Time to get your nightshades on.
Casey Jones, the Hopkinsville, Kentucky-based distillery, released a special edition Total Eclipse Kentucky Straight Bourbon just in time for the moon to pass between the sun and earth on April 8th. Distillery founder Arlon Jones released Eclipse Moonshine in 2017 during the last solar eclipse, where Hopkinsville happened to be in a “path of totality,” a rare sightline to view the entire eclipse. Jones hosted 12,000 astronomy (and bourbon) fans at the distillery, selling 50,000 bottles of Total Eclipse. The event was so successful that the moonshine was named the “Official Spirit of the 2017 Total Solar Eclipse” by Senator Whitney Westerfield on the Kentucky Senate floor. This year, stargazers are invited back to Casey Jones on April 8th to have a cocktail and view the eclipse together once again. Visibility should be at 98% at around 2pm. Check out NASA’s website HERE for more info on this year’s solar eclipse.
“Come on down, meet the folks behind the bottle, and let’s share in this magic together,” says Jones. “Here in Kentucky, we’re all about hospitality and good spirits, and we’re eager to pour you a glass of both.”
To mark the occasion, Jones released Total Eclipse Kentucky Straight Bourbon to join the moonshine in the lineup, which can be purchased online HERE. The MSRP on the Moonshine is $30, and Total Eclipse Bourbon is $50. Jones is also introducing a distillery-only cask-strength version of the bourbon, available April 6th.
"Twice in my lifetime, I’ll experience the shadow of the eclipse over our land here in Hopkinsville – a rare and spectacular gift that inspired me to create something special. In 2017, we introduced our Total Eclipse Moonshine. For the upcoming eclipse in April, we’re proud to introduce our four-grain Total Eclipse Kentucky Straight Bourbon – a nod to our rich distilling traditions and those once-in-a-lifetime moments that bring us together.”
—AJ Jones, Master Distiller
What’s In The Bottle?
Total Eclipse is a four-grain straight bourbon with a mashbill consisting of locally sourced grain: 75% corn, 10% wheat, 10% rye, and 5% malted barley. The whiskey is distilled in a hybrid pot, aged “a minimum of two years, and bottled at 100 proof.
How Does It Taste?
Company tasting notes promise baking spice and butterscotch aromas, leading to orange zest and toasted oak flavors, concluding with a pecan finish.
John McCarthy is a spirit, travel, and lifestyle journalist, managing editor, and author of The Modern Gentleman and Whiskey Rebels: The Dreamers, Visionaries & Badasses Who Are Revolutionizing American Whiskey. McCarthy is also editor of Barleycorn Drinks and Director of Judging of the John Barleycorn Awards.
