Kentucky Peerless Distilling Co.

Kentucky Peerless Distilling Company - Building Front

Kentucky Peerless Distilling Gift Shop

Kentucky Peerless Distilling - History Wall

Part of the history display at Kentucky Peerless Distilling Co.

The Cooker at Kentucky Peerless Distilling Co.

The Cooker at Kentucky Peerless Distilling

Kentucky Peerless Distilling - Sweet Mash

A sweet mash is used at Kentucky Peerless Distilling Co. Most Kentucky distilleries use a sour mash.

Kentucky Peerless Distilling - Fermenters

The Fermenters at Kentucky Peerless Distilling

Kentucky Peerless Distilling - Yeast - Fermenters

The yeast at work in the fermenters at Kentucky Peerless Distilling

The Still at Kentucky Peerless Distilling

Kentucky Peerless Distilling - Low-High Wine

Low Wine and High Wine Holding Tanks at Kentucky Peerless Distilling

Kentucky Peerless Distilling - Bottle Design

Blueprint for the bottle design at Kentucky Peerless Distilling.

Barrel storage in single story warehouse at Kentucky Peerless Distilling

Four tasters and a chocolate for sampling at Kentucky Peerless Distilling

Kentucky Peerless Distilling - Sampling Bar

The Sampling Bar at Kentucky Peerless Distilling

Kentucky Peerless Distilling Logo

120 North 10th Street

Louisville, KY 40202

(502) 566-4999

Located on N 10th St. just off Main in downtown Louisville, Kentucky, Peerless Distilling Co. is most definitely an urban distillery. Setting foot into the handsomely renovated 115 year old plus building immediately made me forget this fact. The building underwent meticulous renovation beginning in March 2014 by its owners Corky Taylor and his son, Carson Taylor, and was open to the public in June of 2015.

Kentucky Peerless Distilling offers a behind the scenes experience of an urban distillery. We booked our experience online. All online reservations must be made at least 1 hour prior to the start time. The cost of the experience is $20. Walk in availability is possible, however if you’re on a schedule, online reservations are the way to go.

The experience begins with a history lesson in which we learned that distilling ran in the Taylor family. There were a few other juicy tidbits that our guide Nikki discussed, but there will be no spoilers mentioned here. Check out the experience for yourself. Corky and Carson are the 4th and the 5th generation of Kentucky Peerless Distilling, and because they could trace their lineage back to the very early days of Peerless, the distillery was allowed to use the original Distilled Spirits Plant number (DSP) of 50.

After brushing up on the family history, we made our way upstairs to see where the magic begins. Grain is cooked, the liquid fermented, and what is now distillers’ beer, distilled. This is standard operating procedure we learned. What’s not standard are two things. The first is that head distiller Caleb Kilburn designed his own software program to manage the cooking process to his exact specifications; and second, unlike most distilleries, Peerless uses a sweet mash instead of the more traditional sour mash process.

With a quick stop at the hardworking column still, we moved on to the bottling area. It’s not just another bottle. Great care was taken from bottle design, to finding the perfect manufacturer, to the actual bottle production. Carson Taylor insisted that what was to hold the first Peerless whiskey in over 100 years be perfect.

Jumping the gun a little with bottling, we took a step back to the final stop in the distillery, the barrel/rick house area. Unique to this area is that Peerless Distilling ages their rye whiskey and bourbon in single story rick houses. Certainly not the norm.

The end of the experience brought us to the tasting room where four samples were provided. Three of the four were single barrel rye selections only available at the distillery, while the fourth was the 3 year old small batch rye. The small batch rye is the whiskey widely available in retail outlets and bars. Peerless Distilling's first bottled bourbon will be available early this summer, so it was not available for sampling. With the tasting complete, we were allowed to keep one of the nifty tasting glasses as a souvenir.

I was hesitant about how good an experience could be in an urban distillery since part of the enjoyment, at least for me, is the pastoral setting in which many older distilleries are located. I am happy to say that Kentucky Peerless Distilling Co. knocked it out of the park. The staff, the story, and the setting makes this experience one I would recommend.

Please note that Distillery Hours and Tour/Tasting Availability may vary. Please contact the distillery or check their web page or social media for details before you go.

Days of operation	Mon-Wed and Sat: 10am-5pm Thur- Fri :10am-7pm
Paved Drive / Lot	Distillery is in downtown Louisville. It has no parking lot. The lot across the street is paved, but in poor condition. It is a pay lot. There is street parking available.
Motorcycle Parking	No
Motorcycle unfriendly features	The private pay lot across the street sits at an angle and is rutted in spots
Number of tours per day	Mon-Wed and Sat. : 6 tours Thur-Fri : 8 tours
Length of Tour(s)	1h
Advanced topic tours?	No
Advanced topic tour names	NA
Tours by owners /distillers available?	No
Number of different types of tours	1
On-Line Tour Reservations Available	Yes, at least 1 hour before scheduled tour
Advanced Reservations Recommended/Required	Yes
Cost for tour(s) in $	$20 age 21+ $10 ages 10-20 $10 Veterans Active Military-Free
Tasting Included?	Yes
Number of samples included in tasting	4
Tasting Only Option?	Yes
Tasting Only Option Cost	$10.00
High-end tasting option?	No
High-end tasting option cost?	NA
Designated Driver Option	No
Handicapped Accessible?	Yes
Souvenirs included with tour?	Small tasting glass
Gift shop	Yes
On-Site bottle sales?	Yes
On-site food: Restaurant/Cafe/Snacks	No
On-site Cocktail bar	No
On-site event space	Yes
Should I visit? (Yes, Perhaps, No)	Yes
Unique Features	Corky, the owner, will often do the historical part of the tour on weekends when he is around; Single barrel selections are available only at the gift shop; A sweet mash is used, instead of the sour mash used at the majority of Kentucky distilleries.
Website	kentuckypeerless.com
Date Visited	May 2019

All contents are the property of Bourbon Obsessed ^sm. Reproduction without permission is prohibited.

About Us
Contact Us
Privacy Policy