America is a land rich with whiskey tradition.
The same can be said for Scotland. While many whisk(e)y industry traditions, such as single barrel, single malt, sourcing, types of stills used, etc., overlap between the two whiskey cultures, one thing that, until recently, did not cross the pond was the concept of the independent whiskey bottler. This idea, born in Scotland, falls around something like this: an independent outfit desires to cherry-pick what it thinks are unique casks at specific distilleries to sell under its own label. It acquires those casks from the distillery and releases them either as standalone offerings or blended with other casks.
While this may sound like just another whiskey blending operation, what stands out is the fact of transparency. As much as possible, independent bottlers call out the specific distilleries they are sourcing from. It is something they take pride in doing. Compass Box from Scotland is one example of this trend, having multiple blended expressions drawing from the stock of others in a “recipe” clearly defined by the percentage of each labeled distillery’s part of the mix.
Here in the U.S., meanwhile, this trend has only more recently taken root. Long was the time when an emerging brand sourcing from an unnamed distillery would only label something as simplistic as “distilled in Indiana” on the back label. Now, however, a small group of American whiskey bottlers are going well beyond that, giving highlights to their partner distilleries where possible on the labeling in ways that better inform consumers about what’s in the bottle.
Of those who’ve led the charge in this small group, Barrell Craft Spirits is among the best known, having sourced from distilleries large and small for many years now (though they do not tend to list specific distillery partners). In their wake have followed others, with three American independent bottlers, in particular, aiming to carve out their pieces of this unique slice of the whiskey world.
Lost Lantern Shines A Light
Amongst the best-known of the small fraternity of American independent bottlers is Lost Lantern. Founded by Nora Ganley-Roper and Adam Polonski, the pair of whiskey industry experts spent parts of 2018 and 2019 visiting over a hundred craft distilleries nationwide, searching for whiskeys and partnerships they could build their brand with. The two aimed to follow the traditional independent bottler and blender model as they interpreted it, focusing on transparency with where the whiskeys were sourced from.
“We didn’t want to do it if we couldn’t be entirely transparent,” says Ganley-Roper. This, to them, is critical because Lost Lantern sees itself in some ways as a storyteller, communicating as clearly as possible the who, the how, and the why of what makes that whiskey interesting. “We’re not hiding it, we’re not holding that secret. We’re singing it to the world, why this whiskey is special.”
“We didn’t want to do it if we couldn’t be entirely transparent,” says Ganley-Roper. This, to them, is critical because Lost Lantern sees itself in some ways as a storyteller, communicating as clearly as possible the who, the how, and the why of what makes that whiskey interesting. “We’re not hiding it, we’re not holding that secret. We’re singing it to the world, why this whiskey is special.”
— Nora Ganley-Roper, Co-Founder Lost Lantern
One particularly crucial aspect of the transparency angle is the ‘where’ idea, as in where does this whiskey herald from regionally. Their current Spring 2024 Collection is a collections of whiskeys from the Midwest featuring whiskey from distilleries in Wisconsin, Ohio, Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana.
“It can be a straight bourbon,” notes Ganely-Roper. “If it tastes very different because it comes from Iowa, that’s super interesting, and we want to highlight that for people.” In this way, Lost Lantern tries to help people explore craft American whiskey and understand it at a greater level.
Two Souls Seeking Whiskey
Whereas Lost Lantern is one of the more highly visible in this space, Two Souls Spirits is quietly making a name for themselves. Partners James Estrada and Chad Civetti, founding their operation in 2021, undertake a similar consideration to their contemporaries in how they source and label. The process of what to choose and how to bring it to market can feel like finding a needle in a haystack.
“We chipped down this list of distilleries we want to reach out to,” explains Civetti. “We get in touch with them and see if they’re interested in the idea.”
From there, a lot of questions emerge. What are they interested in? What have they yet to release that possibly they want to test in a market? What do they have lying around that they don’t know what to do with?
Two Souls, choosing from what they deem “cool products,” goes on-site to the distillery partner and works through barrels to find the gems they seek. After purchase, the barrels are sent to their contract distillery partner, Yahara Bay Distillers, for final evaluation of what must be done before bottling.
“Is it ready to be released right at this moment,” says Civetti, “or does it need some more aging?” Once that sweet spot is found, it is bottled and sent to market.
Bourbon Podcasters Turned Bottlers
Much like Lost Lantern and Two Souls, many American independent bottlers don’t immediately have traditional whiskey management backgrounds. This is especially true of Pursuit Spirits, an offshoot from the team behind the top-rated Bourbon Pursuit podcast, who looked to get into the production side of the business in a cost-effective way with their Cecil + Coleman Pursuit United brand.
“Even with our current status,” says Kenny Coleman, “I don’t want to build a distillery. It’s like that’s a $30 million question.” To him and his partner Ryan Cecil, there are already a lot of people doing that who already know what they are doing. Thus, it became more important to them to focus on what happens after acquiring the casks.
“Even with our current status,” says Kenny Coleman, “I don't want to build a distillery. It’s like, that's a $30 million question.”
— Kenny Coleman, Co-Founder Pursuit Spirits
“We can focus on the finishing side,” notes Coleman. “ And so that’s really where I felt like we could really make a heavy investment into just being a differentiator in the market.”
Pursuit Spirits, with its established relationships with distillery brands as a result of years of its podcast highlighting them, also keeps the transparency angle going. This comes back full circle to the idea all those in this category share.
“Yeah,” states Coleman. “we’re transparent to a fault.” This stems back to their deep love of all things bourbon and whiskey and wanting to know where a product with a generic moonshiner story heralds from.
In Coleman’s words, “Just tell me what it is.”
Nino Kilgore-Marchetti is a freelance spirits writer and editor with over a decade of experience covering this topic, focusing on whiskey. He is the former owner and editor-in-chief of The Whiskey Wash, a leading independent whiskey lifestyle website. Nino has reviewed and judged whiskey and other spirits for publications and competitions. He is also a member of the Order of The Writ, a Kentucky fraternal organization, in recognition of his coverage of Kentucky bourbon.
