Rock Town

Phil Brandon left a corporate job at Alltel and opened Rock Town in Little Rock in 2010. The Encyclopedia of Arkansas records it as the first legal distillery of any kind in the state since Prohibition. Its grain comes off Arkansas farms.

For the Column Still Collection, it shipped 180,000 pounds of Arkansas corn and wheat 500 miles from Stratton Seed in Stuttgart to Bardstown Bourbon Company. Bardstown column distilled it to Brandon's recipe, and Rock Town aged and bottled it home. Wheat stands where most bourbons put rye, so at 92 proof you get baked apple and caramel instead of pepper. Buy it if rye heat puts you off.