today legal moonshine Distilled Spirits Plants (DSPs) — an oxymoron to many — in Tennessee are nearly on par with straight whiskey DSPs throughout the state. Over the last 15 years, Tennessee has seen a rise…

When I first began writing about whiskey nearly 12 years ago, I kept noticing that whiskey writers tended to shy away from writing about cigar pairings and cigar writers didn’t quite get the nuance of whiskey pairings. I began developing my own methodology on pairing whiskey and cigars and have been teaching classes at festivals and writing about whiskey and cigar pairings for a decade now. Whiskey makers are finally starting to catch on to the value of offering cigars and cigar experiences, although there is still room for improvement in the area of getting the whiskey infusions and flavorings out of the picture. In Kentucky, there still are not a lot of places to smoke cigars along the bourbon trail, but all that is finally changing. In Louisville, a…

Peggy Noe Stevens Peggy Noe Stevens became the world’s first female master bourbon taster and can trace her lineage back to some of the great bourbon making families in Kentucky. In 2011, she created the Bourbon Women Association. Susan Reigler Susan Reigler is the author of several bourbon books, including Kentucky Bourbon Country: The Essential Travel Guide, and is a former restaurant critic and beverage columnist for the Louisville Courier-Journal. She is the immediate past president of the Bourbon Women Association. THE PROCESS All samples are blind tasted, with proof and style the only information disclosed. Samples are tasted individually over a two-week period. Tasters are provided tasting and scoring guidelines for consistency. The top scorer is awarded Editor’s Choice. Scores of 17.5+ qualify for the recommended whiskey award. 15…

As Prohibition was coming to an end, Bill Samuels’ grandfather, Leslie Samuels, wanted to get back into the business and revive the family brand, TW Samuels. His partner was my grandfather, Bob Block. The partnership eventually led to Maker’s Mark being founded from the proceeds from the sale of TW Samuels.” It was holiday time and all of my assignments had been turned in for the year when I got an email from my friend Tom Block. Block’s grandfather was Isaac Wolfe Bernheim, the 19th-century bourbon baron and founder of the IW Harper brand. His other grandfather was a Block, another 19th-century bourbon dynasty that I had always believed went completely out of the bourbon business during Prohibition. “When I retired, I did some genealogy work, and I tried to…

There are a number of Kentucky families that have made a lasting impact on Kentucky bourbon. Some familiar names might be Beam, Weller, and Crow, but a less familiar name is Bullitt, a Louisville family that has a nearby county named for them. The Bullitt family farm is in trust in the suburbs of Louisville and boasts the largest private library in the region, and their ties to the bourbon industry might surprise you. The Bullitt family came to Kentucky before it was a state. Alexander Scott Bullitt, the first of the Bullitt family in Louisville, helped to write Kentucky’s constitution and there’s evidence that he sold his corn crop and received corn whiskey as a payment. His son, William Christian Bullitt, was also involved in state politics and also…

Hidden in an alley in a Northern suburb of Chicago is a tiny but award-winning distillery named for a famous Prohibitionist, Frances Elizabeth Willard — FEW Spirits. Founded in 2011 by Paul Hletko, FEW has won the World Whiskies Awards Best American Flavored Whiskey for Cold Cut, Best American Blended Whiskey for American Whiskey, and Hletko won Icons of Whisky’s American Whiskey Brand Ambassador of the Year in 2024. In recent years, Hletko has secured partnerships with several top musical acts, including Alice in Chains, the Flaming Lips, and, most recently, the Smashing Pumpkins. “Music has always been a huge part of my personal life, and it was a pretty substantial part of my professional life for a while, too,” says FEW founder Paul Hletko. “I was a pro guitar…

In Louisville, the Silver Dollar is synonymous with whiskey. Since opening in 2011, the Silver Dollar has become a regular stop for Louisville locals and whiskey tourists alike. Last year the establishment changed ownership, but the Southern California meets Bourbon Country vibe has very much remained the same. “The Silver Dollar has meant a lot to a lot of different people as both a place and really as the platonic ideal of a whiskey bar here in Louisville, Kentucky,” says new owner Brian Downing, who was involved in the early years of the Silver Dollar before joining the distilled spirits industry. “That’s kind of how I’ve always seen it. And for me, it means that we want to keep as many of the things that made the Dollar unique, and…

David is a true outdoorsman. Over the years, his adventurous spirit has led him to experience everything his Wyoming backyard has to offer. Originally an attorney, David joined forces with Brad and Kate Mead to venture into the world of crafting exceptional bourbon. A man of ingenuity and a bourbon enthusiast himself, David was the one the Meads turned to when they decided to make bourbon. He seized the opportunity, bringing the idea of Wyoming Whiskey to life, as a co-founder and national brand ambassador. WHISKEY #1 Elijah Craig Single Barrel 18 Years Old This whiskey is sentimental to me because it represents my introduction to the world of bourbon, courtesy of my dad. I’ll never forget the reverence he had for this bottle as he poured me my first…