Lambert Willett and his son Thompson built the distillery near Bardstown, Kentucky in 1936. The stills went quiet in the early 1980s. Even Kulsveen and his wife Martha, Thompson's daughter, bought the company in 1984 and ran Kentucky Bourbon Distillers as a blending house behind Noah's Mill and Rowan's Creek. Distilling resumed in 2012 under their children, Drew and Britt.
Family Estate is the line Willett bottles at cask strength from its own distillate. The 4 Year Rye commingles a 74 percent rye mash bill with a 51 percent rye carrying far more corn, so the spice sits on a sweeter base. Stock it for rye at full strength.
