As I mentioned in my review of Southern Cross Bourbon, although I like bourbon, I’m not a bourbon reviewer. Neither am I a travel blogger. However, I did go to an exceptionally good distillery tour on my last trip to Louisville, KY and I like writing about things that impress me. In my opinion, downtown Louisville’s best distillery tour is Kentucky Peerless Distilling.
Disclaimer: I paid out-of-pocket for this tour and any Peerless Bourbon I took home. I received no financial incentives for this review, it was not coordinated with Peerless in any way, and frankly (sadly) they have no clue I even exist.
The Backstory
I love Louisville, Kentucky. Coincidentally I have a close friend who lives in the area who I make an annual trip to visit. We spend a weekend enjoying all things bourbon, including touring distilleries. Last weekend I stopped in Louisville on my way to Chicago for a Cubs game. Nick and I decided to do a couple distillery tours, ending the day with Peerless.
I chose Peerless totally on a whim, perhaps because I was familiar with their label. To be honest, I didn’t have high hopes. I certainly didn’t expect it to be the downtown Louisville’s best distillery tour. It ended up being a great tour and opening my eyes to some very good bourbon, though.
If you have some extra time in Louisville – a long layover, stopping through on the way to somewhere else, or get out of your meeting early – hitting up a distillery isn’t a bad way to spend some time. Kentucky Peerless is at the top of my list of distilleries to visit on Louisville’s famed Whiskey Row.
Kentucky Peerless Distilling
There are a lot of distillery tours in downtown Louisville. Unlike the big distilleries in Bardstown, Frankfort, and Shively, these are mostly small facilities like the Evan Williams Experience. Each does a great job showcasing some aspect of the distiller’s craft, and they are a fun diversion. Most aren’t serious distilleries, however, but rather a representation of a distillery. As an example, Stitzel-Weller’s public facility, which we also toured during this trip, only makes a paltry two barrels a day.
I have been to many of the distilleries on Louisville’s Whiskey Row only to hear, “this only an experimental facility” or “we only produce a couple barrels a day for demonstration.” In other words: “this isn’t really the distillery, this is just here to entertain you.” I tend to prefer the genuine article, and these disclaimers are always a bit of a disappointment.
Versions of these statements are NOT what I heard at Peerless. One of the first statements made was, “this is our full production facility, from grain to glass.” Although Peerless does age barrels at an off-site rickhouse, the facility in Louisville at the west end of Whiskey Row is Peerless’s one and only distillation facility. This is a huge differentiator, at least downtown.
The History
Aside from being a full production facility, the most compelling thing about Peerless Distilling is the history. The original Peerless label began in the 1870s. It was founded by Henry Kraver, the great-grandfather of the current owner, Corky Taylor. Rather than a recitation of some ancient history by a paid tour guide, Corky himself showed up to give us the history of Peerless Distilling.
A victim of Prohibition, Peerless closed its doors in 1917. After retiring, Corky decided to re-fire the still and reopen the doors. In 2014 he and his son (the 5th generation Carson Taylor) began work on the facility. In 2015 the first barrel was filled, and in 2017 the first barrel was dumped. Despite a 100-year break in continuity, the Peerless name is in the same family. It is wholly owned by the family, and not some faceless corporation. That’s pretty cool.
Not only did Corky revive the brand, he was also able to get Peerless’ original DSP number. “DSP” stands for Distilled Spirits Plant, the unique serial number for bourbon distilleries. It is very cool that Corky was able to get a reissue of the original DSP-KY-50. The tour mainly focused on Peerless’ history, which Nick and I were thankful for. No offense, but neither of us needed to spend another hour hearing about the very basics of bourbon-making.
The Tour
After Corky filled us in on the history, we were turned over to a very personable and fun tour guide named Martin. Martin (a former brewer from the west coast and current Louisville bar owner) was energetic, funny, and kept the tour moving quickly. If you know nothing about bourbon, I suggest some light reading to learn the basics of fermentation, distillation, and aging, because this tour covered it only lightly. Both Nick and I appreciated this and agreed this was a tour for more sophisticated bourbon aficionados.
Every single bottle of Peerless Bourbon is distilled at the Louisville location. The distillery also has a few other claims to fame, one of which is being a “strictly sweet mash” operation. The majority of bourbons use a sour-mashing process, reusing some of the fermented mash to start the next batch of mash. Peerless dumps everything and scrubs the fermentation tanks before starting a new batch of mash.
After a double distillation, barrels are filled and aged. All the barrels are from Kelvin Cooperage. Kelvin chars barrels using wood fires rather than artificial heat sources like propane or natural gas. Some feel this makes makes these “small batch” barrels impart a purer, cleaner taste. Some barrels are aged in-house at the Louisville facility, but most are aged at an offsite rickhouse.
The Bourbon
Once aging is complete, barrels are dumped. Some are placed in a second barrel, as is the case with Peerless’s Toasted and Double Oak bourbons and ryes; they are fininshed in a second barrel. Toasted barrels are finished at lower heat over mover time which releases more sugars and imparts sweeter caramel and vanilla flavors to the juice. I am a huge fan of toasted bourbons.
The bourbon is then blended into batches and bottled. Peerless is truly a small batch distillery with batches of no more than 40 barrels. If you’re familiar with bourbon you would expect it to be proofed at this point; once blended the bourbon goes straight into bottles. That’s right, none of Peerless’ offerings are proofed down, and most finish – and go into glass – between 103 and 110-proof.
The tour ended – naturally – with a tasting. Four expressions were on the planned tasting. Martin, the tour guide, offered us an extra tasting which I used to avail myself of a sip of Peerless Toasted Bourbon. This expression won Best American Whiskey at the 2024 International Wine and Spirits Competition with an impressive 98 points. One taste and it’s easy to see why.
I admit that I’ve seen Peerless bourbon on the shelf of my local liquor stores for a long time, but have never committed. The sticker price of $90 is a steep entry point to try a new-to-me bourbon, so I have always passed. Part of me picked this tour because my friend Nick and I like doing tours…and I wanted to try their bourbon. I’m so glad I did.
The Bottom Line
Is Peerless Distilling really Louisville’s best distillery tour? The answer is definitely maybe. If you’re brand-new to bourbon, you might be better off touring a facility that explains the craft of distilling in a bit more detail. On the other hand, one of the huge draws of distilleries is the hope of connecting to the past.
There is certainly some connection with the past among many of the old distilleries. but none so strong as that felt at Peerless. Nor, frankly, have I ever met the owner of a distillery with nationwide distribution prior to this. Corky doesn’t have to be there to greet guests and give part of the tour; the fact that he is imparts a lot of meaning to the experience. Now my only dilemma is do I drink this amazing bourbon, or leave this signed bottle intact?
