Deep in the heart of Kentucky horse country, a distillery just rewrote the record books without much fanfare. Town Branch Distillery in Lexington quietly dropped fifty-seven bottles of something no one has ever seen before: a 16-year-old Bottled-in-Bond Kentucky Single Malt Whiskey. That’s a mouthful, but it’s also the oldest bottled-in-bond American single malt ever released to the public.
Fifty-seven bottles. That’s it. No more will ever be made from this exact barrel.
Most whiskey fans know Kentucky for bourbon—rich, corn-heavy, and aged in new charred oak. But back on July 15, 2009, the crew at Town Branch decided to do something different. They mashed 100% malted barley, ran it through a pair of Scottish Forsyths copper pot stills they had shipped across the Atlantic, and filled a single ex-bourbon barrel with the new-make spirit. Then they walked away and let time do the rest.
Sixteen full years later, that barrel finally came out of the rickhouse. The result is Archive Series Volume 2, a 100-proof, non-chill-filtered single barrel that carries every bit of its age on its sleeve.
Pour it in the glass and you’re greeted with a light gold color that almost glows. The nose hits with marzipan, warm cinnamon, oatmeal cookies fresh from the oven, dried apricots and raisins, and a ribbon of honey running through it all. Take a sip and the palate opens up—baking spice first, then buttercream frosting, toasted coconut, and dark black cherry. The finish rolls on with sweet oak, candied orange peel, and a lingering vanilla that refuses to quit.
Robert Krass, the managing director at Town Branch, doesn’t hide his pride. “It is an honor and a privilege for our distillery to release a whiskey like this to the world—one that showcases the breadth of whiskey production in Kentucky beyond just bourbon,” he said. “Our entire team is proud to continue making history, one whiskey at a time.”
He’s not exaggerating about the history part. Town Branch was the first distillery built in Lexington after Prohibition ended, and the first in over a hundred years to make single malt whiskey on Kentucky soil. While the rest of the state was chasing the next great bourbon, these guys were quietly proving the Bluegrass can grow more than corn and racehorses.
This isn’t the first time they’ve reached into the warehouse for something special. Last year they launched the Archive Series with Volume 1—a 15-year-old that saw just 108 bottles leave the gift shop. Those disappeared fast. Volume 2 takes it a step further, not just in age but in rarity. At $399.99 a bottle, it’s not cheap, but when only fifty-seven people on the planet will ever own one, the price starts to feel almost reasonable.
Each bottle comes with a collector’s coin and a wooden display box that looks like it belongs on a mantle next to your granddad’s old service revolver or the trophy from that big bass you caught in ’98. This is the kind of whiskey you buy once, drink slowly with good friends, and still have a story twenty years from now.
American single malt has been the underdog category for years—great whiskeys coming out of Texas, Virginia, Colorado, and the Pacific Northwest, but always playing second fiddle to bourbon and rye. Town Branch just proved the style can stand tall right in bourbon’s backyard. And they did it under the strict bottled-in-bond rules: one distilling season, one distiller, aged at least four years (they gave it sixteen), and bottled at exactly 100 proof.
The bigger picture here is simple. Kentucky isn’t done surprising us. While everyone else is hunting allocated bourbons and flipping bottles online, a handful of guys in Lexington are showing there’s still uncharted territory in American whiskey. They’re using Scottish stills, local water, Kentucky air, and barrels that once held great bourbon to create something completely new.
If you’re the kind of man who appreciates a good story in your glass—who still remembers the first time a certain whiskey stopped you dead in your tracks—this Town Branch 16-year might just be worth hunting down. Fifty-seven bottles won’t last long, and when they’re gone, that’s it. No re-releases. No second chances.
Sometimes the rarest things in life really are the best. This looks like one of those times.
