Jim’s Picks: Best Bourbons Outside of Kentucky

Kentucky may be the heart of bourbon country—but it doesn’t have a monopoly on great bourbon.

For this tasting, Jim is personally digging through The Cellars and hand-picking four bourbons made outside Kentucky that he thinks deserve your attention. No famous Kentucky distilleries. No bottles chosen because they’re trendy. Just four bourbons Jim believes are genuinely worth putting in your glass.

If you’ve been coming to our tastings for a while, you know Jim has tasted his way through a lot of whiskey. This is a chance to see what makes his personal cut—and maybe discover a bourbon you never would have thought to try.

GREAT BOURBON DOESN’T STOP AT THE KENTUCKY BORDER

Kentucky earned its reputation for bourbon, and for good reason. But one of the most interesting things happening in American whiskey today is what distillers are doing in other parts of the country.

Bourbon can legally be made anywhere in the United States, and distilleries outside Kentucky are taking advantage of different climates, local grains, water sources and aging conditions to put their own spin on America’s native spirit.

That means a bourbon made in Texas can mature very differently from one aged in Kentucky. Whiskey from the Midwest, Northeast or West Coast can bring its own personality to the glass. The basic rules of bourbon may be the same, but where and how it’s made can make a noticeable difference.

And that’s exactly what Jim wants to explore with this tasting.

WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?

That’s up to Jim.

Rather than building the tasting around a particular distillery or a lineup someone else selected, Jim is choosing these bottles himself based on one simple question: Which bourbons made outside Kentucky are good enough that more people should be drinking them?

We’ll taste four of his picks side by side, talk about where they come from, how they’re made and what separates them from the traditional Kentucky bourbon profile.

There may be a bottle you already know. There may be something you’ve walked past on the shelf a dozen times. And there may be something completely new to you.

That’s part of the fun.

COME SEE WHAT JIM PICKS

If you automatically look for “Kentucky” when you’re shopping for bourbon, this tasting might change the way you browse the whiskey aisle.

Come spend a Friday night in The Cellars, taste four bourbons personally selected by Jim, and find out just how good bourbon can be once you venture beyond Kentucky.

Seats in The Cellars are limited, so grab your ticket and join us Friday, September 4 from 6:30–8:00 PM.

Kentucky makes some incredible bourbon.

Jim thinks it’s time we gave the rest of the country a shot.

No refunds due to limited seating.