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Kentucky African American Team’s First Bourbon Now Available For Pre-Order

Fresh Bourbon Distilling Co. we first profiled earlier this year, making mention of how this African American owned bourbon brand was looking to break ground on a new 34,000 square foot distillery in Lexington, Kentucky. Said brand is now back in the news, announcing recently the launch of pre-orders for their upcoming grain to glass American whiskey.

The Fresh Bourbon offering, according to those behind it, was crafted “to have a rich and sweet flavor profile to appeal not just to bourbon enthusiasts but to all drinkers.” It is being made from a mash bill that’s 60% corn, 20% honey malt, 10% malted wheat and 10% malted rye to, as the distillery puts it, craft something that, “by using a lower volume of corn and introducing specialty malted grains, strong new flavors are developed which balance against the heavy sweet and smokey character from the barrel.”

Fresh Bourbon
Fresh Bourbon (image via Fresh Bourbon Distilling Co.)

Said bourbon has been distilled in a 500 gallon pot still in a distillation style “modeled after something much closer to a pre-prohibition style distillation that focuses on flavor retention and compounds from the source materials that are allowed to make it through the distillation process.” It is being done in this regard to try and craft a whiskey that perhaps can taste like what it might have a century ago.

Consideration of crafting an easier drinking bourbon also has extended to maturation, where the distillery team is using, as they describe it, “a mix of sizes of new, charred oak barrels to achieve the desired results.  We distill low and don’t add water coming off the still, so barrel entry and overall distillation proof is much lower than most bourbons produced today.”

Sean and Tia Edwards Fresh Bourbon
Sean and Tia Edwards of Fresh Bourbon (image via Fresh Bourbon Distilling Co.)

“For nearly three years, we have been diligently developing an authentic and unique bourbon and spirits line,” said Sean Edwards who, along with his wife Tia Edwards, started Fresh Bourbon, in a prepared statement. “We chose not to buy bourbon from someone else and just place our name on a bottle. We have been very intentional and deliberate in crafting our spirits – from the mash bills up.”

Fresh Bourbon has been in development since 2017 and will mark the first bourbon developed in such a way in Kentucky by African Americans. In February 2020, the Kentucky Senate honored Sean and Tia Edwards and acknowledged The Fresh Bourbon Distilling Company as being the first black-owned distillery in Kentucky.

As it stands now plans call for this bourbon, bottled at 47.5% ABV, to be made available through multiple pre-order options, including a celebratory commemorative package plus Fresh branded rocks glass and shirts. Orders are expected to ship early 2021. Pre-orders will be available through September 30th, 2020 at FreshBourbon.com. Prices range from $42 to $1,500.

You’ll find some official tasting notes for Fresh Bourbon’s first release below. As a side note, the team at Fresh made mention that “during the construction process of their new 34,000 sq ft distillery in Lexington, Kentucky, Fresh Bourbon’s proprietary recipe is being produced under contract through Hartfield & Co. Distillery in Paris, KY.”

  • Aroma has honeysuckle, malted grains, fire-grilled sweet corn, a hint of hot water cornbread plus peach and apricot. 
  • Flavors include vanilla, brown sugar, oak smoke and nuttiness. 
  • Finish is long with warm toffee, dark chocolate and fresh baked pastry. 95 proof. Enjoy as a cocktail, with a splash, rocks or neat
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