Bourbon Lens

How did Bardstown go from a quick distillery stop to a true bourbon destination? Bourbon Lens hosts Jake and Scott sit down with Sam Lacy, Executive Director of the Bourbon Capital Alliance (BCA), to break down the growth of Bardstown bourbon tourism, from new hotels and downtown tasting rooms to the Bourbon Capital District, where you can carry your drink from bar to bar.
Sam shares the story behind the Bourbon Capital Alliance, the nonprofit uniting 10 partner distilleries, and how National Bourbon Week grew from a 30-minute lawn ceremony in 2018 into an eight-day event in 2026. He also shares new data showing bookings from 37 states and 70% of them from out of state.
You'll also hear about the new Bourbon Capital Diplomat Certification Program, a hospitality course that teaches bartenders and servers about bourbon, Bardstown history and proper pours. We get into why it matters, what Jake and Scott scored on the exam, and what's coming for National Bourbon Week 2027.
⏱️ Chapters
0:12 – Welcome and meet Sam Lacy
1:17 – What the Bourbon Capital Alliance does
2:41 – How the BCA started (2016–2026)
5:34 – New hotels, restaurants and the premium shift downtown
7:37 – The Bourbon Capital District (open carry downtown)
8:33 – Downtown tasting rooms: Chicken Cock, Old Steel House, Boundary Oak, The Bard
14:14 – The history of National Bourbon Week
18:53 – 2026 data: 37 states, 70% out-of-state bookings
23:19 – The Bourbon Capital Diplomat Program
35:24 – Why proper glassware and "pour, not shot" matter
41:06 – What's next for National Bourbon Week 2027
49:16 – How to sign up: Academy, Guild and National Bourbon Week
Resources mentioned
Bourbon Capital Academy (Diplomat Program, $75): BourbonCapitalAcademy.com
National Bourbon Week: NationalBourbonWeek.com
Bourbon Capital Guild (member lottery): BourbonCapitalGuild.com
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Keywords
Bardstown bourbon tourism, Bourbon Capital Alliance, Sam Lacy, Bourbon Capital of the World, National Bourbon Week 2027, Bourbon Capital Diplomat, Bourbon Capital Academy, Bourbon Capital Guild, Bourbon Capital District, Bardstown Kentucky, Kentucky Bourbon Trail, Bardstown distilleries, Bardstown tasting rooms, Bardstown hotels, things to do in Bardstown, bourbon certification program, bourbon education, bourbon hospitality training, Potter Jane Distilling, Limestone Branch, Heaven Hill, Maker's Mark, Lux Row, Bardstown Bourbon Company, Kentucky Bourbon Festival, bourbon podcast, Bourbon Lens, Jake Lewellen

Steve Beam of Limestone Branch joins Bourbon Lens to pour and break down the brand-new 2026 Yellowstone 101, a limited edition blend of 14 and 8 year old Kentucky straight bourbon double finished in Ruby and Tawny port casks.
Steve shares how he builds these limited releases from scratch: sourcing barrels through brokers, buying the port at the liquor store to test flavor pairings, blending in graduated cylinders, and why he "makes bourbon that I like to drink." Jake and Steve trade tasting notes (blackberry, cocoa nibs, charred oak, dark fig, and a peanut butter and jelly finish), and Steve explains why Limestone Branch is narrowing its focus to core products in 2026 and beyond.
Also in this episode:
🥃 The hand-painted Recollection Series, recreated from a late-1800s porcelain barback bottle found on eBay
🇺🇸 The US 250th Lady Liberty release: hand-picked single barrels in a throwback cylinder tube
📜 154 years of Yellowstone, sold continuously even through Prohibition ⏱️ Why a single LTO takes 18 months to 2 years from first idea to bottle 🥃 How Steve drinks whiskey: neat, wide-nosing glass, never on ice
Whether you're a longtime Yellowstone fan, a port-finish curious sipper, or planning a stop at the distillery in Lebanon, Kentucky, this conversation is a great look at the craft behind one of bourbon's oldest brand names.
Timestamps:
0:00 Welcome and Limestone Branch's 2026 focus
3:47 154 years of Yellowstone 5:15 The hand-painted Recollection Series 8:43 The US 250th Lady Liberty bottle
11:30 Yellowstone 101: how the limited editions are made
17:38 Tasting notes: nose, palate, finish
25:06 Blending vs. finishing: how this one was built
32:53 How long an LTO takes
34:24 What's next for Limestone Branch

🔔 Subscribe for more weekly discussions, tastings, and bourbon insights from the Bourbon Lens community.
Follow on Instagram: ⁨@bourbonlens⁩
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#YellowstoneBourbon #Yellowstone101 #LimestoneBranch #SteveBeam #BourbonLens #BourbonReview #PortFinish #KentuckyBourbon #BourbonPodcast #WhiskeyPodcast #LimitedEditionBourbon #BourbonTasting

This week on Thursday Thoughts, Jake sits down with Coby and Ben Franzini, co-founders of Chevalier Casks, to unpack one of the least understood — but most critical — corners of the bourbon industry: bulk spirits. Ben is also a co-owner of Bluegrass Distillers, and Coby spent 25 years as a commercial banker in central Kentucky before moving into bourbon finance, giving the two a unique combined view of how barrels actually move through the industry.
The conversation covers how distilleries quietly offload excess barrel inventory, why privacy matters so much in these deals, and how the wholesale barrel market has shifted dramatically in the last 18 months — with prices on some aged barrels dropping from thousands of dollars to a fraction of that. That shift, they argue, is opening the door for a new wave of small, independent bourbon brands who can finally make the math work again.
In this episode:
What "bulk spirits" actually means and why it keeps bourbon on shelves
How Chevalier Casks and Bluegrass Distillers work together
Why distilleries sell barrels quietly — and why privacy is starting to matter less for some brands
How barrel prices have shifted in the last 18 months, and what it means for small brands
What trends are showing up in demand right now (hint: wheated bourbon)
How Chevalier Casks' online marketplace works for both buyers and sellers
The hidden costs (storage, tax, insurance, freight) brands often don't budget for
How a new brand can get started working with Chevalier Casks

Subscribe to Bourbon Lens for more conversations with the people shaping the bourbon industry.
Approximate Timestamps
0:00 – Intro: what bulk spirits are and why they matter
1:19 – How Chevalier Casks got started
3:24 – How Chevalier and Bluegrass Distillers work together
5:23 – How barrels quietly move from distillery to broker
7:00 – Privacy, NDAs, and why some brands now talk openly about sourcing
10:49 – How barrel prices have shifted in the last 18 months
13:29 – Why it's a good time again to start a small bourbon brand
15:48 – How NDPs actually buy lots (and how fast double-digit ages move)
19:57 – What's trending: wheated bourbon and blending strategies
26:23 – Getting started with Chevalier Casks
28:9 – The hidden costs of building a brand (storage, tax, freight)
29:37 – How Chevalier's online marketplace works for buyers and sellers

This week, Bourbon Lens heads to Bardstown, Kentucky to sit down with Whitney Rye — founder and CEO of The Parlor Room, host of The Mash Bill podcast, and better known on Instagram as Bourbon Duchess. Whitney built The Parlor Room around a simple idea: teach people the story behind the bottle, not just tasting-note jargon, in a space designed for rare, allocated, and vintage pours.
In this episode, Whitney walks Jake and Scott through the tangled, dramatic history of Barton Distillery — from its 1889 roots as one of the first distilleries to reopen after Prohibition, through a 1940s fire and rebuild under Oscar Getz, a name literally drawn out of a hat, a trademark lawsuit from Woodford Reserve that forced a mid-run name change, and the 2013 pivot to Sweet Wheat. Along the way, the group tastes through a vertical flight of Barton-family whiskeys spanning nearly 40 years — culminating in a first taste of the brand-new 1792 Straight Rye.
In this episode:
Whitney's origin story — from My Old Kentucky Home State Park to founding The Parlor Room
Why she intentionally leaves formal "tasting notes" out of her classes
The real (and litigious) history behind the Barton/1792 name
A vertical tasting: a 1986 Very Old Barton, a vintage Tom Moore, Ridgemont Reserve 1792, and the new 1792 Straight Rye
Why 1792's rye whiskey is also the backbone of several Buffalo Trace rye releases
A broader conversation on bourbon oversupply, aging whiskey, and why age statements may be bourbon's next chapter
🥃 Featured pours: Very Old Barton (1986), Tom Moore 5-Year, Ridgemont Reserve 1792 8-Year, 1792 Straight Rye 📍 Location: The Parlor Room, Bardstown, KY
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The Parlor Room, Whitney Rye, Bourbon Duchess, Bardstown Kentucky, Barton Distillery, 1792 Bourbon, 1792 Straight Rye, Ridgemont Reserve 1792, Tom Moore whiskey, Very Old Barton, Sazerac bourbon, Buffalo Trace, vintage bourbon tasting, dusty bourbon, bourbon history, Kentucky bourbon, Bourbon Lens, Bourbon Lens Podcast, The Mash Bill podcast, bourbon vertical tasting, bourbon podcast, whiskey podcast
Hashtags
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It's Bourbon Heritage Month, and on this episode of Five Minute Fridays, Jake goes straight to where it all started: Old Forester Birthday Bourbon, one of the most talked-about — and most divisive — releases in the bourbon world. This year's edition lands at 11 years old and 97 proof, released earlier this month.

Fresh off Kentucky Bourbon Festival, Jake sits down (with a little personal timing — his daughter's birthday is just days away) to break down the nose, palate, and finish of this year's Birthday Bourbon, compare it to Old Forester's recent "Kentucky Boy" release, and explain why he thinks this might be one of the best versions of Birthday Bourbon he's tasted yet.
In this episode:
Why Birthday Bourbon is one of the most controversial releases on the market
Tasting notes: burnt sugar, crème brûlée, brown sugar, caramel, French vanilla custard, tobacco, and cherry cordial
How this year's release compares to Old Forester's "Kentucky Boy"
Why Jake thinks Old Forester and Brown-Forman are "on a heater" right now
The team behind the blend — Caleb, Melissa, and Chris
Final verdict: would Jake buy it at SRP?

Approximate Timestamps
0:00 – Intro: Bourbon Heritage Month & Birthday Bourbon's controversial reputation
0:58 – This year's release: 11 years old, 97 proof
1:29 – Why today's tasting is personal (daughter's birthday)
2:11 – Nose: burnt sugar, crème brûlée, caramel, French vanilla, baking spice, tobacco
2:49 – On the 97 proof and the blending conversation from Kentucky Bourbon Festival
3:36 – Palate: oak, tannin, brown sugar, caramel
4:21 – Finish: tobacco, cherry cordial
4:58 – Comparison to Old Forester's "Kentucky Boy"
5:38 – Final verdict and the team behind the blend