LOUISVILLE, Ky. — For Left Bank Distilled Spirits, the journey from Kentucky to New Orleans is more than a story on a bourbon label. It is part of the production process, sending barrels downriver on barges before tasting panels help determine the blends and bottling proofs.
Co-founded by Ken Hagan and Joshua Easton, Left Bank combines Kentucky bourbon sourced from Green River with oak stave finishing and river travel. The approach draws inspiration from the flatboat trade that once connected Kentucky whiskey makers with markets along the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.
The brand’s name comes from “left bank descending,” a navigational term referring to the riverbank on the left when facing downstream. For its founders, that phrase captures the connection between Kentucky, New Orleans and the waterways linking them.
The idea grew out of two different interests: Hagan’s fascination with bourbon maturation and Easton’s discovery of an opportunity to move barrels south.
A longtime bourbon collector, Hagan began experimenting with whiskey aging after becoming frustrated with the competition for rare bottles. His interest shifted toward understanding how wood influences whiskey, approaching tasting and blending through methodical experimentation.
Easton, Hagan’s former college roommate and a Tulane Law School alumnus, encountered a barge operator in 2017 who shipped empty containers downriver to Louisiana before they continued overseas. He proposed using that route to evoke the journeys Kentucky bourbon once made to New Orleans.
That concept became a defining part of Left Bank’s identity, but the founders’ process begins well before the barrels reach the water.
Left Bank is a non-distilling producer, sourcing its bourbon from Green River in Kentucky. The whiskey uses a mash bill of 70% corn, 21% rye and 9% malted barley, a high-rye recipe Hagan favors for its balance of corn sweetness and rye spice.
The company then introduces additional wood through a stave finishing process. Its combinations include heavily toasted American oak, heavily charred American oak without toast, and lightly toasted French oak.
Those wood treatments are designed to develop the flavor and aroma of each expression, giving Left Bank another way to shape its sourced whiskey before blending and bottling.
Most barrels then travel south by barge, although the company notes that some barrels have not made the water journey. Trips take approximately 11 to 29 days, exposing the whiskey to movement and changing conditions along the route.
Left Bank describes this stage as “barrel torture,” with the goal of encouraging interaction between the whiskey and wood. Hagan also uses technology to monitor the conditions barrels experience during transit.
The river journey connects with another element of the brand’s storytelling: the “Alligator Horses.” The nickname refers to Kentucky riflemen associated with the War of 1812 who were described as “half horse and half alligator.” Left Bank uses that lore to reinforce the historical ties between Kentucky and New Orleans.
Once the barrels arrive in New Orleans, the focus turns from travel to tasting.
Hagan samples the whiskey and develops proposed blends for evaluation by a core tasting group the brand has used for seven years. Panelists score the proposed batches, helping him select three to five batches for a release.
The tasters then evaluate those blends at different proofs. Left Bank bottles its small-batch bourbon without chill filtration at the proof that earns the most consistent scores across the panels.
That process is intended to maintain a recognizable profile from release to release while allowing bottling strength to vary with the whiskey.
Left Bank’s core small-batch expression combines eight or fewer barrels, with proofs ranging from 101 to 109 depending on the release and batch.
Its Single Cask expression offers a different approach. Those barrels begin with older whiskey than the core releases and receive 25% more oak during stave finishing. Bottled at barrel strength, the offerings range from approximately 120 proof to more than 130 proof.
The whiskey’s age has also increased as the brand has developed. Left Bank began with two-year-old bourbon and now offers bottlings aged six years and older. Its stated plan is for future releases to be aged more than four years.
Five releases spanning multiple batches have occurred, with each release tied to a particular river journey. The fifth reached New Orleans in August 2025, and the sixth is underway in fall 2026.
Left Bank maintains a presence in both Kentucky and Louisiana, with bottling in both states. Its Louisville tasting room is an official stop on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, offering a Kentucky connection to a brand built around the trip downstream.
More information about its bourbons and availability is available at leftbankbourbon.com.
