Well, folks, it was that time of year again. The Bourbon Classic was held over the past weekend, and that meant ModernThirst was touring around the area visiting distilleries, whiskey bars, and general scenes of whiskey bliss with a number of other bloggers, writers, podcasters, and industry representatives. Stop #1 was on Thursday morning at the beautiful new facility in downtown Louisville that is home to Kentucky Peerless Distilling Company.
Tracing their lineage back to the late 19th century, and their distillery’s creation in the very early pre-prohibition 20th century, Kentucky Peerless is a true rebirth of an iconic and historic brand. The Taylor family, who currently own Kentucky Peerless, are direct descendants of the brand’s original founder, Henry Kraver, have resurrected not only the name, but the DSP designation (DSP-KY-50) for Kentucky Peerless, which sold its facility and stocks to National Distillers in 1917. Today, Corky and Carson Taylor, 4th and 5th generations of the Kraver family, lead the operation as Chairman and President, respectively.
Kentucky Peerless operates in a large restored brick facility on North 10th street. The facility boasts state-of-the-art computer controlled stills and production methods plus on-site barrel warehousing, a unique feature for Downtown Louisville. Renovations were handled by Carson Taylor and his team directly, retaining as much original charm as possible in the building.
We were allowed to taste some of Kentucky Peerless’s 10 month old Rye whiskey, which will not be bottled and sold until it reaches 2 years, and I can safely report that it is already a spicy, tasty little treat, and should be outstanding by the time it reaches full maturity.
Here are some of ModernThirst’s photos from the tour. Enjoy!
