The announcement was made at Barrel House Distillery in Lexington, one of the seven craft distillers on the tour and part of Lexington’s new Distillery District.
  The tour is designed to complement the Kentucky Bourbon Trail experience, which has become of the state’s most popular attractions. With three busy months left in the year, more people already have completed the famous Kentucky Bourbon Trail adventure than ever before. A record 13,173 people have toured all six participating distilleries through Sept. 30 and collected stamps for their Passports. That far surpasses last year’s total of 11,757 completions.
  “Bourbon tourism is one of the state’s biggest draws right now and our craft distillers are a growing part of this signature industry,” said Beshear, who added that no matter where he goes, everyone asks about Kentucky bourbon.
  The tour connects artisan distilleries from across the state, from Marshall County in western Kentucky to Mason County in the northeast portion of Kentucky.
  Signature industry: Kentucky produces and ages perhaps 95 percent of all the bourbon in the world. Nearly all of the products are shipped to customers outside of Kentucky. Distilling companies here ship about $2.5 billion in products annually, and account for around 35 percent of the value of all distilled spirits produced in the U.S. Kentucky bourbon is exported to 126 countries, with 28.7 million gallons shipped in 2010.
  In addition Barrel House, the craft distilleries on the tour include: Corsair Artisan Distillery in Bowling Green, Limestone Branch Distillery in Lebanon, MB Roland Distillery in Pembroke, Old Pogue Distillery in Maysville, Silver Trail Distillery in Hardin and Willett Distillery in Bardstown.
  To celebrate the announcement, each of the distillers provided water and grains from their secret recipes to produce a “new make” whiskey — often called “white dog” — to be used to toast the tour. The special spirit was “married” Thursday at Barrel House with craft Master Distillers present, said Paul Tomaszewski, founder and Master Distiller at MB Roland.
  “Being a member of Kentucky’s distilling brotherhood is such a rich and fulfilling vocation,” said Tomaszewski, chairman of the Kentucky Distillers Association’s Craft Advisory Group. “The KDA and its members have been welcoming and instrumental in growing tourism opportunities for distilleries both large and small.”
  The KDA will coordinate the tour, which officially launches Oct. 18 with the “Bung Heard ’Round the World” event. Each distillery will have a press conference with local dignitaries and pound a bung into a barrel at 10 a.m. to signify that the tour is open for business.
  Kentucky is the first and only state with an expedition specifically designed to showcase its flourishing craft distilling industry.
  The Kentucky Bourbon Trail Craft Tour Passport program rewards people who visit and collect stamps from all seven distilleries.
  The camaraderie between historic and boutique distilleries played a key role in forging the new attraction, said KDA president Eric Gregory.
  “For 200 years, one of the distinctive hallmarks of our industry has been the fellowship between distilleries, now matter how big or small,” he said. “We’re proud that tradition continues today and will ensure that Kentucky remains the one, true authentic home for Bourbon.”
  The Kentucky Bourbon Trail began in 1999 to offer visitors a first-hand, educational experience into the art and science of crafting the world’s greatest Bourbon. It was garnered international media attention and poured millions of dollars into local economies. Participating distilleries – Four Roses and Wild Turkey in Lawrenceburg; Heaven Hill in Bardstown; Jim Beam in Clermont; Maker’s Mark in Loretto; Town Branch in Lexington; and Woodford Reserve in Versailles — have logged more than 2 million visits in the past five years with guests from all 50 states and more than 50 countries.
  Adam Johnson, director of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail tour, predicted that the craft edition will enjoy the same kind of success.
  “We’re already getting calls from people who finished the Kentucky Bourbon Trail experience and want more,” he said.
  Like the official Kentucky Bourbon Trail experience, the craft tour also will have a Passport program to reward people who visit and collect stamps from all seven distilleries.
  Tour information for each craft distillery will be available on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail website, www.kybourbontrail.com and on new versions of the brochure.

   Like actors who want to direct, many micro-producers outline their business models as follows: “We’re going to sell a bought whiskey to get started, just until we get our own whiskey distillery going.”
   The problem with this model, over the short history of the micro-producer movement, has been that the second part rarely occurs, especially if the plan is to fund the distillery with the bought whiskey business. Even if your bought whiskey is successful, you eventually discover that, as a non-distiller producer, you are in a n altogether different business than you intended and no closer to realizing your dream than you were at the beginning.
   High West in Utah and Smooth Ambler in West Virginia, both of whom have been successful with bought or ‘curate’ whiskey, started distilling either simultaneously or first. Yes, they use the bought whiskey to develop brand recognition and distribution, but neither distillery depended on its bought whiskey program to get the distilling part started. Both have been distilling for as long or longer than they’ve been selling bought whiskey products, and both now have a quantity of their own whiskey in the pipeline.
   A rare example of the two-part plan coming to fruition is Old Pogue.
   The Pogue brothers reactivated their family brand eight years ago and finally became distillers earlier this year. Recently, they marked another milestone by joining the Kentucky Distillers’ Association (KDA). Only licensed distillers and rectifiers are eligible for KDA membership. Non-distiller producers need not apply.
   At this point, Pogue is really two entities, a non-distiller producer with a successful and widely distributed brand of Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey called Old Pogue Master’s Select, and a craft distiller just getting started with a tiny, barrel-a-week operation.
   Pogue is not the first non-distiller producer to talk about opening a micro-distillery as a showpiece for their brand. They’re just the first to actually do it.
   The modern Pogue family deserves a lot of credit for what they’ve accomplished. The Pogues were once major bourbon makers, based in Kentucky’s Mason County. They started when Kentucky was still part of Virginia and the frontier town of Limestone Landing was in a vast county called Bourbon.
   After statehood came in 1792, Bourbon County was subdivided and the Pogues found themselves in Mason County, Limestone Landing, the first Ohio River port from which Bourbon County whiskey was shipped, became known as Maysville. In time, the corn based frontier whiskey first shipped from there to thirsty downriver markets became known simply as bourbon.
   Like most whiskey families, the Pogues started out as farmer-distillers and only became commercial after the Civil War. They sold bourbon and rye under various brand names, including Old Pogue. They operated as a bottler for the Wathen family’s American Medicinal Spirits Company during Prohibition.
   In 1933, the family sold the distillery and got out of the business. The plant was modernized and expanded. It also changed hands several times, eventually becoming part of industry giant Schenley. It closed for good in 1952.
   Peter H. Pogue is president of the modern company known as The Old Pogue Distillery. In 2004, he and his brothers launched Old Pogue Master’s Select. Unlike most non-distiller producers, they were never coy about the source of their whiskey. They freely admitted that it was made by Heaven Hill, selected and bottled for them by Kentucky Bourbon Distillers Ltd.
   Over the years, the Pogues did what you have to do to build a brand, appearing at countless tastings throughout the country. Their namesake bourbon has generally received positive reviews, which it deserves. Regardless of who makes it, Old Pogue is excellent bourbon, rich and well balanced, with caramel, vanilla, herbs, spices, and just the right touch of char.
   The new Pogue micro-distillery, which opened this spring, is located at the historic Ryan-Pogue family home on West Second Street in Maysville, across from the site of the original Pogue Distillery. Built in 1845, its nearly 5,000 square feet of living space made it one of the largest homes in Kentucky at the time.
   Currently, the little distillery is capable of making enough whiskey to fill on 53-gallon barrel a week. Currently, it is making a single malt rye whiskey called Limestone Landing. More importantly, the house and distillery are a place where fans of the brand can visit and immerse themselves in the Old Pogue experience.
   Several other non-distiller producers have talked about doing something similar, but so far only Pogue has done it.    Visitors to Maysville will find an attractive town, hard by the Ohio River, with a convenient bridge over to Ohio. The Pogues are, at best, the town’s second most famous family. The Clooneys - most notably the signer, Rosemary, and her broadcaster brother, Nick, father of actor and heartthrob George - hail from there too.
   The Pogues have pursued their dreamin in their own way and, at least to observers, they have been successful. In 2004, they said their main ambition was to have a shared activity that would bring them closer as a family. They seem to have done that, as now their kids are in it too.
   Anyone wishing to duplicate their feat needs to remember that the Pogues have something most would-be whiskey barons do not, a rich and authentic family history in the Kentucky whiskey industry that stretches back to its earliest days.

   “We couldn’t be more pleased with the work that our craft partners have done in the past year to help move the KDA forward and promote and protect our signature Bourbon and distilled spirits industry. We truly are stronger when we all work together.”
  The H.E. Pogue Distillery was founded in 1876 in Mason County, which played a vital role as a major port in Kentucky’s Bourbon history. Mason County was originally known as Limestone Landing at its founding when the territory was part of Bourbon County, Virginia.
  While only the foundation of the original H.E. Pogue Distillery still stands, the new small batch craft distillery is housed on the same plot of land and is part of the historic Ryan-Pogue family home on West Second Street.
  Production began in March, using the time-honored Pogue recipes dating to the late 1800s. Products include Old Pogue Master’s Select Bourbon and Limestone Landing Rye Whisky.
  “As a Kentucky craft distiller, and as a family, we could not be more honored than to be invited to join an organization as esteemed as the KDA,” noted Peter H. Pogue, President of The Old Pogue Distillery.
  “Our forefathers were instrumental in the early days of the KDA, and to be affiliated with the KDA once again is very humbling for us.”
  Pogue becomes KDA’s 13th member and the seventh Kentucky craft distillery to join.
  The KDA is a non-profit trade association founded in 1880. Members include Beam Inc. (Jim Beam and Maker’s Mark), Brown-Forman Corp., Diageo North America, Four Roses Distillery, Heaven Hill Distilleries, Inc., and Wild Turkey Distillery.
  Craft distillery members include Alltech’s Town Branch Distillery, Barrel House Distilling Co., Corsair Artisan Distillery, Limestone Branch Distillery, MB Roland Distillery, The Old Pogue Distillery, and Silver Trail Distillery.
  The KDA’s craft membership is available to licensed Kentucky distillers that maintain an inventory of less than 25,000 barrels of distilled beverage spirits, according to KDA President Eric Gregory. Applicants must be sponsored by a KDA member and approved by the Board.
  “We’re excited that Bourbon production has returned to Maysville and we applaud the investment and dedication of the Pogue family,” Gregory said. “Their hard work and initiative is a main reason why Kentucky remains the one, true and authentic home for Bourbon.”
  “Our craft members are an integral part of our venerable association and our iconic industry. We look forward to working with Old Pogue to promote our rich heritage, to advocate fair treatment of our industry and to continue our commitment to responsible drinking.”