Kentucky
Kentucky
Alltech Lexington Brewing & Distilling Co. is one of the most fascinating and unique brewing and distilling combinations in the world – a so-called «brewstillery» in the heart of Lexington, Kentucky, whose history stretches back to 1794, when the first brewery in Lexington was founded on this very site. Irish biochemist and entrepreneur Dr. Pearse Lyons – a descendant of a long line of Irish coopers and himself a celebrated brewer who had learned his craft at both Guinness and Harp – acquired the more than 200-year-old Lexington Brewing Company in 1999 and breathed new life into one of Kentucky's oldest brewing traditions, with his unmistakable vision from the outset directed at uniting the two greatest beverage traditions of the Bluegrass State – beer and bourbon – under one roof.
The heart and world-famous flagship of the brewery is the Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale, a award-winning Irish red ale that ages for up to six weeks in freshly decanted bourbon barrels from Kentucky's finest distilleries, developing its characteristic notes of vanilla, oak and bourbon in the process – a beer that reflects its place of origin as clearly as almost any other American craft beer. The broad Kentucky Ale range of Kentucky Irish Red Ale, Kentucky Kölsch, Kentucky IPA, Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Stout and an annual series of barrel-aged seasonal beers has since collected numerous national and international awards, establishing the brewery as one of the best-known and most respected addresses in the American craft beer scene.
With the opening of Town Branch Distillery in 2012 – the first new distillery to be built in Lexington in over 100 years – Dr. Pearse Lyons completed his vision and became the seventh member of the world-renowned Kentucky Bourbon Trail in the process. The magnificent 20,000-square-foot facility of Kentucky limestone with its two copper pot stills from Scotland produces Town Branch Bourbon, Town Branch Rye, Pearse Lyons Reserve malt whiskey and the bourbon-infused coffee liqueur Bluegrass Sundown – making Alltech Lexington Brewing & Distilling Co. the only address on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail where brewing and distilling are celebrated in equal measure.