Barrell Bourbon builds a distillery!
Friends of the Axis know about our enthusiasm for Barrell Bourbon, which began as a series of sourced whiskey releases by Mr. Joe Beatrice, first bourbon (see JTR’s fresh review of Bourbon Batch 9), then a non-bourbon whiskey, then a (really remarkable) rum.
We’re happy to share the news that Joe is taking the next step in what’s been a very impressive journey so far, building a distillery to be headed up by master distiller Tripp Stimson, former Brown-Foreman chemist and Kentucky Artisan Distillery master distiller.
Barrell’s full release (dated 2/6/17) is below:
Louisville, KY: Today, independent spirits producer Barrell Craft Spirits, LLC. (BCS), parent company of Barrell Bourbon, Barrell Whiskey and Barrell Rum, announced that it will be building a new distillery in Jefferson County, Louisville, KY. The facility will be located in the Gilmore Industrial area in greater Louisville. In addition, BCS named veteran distiller and distillery consultant Tripp Stimson as Master Distiller.
BCS is an independent bottler of unique batch, cask-strength, aged sourced whiskey and rum spirits.
Barrell Bourbon and Barrell Whiskey are both award-winning spirits. Over the past two years, eight different batch entries have won high praise in the Ultimate Spirits Challenge and the San Francisco World Spirits competitions, earning scores between 92-98 and 4 Double Gold medals. Additionally, Barrell Bourbon and Barrell Whiskey have received high ratings and top recommendations in both the Whisky Advocate and the Wine Enthusiast.
Now in its fourth year of operation, BCS will begin producing whiskey and bourbon by the end of 2017, with the goal of producing 1,000 barrels in the first year of operation and 2,000 in the second year. When appropriately aged, the spirits will be included in the BCS product portfolio. Plans for additional expansion are currently under consideration.
Tripp Stimson, formerly a scientist at Brown Forman and Master Distiller at Kentucky Artisan Distillery, has consulted in the craft spirits industry for the past several years in areas ranging from fermentation to distillery design. Additionally, he built the first malting operation in Kentucky in 2016. He will be responsible for developing the product formulation for BCS as well as leading the BCS distillery building initiative.
Looking forward to good things from all involved!
