COVINGTON, Ky. — In a 150-year-old building tucked into Covington’s historic Tobacco Alley, Wenzel Distillery is building a Kentucky whiskey story that manages to reach backward into the city’s pre-Prohibition past while moving quickly toward an ambitious future.
What began as an interactive whiskey blending experience in 2022 has evolved into a full production distillery, visitor destination and increasingly decorated Kentucky whiskey brand.
And Wenzel has the medals to prove it.
Its Straight Bourbon Whiskey Finished in Sherry Casks earned the title of World’s Best Finished Bourbon at the 2025 World Whiskies Awards, while the distillery’s Rye captured Best in Show at the 2025 San Francisco World Spirits Competition. More accolades followed in 2026, including Double Gold honors for its Double Oaked Bourbon, Toasted Oak Bourbon and Sherry Cask Finished Bourbon.
Behind those bottles is an unusual combination of history, opportunity, acquired whiskey inventory and a willingness to approach blending as seriously as distillation.
A whiskey business returns to Tobacco Alley
Wenzel’s home at 15 Tobacco Alley has a history that almost seems tailor-made for a modern Kentucky whiskey company.
The building was constructed in 1873 by Henry Wenzel, the namesake behind today’s distillery. Wenzel bottled mineral water there for distribution and whiskey for his nearby bar. The property also once operated as a rectifier — essentially a non-distilling whiskey producer — before Prohibition.
After Henry Wenzel died, his wife, Bertha, moved upstairs with their five children and rented the first floor to a pickle factory.
More than a century later, local entrepreneurs began looking at the long-vacant building and wondering whether whiskey could once again become part of its story.
The idea developed through conversations among Austin Dunbar, owner of Durham Studio, entrepreneur and co-founder Tony Milburn and Wenzel President and Brand Ambassador Bill Whitlow.
Dunbar helped develop the branding and early story behind Wenzel, while research into the building’s history provided the group with an obvious connection to Kentucky’s whiskey past.
Wenzel’s original concept centered on an Wenzel Distillery officially opened in September 2022. But initially, it wasn’t really a distillery.
Blending came first
interactive whiskey blending experience. Visitors could taste whiskeys sourced from different producers and, with help from Wenzel’s staff, create their own blend to take home.
It offered something different from the familiar Kentucky distillery tour. Instead of simply watching whiskey being made and then sampling the finished product, visitors could participate in one of whiskey production’s most important — and sometimes underappreciated — skills.
That focus on blending remains central to Wenzel today. But an unexpected opportunity soon changed the scale of the operation.
Milburn acquired an adjacent property in February 2023. The larger building, a former Packard automobile dealership dating to 1916, gave Wenzel room to expand if the need arose. It didn’t take long.
Fourteen truckloads changed Wenzel’s future
Nearly 600 miles away, Savannah-based Ghost Coast Distillery was winding down operations after being forced from its location. Wenzel learned that Ghost Coast needed to sell its distilling assets quickly. A deal completed in May 2023 transformed the young Kentucky whiskey operation almost overnight.
Wenzel acquired distilling equipment and, importantly, Ghost Coast’s inventory of aging whiskey. Moving everything from Georgia to Kentucky required 14 semi-truck loads.
Barrels, stills, fermenters, bottling equipment, pumps, hoses, tools and other distillery assets made the journey north to Covington. The acquisition gave Wenzel something many young craft distilleries simply cannot buy: time.
Instead of waiting years for newly distilled whiskey to mature, Wenzel suddenly had access to an established inventory that could be blended, finished and bottled while its own distillation program developed.
Today, approximately 95% of Wenzel’s barrel inventory originated with the Ghost Coast acquisition, with another 5% sourced from other distilleries.
That inventory has allowed Wenzel to release bourbons carrying significant age statements much earlier in its life than would normally be possible for a distillery founded in 2022.
Wenzel becomes a true distillery
The next major step came in April 2025, when Wenzel began distilling whiskey on site in Covington. Production centers on a 500-gallon hybrid Vendome pot still capable of traditional pot distillation as well as column-style distillation.
The operation uses a sour mash process and three-day fermentation cycle, with production capacity of approximately 650 barrels annually. Three whiskey styles are particularly important to the Wenzel team: high-rye bourbon, wheated bourbon and rye whiskey.
The company’s expansion facility opened to visitors in July 2025, turning Wenzel into a more comprehensive Northern Kentucky bourbon destination. The property now includes the production distillery, gift shop, event space, cigar patio and Proof Bar.
Visitors can order Wenzel bourbon pours and cocktails at the bar and take drinks to the rooftop patio. Distillery tours and Wenzel’s original whiskey blending experience remain part of the operation.
Solving a downtown bourbon problem
Producing whiskey in a historic downtown setting has its charms. It also creates logistical headaches.
Moving barrels through a property originally constructed more than 150 years ago isn’t exactly the same as operating a modern distillery campus with loading docks, wide drives and acres of maneuvering room. Only a portion of Wenzel’s barrels are therefore stored in Covington.
Most of the inventory is held at Augusta Distillery, where climate-controlled rickhouses provide Wenzel with additional storage capacity and greater control over the conditions affecting its barrels.
That partnership allows Wenzel to maintain its historic Covington identity while having access to the infrastructure necessary to manage a growing whiskey inventory.
The awards are piling up
The strongest evidence that Wenzel’s approach is working may be what’s happening in international spirits competitions.
Its Straight Bourbon Whiskey Finished in Sherry Casks is produced from a blend of barrels aged a minimum of seven years, with finishing periods ranging from nine to 36 months.
Batch 1 was named World’s Best Finished Bourbon at the 2025 World Whiskies Awards.
Batch 2 followed with a Double Gold and 99-point score at the 2026 San Francisco World Spirits Competition.
Wenzel Rye was named Best in Show at the 2025 San Francisco World Spirits Competition.
Its Double Oaked Bourbon scored 99 points and earned Double Gold and Best in Class honors at the 2026 competition, while its Toasted Oak Bourbon received Double Gold with 97 points and Best in Class honors.
For a whiskey operation that opened its doors only four years ago, it is an impressive awards résumé.
Three Wenzel bourbons worth knowing
Wenzel’s current lineup demonstrates how the distillery is using older whiskey, secondary maturation and blending to create distinctly different expressions.
Double Oak Barrel Proof Bourbon — $99
This barrel-proof release blends straight bourbons aged at least eight years using a mash bill of 69% corn, 21% rye and 10% barley.
The whiskey receives another six to eight months in new American oak barrels.
Expect cinnamon, toffee and butterscotch on the nose, moving into vanilla and honey before a soft, buttery finish.
The Double Oak received an exceptional 99/100 score, Double Gold and Best in Class at the 2026 San Francisco World Spirits Competition. It also earned Gold at the 2026 SIP Awards.
Proof varies by release.
Toasted Barrel Proof Bourbon — $99
Also built around straight bourbon aged at least eight years, Wenzel’s Toasted expression uses the same 69% corn, 21% rye and 10% barley mash bill.
The difference comes from six to eight months of finishing in new toasted barrels from Kelvin Cooperage.
Hay and honey lead the nose, followed by a honeyed sweetness and softer finish.
The whiskey received 97/100 points, Double Gold and Best in Class honors at the 2026 San Francisco World Spirits Competition.
Proof varies.
Wheated Barrel Proof Bourbon — $99
For drinkers who prefer a softer grain profile, Wenzel’s Wheated Barrel Proof Bourbon offers one of the more interesting mash bills in the lineup: 65% corn, 12.5% wheat, 12.5% oats and 10% barley.
The blend is aged at least eight years.
Caramel, cocoa and vanilla dominate, accompanied by a substantial mouthfeel and long, dessert-like finish.
The expression earned Gold at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition in 2024, 2025 and 2026, along with recognition at the World Whiskies Awards in 2024 and 2025. It was also named Best Limited Release Under 12 Years in 2024.
Proof varies by batch.
From blending room to Kentucky whiskey destination
Perhaps the most interesting thing about Wenzel is that the company hasn’t abandoned the idea that started it. Blending remains integral to the operation even though whiskey is now flowing from Wenzel’s own still.
The Ghost Coast acquisition gave the distillery mature stocks with which to work. Finishing, secondary maturation and blending have allowed the team to develop those barrels into award-winning releases while newly made Wenzel whiskey begins its much longer journey toward maturity.
Over time, that equation will change. More Wenzel-distilled whiskey will come of age, giving the team another set of components to work into future releases.
For now, though, Wenzel occupies an unusual position in Kentucky whiskey: part historic preservation project, part craft distillery, part blending house and part bourbon destination.
And there’s something fitting about all of it happening at 15 Tobacco Alley. More than 150 years after Henry Wenzel constructed the building and bottled whiskey there, barrels, bottles and whiskey drinkers have returned. Only this time, Wenzel is becoming a whiskey name in its own right.
