By Kevin Gibson

Wyoming Whiskey will release it’s 100^th batch today to coincide with National Bourbon Day – although it wasn’t really planned that way.

“It’s more coincidence than anything,” COO and co-founder David DeFazio tells FredMinnick.com of the timing. “It’s coming out now because this is when it’s coming out.”

The 100^th batch is essentially a standard release of the distillery’s flagship bourbon, the 88-proof Wyoming Whiskey Small Batch Bourbon. But the timing of it happening on National Bourbon Day dovetails with the brand’s endurance.

Having been founded in 2006 as a developing craft distillery, DeFazio and co-founders Brad and Kate Mead, began from day one doing it from scratch, creating a model wherein the whiskey would be made with Wyoming ingredients in the distillery’s home of Kirby, Wyoming. No early batches were sourced from other distilleries, DeFazio says.

The Small Batch flagship product is made with 68% corn, 20% wheat and 12% barley, all non-GMO products. It is aged at least five years, and the 100^th batch, DeFazio says, is made up of barrels between five and six years old.

The goal since Batch 1 has been consistency, DeFazio says.

“More than anything, we’re picking them by flavor profile,” he says. “If someone is picking up Batch 100 or they’re picking up Batch 50, the goal is for them to be as close to the same as possible.”

Wyoming Whiskey now has seven rickhouses, with each of them holding roughly 2,000 barrels. Growth over the past 16 years has enabled the distillery to, over the past three years, become involved in supporting organizations that support national parks. Last year alone, partly through auctions and also through bottle sales programs, the distillery donated $200,000 to the National Parks Foundation and $150,000 to Yellowstone Forever, which supports the preservation of Yellowstone Park, which recently celebrated its 150^th birthday.

Wyoming Whiskey raised funds for Yellowstone Forever last year in part with a special release called National Parks. The second version was released earlier this month.

But for now, it’s an apt coincidence that Batch 100 will drop on a day when America’s Native Spirit takes center stage.

Asked if he believes there will someday be a 200^th batch, DeFazio says, “For sure. We’re hitting our stride now. It’s been a very interesting journey. If you look back to December 2012 when we released the first batch, we were just starting to stand up and move in a direction. But we got to point where we really like what we’re doing. We stepped on every rake in the field, but we never stepped on the same rake twice.”

For more information, visit https://wyomingwhiskey.com/.