New Lexington distillery makes Lynyrd Skynyrd whiskey; the band will be there to toast it
A new distillery is opening in Lexington with some pretty spectacular guests kicking off the welcome party.
Bespoken Spirits, new to the Greyline Station campus at Loudon Avenue and North Limestone, is holding a grand opening on March 27 that will feature Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Yes, THE Lynyrd Skynyrd, Southern rockers and whiskey aficionados, will be at the event, which will also feature a live acoustic music concert.
Why? Well, call it serendipity or maybe just great marketing. The band is in town to play a concert at Rupp Arena on March 28, with ZZ Top and Black Stone Cherry.
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And Bespoken Spirits just happens to be the company that produces Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Hell House whiskey, which will be available soon at the tasting room in Greyline. (Lynyrd Skynyrd’s band members also will sign bottles at Total Wine’s Hamburg location on March 28 from 1 to 3 p.m.)
The Bespoken tasting room will be opening for tours, which also will feature Bespoken’s other labels, beginning in April. Tours of their production facility on the other side of the parking lot will follow.
CEO Peter Iglesias said that the distillery hopes the event will be the first of many opportunities for new fans to discover Greyline Station and their unique distillery.
“Bespoken Spirits initially was a technology company, originally based in San Francisco,” Iglesias said. The company uses a patented rapid-aging process to create bourbons and other whiskeys to match the flavor and taste profiles that customers like Lynyrd Skynyrd want for their labels, he said.
Rapid aging in this case involves using 13 laser-cut oak staves that are mixed with distillate and then heated “sous vide-style” in a vat of rapidly circulating hot water until the desired flavor spikes are detected through mass spectrometry analysis, said Jared Bickel, Bespoken’s customer experience manager.
The distillery has an on-site lab that monitors different test batches and visitors to Greyline will be able to watch them work from inside the venue, Bickel said.
Once construction is completed, he said, tours of the distillery will include the manufacturing facility and bottling line as well, he said.
“We are all about transparency in our process,” he said.
Besides Hell House Canadian-style whiskey, Bespoken produces its own line of bourbon, rye and American whiskey as well as Uncle Chicken’s Bourbon with band Whiskey Myers.
The company, whose original investors included Baseball Hall of Famer Derek Jeter and former Cypress Semiconductor CEO T.J. Rodgers, in August 2023 announced plans to move to Lexington and invest $3.2 million.
The Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority on Thursday gave preliminary approval for up to $500,000 in tax incentives, provided the company creates at least 16 full-time jobs over the next 10 years and pays an average hourly wage of $70.77 including benefits.
The privately owned start-up distillery, founded in 2019, has focused on blending. According to a news release, Bespoken has received more than 150 medals in spirits competitions through spirit rectifying.
The distillery will begin operations later this year.
Bespoken Spirits Grand Opening
Who: Lynyrd Skynyrd, with tastings, signings and live music.
When: March 27, 6-8 p.m.
Where: Greyline Station 101 W. Loudon Ave.
Tickets: Free, eventbrite.com
ZZ Top concert at Rupp will be homecoming for one band member with Kentucky ties
