Stoli Group is proud to announce the launch of the ultra-premium whiskey brand Kentucky Owl in Singapore.
Rejuvenated in 2014 by the great-great-grandson of Charles Dedman, who started the original Kentucky Owl Bourbon Distillery in 1879 on the banks of the Kentucky River, Kentucky Owl now produces award-winning, high-quality whiskeys designed to demonstrate the different aspects of the whiskey maker’s craft and wisdom. Embodied by a restless spirit and unquenching thirst for knowledge and guided by the wise owl, Kentucky Owl® embraces innovation and excellence in whiskey-making.
For decades, Charles produced “the wise man’s bourbon” before the distillery closed in 1916 and his death in 1918. During Prohibition in the 1920s, all remaining stocks of Kentucky Owl whiskey were put on barges to Frankfort and housed in government warehouses. The government guaranteed safe storage, but when the warehouse mysteriously burned down in 1923, the government failed to pay compensation, rendering the entire stock – close to 250,000 gallons of Kentucky Owl bourbon – a total loss. Rumour has it that before the fire started, illicit traders, including Al Capone, had already appropriated the whiskey for his Chicago “speakeasies.” Due to this significant loss, the Dedman estate never distilled another drop of Kentucky Owl whiskey.
In 2017, the Stoli Group bought Kentucky Owl as its flagship ultra-premium whiskey. In 2021, John Rhea – a 40-yr industry veteran and Bourbon Hall of Famer – came out of retirement only to join Kentucky Owl as Master Blender. Using his wealthy experience and wisdom, John has helped launch Kentucky Owl The Wiseman Bourbon and Rye whiskeys that have recently won Double Gold and Gold at the 2022 San Francisco World Spirits Competition.
The upcoming new Kentucky Owl Park Distillery, to be opened in 2026 in Bardstown, USA, will be the most innovative, unique and modern bourbon distillery in the United States; it will also be the most advanced distillery and brand home of any brand in the world, let alone Bourbon whiskey. Designed by world-famous Pritzker Architecture Prize-winning Japanese architect Shigeru Ban to create a more sustainable design that blends with the natural landscape, the distillery’s 3-pyramids design set in a stunning natural environment with two lakes and woodland nods to the industry and its history while prioritizing light and a connection to nature.
