When you hear the word “bourbon,” Kentucky naturally comes to mind. But there’s more to the Bluegrass State when it comes to making exquisite adult beverages.
“To reshape a line from Raising Arizona, ‘The sun don’t rise and set on Kentucky bourbon, y’all,’ ” said Steve Coomes, a Louisville-based food and drink writer. “Between its base London-dry style and biannual special seasonal releases, Castle & Key Distillery gins are some of the finest in the country, maybe even the planet.”
Coomes added that, even though vodka is famously known as flavorless and odorless, Kentucky distillers have been known to produce a few that buck the “bad rap.”
“Neither character is in play with Castle & Key Vodka, whose base spirit is the distillery’s bourbon new make,” he said. “You’ll want to sip it neat! Same for the ultra-pricey CLIX Vodka made by Buffalo Trace. It’s the silky-smooth big sister to the subtler but still suitable Wheatley Vodka.”
Buffalo Trace began producing CLIX in 2007 as a hybrid small-still creation. The distillery had introduced its Rain organic and Platinum 7X vodkas in the 1990s but was eager to take things up a notch.
“We set out to make the best-tasting vodka we could,” said Master Distiller Harlen Wheatley. “It was such a small still that we had to use multiple batches and several iterations, and when it was all said and done, we were left with 159 separate distillations—hence the Roman numerals CLIX.”
CLIX eventually led to Wheatley Vodka.
“We wanted it to be a craft-style vodka made here at Buffalo Trace, and we think we achieved that. The taste is the way vodka is supposed to taste,” Wheatley said. “Similar to the demand for Buffalo Trace’s world-class bourbons, our vodkas have continued to see high demand in the last few years.”
Buffalo Trace is one of many bourbon distilleries in Kentucky that produce quality vodka for those who enjoy the clear spirit.
Kentucky offers plenty more options for those who may not appreciate bourbon or need a change of pace.