Old Pepper K&L Exclusive Single Barrel Barrel Proof Straight Indiana Rye Whiskey (750ml)

$49.99    View

The Pepper family is one of most historically important in American Whisky. Elijah Pepper first began distilling in Virginia during the American Revolution. His son, the famous Oscar Pepper founded a distillery on Glenn’s Creek and perfected the sour mash process with Dr. James C Crow at the site where Woodford Reserve is currently made. His early death in 1865, but 15 year old James E. Pepper in charge of the family business. His guardian, E.H. Taylor, loaned him money to expand his fathers distillery, but ultimately failed to succeed and ended up losing the distillery to Taylor. He was able to find the capital to build a second distillery near Lexington and pushed for laws allowing distillers to bottle their own whisky at the facility where it was distilled and aged. They claimed to be the first to bottle their own bourbon. The flamboyant character ended up losing everything to foreclosure. Amazingly, the highest bidder for the failed distillery and its owners assets was the owners own wife, E.O. Pepper. The distillery burned down in 1933 and was rebuilt again after prohibition, before closing in the late 60s. In 2008, Amir Peay resurrected the brand and spent the next 9 years recreating the original recipes of the famous old distillery. As those whiskies age, they’ve bottled purchased whisky from several distillers in Kentucky and Indiana. This exceptional 95% rye was distilled on May 27th 2016 at MGP before being bottled on July 7th 2021 exclusively for K&L.