J. Rieger & Co. Introduces Its First Bottled-In-Bond Bourbon Since Prohibition

by Gary Carter
May 30, 2022

Kansas City-based J. Rieger & Co. recently released its first bottled-in-bond straight bourbon whiskey.

Aged six years in 53-gallon white American Oak barrels, this is the brand’s first in-house produced bourbon offering since pre-Prohibition, which originally closed the distillery in 1919.

Ryan Maybee and Andy Rieger, Jacob Rieger’s great-great-great grandson, resurrected the distillery in 2014. They announced the new bottled-in-bond bourbon will be available at the J. Rieger & Co. distillery and in select retail stores throughout Missouri and Kansas as of June 2nd.

Rieger’s Bottled in Bond Straight Bourbon Whiskey (image via J. Rieger & Co.)

This bottling took shape in the early days of the distillery back in 2015, and it marks the beginning of J. Rieger & Co.’s bourbon program. This batch was bottled at 100 proof and meets the additional qualifiers to be designated as a bottled-in-bond whiskey.

“As the quintessential American spirit, distilling our own bourbon was a goal of ours before we ever officially reopened the distillery,” Maybee said in a prepared statement. “This is the first bourbon that we’ve produced since before Prohibition, and we knew it needed to be something special, something that would honor tradition and live up to being, ‘oh so good.’ We allowed this bourbon to age in our Kansas City rickhouse for a full six years before bottling, and it’s finally ready.”

As a new distillery in 2015, J. Rieger & Co. began putting away a few barrels of bourbon a month. As the years went on, the distillery was able to start distilling more and more whiskey every year. Today, J. Rieger & Co. is putting away a hundred barrels a month preparing for the growth the industry is experiencing.

The new batch, 100-proof bourbon is made of a mash bill of 56% corn, 30% rye and 14% malted barley. Each batch was distilled in a 750-gallon copper pot still before being transferred to the white American Oak barrels within the distillery in the historic Electric Park neighborhood of Kansas City.

The distiller’s notes on this bourbon show that on the nose, it features aromas of tart fruits upfront, lemon oil, apple pie, clove, and hints of maple. On the palate, flavors are led by sweet fruits, including dark cherry and plum. It has a buttery texture, with flavors of cigar smoke, cornbread, and cotton candy. The finish has notes of honey-cinnamon, dark-roast coffee, vanilla, caramel, and sea salt, with a lingering effect reminiscent of a malty, stout beer.