LEXINGTON, Ky. — The Kentucky Distillers Association is welcoming a new member to the Bourbon Trail: Lexington’s Bespoken Spirits announced its move from California to Kentucky last fall.
Founded in Silicon Valley, Bespoke Spirits blends traditional distilling with technology, and its head of flavor, Jordan Spitzer, does most of his work in the lab, where he analyzes the molecules in grains and oak barrel wood to create whiskeys with consistent flavors.
“We’re hoping to unlock a little bit more of the Da Vinci Code of whiskey and figure out exactly what’s in it,” Spitzer said.
Founded five years ago, the company has sustainability as its ethos: rather than deriving flavour from casks, the product is aged in metal barrels, with the flavour coming from tiny wooden slabs placed inside the barrel alongside the spirit.
“By using our microstaves, we use about 30 times less wood than if we were to pack this into a barrel,” Spitzer said.
Jared Bickel, director of customer relations at Bespoke Spirits, said about 99 percent of the product is obtained through the aging process. With traditional distillation, you only get about 60 to 70 percent of the product through the “angel’s share,” or evaporation of the whiskey.
“That’s a benefit to us because it brings our bottle prices and our cost price down so much that when we get on the shelves we can compete with the bigger companies that have huge fermentation tanks and huge production volumes,” Bickel said.
Their process allows the spirits to be made in four to five days and tailored to individual tastes. Bespoken Spirts partnered with Lynard Skynard to develop their own brand, Hell House. Bickel said the flavor was inspired by the band’s love of Crown Royal.
“There are times and places where you can’t predict what the flavors are going to be, and that’s fun, but for people who want a customized, authentic, precise whiskey every time, we can provide that,” Bickel said.
Bespoken Spirits launched tasting tours in March, is now a member of the Bourbon Trail, and will be offering tours of the entire facility later this summer.
“We are essentially a technology company and it’s going to be a technology-driven tour,” Bickel said.
Bickel said tours will be tailored to specific groups based on their interest in the creative process.
Bespoken Spirits has the capacity to produce approximately 80,000 gallons per year.
According to the KDA, distilling generates approximately $325 million in economic impact in Lexington alone.
Bespoken Spirits is located at the Gray Line station in Lexington.
