For the first time since 1967, Kentucky Nectar is back. As Old Commonwealth Distillery’s second release, Kentucky Nectar is a double barreled, cask-strength, wheated Kentucky straight bourbon that’s been finished in honey casks. 

Founded in 1865, Mellwood Distillery (so named for the street it resided upon) would evolve into General Distillers Corporation of Kentucky, and become the birthplace of Kentucky Nectar, decades ago. After a period of dormancy, Kentucky Nectar was last produced by Heaven Hill, as a private label brand for Chicago wine importers Geeting and Fromm, between 1957 and 1967. That 8-year-old bottled-in-bond Kentucky bourbon was of an unknown mashbill.

While Kentucky Nectar wasn’t produced within any prior iteration of Old Commonwealth Distillery, the new owners of the Lawrenceburg facility were bullish on the brand. 

“Reviving vintage brands is our mission, combining our love for Kentucky history with our passion for whiskey,” Zachary Joseph, Old Commonwealth’s president of operations, said in a news release. “The Kentucky Nectar label fits perfectly within our portfolio of vintage labels.”

While Joseph and partners Andrew English and Troy LeBlanc haven’t seen an original Kentucky Nectar in the wild, they sought to bring a twist to the label. After six months of testing various barrels of sourced whiskey and finishing iterations, most protocepts weren’t stacking up. 

“We tested 27 different iterations of finishes, and a wheated whiskey with a honey finish was the 24th variant,” Joseph said. 

That combination became Kentucky Nectar.

Kentucky Nectar Batch 1: Crafting the ideal honey-finish bourbon

“Finished bourbons shouldn’t be too sweet,” LeBlanc said. “We created a whiskey that’s tailored to the premium whiskey drinker but still approachable to category neophytes. The honey is subtle; more refined than gimmicky.” 

Most honey-finish bourbons use a high-rye mashbill, but wheat imparts a softer note that compliments the Kentucky straight bourbon characteristics without overtaking the base whiskey.

Kentucky Nectar uses no artificial sweeteners, just real organic honey, placed within a new charred oak barrel. That presented a little problem when filling the barrels with the actual nectar. 

“Bees are attracted to the smell of honey,” LeBlanc said, “so we’re in the middle of getting the barrels filled with the honey and a colony of thousands of bees showed up and swarmed us all over the production facility.”

Further, the large volume of honey used in each barrel added significant weight. For optimal finishing, the barrels then had to be hand-rotated on a regular basis. 

“That was a real labor of love, turning each barrel daily, just to get the honey in all the right surface area,” Joseph, who personally wrestled much of the lot, said.

Fending off bee swarms and manhandling barrels paid off. As part of market research, Old Commonwealth conducted a blind tasting, pitting Kentucky Nectar against several market-leading honey-finished whiskies. Seeking opinions on premium quality, proof point, and which dram consumers would recommend most, Kentucky Nectar won unanimously, across all categories. 

“Every participant commented they believed Kentucky Nectar to be the lowest proof,” Joseph said. “At cask strength, it was actually the highest.”

The SRP for Kentucky Nectar Batch 1 is $99.99. A special OC VIP sale will be available through Old Commonwealth’s online retailer on November 14th, 2024 at 11AM EST. To become an OC VIP, customers can sign up now (it’s free) on Old Commonwealth’s website — https://oldcommonwealth.com/pages/waitlist — and they will be sent the VIP sale link the morning of the 14th. Kentucky Nectar will be available for retail sale in select Kentucky stores on November 15th.

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About Old Commonwealth Distillery

Originally built in 1889, in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, the Old Commonwealth Distillery has been home to Hoffman Distillery, Ezra Brooks, and Commonwealth Distilling over the past 135 years. In 2019, it was purchased by Zachary Joseph and Andrew English, a nephew and uncle who bonded over the distillery’s history and its venerable products. Along with family friend and partner Troy LeBlanc, the trio are reviving iconic labels once produced there, and preserving the facility’s heritage through immersive tour experiences.