UK football coach Mark Stoops, wife Chantel part of new Lexington bourbon distillery
A Lexington distillery is coming back to life with the help of University of Kentucky football coach Mark Stoops and his wife, Chantel.
Wm. Tarr Distillery in the Distillery District on Manchester Street is opening a new tasting room and tourism experience in 2021 that will include a full cocktail bar, said co-founder and president Barry Brinegar, a Lexington marketing executive and bourbon aficionado.
The Stoopses are investors and Chantel Stoops is working on the marketing side, Brinegar said.
Brinegar, along with event venue operator and caterer Jill Bakehorn, is reviving the historic bourbon brand and have released their first whiskey, Old Wm. Tarr Manchester Reserve.
“Our first release is an exceptional product, a 7-year Kentucky bourbon blended with an 8-year rye,” said Bakehorn, Wm. Tarr Distillery CEO. “I like drinking a dimensional bourbon. The rye comes in to elevate your tasting experience and the element of cherries adds a sweet finish. It’s perfect neat or straight, and I especially enjoy it over ice with a twist of orange as a simple cocktail.”
Brinegar said the distillery is using whiskeys distilled under contract by a nationally known Kentucky distillery that “has been around for years and years and has global production.”
Eventually, Wm. Tarr hopes to distill spirits on the Manchester site, he said.
The site also will have an open-air outdoor seating area where people can enjoy cigars, craft cocktails and local beer and wine, he said.
They hope to partner with local food trucks who can set up to provide food.
Until the new distillery is finished, Brinegar said, they will do tasting events at Bakehorn’s event venues, the Grand Reserve and the Speakeasy, up the road on Manchester.
Brinegar said Wm. Tarr Distillery also will host private events for a members-only Tarr Underground Club, “for those who want to join and rub elbows with Mark Stoops and the other investors.”
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Other investors include Key Investments’ Mike Tetterton and Marsha Couch, who founded and sold Creative Lodging Solutions in Beaumont Center, and attorney Charlie Mihalek of Nicholasville.
This release, which is 114 proof with a suggested retail price of $79.99, is available in Kentucky and at the distillery, which is offering curbside pickup.
The next release, Old Wm. Tarr Inheritance is coming in November and is available for pre-sale for $300. This limited release will be a 12-year ultra premium bourbon. It will come in a custom-designed box with an additional label autographed by Mark Stoops.
The Wm. Tarr Distillery is a 2020 revival of what was Lexington’s first federally registered distillery, the Ashland Distillery, started in 1865. In 1871, William Tarr bought the Ashland and owned it until the late 1890s, Brinegar said.
“Our intention is to continue to promote tourism to Lexington and be a good business partner for Lexington for tourism,” he said.
This story was originally published November 3, 2020 at 9:41 AM.
