Distilled: Craft Beers for Whiskey Fans

Plus: A bourbon maestro’s new brand; Jack-and-Coke sheet cake

Maybe I’m just getting old, but I much prefer spirits to beer. I still enjoy a cold brew occasionally, especially in the heat of a Charleston summer, but I rarely get as excited as I do when tasting a pour of good brown water. Suds enthusiast Tony Rehagen has me thinking differently with his picks for craft beers that whiskey lovers would appreciate, including one rare gem that clocks in at 60 proof. Don’t worry, this is still a bourbon newsletter, and we also chat with Louisville bourbon vet Larry Rice, who just launched a new brand, Old Treasure, that has plenty of folks in the whiskey world buzzing. We’re also introducing a new rotating section that spotlights an outstanding craft distillery. This week, we take a look at Leiper’s Fork in Tennessee. And who could resist a sheet cake that combines two Southern icons—Jack and Coke—and chocolate? I’ll have mine with a glass of bourbon.

Six well-crafted brews to try that take a cue from the whiskey world.

Industry vet Larry Rice on why he started Old Treasure and the art of tracking down special barrels.

LEIPER’S FORK DISTILLERY

Established: 2016

Location: Leiper’s Fork, Tennessee, forty-five minutes south of Nashville

Origins: Middle Tennessee native Lee Kennedy professes to having been a “very weird seventeen-year-old” fascinated with how whiskey evolved with Scots-Irish immigration to America. After the state lifted restrictions on distilling in most counties in 2009, he exited a financial services career to found Williamson County’s first legal distillery since 1909.

Flagship bottles: Bourbon Whiskey Bottled in Bond and Tennessee Whiskey Bottled in Bond, both of which made tastemaker Fred Minnick’s list of top 100 American whiskeys for 2025. They differ in that the latter features rye as a secondary grain instead of wheat and undergoes the Lincoln County Process of filtering through sugar maple charcoal, required for labeling as Tennessee whiskey.

What makes it special: “We aim to produce a pre-Prohibition-style whiskey,” Kennedy says. That entails sourcing locally grown, non-GMO grains; turning them into a sweet mash; distilling in a Scottish swan neck pot still; and barreling at 110 proof to extract more flavor from a barrel’s char. “Everything we do is small batch with great attention to detail.”

Where to find: Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Texas, Colorado, Montana, and California, soon adding distribution in Mississippi and North Carolina. Online shipping to many states is also available at the company’s website. Or visit the thirty-acre, family-friendly distillery, which offers tours, firepits, and weekend porch-picking parties.

—Steve Russell, G&G contributing editor

Two Southern classics power this decadent but easy-to-make dessert.

Lux Row master distiller John Rempe says he used to look out at a hayfield at the Bardstown, Kentucky, distillery and dream about putting it to use for his own crop of corn. That dream is now a reality with Lux Row Estate Bourbon ($100), a five-year-old, 107-proof bourbon made with corn grown on-site and available exclusively in the distillery’s visitors’ center.

The second release in the Remus Master Distiller Experimental Series ($70) is also the first wheat whiskey and the first finished whiskey put out by Indiana’s Ross & Squibb Distillery under the Remus label. The whiskey gains nutty, confectionary richness in part from secondary aging in casks that previously held tawny, white, and ruby port as well as oloroso sherry.

How does place influence whiskey as it ages? Milam & Greene set out to find “The Answer” when it aged half a batch of bourbon in Kentucky and half in the Texas Hill Country for five years, then compared the results. The project is documented in The Answer: A Whiskey Experiment, streaming now on YouTube. The distillery also just released the next edition in its Wildlife Collection, Bluebonnet Straight Bourbon, showcasing its “Texification” technique with bourbon that was distilled in Kentucky and aged five years, seven months in its Blanco, Texas, rickhouses.

Get your rest steeped in bourbon history in the new Peerless Distilling Suite at Hotel Distil on Louisville’s Whiskey Row. The stylish suite is decked out with décor and artifacts from the bourbon brand, and the stay includes a guided tour and tasting at nearby Kentucky Peerless Distilling Co.

Tickets are now on sale for Bourbon on the Banks (October 3), which brings some seventy distilleries to Frankfort, Kentucky’s River View Park. Pre-festival events include a bourbon boat cruise and class on the Kentucky River, and a session on pairing food and bourbon with master taster Peggy Noe Stevens.

Bardstown goes all out for National Bourbon Week (June 14–21), packing more than three dozen ticketed events at partner distilleries and downtown venues. Tickets go on sale March 26 and are expected to sell quickly for in-demand offerings, including a dinner hosted by seventh-generation Jim Beam master distiller Fred Noe in his backyard.

—Tom Wilmes, G&G contributor

GREAT WHISKEY READS FROM FIELDSHOP