Real Missouri Bourbon

Bourbon is by definition American-made. The spirit can only be made in the United States and it can be made in any state, but the finest bourbon results from an ideal combination of climate and geology that is rare outside of Kentucky but is found in the rolling hills of Weston, Missouri.

The Holladay Distillery was founded in 1856, making it both the oldest distillery in the state of Missouri and the oldest distillery west of the Mississippi still operating on its original site. The property sits on active limestone springs that were first charted by Lewis and Clark in 1804, more than fifty years before Ben Holladay purchased the land that would later become his legacy.

Ben Holladay Bourbon is classified as a Real Missouri Bourbon under a 2019 law requiring that any whiskey labeled as Missouri bourbon must not only meet the federal standards for bourbon, but also be mashed, fermented, distilled, aged, and bottled in the state; aged in oak barrels manufactured in the state; and—beginning January 1, 2020—made with corn exclusively grown in the state. It is also Bottled-in-Bond, a rare and prestigious designation in the distilled spirits industry, signaling that the product is distilled, aged, and bottled in the same location and assuring a mark of authenticity.

This six-year-old, Bottled-in-Bond, Real Missouri Bourbon is crafted with the same mash bill that was developed by Ben Holladay in 1856. This whiskey represents the perfect union of distilling tradition and modern-day production.

HOLLADAY DISTILLERY HISTORY

Bottled-in-Bond

This classification is a prestigious mark of transparency and legitimacy in the distilled spirits world. The Bottled-in-Bond Act was established in 1897 to guarantee that the product a customer was purchasing was truly whiskey. The Act requires that spirits are aged and bottled according to a certain set of guidelines.

Prior to the establishment of this Act, many people would sell spirits labeled as whiskey that were not authentic. Some would be colored, flavored, or diluted to produce a deceiving taste and appearance of true whiskey. Distillers fought for the government to get involved and that is how Bottled-in-Bond came to be.

TO BE LABELED BOTTLED-IN-BOND, A WHISKEY MUST MEET THE FOLLOWING CRITERIA:

Product of a single distiller in a single season—spring (January to June) or fall (July to December)
Aged for a minimum of 4 years in a federally bonded rickhouse
Bottled at 50% ABV / 100 proof in the same location it was distilled

It's all in the details

Ben Holladay Bourbon is aged in a level three, charred, Missouri white oak barrel and is non-chill filtered. It is produced using many of our original methods including a two-grain cooker system, same distillation proofs, and barrel entry proof.

This is handcrafted small-batch bourbon, with each batch being pulled monthly from different barrels spread out on different floors of our two seven-story rickhouses and blended by our master distiller to match our strict criteria for flavor profile.

Approximately 80% of the very first batch will be sourced from barrels that were aged on the fifth floor of Warehouse C, the largest rickhouse on-site. The remaining 20% of the bourbon will come from barrels aged on the first floor of the same rickhouse.

The ratios of each subsequent batch of Ben Holladay Bourbon will be unique as we embrace the variable aging between floors. The temperature can vary by as much as 30 degrees between the top and bottom floors, resulting in differences in taste between barrels that have aged in the cooler temperatures and higher humidity found on the first floor versus the warmer and drier conditions on the higher floors. These differences are most dramatic in the early years and diminish over time, but are still present at the six-year aging mark.

Due to the unique variations of each batch, the Ben Holladay Bourbon label features a blending chart to help distinguish the individual batches and allow consumers to identify the blending process used.

DISTILLERS JOURNAL