There's a certain kind of patience that separates a good distillery from a great one. It's not the kind that sits still and watches the clock. It's the kind that stays busy, stays curious, and keeps tasting — until the moment finally arrives when the whiskey in the barrel tells you it's ready. That's exactly the story behind the newest release from Town Branch Distillery in Lexington, Kentucky.
Town Branch has officially launched its 6-Year Wheated Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, available now at the distillery and rolling out to retailers, bars, and restaurants nationwide through May and June. It carries a suggested retail price of $49.99 for a 750ml bottle.
This isn't a release that was rushed to market. Not even close.
Eight Years Before a Single Drop Hit Shelves
The team at Town Branch first began working with a wheated bourbon mash bill with a clear goal in mind: do it right or don't do it at all. That meant holding off on any standalone wheated bourbon release for eight full years while the stocks aged and the blending range matured.
Head Distiller and Blender Dave Bob Gaspar put it plainly. "We realized this whiskey was going to be something very special when we tasted it at six years old, which for us is a sweet spot for our other bourbon mash bills," he said. "I like to say we waited patiently, but in reality, we could hardly help ourselves, so we found creative ways to distract ourselves for a couple more years."
That line says a lot about what kind of operation Town Branch is running. These aren't people chasing a trend. They're distillers who got excited about what was sitting in their rickhouse and had to exercise serious self-control to let it become what it needed to be.
A Mash Bill That Worked Its Way Into the Lineup Slowly
Rather than simply waiting and doing nothing, the Town Branch team found ways to introduce the wheated mash bill to drinkers before giving it its own dedicated expression. It was a smart approach — one that let them test the whiskey in different contexts, gather real-world experience blending with it, and give whiskey enthusiasts a preview of what was coming.
In September 2024, the distillery rolled out two new releases as part of Bourbon Heritage Month celebrations.
The first was Town Branch Overproof Kentucky Straight Whiskey, bottled at 104 proof. It was a blended American whiskey built from four different styles of Kentucky Straight Whiskey, landing at 90% bourbon and 10% rye. That rye component itself included 10% wheated bourbon, which gave the overall blend a character that drank more like a high-rye bourbon than anything else.
The second release that month was Town Branch Imperium MMXXIV Kentucky Straight Bourbon, a highly limited annual expression bottled at 96 proof. This one was built from hand-selected barrels representing the best of what the distillery had to offer that year, and it incorporated 50% wheated bourbon barrels into the final blend — a significant wheated presence that gave serious drinkers their clearest look yet at what this mash bill was capable of.
By working the wheated bourbon into blends across two different styles and proof points, the team was building knowledge and flexibility at the same time.
The Kentucky Bourbon Trail Experiences That Let People Get Close to It
Town Branch is part of Lexington Brewing and Distilling Co., which holds a notable distinction as the only brewery and distillery on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. That position gives them a direct line to whiskey tourists and enthusiasts who make the trip to Lexington, and in 2025 the distillery used that platform to bring visitors even closer to the wheated bourbon before its official release.
Two experiences were introduced specifically featuring the wheated mash bill.
The Straight-From-The-Barrel Experience runs 30 minutes and costs $30 per person. Guests get to sample three single-barrel expressions pulled directly from the barrel, with the wheated bourbon mash bill included in the lineup. It's the kind of access that most people never get anywhere, and it gives participants a sense of how the whiskey is evolving at cask strength before any bottling decisions are made.
The Town Branch Barrel Thieving and Cocktail Experience goes deeper. At one hour and $50 per person, this one lets guests use a barrel thief to pull wheated bourbon at cask strength themselves — then turn around and use that whiskey to build an Overproof Old Fashioned. It's hands-on, it's immersive, and it puts the whiskey in context in a way that tasting room samples simply can't match.
Both experiences did exactly what they were designed to do. They got real whiskey drinkers interacting with the mash bill in meaningful ways, and they built anticipation for what the distillery was working toward.
What's Actually in the Bottle
Now in 2026, with a full blending range of wheated bourbons aged anywhere up to eight years, the distillery has the depth it needs to do things properly. Town Branch 6-Year Wheated Kentucky Straight Bourbon is built from bourbon aged a minimum of six years. It comes in non-chill filtered, which means nothing is stripped out for the sake of visual clarity in cold temperatures. And it's bottled at 99 proof — high enough to carry real weight and character without crossing into territory that demands dilution before drinking.
Lexington has a bourbon history that runs as deep as anywhere in Kentucky, and Kentucky's bourbon history runs as deep as anywhere in America. Town Branch, which holds the distinction of being the first new distillery to open in Lexington since Prohibition, is firmly rooted in that tradition while carving out its own identity within it.
The wheated mash bill itself sets this bourbon apart from a rye-forward profile in ways that matter to the palate. Wheat as the secondary grain softens the edges, tends to bring out more sweetness, and generally produces a bourbon that feels rounder and more approachable over time — qualities that only deepen with age.
What to Do If You Want to Try It First
For anyone within driving distance of Lexington, the distillery is offering complimentary samples of the new release starting now. That alone is worth a visit, but there's more on offer for those who make the trip.
The distillery team has gone a step further by selecting a special 8-year wheated bourbon specifically for its Fill Your Own Bottle Experience. That gives visitors a chance to take home an older, cask-strength, hand-bottled version of the whiskey — something that won't be available on any retail shelf. Bottle engraving is also available for an additional fee, which makes it a legitimate keepsake for anyone who wants to mark the occasion properly.
For the rest of the country, the 6-Year Wheated Kentucky Straight Bourbon is hitting shelves through May and June at retailers, bars, and restaurants nationwide with a suggested retail price of $49.99.
Why This Release Deserves Attention
The wheated bourbon category has grown significantly in recent years, driven partly by the long-standing reputation of certain iconic labels and partly by a general curiosity among whiskey drinkers about how different grain combinations change what ends up in the glass. Town Branch is entering that space with something that took years of deliberate work to get right.
The distillery didn't release it at four years old to generate quick revenue. They didn't slap a wheated label on something already in their lineup. They built a dedicated mash bill, let it age properly, used it strategically in blends to understand it better, created distillery experiences around it, and waited until the blending range had enough depth to sustain a real ongoing program.
At $49.99, it sits at a price point that reflects genuine age and craft without asking anyone to take out a second mortgage for a taste of something new. Non-chill filtered at 99 proof with a minimum of six years in the barrel — the specs alone tell you this is a serious whiskey built for serious drinkers.
The people at Town Branch didn't wait eight years to release something forgettable.
