Bradshaw Bourbon's Three Limited-Edition Summer Packages Are Built for the Backyard
There is a particular kind of ambition that runs through Bradshaw Bourbon — one that has little patience for half measures. Bradshaw Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, the brand founded by NFL Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw, has released three limited-edition summer packages that put the flagship spirit at the center of the American outdoor cooking ritual. Rather than simply slapping a label on a promotional gift set, the brand has assembled bundles that knit together bourbon, Southern cooking, and the kind of table-centered hospitality that Bradshaw has always projected as part of his personal identity. For enthusiasts who want a bottle with a story attached — and a rack of ribs to go with it — this is a timely offer.
The bundles are available now through Labor Day, Monday, September 7, on the Bradshaw Bourbon website. That window is deliberate. The packages combine the brand's flagship bourbon with food-focused products aimed at "backyard barbecues, pool parties and summer celebrations." Given what this bourbon is made of and where it comes from, the pairing makes more sense than it might at first appear.
What's in the Box: Breaking Down the Three Bundles
The brand has constructed three distinct price points, each designed to appeal to a different type of buyer — from the guy who just wants bourbon and a good sauce to the one who wants the full Bradshaw experience complete with a family recipe book.
The Pitmaster
The first option, called The Pitmaster, pairs the flagship bourbon with Bradshaw Bourbon BBQ Sauce and is on sale for $75.99, down from $85.99. It is the most straightforward proposition of the three — spirits and sauce, the essential ingredients for anyone who takes their summer grilling seriously. The price drop of ten dollars is meaningful without being desperate, and for a bundle of this kind, it positions the brand squarely at the impulse-buy sweet spot for a weekend host who also happens to love bourbon.
Now We're Cookin'
The second bundle, called Now We're Cookin', includes the flagship bourbon and "The Bradshaw Family Cookbook" and is priced at $100.99, reduced from $120.99. The cookbook is not a vanity project. It collects Southern comfort recipes from the Bradshaw family, with contributors including Terry Bradshaw's son-in-law, Noah Hester, an award-winning chef and owner of Hamm's Meat + Market in McKinney, Texas. Hester was named CultureMap Dallas' 2024 Chef of the Year. Having a credentialed restaurant professional behind a celebrity-branded cookbook matters — it separates this from the glossy, ghost-written vanity volumes that clog gift shop shelves every November.
Cooking with the QB!
The third package, Cooking with the QB!, features the flagship bourbon, the BBQ sauce, and the cookbook, and is available for $115.99, down from $145.99. This is the full stack — everything the brand offers in a single transaction, at a discount of thirty dollars from the regular price. For anyone buying it as a gift or planning a summer season of serious outdoor cooking, the value proposition is clear. All three gift sets include the option of personalized engraving at no additional cost, making it easy to give a gift that feels one-of-a-kind. That detail alone elevates these from standard bundles into something with a bit more ceremony attached.
The Bourbon Itself: Small-Batch Kentucky Craft with a Hall of Fame Proof Point
Before evaluating the package, it helps to understand what is actually inside the bottle. The flagship Bradshaw Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey is a small-batch spirit produced in Kentucky, aged in hand-selected barrels. The distillery behind it carries history that predates most American institutions. Bradshaw Bourbon is produced in collaboration with the Silver Screen Bottling Company and is distilled by a third-generation master distiller on the site of one of the first distilleries in Kentucky, which was issued the state's 10th distillery license in 1885. Despite major disruptions — including a devastating fire in 1918, ownership changes, Prohibition, and bankruptcies — the distillery in Owensboro has been making bourbon and rye for nearly 130 years.
The distillery, now owned by Terressentia Corporation, recently returned to its original name — Green River Distilling Co. Under the watch of third-generation Master Distiller Jacob Call, the distillery continues the tradition of producing fine bourbon and rye using only locally sourced Kentucky-grown corn and oak char barrels. That lineage is the kind of thing that makes a production story feel real rather than manufactured. Green River was pressing corn into whiskey when Grover Cleveland was in the White House, and the production philosophy has remained rooted in regional sourcing through every ownership change and rebuilding effort since.
The Mash Bill and the Proof Point
Bradshaw Bourbon uses a mash bill of 70% corn, 21% rye, and 9% malted barley. The whiskey is aged in new American oak barrels for a minimum of two years before being bottled at 51.9% — 103.8 proof — a nod to Bradshaw's career passer completion percentage in the NFL. The rye percentage is notably high for a Kentucky straight bourbon, which tends toward either the 10-15% rye range of traditional Kentucky mashbills or the wheat substitutions of softer expressions. At 21% rye, this bourbon carries real backbone and spice.
It is bottled at 51.9% ABV as a tribute to Terry Bradshaw's passing completion rate of the same percentage. It is one of those production details that sounds gimmicky until you drink it, at which point the proof makes sense on its own merits. As the brand notes, 51.9% turned out to be the perfect alcohol percentage for this bourbon — high enough to carry structure and heat, moderate enough to remain approachable on the rocks or in a glass on a hot afternoon. Terry Bradshaw has a hand in every part of this brand, from the mash bill to the bottle's appearance, working closely with Master Distiller Jacob Call to ensure the bourbon reflects exactly what he likes in a pour.
Tasting Notes: What's in the Glass
According to official notes from the brand, the bourbon delivers "notes of vanilla, toffee, spice and oak." Those markers align with what the rye-forward mashbill and new charred oak aging would suggest. On the nose, it offers notes of vanilla, toffee, banana, leather, and campfire. On the palate, there is cinnamon, baking spices, vanilla, and coconut, finishing with wood, vanilla, and butterscotch. That campfire note on the nose is particularly interesting given the summer grilling context of these packages — it is not a stretch to say the bourbon was almost custom-made for pairing with smoke and char. The butterscotch finish lingers in a way that plays well against acidic, tomato-based barbecue sauces, and the cinnamon note on the palate finds natural harmony with heat-forward rubs.
The Award-Winning Backstory: From Skepticism to Best in Show
Celebrity bourbon is a crowded lane, and early reviews of the flagship expression were mixed. Some critics felt that a two-year-old bourbon at a given price point was asking consumers to pay a premium for a name rather than a liquid. But Bradshaw Bourbon has done something unusual in the celebrity spirits space: it has aged its way into credibility, both literally and figuratively.
The spirit was awarded Double Gold at the 2026 SIP Awards and earned a gold medal at the 2026 San Francisco World Spirits Competition. Those are not minor acknowledgments. The San Francisco World Spirits Competition is one of the most respected blind-tasting competitions in the American spirits industry, drawing thousands of entries and judged by panels with no commercial stakes in the outcome. Gold at that level is a meaningful signal.
Even more striking is what happened at the wholesaler level. Bradshaw Bourbon has gathered further recognition beyond its flagship expression. Its six-year cask strength single barrel bourbon recently earned "Best in Show" and a Double Gold Medal at the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America Tasting Competition. The Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America's annual tasting competition carries a different kind of weight from most awards programs. It's built for the distribution tier — for people who live in the space between producer and retail shelf, where a winning bottle isn't just "excellent"; it's commercially legible. Winning Best in Show there is not a lifestyle award. It is a trade-facing certification that tells distributors and buyers there is genuine quality in the glass, independent of the famous face on the label.
Bradshaw's bourbons lean into classic Kentucky bourbon architecture of vanilla-toffee sweetness framed by oak and rye spice — a profile that works in blind tastings precisely because it is not trying to reinvent the form. It plays to the strengths of the green river terroir and the barrel maturation that the distillery has been doing for over a century.
The Growing Range: Six-Year and Twelve-Year Expressions
The summer packages showcase the flagship expression, but they arrive in the context of a brand that has been actively building out its lineup. NFL legend Terry Bradshaw has expanded his Bradshaw Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey brand with two new cask strength single barrel expressions: a six-year-old and a limited-edition 12-year-old.
The six-year-old single barrel was distilled and aged by Green River Distilling Co., the tenth-oldest distillery in Kentucky. According to official notes from the brand, it delivers concentrated notes of vanilla, toffee, and baking spices, with a long, warming finish. At a suggested retail of $64.99, it represents the next tier up from the flagship for the consumer ready to spend a little more for additional wood time and cask-strength intensity.
The 12-year-old expression, named TB-12-Year as a tribute to Bradshaw's jersey number, is a highly allocated release with fewer than 25 barrels produced. It was bottled at Bluegrass Distillers in Kentucky. Its official tasting notes mention powerful aromas of leather, campfire, and oak, followed by layers of cinnamon, coconut, and butterscotch on the palate. Suggested retail pricing is set at $249.99 for the 12-year. With fewer than 25 barrels in existence, the TB-12-Year is not a product the average whiskey drinker will encounter at retail — but its existence signals that the brand is building toward something more ambitious than the typical celebrity-spirit playbook, which tends to stop at the flagship and call it a day.
Bradshaw himself has been characteristically direct about the philosophy behind the age-statement releases. "These new bourbons are about patience and pride," said Terry Bradshaw. "You cannot rush great bourbon. The 6-year brings bold energy and power, while the 12-year is rich, intense and layered from years in the barrel." For a man who spent 14 seasons behind the most punishing offensive line in professional football, patience is a concept he understands from experience.
Noah Hester, the BBQ Sauce, and the Family Cookbook
One of the more interesting elements of the summer packages is the depth of the culinary component. The BBQ sauce and cookbook are not afterthoughts — they reflect a genuine family business that extends beyond the bourbon label. Noah Hester is Bradshaw's partner in the bourbon brand. He created the Bradshaw Bourbon BBQ Sauce, described as a "rich, smoky complement to backyard grilling."
The collection "reflects the family's deep roots in food, hospitality and the kind of cooking that brings people to the table," the brand said. That language is easy to dismiss as marketing copy, but the specifics support it. A CultureMap Dallas Chef of the Year running a well-regarded meat market is not a paper credential — it is the kind of culinary infrastructure that gives a branded BBQ sauce actual standing. The cookbook is similarly grounded in real recipes from people who cook professionally and personally.
For anyone who has spent a summer afternoon managing a brisket over indirect heat, the idea of a bourbon that pairs with a house-made BBQ sauce and a cookbook full of Southern family recipes has an intuitive appeal that no amount of branding can manufacture. The Bradshaw brand is leaning into an identity that is about more than football nostalgia — it is positioning itself at the intersection of American craft food and craft spirits, which is exactly where the market is moving.
Terry Bradshaw's Bourbon Ambitions in the Larger Context of Celebrity Spirits
The launch follows a growing trend of celebrity-backed spirits brands entering the American whiskey category, particularly those with sports connections. Bradshaw's bourbon brand joins other NFL-affiliated whiskey ventures, including those from former players like Dan Marino and Joe Montana. The difference is in the approach. Where many celebrity spirits operate at arm's length — lending a name and a face without genuine involvement — the Bradshaw operation is structured differently.
The brand wasn't created to be flipped, sold, or cashed out. Terry isn't in it for the money — he wants it to be a piece of his legacy. He's deeply involved, making distributor calls, showing up for tastings, even jumping behind the bar for pop-ups just because he loves it. Most importantly, Terry insists the bourbon stays affordable. He often says, "There's no point in making a great bourbon if people can't afford to drink it." That accessibility-first philosophy is a meaningful departure from celebrity spirits that use a famous name to justify a $150 price tag on a liquid that would not survive a blind tasting.
In 2020, Bradshaw launched Bradshaw Straight Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey in collaboration with Green River Distilling. Despite launching in February of 2020 — the beginning of the pandemic — Bradshaw's signature bourbon sold well in hundreds of locations. The brand has been building steadily ever since, adding age statements, collecting competition hardware, and now constructing lifestyle packages that speak to the way its core audience actually lives. The summer bundles are not a pivot — they are an extension of a consistent brand voice that has been speaking in the language of backyard hospitality from the beginning.
What the Summer Packages Mean for Bourbon Enthusiasts
For the serious bourbon drinker, the summer packages will read as a smart, if commercial, way to bring a proven label into the outdoor cooking season. The flagship bourbon is a legitimate product with genuine competition credentials — not a name on a bottle of sourced juice with a celebrity biography where the distillery notes should be. The six-year cask strength expression, which won Best in Show at the WSWA competition, gives the brand a tier-two offering that can satisfy the collector and the connoisseur alike.
The BBQ sauce is an interesting addition because it actually makes sense with the bourbon's flavor profile. A bourbon that leads with vanilla, toffee, and baking spice, and finishes with butterscotch and wood, pairs well with a sauce built on smokiness and sugar — the complementary flavors work in the same way that whiskey-and-barbecue pairings have always worked at the finest American smoke joints. Noah Hester's involvement as an award-winning chef with a standing restaurant operation means this is not a bottle of grocery-store sauce with a new label — there is a professional kitchen sensibility behind it.
The personalized engraving option, available at no added cost, is worth noting. The brand is offering specially priced holiday gift sets, each featuring products from the broader Bradshaw family collection and available with complimentary personalized engraving. That option converts these bundles from seasonal promotions into lasting objects — a bottle with a name on it outlives the summer it was given and becomes part of the memory attached to a specific occasion.
How to Buy Before the Season Ends
The window on these packages is not long. The bundles are available through Labor Day, September 7, on the Bradshaw Bourbon website. Given the brand's recent competition momentum and its expanding fanbase — both among bourbon drinkers who have followed the quality trajectory and football fans who have been with Bradshaw since the Steelers dynasty — availability through the end of summer is not guaranteed to mean available for the entire summer.
The pricing structure rewards moving up the ladder. The Pitmaster at $75.99 is the entry point, a reasonable ask for a bourbon and a sauce from a brand currently sitting on gold medals from two of the year's most competitive blind-tasting programs. The Now We're Cookin' bundle at $100.99 adds the cookbook and a different dimension of value. The Cooking with the QB! package at $115.99 is the most complete offer — everything the brand has built around the food and spirits identity, collected in a single purchase that represents a thirty-dollar savings against buying the components separately.
For the man who takes the grill seriously, keeps good bourbon on hand, and appreciates when a brand earns its accolades rather than just buying them with a famous name — the Bradshaw summer packages arrive at exactly the right moment in the season. The charcoal is lit, the competition hardware is real, and the family recipe book has actual chefs in the credits. There are worse ways to spend a Labor Day weekend.
