Kentucky Peerless Distilling Co. in Louisville
Downtown Louisville
Nowadays you can find Peerless Distilling across 35 states. Our local bottle shoppe insisted we try both Peerless and Wilderness Trail, that’s how both got on our radar. Peerless has a 30 person crew and possibly the youngest Master Distiller in the country.
Level three char with a medium toast is the standard for this crew. Sweet Mash refers to fresh water, corn, yeast and barley with every batch. They distill at 130 proof instead of 145 for most of their competition that uses sour mash
Peerless Rye Gold at 2020 World Whiskey Awards for Rye Under 12yrs
The idea of sour mash really came along with the industrialization of the bourbon industry. As the scale of things to began to grow in the ’50s and ’60s, consistency became more of a priority. Sour Mash refers to leaving some of the wort from the previous batch in the mash tun to be added to the next batch. This process requires you to distill at a higher proof to rid some of the off flavors from the mash.
When you distill at 130 like Peerless, you pick up more of those creamy, honeyed flavors in the beer phase. It’s part of the reason they are able to release flavor forward products at such a young age.
The in-house bottle design is modeled after the doubler at the distillery. The copper on that equipment flairs out into the shape of an onion and receives the spirit that has already been cooled into liquid.
On a recent episode of the pod we paired the Peerless Small Batch with Burban Cowboy Single Barrel. Aside from focusing on flavors that shouldn’t be blended off, the distillery also partners with Kelvin Cooperage, a family owned barrel producer in Louisville. Kelvin only chars their barrels with oak. It’s a process that doesn’t introduce any gas flavors to cook the wood resulting in a barrel that yields more flavor compounds for aging.
Urban Cowboy Single Barrel + Peerless Small Batch
Kentucky Peerless sweet mash is superb, super rich and aromatic. You could smell the cocoa, even hints of coffee immediately. It’s got some sexy complementary dark fruit notes, the light spice gives an interesting savory character and the combination is insane with a wonderful depth beyond what four years of aging typically would produce. The 2yr Rye is near $100 in most stores and the 4yr Sweet Mash retails near $70, both get a big recommendation from us.
-The Neat Pour
-Be sure to check out Episode 44 of The Neat Pour Podcast. We spotlight a pair of Kentucky Peerless Bourbons- Small Batch and Urban Cowboy Single Barrel
-Kentucky Peerless consulted with another sweet mash distillery - Wilderness Trail for their current yeast strain.
-We are big fans of the Single Barrel. Those hints of cherry bitters, smoke and pipe tobacco are undeniable.
-Kentucky Peerless is your 2019 Icons of Whisky Craft Producer of the Year
Our New Favourite Louisville Distillery
Cherry Chocolate Tart. Farmhouse Cider. Bread Pudding. Burban Cowboy Single Barrels on location