James E. Pepper Old Pepper Rye Bottled in Bond (750ml)

The Pepper name has been tied to Kentucky whiskey since 1780, when Elijah Pepper began distilling during the American Revolution. His family later founded the site that is now home to the Woodford Reserve Distillery. His grandson, Colonel James E. Pepper, built his own distillery on Manchester Street in Lexington around 1880 and promoted it as one of the largest and most modern in the country. The Colonel was also a champion of honest whiskey: the brand credits his signature strip stamp, which certified what was inside the bottle, as a model for the Bottled-in-Bond Act of 1897. The distillery closed in the mid-20th century and sat abandoned for decades until whiskey entrepreneur Amir Peay revived the brand in 2008 and later rebuilt and reopened the Lexington site. Old Pepper Rye is now distilled and bottled there, under its original registration, DSP-KY-5. It follows the "pure rye" style the Colonel once made, with a mash bill of 100% rye, and is cut with water from the distillery's historic limestone well. The whiskey ages in new toasted and charred barrels built from Kentucky oak that has been air-seasoned for at least 18 to 24 months. As a Bottled-in-Bond whiskey, it is the product of a single distilling season, aged at least four years in a federally bonded warehouse, and bottled at exactly 100 proof. The result is a bold, spicy rye that honors the Colonel's legacy.