RD1 Spirits Distillery

Drew (00:00):
Welcome to a month long celebration of the release of the expanded and revised second edition of Whiskey Laura's Travel Guide to experience in Kentucky Bourbon with Father's Day on the horizon. Well, it's a perfect opportunity for you to get an updated version with all of the changes that have occurred on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail over the last five years, while also grabbing copies of the book for your loved ones as well at a special discount. As a thank you to all my loyal listeners and Patreon members here in the US this week only, I'm offering a 20% off Father's Day discount on this second edition of experience in Kentucky Bourbon, along with all of my other history and travel books. All you have to do is head to patreon.com/whiskey, Lord, to get the link to purchase it, and to also get your 20% off discount code. Make sure to use it this week. This offer ends May 30th. That's patreon.com/whiskey lore.

(01:06):
Welcome to Whiskey LO's Whiskey Flights, your weekly home for discovering great craft distillery experiences around the globe. I'm your travel guide Drew ish, the bestselling author of Experience in Kentucky Bourbon, and that is the subject of today's podcast. And for the next couple of weeks, we are going to be celebrating the release of this second edition by expanding your knowledge on some of the new experiences that have come along on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. And if you think about it, my first book was released in May of 2020 and there have been a lot of changes, not only along the trail, but also in my knowledge of Kentucky Bourbon. And so it really got to a point where it was necessary for me to do a revision of that book because the old one was just getting way outdated. And so some of the things I updated included the history which I wrote that initial history after doing all those tours.

(02:04):
So it is filled with lore. And so I had to separate the lore from the actual history and do a complete rewrite on the story of Kentucky Bourbon. Some of it may be very new to you in the way that I tell it. I also had to go through and rewrite the process area because I made a couple of mistakes in my first edition. As you'll do when you're on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, you're going to hear a lot of things about the process. And I'd say every time I go on a distillery tour, I learn another step in the process or get some clarification. So I have had five years worth of clarification, and so that has been updated as well. I do talk about more than just bourbon in the new book. When we get into the tasting area of the book, I have now done some guiding on single malt, American Single malt has now come along and rye whiskey as well.

(02:57):
And so that is new in this book. Some of the other things, of course, are a whole bunch of new profiles that are in there. There are new distillery experiences like the Spoken Spirits with their rapid aged whiskeys, the new Bluegrass distillery at Midway that's out on a historic farm. And I also got a chance to get some sneak peeks into some places that haven't opened yet. Like Heaven's Door at Six Mile Creek and at the time RD One Spirits, but we're going to be learning more about them today. And the book also has some places that weren't around five years ago when I first wrote that book Log Still, distillery wasn't around. The Bard was just getting started. And speaking of Western Kentucky, well, I really didn't cover Western Kentucky in that book. I mean, I did get to MB Roland, I did get to Casey Jones.

(03:50):
I didn't make it out to what was then OZ Tyler, which is now Green River. So a lot of updated information about that as well. And there are some fun distilleries that I didn't visit on my first trip through that I did later get to see second site up in northern Kentucky with the most bizarre looking pot still you will ever see in your life. There are micro distilleries and barrel experiences that have come online, especially in Louisville, big section upgrade there. And so I've gone from 32 experiences to over 80 covered in this new book. I also got to update the distillery experiences of places like Wild Turkey, Jim Beam, angel Envy, heaven Hill, four Roses and so on, with new information about what you'll taste on these tours, some more focused side trips and some new things to watch for and listen for when you're on those tours.

(04:45):
One of the biggest changes is the change to the way the profiles are structured. They are now in five logical regions, including Louisville, Western, Northern and central Kentucky. And I've also created what I call the Bluegrass region. That kind of comes from my knowledge now of whiskey history and how that bluegrass region around Lexington, Woodford County and Bourbon County really was kind of that foundational part of the history of bourbon. And so this is a perfect segue into today's conversation with Barry Brier, who is the co-founder and brand ambassador for RD One Spirits. And the name RD one Spirits may sound a little odd to you. You're like, where does that come from? Well, it has some historical ties. So Barry, kind of give us a little background on that name. RD One Spirits,

Barry (05:41):
When you look at the history of American whiskey, was an 1862 when President Lincoln needed revenue to fund the Civil War effort. So every tax district we're in the seventh tax district. Every tax district had RD one, an RD two, and an RD three. We now know after prohibition as distilleries that have that tax designation as DSP distilled Spirits Plant. So the RD was the DSP version in the 1860s. So in 1865, the first registered distillery to get its tax designation in Lexington, Kentucky in the seventh tax district was called the Ashland Distillery. So that's when we started our brand back in January, 2020. One of the driving focuses for us was to increase bourbon tourism to Lexington, Kentucky. The second thing was to kind of put Lexington back on a map of we have a rich history of distilled spirits. So RD one helps us tell that history story and then write the next chapter. And we'll talk a little bit later here. What is that next chapter of already one in Lexington, Kentucky?

Drew (06:56):
Yeah, it's interesting. When I did my very first trip through Kentucky, the third distillery I went to was Town Branch. And when you walked in, they had some historical things about Lexington, but it was about Lexington Brewing. It had nothing to do with distilling. And it leads to all these questions of, well, what the heck was going on here? Because that area to me, the inner Bluegrass region of Kentucky is really the heartbeat of where bourbon came from,

Barry (07:28):
Very rich history, and hopefully we'll get to touch on some of that, but that was really my driving force was I wanted to help Lexington be able to recognize that and keep people that come into the Bourbon Trail. We want to bring 'em to Lexington, Kentucky.

Drew (07:45):
Yeah. Well, we had a really interesting discussion the last time I was up there. We're kind of going through history and you had been researching William Tar. I had been researching a guy named James A. Miller and James A. Miller had the Chicken Cock brand, and actually it came about because of William Tar, because William Tar actually wanted a brand apparently for it because James A. Miller had passed away, but he owned the distillery and the name was well known. But then he ends up partnering with a guy named George G. White, and then George G. White takes it over After that, William Tarr ends up at your distillery,

Drew (08:24):
Which

Drew (08:24):
Is really interesting. And then at the end when William Tar gets pushed out, we were making the connection. I was like, what was Gigi White that was trying to buy it and why was he trying to buy it? The Whiskey Trust was buying everything up at that time.

Barry (08:39):
Yes. Yeah, it's so funny. I mean, everything's kind of interconnected. I mean, even today when you look at distilleries, we all know each other. It's a very small industry. Same back then back in the 18 hundreds, very small group of people. And when the Whiskey Trust came back in and took it over, RD one was a part of that and was a part of the largest distilling concern in the state of Kentucky. So very rich history with that. And the Whiskey Trust actually sold it back to James and Richard Stoll who had Old Elk. So they had Old Elk with stolen venetta, and then they bought Bond and Lillard. They had New Hope, they had many different brands under the rd. One portfolio at that point was called the William Tar Distillery.

Drew (09:35):
Yeah, it's funny because as I was doing the research for Log Still and we were diving into all those names in New Hope, it's like several of those names ended up going in that direction. I think El Miles was one of them and Bell of Nelson, which was probably one of the most popular of that

Barry (09:54):
Area, all within the portfolio, including RD one or then the William Tar Distillery.

Drew (10:00):
So let's talk about Lexington because as we were chatting back and forth, kind of like this idea that Lexington gets lost sometimes, which seems strange because you have I 64 and I 75 crossing each other. That's a lot of traffic coming through one area. So in terms of what is going on in Lexington, I mean, it's not like there's just a distillery or two there. That's a pretty popular area. I would say for, and probably more recent, I think Town Branch was probably the main and James e Pepper and Barrel

Barry (10:39):
House and the Barrel House. The Barrel House was in the distillery district really before Pepper. And I'm trying to remember the timeline of Town Branch, but they were probably pretty close together in starting up. So Lexington, just the revival and the recent additions to distilleries, we have Bluegrass Distillers, we've got Fresh Bourbon, we have Bespoken, we've got James Pepper, the Barrel House, Artie One Spirits, dark Arts, McCauley with Dark Arts took over our old gift shop in the distillery district. So we have a lot of draw here on the part of now distilleries. But the other thing that Lexington brings kind of similar to Louisville maybe on a smaller scale, is our culinary scene. We have a James Beard nominated chef in wida, Michael, who has wonderful restaurants all throughout central Kentucky in Wallace Station. She's got Holly Hill and Midway, and then she's got a whole host of restaurants here that really kind of tie into that culinary scene. And when we think now of Kentucky Bourbon Trail, it's the and in bourbon it is bourbon and a five star or four star restaurant. It's bourbon and an entertainment venue at Log, still the amp ther now soon R one, we're going to have a 2000 person capacity amphitheater right across from our distillery.

(12:14):
It's that experiential piece. It just elevates the whole experience. You can go, you need to see a tour where this is how we mash, this is how we ferment, this is how we distill. You can see that a couple of times and then you could run a tour. It's important to get that foundational knowledge, but it's that next step of, alright, what are we going to do now for advanced sensory tastings? What are we going to do now to help people create meaningful moments on their trip to the land of milk and honey and bourbon being Kentucky?

Drew (12:45):
Yeah, it's a beautiful distillery. I got a chance to see it when you were trying to get ready for Keeneland, I think initially, and when we went through there, I'm taking pictures, but it's like my pictures are of a construction zone, and you said, well, we're going to be open in April, and it ended up being made, but I mean, honestly,

Barry (13:08):
There ain't no way.

Drew (13:09):
As I walked through that place the other day, I was saying, wow, they actually did pull this off because yeah, Chris Teton was saying once they get the drywall up, it doesn't take that long.

Barry (13:25):
When the paint goes up, you're close.

Drew (13:27):
But

Barry (13:27):
Yeah, with drywall, you still got a little bit of work to do.

Drew (13:31):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So it is a beautiful facility and you get a little fooled when you first walk in the door because there's a big pot still sitting there. That's not a functional pot still.

Barry (13:44):
It can be. And it's an 800 gallon, I lovingly called it Big Bertha today to a group that came in from California. In the future, it's very possible that we're going to hook that up and make it work and make it function, but right now it's a museum piece for people to come in and see what an amazing pot still that is very large, 800 gallon,

Drew (14:10):
But you will be distilling on site because you are. So what are you planning on distilling while you're there?

Barry (14:17):
Yeah, so our research and development master distiller, Jared Gallahue, has his PhD in wood maturation. He wrote his thesis paper on how wood talos in American white oak affected distilled spirits and very smart guy. But we met Jared when he was still a professor at the University of Kentucky, James Beam Institute, and he brought his gen class over. So he used our still over at our old gift shop location to do a gen run and teach his students how to do that. Jared is going to, he's going to distill some very unique mash bills. We're going to play with those to see if we like 'em, we'll run 'em on our column still at the Western Kentucky Distilling Company. They make all of our new make, I selfishly want to do aquavit because I want to season some bourbon barrels in aquavit, and then I want to finish bourbon in those aquavit barrels. And I've tasted this. I've done some research with some other people across the US and the aquavit, if you know anything about it, it could be made from grains, it could be made from potatoes, and they don't use the typical juniper spices. There's coriander, there's some really unique spices. It's really a Scandinavian type of, it's a spirit all to its

Drew (15:46):
Own.

Barry (15:46):
And people from north in the us, especially Minnesota, Michigan, a lot of Scandinavian backgrounds there, and they drink that as more of a ceremonial type of when they get together for holidays, but it makes them incredible cocktails too. So I really want to merge that bourbon piece with the aquavit barrels.

Drew (16:09):
So the aquavit is aged.

Barry (16:12):
It will be, we'll have some nuMe aquavit, and then we'll have some barrel aged aquavit. Okay.

Drew (16:18):
I do know that one of the first liquids alcohols to be taken across the equator for the purpose of aging at sea was aquavit.

Barry (16:29):
What a great story.

Drew (16:30):
Yeah. Yeah.

Barry (16:31):
I love that. We're going to tell some stories.

Drew (16:34):
Yeah, there you go. Stories. And I know you can, you love history, like I love history. So I hope you're enjoying this journey through one of the great new featured distilleries on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. Just a note that if you are ready to pull the trigger on purchasing a copy of experience in Kentucky Bourbon, please make sure that you get the second edition, not the first edition. Amazon is not taking the first edition down, and so you need to look for the black bar that's across the top of the book. The logo is centered on the new book, and this is going to be a hundred pages more worth of content and fresher content. So I definitely want to make sure that you get the right one. If you want a shortcut link to get to it, go to whiskey lo.com/kentucky book, or you can buy the book through whiskey lord.com/shop. Cheers. Got two floors there. And so when you're going through and you're doing a tour, what is the focus and what are they experiencing on that first floor before heading to the second?

Barry (17:45):
Yeah, so it's an immersive experience. So we've got three different kiosk and the first kiosk shows the production of spirits, and it shows Jacob call our master distiller that's laying down all of our new make, and it shows him talking about how he goes about making Kentucky bourbon, and it shows the western Kentucky to ceiling company and their huge column still and the production method there. Then we have a second kiosk that looks at the consumption of bourbon and how do people consume it? Well, you could consume it in a lot of different ways, cocktails, different unique glassware depending on what type of cocktail you're using. So really kind of getting into that consumption, that cocktail culture. And we've got several different cocktails that we make from our Amana, our Oak and Maple and French Oak and straight Bourbon. So we've got some suggested cocktails that we could make you upstairs in our bar.

(18:47):
And then the third piece is unique to us. It's our wood finishing piece, and it's Jared Gallahue, our master distiller and myself talking through the production method of how we go about aging our Kentucky Strait Bourbon with wood finishing. So that's kind of a self-guided tour. And then we have our archive where we've got the awards that we've won, the recognition that we've gotten, that we've won over 150 unique high medals gold, double gold best in class over the last two, two and a half years. And then we have a little bit of history. So we've got some unique things that are from the first registered distillery in the 1860s, and then the tour starts then. And so the tour guide will take you into our VIP lab, and that's where Jared will welcome people into if they want to schedule a tasting and a blending experience with him, you'll be able to do that.

(19:48):
Retailers, if they want to come in or barrel clubs that want to make their own perfect blended bourbon with our different wood finishes, Jared will be there to kind of guide you and through his scientific method, show you the different percentages that you may want to consider. And then after the wood finish lab, you go into our forest, our wood forest. The wood forest has an open barrel where you can see the charring inside. We have a stave where we'll talk about the different things specific to American white oak. We'll have American white oak, we'll have French oak and Amana that are featured. So you'll be able to read about each one of those species and talk about the different woods that we're currently experimenting with. And we'll have anywhere from seven to 10 different experimental finishes that you'll be able to taste and be able to experience the difference in the nuances of some of our experimentals. Not every experimental wood finish that we do is going to come to market. Quite frankly, some of the exotic woods that come from around the world are used to make perfumes and colognes. And so if you can imagine over influencing an expression with one of those, it's not nice to taste Louis Vuitton or some of these perfumes and colognes in your bourbon,

(21:22):
But it's kind of an experience of, oh my gosh, this is so unique. And what we're doing is we're looking at time in the barrel and being able to create a product that's good. And we've stumbled upon some really good unique blending of different wood finishes that create a product unlike anything that you've had.

Drew (21:47):
Yeah. What's going through my head right now, and I talked about this when I went on my first trip through Kentucky, and I said, the diversity of distilleries is amazing, but I'm just cataloging in my head right now. Just Lexington eight distilleries. And out of those eight distilleries, everyone has its own barrel house, has the old Portuguese still with the fire underneath, and then history at James Z Pepper, and you got the pot stills and beer at Town Branch, and then you got cocktails at Fresh, and you got rapid agent going on over it. Bespoken. And you guys have found really two things that I think are important for people to know about how their whiskey is made. One is the wood finishing and the other is blending. Blending is something that can be taken two ways. It's either you are blending barrels together of the same thing to create a straight bourbon, or you are using to create something new in a blend.

Barry (22:49):
And it's so unique and different. We just did our first barrel pick on Friday where we had a group come in from Georgia, actually our distributor partner, and they picked out nine different barrels, and that was our first experience blending two of our wood finishes together, created a great product, and so you're going to see some really fun things come out. So completing the tour on the first floor after we leave the forest room, we go into our still room. So we do have a 50 gallon hybrid still, so it can function as a pot still or a column still. We call that Jared's playground,

(23:25):
And that's where he'll be making some very unique spirits there just for research and development. And then if they rise to the level of we need another SKU on the shelf, then we'll move that into the Western Kentucky Distilling Company for production. And then the tour stops there. We go up to the second floor. We have two tasting rooms that can be opened up for one or divided for two separate areas for people to taste. We have a barrel thieving room right in that second floor. So you'll be able to come in and thieve straight from the barrel with some of our core four products or maybe a couple of our experimental barrels, and you'll be able to bottle your own. In our old gift shop, we're only doing 200 ml bottles, custom bottles, just like our seven 50 bottles. But then now we've got the approval to be able to do the 750 milliliter size.

(24:19):
If you want to regular sized bottle, you'll be able to thief straight from the barrel and put it in there. And then we have a large area there with merchandise if you want to shop. And our bar is a wraparound bar, and we've got some great bartenders and mixologists that can create classic cocktails or a riff. And then behind the bar, we've got a speakeasy, so we've got a seven person speakeasy. If you and six of your friends want to come in and hang out there, you can rent that by the hour. We've got two TVs. We can see conceivably game day where guys or girls want to come in and watch the game. They'll be able to experience that in our private speakeasy. And then outside, we've got garage doors that roll up, and so we've got a deck out there on the second floor that wraps around the building. And that amphitheater I was talking about is right across from where our patio is. So you could come conceivably a frontline act, you can come up and sit on our patio and watch 'em perform and listen to the music.

Drew (25:25):
Well, and the place that you moved into, the hard part about distillery district was there wasn't a ton of parking, and that place fills up really quickly. You're a little bit more spread out. You got some parking there, but you also have a lot of different activities. I mean, there's stuff from what I can see that you could probably spend the entire day there, even if you're spending half a day at RD one taking advantage of all the stuff that you're doing there. There's still plenty of other stuff. And even into the night, as you say, with the amphitheater.

Barry (25:53):
Yeah. And so 20 Airbnbs are being built, the largest pickleball courts in the country are being built, and they're going to be doing two different tournaments over every year. There'll be two major tournaments that are going to be there. It's going to bring a lot of people into Lexington for those tournaments. And then we have battle axes that's already on site, so ax throwing, they've got adult go-karts, zip line, they've got pool tables, and we just love going over there and playing games in the evening. So we have a wonderful time there. There's going to be a lot of retailers. It's going to be the place to go. It's just going to enlarge the footprint of the distillery district to encompass this entertainment district along with the distillery district.

Drew (26:39):
Nice. Now, what days are you open?

Barry (26:43):
Seven days a week. There you go. Yeah, right now. So Monday through Thursday, 11 to six, Friday and Saturday 11 to seven, and Sunday it's one to

Drew (26:54):
Six. This is one of the things I always like to suggest to people if they're trying to figure out their plans for doing distilleries. Well, the hardest things to do. It's not as hard in Kentucky. It's definitely hard when you're outside of Kentucky, but it's always nice to have an anchor distillery. A distillery that you can say they're open seven days a week, so I can plan other stuff around it. So it's always good to know that there's distillery that's always doing something.

Barry (27:19):
Absolutely.

Drew (27:20):
Yeah. Well, Barry, it's a beautiful, beautiful place and I am looking forward to seeing you guys really thrive and bring some people in and get them to know much more about an area that I think is underappreciated in terms of distilleries in Kentucky. And it's great to see what you're doing. They can come down for horse racing, go check out the horse parks and all that sort of stuff as well, if they want to do that kind of thing. Lots to do in the area. And how far are you from Frankfurt?

Barry (27:51):
Not far at all. Frankfurt's, probably 20, 20 minutes.

Drew (27:55):
Yeah, you could do two days in Lexington, then you got a day in Lawrenceburg, a day in Frankfurt area. And you're good.

Barry (28:03):
Yeah, lots to do. You can hang out for a while in central Kentucky.

Drew (28:07):
Yes, absolutely. Well, Barry, thank you so much for taking the time today and looking forward to watching you guys grow.

Barry (28:14):
Thanks, drew, always a pleasure to talk to you. Come back and see me.

Drew (28:18):
Well, I hope you enjoyed this side trip to RD one Spirits along the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. If I piqued your interest in visiting RD one Spirits New Distillery, well make sure to grab your copy of the second edition of experience in Kentucky Bourbon featuring over 80 Kentucky whiskey experiences, along with 160 side trips, 270 whiskey brands and more. It's got everything you need to prepare for your Kentucky Bourbon Adventure, learn plan, taste, and tour. It's the brand new second edition of experience in Kentucky Bourbon. Just head to whiskey lord.com/kentucky book for quick access to the correct copy on Amazon. Before we head to our next Kentucky Bourbon Adventure, well, a big thank you to Barry and Chris for allowing me to come in. While it was definitely a pardon my dust tour the first time and the day before their big grand opening, it was fantastic getting a chance to see it.

(29:11):
I know it was a little awkward timing, and I really appreciate you guys doing that. I think the profile of the book will speak volumes and to bring in plenty of people to enjoy this amazing experience. If you're still on the fence about a visit to RD One's Lexington Distillery, let me give you my three reasons why I think you should have this distillery on your whiskey lore wishlist. First, if you've ever been interested in the effects of barrels on aging and finishing, well RD one Spirits can provide just a taste of this process or it'll allow you to go in and do a deep dive. It's the experience unlike any other in Kentucky. Second, the second floor of this distillery offers a lot of different opportunities for entertainment from barrel picks to the speakeasy, to the cocktail bar, to sitting out on the porch and listening to a band across the way in the amphitheater.

(30:04):
Third, when it comes to destination towns for bourbon. Well, Lexington is definitely on the map and deserves a spot near the top of your list with RD one and seven other unique distilleries to check out. You can easily spend a couple of days here. Well, I hope you enjoyed this visit, the RD one Spirits. It's time to head East through Bourbon County and on towards the Ohio River, where we're going to bump into another distillery who I've seen the evolution of from a day when there were just a couple of barrels sitting in the corner of an empty factory to today where it has evolved into a top-notch distillery with extensive experiences, along with having one of the country's best young distillers and being surrounded by small town America. Make sure you've got your ticket to ride along by smashing that subscribe button on your favorite podcast app like your travel guide Drew Hanish. And until next time, cheers and SL for transcripts and travel information, including maps, distillery planning information and more. And to whiskey lord.com/flights. Whiskey Lord is a production of Travel fuels life, LLC.