In part one of this blog, I listed the basic bottles for a Bourbon collection. I am now going to expand upon that collection, starting with getting some more bottles from those heritage distillers. These bottles are as follows:
Brown-Forman: Woodford Double Oaked, and any of the Whiskey Row collection bottles.
- Jim Beam: Old Grand Dad 114, Old Overholt 114.
- Buffalo Trace: Weller Special Reserve, Weller Antique, Elmer T. Lee.
- Heaven Hill: Elijah Craig Toasted Barrel, Elijah Craig 18yo.
- Wild Turkey: Russell’s Reserve Bourbon, Russell’s Reserve Rye.
Next, you need to add bottles from the other Kentucky distilleries that have established themselves since the 1990s or from a non-producer bottler (Julian Van Winkle III). I would start with the following distilleries;
- Willett: Old Bardstown, Willett Pot Still, Noah’s Mill.
- Julian Van Winkle III: Old Rip Van Winkle 10yo.
- Michter’s: US#1 Bourbon, US#1 Rye, Michter’s Sour Mash, Michter’s American, 10yo Bourbon or Rye.
- Wilderness Trail: Wilderness Trail Traditional Borbon made with rye. Wilderness Trail Wheat Recipe Bourbon, Wilderness Trail Rye.
- Peerless: Peerless Bourbon, Peerless Rye.
- Kentucky Artisan Distillery: Whiskey Row Bottled-in-Bond, Jefferson’s Reserve, Jefferson’s Ocean.
- Jeptha Creed: Jeptha Creed Red, White and Blue Corn Bourbon
- Castle & Key: Castle & Key Wheat Recipe Bourbon, Castle & Key Rye.
- Dueling Grounds Distillery: Linkumpinch Bottled-in-Bond
- New Riff Distillery: New Riff Single Barrel Bourbon, New Riff Rye.
Now that you have Kentucky covered, you need to look for bottles from outside of Kentucky. There are several major producers of Bourbon worth collecting.
- Ross & Squibb Distillery (MGP) Lawrenceburg, Indiana: Remus Bourbon
- Starlight Distillery, Indiana: Carl T. Huber’s Bourbon, Old Rickhouse Rye.
- Spirits Of French Lick Distillery, Indiana: William Dalton Bottled-in-Bond, Morning Glory Kasha Bourbon Bottled-in-Bond
- Southern Distilling Company, Statesville, N.C.: Paragon wheat recipe Bourbon, Paragon Rye.
- Ben Holladay Distillery, Weston MO.: Ben Holladay traditional recipe Bourbon, Ben Holladay wheat recipe Bourbon.
Now these bottles are from what I call major producers of whiskey in that they produce several thousand barrels of whiskey a year. You can expand your collection to the smaller artisan distillers. There are thousands of them out there now and I could not begin to list them all. However there are a few worth mentioning here as they make excellent Bourbon and Rye whiskeys.
- Old Pogue Distillery, Maysville, Kentucky: Old Maysville Rye, Old Pogue Bourbon
- Old 55 Distillery, Indiana: Old 55 Bourbon.
- Hard Truth Distillery, Indiana: Hard Truth Chocolate Malt Rye.
- Big Escambia Distillery, Alabama: Dettling 1867 Bottled-in-Bond Bourbon
- Frey Ranch Distillery, Nevada: Frey Ranch Bourbon, Frey Ranch Rye
- Nelson’s GreenBrier Distillery, Tennessee: Nelson Greenbrier wheat recipe Tennessee whiskey.
- Leiper’s Fork Distillery, Tennessee: Lieper’s Fork wheat Recipe Bourbon, Lieper’s Fork Tennessee whiskey.
These are just a few of the artisan distilleries making whiskey worth collecting. Your collection will soon expand to have well over a thousand bottles with new whiskeys coming out every day. It is a never ending process.
Photos Courtesy of Rosemary Miller