I always heard my grandfather and my father say that you couldn’t make good bourbon in Western Kentucky,” recalled Craig Beam, master distiller of the four-year-old Jackson Purchase Distillery. Yes, that Craig Beam, who was referring to none other than Earl and Parker Beam, Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame inductees and members of the famed Beam distilling family who preceded their grandson and son as master distillers at Heaven Hill.
It’s true that historically, and well into the present, a majority of Kentucky’s bourbon distilling activity has taken place in the “whiskey triangle” roughly bounded by Louisville, Lexington, and Bardstown. It should be noted that pre-Prohibition there were significant distilleries situated along the Ohio River downstream and west of Louisville in Owensboro and Henderson, including Green River and Kentucky Peerless respectively.
But much farther west, down in the part of the state known as the Jackson Purchase (or simply the Purchase) where the Ohio River flows into the Mississippi, distilling history has been, it is safe to say, negligible. Chester Zoeller’s indispensable record of Kentucky distilleries, Bourbon in Kentucky: A History of Distilleries in Kentucky, has only two records of pre-Prohibition whiskey distilleries in Hickman County.
Fast forward to today and Hickman County is the home of Jackson Purchase Distillery, which, with a current inventory of about 100,000 barrels, is very well positioned to correct that historic imbalance. How did a large-capacity distillery happen to land in such a non-traditional bourbon making location?
“Well, there was a distillery there,” explained Van Carlisle, chairman of the distillery’s board of directors. Jackson Purchase’s CEO, Lloyd Jones, is from nearby Fulton, Kentucky. He and Carlisle had previously worked together at a company specializing in fire-rated equipment such as safes and cabinets. They and two other friends, including David Salmon, now the distillery’s COO, were duck hunting in the area along the Mississippi River and Salmon expressed an interest in getting into the whiskey business.
“Lloyd said, ‘Well, David, there’s a distillery down the road that has never been open.’ A bankruptcy attorney from Memphis had always kind of wanted [a distillery]. He was a bourbon enthusiast and wanted to get something going. But I guess being a bankruptcy attorney, he certainly had a healthy fear of debt. He bootstrapped this thing. Did a little bit and a little bit, but basically never really got it open. But he had bought a 24-inch Vendome copper column still. Kind of a big hobby project!’”
The friends launched a plan and by April of 2021 they had acquired the moth-balled facility and opened Jackson Purchase Distillery. They also hired Craig Beam as their master distiller, who had spent 35 years as master distiller at Heaven Hill, and Terry Ballard as assistant master distiller and director of manufacturing, who brought more than a decade of experience as head distiller at Willett.
Knowing that starting a bourbon brand and acquiring the distribution network to take it to a national market was a very heavy lift for a brand new company, contract distilling became the initial core business. That didn’t mean that creating their own brand wasn’t also something that was in the overall plan.
“We wanted to show other people with their brands who would like to partner with us what we are capable of doing and what good bourbon we can make with Craig Beam and Terry Ballad,” said Carlisle. They also came to the attention of Chris Zaborowski, who at one time owned Westport Whiskey & Wine, which had been a highly respected retailer in Louisville, well known for the high quality of the store’s private barrel selections.
“Van Carlisle was one of my best customers at Westport Whiskey & Wine. We had a developed a friendly relationship over the years. Prior to the pandemic, he was in the store shopping, he told me that he was looking into getting into the whiskey business and wanted to get a bit of feedback. Fast forward a couple of years, after the acquisition was made, Van called and asked if I would be willing to come to the distillery and taste some of their two-year-old whiskey and ultimately write up a review and post it where I could.”
Zaborowski made the four-hour trek to Hickman from Louisville. The two-year-old bourbon he sampled made quite an impression, “The aroma was complex, reminding me of a fine corn pudding as well as tart cherry, with a nice complement of young oak and some baking spice. The taste was equally complex and compelling. The sweet corn mash was there and nicely balanced with spice and toasted oak. The weight in the mouth was one of my favorite elements. It coated the palate, delivering more flavor the longer it sat. It is a whiskey to be savored and at two years old, much better than many three- and four-year products already on the market. The finish was long and savory.”
Craig Beam was also pleasantly surprised by what was happening to the young whiskey in his warehouses. “That’s when Terry and I started pulling samples. And we were really kind of shocked about how the two-year-old started picking up color. It looked just like a four-year-old. So, then we started watching it.”
When it became three years old, Beam and Ballard pulled samples which were in the 122 to 125 proof range and started taking them around to trade shows. The people who tried it were impressed by how smooth and complex it was. At that point, the distillers thought that releasing a five-year-old would be the best option. But the bourbon had other ideas. When Beam, Ballard, and others they served the bourbon to this year tasted it, they decided that the four-year-old would be the first release and it is. They attribute the accelerated aging process, at least in part, to the warmer microclimate of the Purchase area. “Farmers plant corn here as early as March,” observed Beam.
Jackson Purchase Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey made its debut in September at the Kentucky Bourbon Festival in Bardstown. It has a mash bill of 70 per cent corn, 20 per cent rye, and 10 per cent malted barley, with a barrel entry proof of 120, aged in Char #4 barrels. Batch No. 1 was bottled at 117.8 proof and is indeed dangerously drinkable. It was also a hit at the Kentucky Bourbon Festival.
“Gangbusters!” said Beam. “We stocked up all the liquor stores in Bardstown, got product on Thursday afternoon, and by Thursday night most of them were already sold out and had restocked again Friday morning and then Bourbon Festival. Our line was nonstop at our booth and Terry and I were busy signing bottles. We had a hard time keeping ahead.”
As of October, they have gone through what was a planned year’s supply in a month but they have bottled more. Eventually distribution will grow to the neighboring states in the Mississippi Valley. At present it’s only available in Kentucky.
Beam, who was inducted into the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame earlier this year, is pleased to have countermanded his father and grandfather’s opinion of whiskey making in the far western region of the state.
“I sure would like to have a few drinks with them and kind of prove them wrong. I think they’d probably be proud and also proud that I got into the Hall of Fame with those two, too.”
