Casey Jones Total Eclipse Four Grain Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

It wouldn't have properly been a "Best of the Best" lineup if we didn't include the distillery that brought us the top-selling straight bourbon we've ever featured! Casey Jones' White Label Mash Bill #1 Straight Bourbon was a real crowd-pleaser, cask-strength and with a high corn mash bill, and a peek back in time to what their namesake would have made. Western Kentucky, or "The Other State of Kentucky", as they call it, is moonshine country, and they continue to produce their whiskey using their square "Grandfather Still" modeled after the one Casey Jones used for his product back in the day!

Casey Jones Distillery, named after Master Distiller Arlon "AJ" Casey Jones' grandfather, is both an homage to the past and a testament to the now. AJ and his wife Peg couldn't even spell "distillery" (or so they say) when someone shipped them an old still of Casey's that had been commissioned by the federal government for a National Forest visitor center. But, for an engineering genius like AJ, he was able to figure out how to make it work and carry on his grandfather's legacy! As for Peg, who basically runs the place as the resident "factotum" (she had to hop off our interview to go finish spreading some mulch), she says it's been "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" to work on this project with her husband. According to her, Jones men have to be building something massive every 18-24 months, and we're sure glad that the distillery was one of those things 11 years ago! You'll want to visit for sure, not only because it's a beautiful facility, but also, as AJ says, "We try to treat people like they belong here."

And this Total Eclipse Bourbon truly belongs in your glass! One of the fun things about the Hopkinsville area is that they're in the cross-section of where the last two eclipses in 2017 and 2024 intersected. Thousands of day-visitors and campers flocked to the Casey Jones property to participate in "Lights Out and Bottoms Up" as AJ dubbed it. This "Out of this World" Four Grain Bourbon was released specially for the 2024 event, and later on got featured on the Forbes list of top 7 new whiskeys of the year! While their Mash Bill #1 was honoring the past, this is their Mash Bill #4, bringing Casey Jones into the 21st century with a blend that was made to appeal to all people and fit all taste profiles. And yet, there's clearly a consistent DNA across their different bottlings, with them being made with local corn and wheat, thus qualifying as "Kentucky Proud" products. Peg and AJ say they really saw all the goodness of humanity during the Eclipse events, so whenever you sip on this whiskey, cheers to the Casey Jones team (and maybe give them a ring, they actually like to talk on the phone)!