Howdy Junior’s Bourbon Hall. I had the great pleasure of visiting the Neeley Family Distillery in Sparta, KY. The distillery is outside of the Kentucky Speedway and is a small family distillery. The family was in the woods for ten generations across multiple counties in Kentucky. Roy and Royce Neeley finally have taken the family business legal. They took the recipe from the woods moonshine and created the bourbon and whiskey they have at the distillery. The whiskey they have is good and the absinthe (if you are into it) is really freaking good.
Pulling up to the distillery you will notice that it is a log cabin-looking building that makes you feel like you are out in the woods. You are not as stated this is on a state highway leading to the Kentucky Motor Speedway. As you walk in you will see a small gift shop with all the goods and whiskey for sale. On the right side you will find a small bar top with 5 stools. The door off of the gift shop led to the start of the tour with all history of the distillery and family tree. I have some photos and videos until I realized there was a sign on the wall stating no videos. Ooops.
We were then asked if we wanted a tour and tasting and decided against it. Looking back, we should have taken the tour to learn about the history of the distillery in the woods. Without taking the tour, we ended up doing a tasting. Sit at the bar and the guy running the tastings gives us a piece of paper with a bunch of selections on it with little boxes for you to select your tasting. This was one of the first time I selected a tasting from that many of the options.
The Selection
So, my son and I make our selections. You are able to select 8 different samples to taste. The options were moonshine, Single Barrel, Barrel Strength straight whiskeys, Pawpaw’s flavored Whiskeys, NFD Flavored Moonshines, NFD Moonshine Creams, Specialty Aged Spirits, The Old Jett Brothers Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, and finally the Absinthe.
This took us a moment as each grouping has a few selections to make. We finally make the selections and understand the order. So, the bourbons and whiskeys go first and then the flavored whiskeys and finally the Absinthe.
Here were my selections from Neeley:
- Wheated Bourbon
- Experimental Bloody Butcher Rye
- Peanut Butter Whiskey
- Bottled in Bond Kentucky Straight Bourbon
- Hidden Barn – Maple Syrup Finish
- Neeley’s Kentucky Brandy Finished Wheated Bourbon
- Double Barreled Charred French Oak Finished High Rye Bourbon. Double Oaked for 14 months
- Neeley’s Wormwood Absinthe
Reviews
I selected the wheated as I do like a sweet bourbon. This came in at 102.2 proof and had a great flavor on the front and very little hug on the back. This is also triple pot stilled, and a sweet mash aged for 51 months.
Then went on to the experimental bloody butcher rye. Wanted to compare this to Jeptha Creed Distillery as all of the bourbon there is made with the bloody butcher corn. The bloody butcher gives the whiskey a different flavor I can’t decipher and am not a big fan.
Here we go to the bottled in bond Kentucky Straight Bourbon. This is Grandpa Neeley Pawpaw’s Birthday barrel. At 100 Proof this doesn’t disappoint and is a good bourbon to sip and make cocktails with. The story behind the bottle is that each year they take one barrel and make it into Paw Paw’s birthday bottle is also kind of cool.
From here went with the Hidden Barn – Maple Syrup Finish. I was hoping to try this and be able to enhance the Maple Old Fashioned that I make. This was a nice bourbon but, the maple flavor didn’t come through for me as much as I was hoping. It was sweeter than maple.
Now we get to the double oaked which happens to be one of my favorite type of bourbons. I really enjoy the Woodford Double oak. This was nice and smooth, and you tasted the oak and some butterscotch. The smell was sweet, and the caramel and butterscotch came through. This is a bottle that came home with me.
Finished with the rye and bourbon went to the Peanut Butter Whiskey. This was very much peanut butter whiskey. The smell knocked you off your seat with Peanut Butter and that is all you tasted. Like you took a spoon of smooth peanut butter and licked it. I could see this being good in some cocktails that you are going to need peanut butter for.
Finally, we got to Neeley Family Wormwood Absinth. I LOVE black licorice and anise candies. This did not disappoint. Very smooth and a great flavor of anise came through. I could sip this with an ice cube all day.
With the tasting over we sat and chatted with the bartender and with being a touch slow he started talking about the research they do behind the bar. So, we got to try two shots they came up with. Very nice of him to offer.
The first one was an Andies Candy. Take 1 part of the Absinthe and 3 parts of their Moonshine Chocolate Truffle Cream and stir. It tastes exactly like one of the Andies candies after dinner mints.
The next one was 1 part absinthe and 2 parts lemonade. This was a light refreshing black licorice lemonade you could have a problem with as you just could drink them all day long. You would drink them stand up and go oh shit.
This was a great tasting and fun experience at the distillery. Will need to go back and give the rest of the products a try and probably take a tour to see the still they make the absinthe on and learn more about the family in the woods. There must be a great history for this family business.
Junior