Meanwhile, construction continues with hopes for opening by end of the year
The first-ever bottles of bourbon from Henderson Distilling Co.’s Rhythm River Distillery will be available here this Thursday at three local liquor stores.
The whiskey, branded Rivertown, is the first of what is to become the Rhythm River family of brands.
This introductory offering from Rhythm River will be three eight-year-old, single-barrel, barrel-proof Kentucky Straight bourbon whiskeys purchased from another Kentucky distillery, with bottles from each barrel sold exclusively at one of three Henderson liquor stores starting this Thursday, Aug. 14.
The 750 mL bottles with the following proofs will be available:
- 124.6 Proof — 185-bottle yield: Available exclusively at Beverage Barn, 510 Barret Blvd. The store opens at 9 a.m. Thursday. Bottle signing by the founders of Rhythm River Distillery will be from 3 to 5 p.m. Thursday.
- 126.8 Proof — 162-bottle yield: Available exclusively at J’s Liquor, 702 N. Green St. The store Opens at 9 a.m. Thursday. Bottle signing by the founders of Rhythm River Distillery will be from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Thursday.
- 125.7 Proof — 151-bottle yield: Available exclusively at Hometown Liquor & Chain Stores, 2301 U.S. 41-North. The store opens at 7 a.m. Thursday. Limited bottles pre-signed by the founders will be available Thursday.
The mash bill, or grain recipe, for all three barrels is 78% corn, 13% rye and 9% malted barley.
“They all have slightly different flavor profiles, but gosh, they’re all good,” Henderson Distilling co-founder Andrew Powell said. Suggested retail price is $74.99, Powell added.
Future releases of Rivertown will include blends of different barrels of whiskey, possibly with different ages and different wood finishes, and produced by multiple distilleries.
“Rivertown is going to be our brand of procured whiskies,” Powell said. “We didn’t make them, but (we’ll be) blending and bottling them. It may be one of most exciting aspects of our product …We view Rivertown as an opportunity to bring new and amazing and great stuff to the market.”
The Rivertown brand is meant to evoke the mystery and excitement that towns on navigable rivers such as Henderson felt in bygone days when a vessel came into view.
“You never knew what (or who) would come down on flatboats (or steamboats) down the river,” Powell said. “That’s what Rivertown is to us—always something new, something unique but always exciting.”
In that vein, the labels on these new Rivertown bottles will feature a “cargo manifest,” just as riverboats kept of their freight. The manifest will reveal the quantity, age, proof and bottle number.
Henderson Distilling plans to release other brands in the future, particularly after whiskey produced at the Rhythm River Distillery on North Main Street have been aged, then bottled.
“It means we’ll be able to give different products different names and different attention and a different identity,” Powell said.
Meanwhile, he said progress is being made on constructing its production building between North Main and North Water streets.
“We still believe we can be open by the end of the year,” Powell said. “We hope to have a holiday season at Rhythm River.”
“We’re continually very thankful to (general construction contractor) AVP and all our other contractors working to keep moving,” he said. “Sixty days ago, we didn’t have anything but foundation walls.”
In recent weeks, the roof and side walls have been installed, and work continues inside to complete the building so distilling equipment—a grain mill, mash cooker, fermenting vats, a 30-foot-tall column still, bottling line and other equipment—can be installed.
“Now that we’re under roof, we hope things continue to happen fast,” Powell said.
Meanwhile, work on the distillery’s visitors’ center, tasting room and event venue in an existing building at 405 N. Main St. should begin soon.
“We hope to start, if not later this month, then the first of September,” Powell said. “We’ll just remodel and renovate that building. We’re really, really excited about the plans. (Architect) Tim Skinner just has some neat thoughts. We think people are really going to love it.
“We’ll be able to do receptions and events after hours, I hope,” he said.
Once the distillery (under his wife, head distiller Meredith Powell) starts production, rye and bourbon whiskey will be aged in new, charred oak barrels.
“We’re going to start tasting rye whiskey after two years and start tasting bourbon after four years” to see if they are ready for bottling, Powell said. “If they’re not ready, we’ll let them sleep a little longer.”
“We’re excited,” he said. “Things are progressing. We’re excited about Rivertown. The reception has been positive. People have been so supportive of us. We hope they drink it. We’re proud of it and we hope it’s a little foreshadowing of things when Rhythm River is open.”
Rivertown is the latest Henderson-branded whiskey to be unveiled recently. Late last year, Zach and Zeb Hargis and their father, Mark, began releasing whiskey from distiller Jacob Call under the name Silk Velvet, a Henderson brand popular in the late 19th and early 20th century.
