By Kevin Gibson

With retail prices of bourbon ever rising –forget about what has happened in secondary market pricing – one new bourbon has stood out in 2022 as being not only a fine sipper, but also eminently affordable: Green River.

The 90-proof bourbon retails for an easy-to-reach $36, and has spread across Kentucky as a quiet contender, with its unique, horseshoe-shaped bottle and a back story steeped in Kentucky distilling history.

Until recently, the distillery had been known as O.Z. Tyler, best known for producing bourbon for bulk and private brands as well is its own whiskey – NFL Hall of Fame quarterback and NFL analyst Terry Bradshaw notably worked with the distillery to produce his bourbon brand. But in 2020, the Owensboro distillery changed its name to Green River to reflect its history, which dates to the late 1800s.

After the brand was born in 1885, billing itself as “The Whiskey Without a Headache,” and began to gain popularity, a fire in 1918 all but leveled the distillery. Of course, Prohibition gained momentum the following year, so the Green River brand disappeared, seemingly forever.

Following Prohibition, a group of investors acquired the property and what was left of the buildings and formed Medley Distilling Co., a company that would last for the next 70-plus years until it became O.Z. Tyler after being purchased by the Terressentia Corporation. Jacob Call became the Master Distiller in 2016, the distillery joined the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, and the renaming decision came, bringing Green River back to life. (Green River is a 384-mile-long Ohio River tributary that runs across the Western half of Kentucky.)

And now, the flagship bourbon, with a mashbill of 70% corn, 21% rye and 9% malted barley (the same as its predecessor, O.Z. Tyler’s Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey), with its warming spice tempered by rich caramel sweetness, has developed a buzz around the Bluegrass.

Green River Sales Director Byron Banks made a stop in Louisville, Ky., this week to do a Q&A and tasting at one of the brand’s top sales accounts, a small tasting bar and retail shop called Taste Fine Wines & Bourbon, in the city’s thriving NuLu neighborhood.

As customers surrounded the bar, eager to order a cocktail and get a complimentary taste of Green River, Banks told the brand’s story and poured sample after sample. The general buzz over the bourbon had the shop’s staff and owners busy selling and bagging bottle after bottle of Green River.

Banks said Taste, which is no more than 1,500 square feet yet has a tasting menu of close to 450 whiskeys, is the 13^th best-selling location for Green River in Kentucky, which he called “phenomenal.” It’s true that, if you visit Taste when in Louisville, Ky., it’s likely one of the employees is going to offer up a taste of Green River – it’s a top seller at the store, so why wouldn’t they?

What’s phenomenal in many ways is that, in a world wherein new whiskey brands hit the market at higher and higher price points, a brand that is a worthy sipper or mixer hits the market at an under-$40 mark. Banks, in between talking with Taste customers, said when the product was going to market, he fought hard for the lower price point.

The initial plan was for a $50 price point. “You would still sell it” at that price, the former Four Roses regional sales manager said, “but it would turn into a long-term problem.”

As it is, he said, Green River, which makes an appearance in Fred Minnick’s Top 100 American Whiskeys in 2022 ranking, is now planning to release several new products into the market next year. In addition, the brand will expand into 20 new markets in 2023, a not-surprising development given that Bardstown Bourbon Co. acquired Green River earlier this year and now manages the company’s branding and contract distilling programs.

In other words, it may not be long before the little brand that is buzzing in Kentucky is being enjoyed by a lot more people than those in the Bluegrass. The secret may soon be out.