After six years of aging in 53-gallon white American Oak barrels, J. Rieger & Co. recently announced the release of its Rieger’s Bottled in Bond Straight Bourbon Whiskey.
The limited release is the brand’s first bourbon offering since pre-Prohibition, which originally closed the distillery in 1919. Ryan Maybee and Andy Rieger, Jacob Rieger’s great-great-great grandson resurrected the distillery in 2014. This bottling, which began in the early days of the distillery back in 2015, marks the beginning of J. Rieger & Co.’s bourbon program. This batch of bourbon is bottled at 100 proof and meets the additional qualifiers to be designated as Bottled in Bond.
“As the quintessential American spirit, distilling our own Bourbon was a goal of ours before we ever officially reopened the distillery,” said Ryan Maybee, Co-founder at J. Rieger & Co. “This is the first Bourbon that we have produced since before Prohibition, and we knew it needed to be something special, something that would honor tradition and live up to being, ‘O! So Good’. We allowed this Bourbon to age in our Kansas City rickhouse for a full six years before bottling, and it’s finally ready.”
As a young distiller in 2015, J. Rieger & Co. began putting away just a few barrels of bourbon a month. As the years went on, the distillery was able to start distilling more and more Whiskey every year. Today, J. Rieger & Co. is now putting away a hundred barrels a month and is looking forward to bringing more Rieger’s Bourbon for generations to come.
The 100-proof spirit is made of a mash bill of 56% corn, 30% rye and 14% malted barley, creating a classic Bourbon. Each batch was distilled in a 750-gallon copper pot still before being transferred to the white American Oak barrels within the distillery in the historic Electric Park neighborhood of Kansas City.
The bourbon will be available at the J. Rieger & Co. distillery and in select stores throughout Missouri and Kansas beginning June 2nd.
