Distilled: Bourbon Beyond the Bluegrass

Plus: Play our bottle game, boozy ice cream sundaes, bourbon raffle

Kentucky, of course, remains bourbon central, with a couple hundred years of tradition behind it, but it’s hardly the only state turning out good bourbon. G&G Drinks columnist Wayne Curtis, who’s also a cofounder of the New Orleans Spirits Competition, is in the enviable position of getting to taste a lot of bottles from all corners of the country. This week, he’s put together a list of some of his favorites that don’t hail from the Bluegrass State. (They make bourbon in Maine?) We’ve also got a recipe for the ultimate boozy ice cream sundae topper, a few recommendations from Atlanta bar star Miles Macquarrie, and a little game to test your bottle recognition skills. And congratulations on wrapping up the first official week of fall, which sounds like as good a reason as any to enjoy a nice pour.

Kentucky produces around 95 percent of the world’s bourbon, but that still leaves a lot of other barrels to explore. These bottles offer their own distinctive tastes of place.

Can you identify the Maker’s Mark? The Knob Creek? The Elijah Craig? Take our Bourbon Bottle Challenge—best played on a computer or tablet—and find out.

The cofounder and beverage director of Kimball House in Decatur, Georgia, Miles Macquarrie has led its bar program to earn multiple recognitions from the James Beard Foundation. He also lends his expertise to the Atlanta-based Tip Top Proper Cocktails and was the 2024 winner of the Michelin Guide Atlanta Exceptional Cocktails Award.

What’s the most popular bourbon you’re pouring?
It changes, but it’s most likely Eagle Rare at the moment. Great value for a ten-year-old bourbon.

What’s your dream bottle?
I’d love to find one more bottle of E.H. Taylor Tornado Surviving Bourbon. We had quite a few when we opened Kimball House, and I remember it being so good. I wish I’d saved one or two.

Your most popular bourbon cocktail?
Most recently, it was a drink called the Brunswick Julep, a cross between a mint julep and a whiskey smash with spices and peach.

And your favorite bourbon cocktail?
Manhattan. I love them with both bourbon and rye for different reasons.

What’s the most common question you get about bourbon?
“Do you have any Pappy?”

Is there a new brand or bourbon you’re excited about?
Well, twelve years isn’t exactly new, but for making good whiskey and actually making it, instead of sourcing it, I really need to mention High Wire Distilling. The seven-year-old wheated Jimmy Red is incredible. New Riff is also great.

Other than your own bar, where’s the best spot to drink bourbon?
There is a great little pub in my neighborhood called Steinbeck’s. They always have some hard-to-find stuff on their back bar. It’s always priced very fairly, and it’s within walking distance from my house. What’s not to like?

Neat? One cube? Crushed?
Neat if it’s 92 proof or below. One cube if it’s higher proof than that. Often I like to add one Kold-Draft ice cube, let it sit for a while, and then take the cube out.

Everybody screams for ice cream with rivers of boozy chocolate. Plus: Make your own bourbon-soaked cherries.

Bardstown’s oldest fully operating distillery, Barton 1792, introduced its first permanent cask-finished expression, 1792 Cognac Cask Finish. Spending six months or longer in used French brandy barrels, the 95-proof release ($38) accentuates the bourbon’s spice-forward profile with dark fruit and added complexity.

Kentucky juice gets a Texas twist with Milam & Greene’s Provisions Bourbon ($36). A flavorful everyday sipper with notes of cinnamon and toasted vanilla, the whiskey was initially distilled and aged in the Bluegrass State, then traveled South to soak in the Hill Country heat before being blended with pot-distilled whiskey made and aged at the distillery’s Blanco, Texas, headquarters.

Penelope Bourbon continues its partnership with the nonprofit F Cancer, this year doubling down with two limited-edition bottles: There’s a 94-proof blend ($80) hitting shelves nationwide, while a 114.6-proof barrel-strength edition ($100) is available exclusively through Shared Pour. Both benefit the nonprofit’s cancer-fighting efforts, along with an October 29 launch party and fundraiser at Austin’s Parlor Room.

New from Washington, D.C.–based author Troy Hughes, who also cofounded Mt. Pleasant Club Whiskey, Makers & Shakers: A Hidden History of Black Americans in Booze brings to light the many overlooked contributions of Black distillers, bartenders, and entrepreneurs to the spirits industry, from its earliest days to the present.

Looking to up your home mixology game? In Classic Cocktail Revival, Louisville-based author and “cocktail evangelist” Jennifer Brian serves up an accessible yet comprehensive primer on the foundations of crafting great drinks—from martinis to spritzes, shrubs, and, of course, plenty of bourbon-based favorites.

Even if you missed this year’s Kentucky Bourbon Festival, you still have a shot at taking home the single-barrel selections from its Distillers’ Row Series. The festival is raffling off two seventeen-bottle lots, featuring bourbons from Angel’s Envy, Four Roses, Preservation, and others. Raffle entries are $100 each, with the drawing on October 4.

—Tom Wilmes, G&G contributor