What is ‘thieving’ and why is it the hottest thing in bourbon tourism?
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- Whiskey Thief Distilling Co. kick-started thieving in Kentucky.
- Over 100,000 visitors tried thieving at Whiskey Thief’s two locations last year.
- Visitors can pull whiskey from barrels and fill bottles onsite for purchase.
People have been tasting whiskey about as long as they have been aging spirits in new charred oak barrels, and now it’s become the hottest guest experience at many Kentucky distilleries.
To find out more, I visited the distillery that kick-started the trend: Whiskey Thief Distilling Co., a tiny but growing distillery nestled in a pastoral setting west of Frankfort. The distillery was founded in 2012 on a 127-acre farm; current owner Walter Zausch bought it in 2021 and has added a tasting room in Louisville.
Whiskey Thief was one of the first, if not the very first, to let customers pull whiskey directly from a barrel using a whiskey thief, which is a long copper pipe inserted into a barrel to pull up a quantity from inside — just like you do with a straw in a glass of tea.
The distillery’s tasting experience is built around letting you not only try barrels, but fill a bottle yourself and take it home if you find a barrel you like.
Zausch first experienced it about a decade ago, when he was invited to participate in a single-barrel pick at Four Roses with venerated brand ambassador Al Young leading the tasting.
“I thought it was the single coolest thing I’d ever experienced at that point,” Zausch said. “That was the way distillers had been tasting bourbon to evaluate it forever ... it just seemed to be the most authentic way to experience bourbon. Nine years ago, you had to be an industry person to do that. Mere mortal consumers didn’t have the opportunity to taste whiskey this way, uncut and unfiltered.”
Now that’s changed.
This sounds like such an amazing idea, you might wonder why people haven’t been doing it all along. Logistically, it’s actually kind of hard to navigate the federal paperwork that is required. Last year, the Kentucky Distillers’ Association put together a “white paper” legal guidance, with help from Whiskey Thief.
Zausch said Whiskey Thief isn’t trying to blend large numbers of barrels to create one consistent flavor profile the way big brands do, so you’re always going to taste something different and unique.
“You can find one that is perfect for you. It’s individualized,” he said. Thieving it themselves “puts the customer as close to the whiskey as possible. It’s such a compelling experience and I thought people would like it.”
And they have: Over 100,000 people tried it at their two locations last year, he said. “It really resonates with fans and with new bourbon drinkers as well.”
The day I visited, a woman from Illinois was doing a tour with a friend. They’d been to lots of different distilleries, she said. This one was special.
“It’s in the open air ... The energy just feels good. That was the first thing we said when we pulled up, ‘ooh, feels good here,’” said Debbie Ewins of Lincoln, Illinois. “Just the openness. ... We enjoyed the food, we enjoyed the atmosphere, we enjoyed the happy people that work here. ... It was just very relaxed.”
Whiskey Thief is all of that: The farm has mascot goats, friendly dogs and the requisite “chill” distillery cat napping atop a whiskey barrel.
The day I visited, the distillers were waiting on a part so the 650-gallon pot-still wasn’t running, and the fermentation vats were sitting empty (All the equipment is named after country singers: Dolly, Merle, Willie, Waylon, Loretta, Tyler and Sturgill are represented).
But director of distilling Lisa Wicker said usually she and her team — head of distilling Benjamin Eaves, third-shift distiller Brandon Reynolds and distiller and gin master Kelley Tennielle — are going around the clock. They produce bourbon and whiskey for Whiskey Thief as well as for private clients and age barrels for clients on site as well.
I ran into Larry Rice, former owner of revered Louisville bourbon bar The Silver Dollar, and Susie Hoyt, owner of the Pearl of Germantown and collaborator of Rice’s, there doing some private sampling, perhaps for his next Old Treasure single barrel release.
Everything is wide open in good weather, and there are tours every half hour. While reservations are requested, they aren’t required and walk-in visitors can frequently be accommodated.
From spring through fall, Lexington chef Steve Atkins serves a rotating menu of items that include superior burgers, wings, nachos, brats and sandwiches (vegetarians, you’re covered here too: I had a great house-made pimento cheese on smoked tempeh). Atkins serves from a food truck on site next to an open-air bar, just off the distillery tasting room floor on a side porch.
The cocktails are $14; I sampled Cecil’s Garden, made with gin and limoncello (both produced at Whiskey Thief) which was a delight. Whiskey Thief’s version of an Old Fashioned, which was thieved out of a bourbon barrel, was strong and delicious. Their Bourbon Sloshie was refreshing and potent.
But the real magic is in the whiskey tasting. They had five barrels, including a 5-year-old wheated bourbon, a 7-year-old traditional bourbon, a 5-year-old high-rye bourbon, a sister barrel to the 5-year-old high-rye and a rye whiskey.
All were very good. It was fun to taste and compare (the sister barrels tasted completely different) and yes, you can go back and try one again if you’d like before the big finale: If you find one you like, they bring you a bottle, and you thieve the whiskey out until you fill the bottle yourself (A 750 mL bottle is $149 or $80 for a 375mL bottle).
It’s fun but more work than I really expected (my pick, the wheated barrel, was getting low, so I had to dip again and again).
If you’re going on a weekend, they often have live music and cornhole, and other family-friendly activities. If you’re going on a day the food truck isn’t open, you can bring your own snacks, but otherwise outside food isn’t allowed.
Even as more distilleries around Kentucky offer “thieving” opportunities, Whiskey Thief continues to stand out, Zausch said.
“There are distillers now doing it in more private, limited, exclusive experiences,” he said. “I think we’re still the only ones doing it for every single visitor if they want. We’re the only ones doing it at that scale. It is our tasting experience.”
