Kentucky Peerless Distilling Company, LLC

Kentucky Peerless Distilling Company is one of the most technically uncompromising modern Kentucky distilleries — and the rare modern revival that can credibly invoke an 1881 heritage with a direct family line to back it up. The original Peerless operated from 1881 in Henderson, Kentucky under owner Henry Kraver, eventually becoming Kentucky's seventh-largest pre-Prohibition distillery (DSP-KY-50) before shutting down at the start of Prohibition in 1917. Kraver's great-great-grandson Corky Taylor and his son Carson Taylor revived the brand in 2014, building a modern distillery in Louisville's NuLu neighborhood and producing the first new Peerless spirit in nearly a century. The technical specification list is the brand's calling card. Every Peerless release is sweet mash fermented — fresh-yeast every batch, no backset from previous distillations — which is the opposite of the sour-mash standard that dominates Kentucky bourbon. Every release is bottled in bond at 100 proof minimum (most are barrel proof, well above 100). Nothing is chill filtered. Nothing is carbon filtered. Releases include both barrel proof and small-batch versions, but the core philosophy is the same across the range: deliver the maximum possible expression of the grain and barrel rather than smoothing the experience to broader appeal. The mash bill program is unusually broad for a craft distillery. The Peerless Bourbon line uses a high-rye mash, and the Peerless Rye uses 100% rye grain (with malted barle…