Some distilleries impress you with scale. Others with story. Town Branch manages both — grounded in history, but focused on what’s in the glass.
- Distillery: Town Branch Distillery (Lexington Brewing & Distilling)
- Location: Lexington, KY
- Founded: 2008
- Known for: American Single Malt, Bourbon, Rye and their bourbon barrel aged beers brewed under the Lexington Brewing Company (1999).
- Visit Type: Hosted by Dave Bob, Head of Distilling, Blending & National Brand Manager.
You come Tuesday morning and I will have fresh donuts and a special hot cocktail ready for ya’ll.”
– Dave Bob, Head Distiller & Brewer of Town Branch
A simple message from Dave Bob was all it took to get me focusing my entire morning at Town Branch before some later pre-planned barrel picks (Dark Arts — more in another post). I’ll be honest with you — I had heard very little about Town Branch before my visit and for that I’m both sad for the wasted time not knowing them sooner and ashamed such an incredible brand has existed for almost 20 years as a best kept secret rather than a must-visit destination on the bourbon trail.
Our visit started in the eye-popping authentically recreated Irish village gift shop — a place where you can snag favorite whiskies, beers, and even try some neat pours or cocktails at the small bar.
Now, I’m not a general fan of coffee, and a coffee cocktail is not one I reach for first but Town Branch had me rethinking my position from the first sip. Warming, smooth, crushable – none of the bitterness that normally keeps me away from coffee.
Once we’d polished off a donut and gotten a few sips in, Dave wasted no time in pouring us a flight of three of their American Single Malt whiskies — a 7 year blend, an 11 year, 11 month old Single Barrel Reserve, and their newest limited release, a 16-Year Bottled-in-Bond. All three had my eyebrows raised and funneled into that aforementioned regret at not knowing Town Branch sooner. The 7 year blend was very balanced. While the 11-Year and 16-Year were both show stoppers in their own rights. The 11 year leaned more towards a higher punch of white pepper while the 16 year leaned into deeper, darker sweetness – all three pours bound by this predominant peach ring candy flavor that I still haven’t forgotten.
The true star of the show was the distillation room with its soaring ceilings and legendary double pot still. Dave explained that many of the Town Branch products are made via column distillation for consistency off-site but the pot still is still used for more limited releases and always makes its way into the batched blends he does (Batch 12 was marrying in the vat during our visit).
After seeing the distillation room and warehouse (such as it is in the Lexington space, we had a few more quick pours – the Imperium Bourbon which has been gathering some quiet hype and a Single Barrel Rye that was also lovely. Each continued to present that peach ring and bright cherry profile, though the base flavors obviously married and altered with each different mashbill and single barrel.
Conversations with the team reinforced something I value highly — pride without pretense. These are people who care deeply about they’re making and it shows up quickly, whether through your first interactions with them or your first sip of their whiskey.
I quickly realized a few hours first thing in the morning was not enough to wrap my head fully around the scope of Town Branch’s distilling operation and that was without ever exploring the brewery side of Dave’s work, Lexington Brewing, of which I have long been a fan since my craft brewery obsession. I’ll certainly be putting Town Branch at the top of my to-visit list the next time I’m in Lexington and by then, I hope it’s no longer a best kept secret – but the well known whiskey destination honors it deserves.
This visit was hosted by the distillery. All thoughts are my own and not influenced by the experience.