At the western end of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail lies the Green River Distillery. And it has a story to tell.

Note: If you want the recent history of Green River and the journey from reopening to today, keep reading. If you want to skip to Wheel Horse and the reviews, scroll down.

As recently as 2020, the distillery in Owensboro was called the O.Z. Tyler Distillery, a name given by parent company Terressentia in 2014 when the facility was brought back online. Production restarted in 2016 after decades of disuse following Prohibition, but the initial product….let’s say it wasn’t quite there yet.

I look at it like this: the pieces were on the table, but the puzzle wasn’t finished. After all, when you’ve effectively been out of the distilling game for nearly a century, what do you produce? What’s your mashbill? What’s your yeast? Your still setup?

So many questions to answer.

Terressentia first brought in Ron Call, a veteran distiller, to relaunch whiskey production. Ron was succeeded by his son, Jacob, a few years later. In 2017-2018, they laid down their first stocks of what would become Green River Bourbon, a 70% corn, 21% rye, 9% malted barley bourbon that debuted earlier this year (2022). But between then and now, the initial whiskey had some issues.

When I first tried a bourbon from O.Z. Tyler Distillery a few years ago, it didn’t make my nice list. It was grainy, young, green oak-forward, everything people like to hate about young bourbons. These are common enough profiles - if off-profiles - that one could see what they were trying to do. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t successful.

What didn’t help was the parent company’s reputation for using alternative aging techniques. Terressentia is one of the major companies trying to circumvent the natural aging process through chemical, mechanical, and other means. To date, I haven’t found a single example of this being even remotely palatable, let alone marketable in any real sense beyond the novelty aspect.

Terressentia’s core process - called TerraPURE - rapidly filters and ages the whiskey in defiance of Mother Nature’s work. Keep in mind that to be called whiskey, a liquid has to be grain-based, at 40% ABV/80 proof, and aged in oak containers. There is no minimum on how long that last step takes - see Pabst Blue Ribbon’s flash-in-the-pan whiskey adventure aging it for seconds in oak casks. It might be disturbing, but it counts as whiskey.

TerrePURE posits to mimic three years of aging in just twelve hours. Yes, you read that right. Twelve. Hours.

The TerrePURE-produced bourbon and rye were, to be blunt, bad. My friend WhiskeyFellow rightfully called them both busts. The bourbon, in fact, was his worst-thing-I’ve-tasted-in-2020 product. We taste a lot of things in a year, and to earn a worst-of trophy is no small feat. Mistakes can lead to a bad review, but it takes effort of the wrong sort to get to that level.

What fascinates me most in this case is that while the parent company is pushing this TerraPURE product, the Calls are laying down bourbon and rye that they intend to produce and age the traditional way, in 53-gallon new charred oak barrels using that same mashbill of 70/21/9. I wonder what the conversations were like behind the scenes, whether Terressentia questioned the Calls (why would they bring them on then question them, but still), whether the Calls ever asked Terressentia to pull the TerraPURE product so as to distance themselves from the latter’s reputation, or any number of other things that could have happened.

Ultimately, though, the Calls’ vision seems to have won out.

Two years after returning to the distillery’s original name, Green River Bourbon was released to generally positive reviews. At four years old and 90 proof, it was an easy entry point that can compete in flavor and price with similarly shelved products on the market.

The future is clearly bright for Green River Distillery - and partnerships like that with Wheel Horse are a great way to make that happen.

Wheel Horse Whiskey

Of all the brands that have called Green River Distillery home over the last century and a half, Wheel Horse Whiskey was not among them. They’re a newer brand created, bottled, and produced by Latitude Beverage, based in Boston. Wheel Horse Bourbon and Wheel Horse Rye are collaborative products distilled and aged at Green River, with Latitude/Wheel Horse as the NDP.

If you’ve read any of my reviews on NDPs, you know I hold no negative connotations with the category. You simply judge by a different standard: what whiskey did they choose? the quality of that whiskey? what, if anything, did they do with the whiskey they chose?

Wheel Horse - smartly - went with the Call-distilled bourbon and rye. The 70/21/9 bourbon was joined by a 95/5 rye, always a winning recipe in my book. Both are aged at least two years and bottled at 101 proof (50.5% ABV).

You might be thinking: “David, we get it, they’re an NDP - so why are you focusing so much on the distillery in reviewing their products?” Simplest answer is usually right: it’s because Wheel Horse focuses so much on the distillery in their materials and on their website.

At first, I was thrown off by this. Granted, it’s an NDP clearly sourcing from a distillery and putting out their product, but I thought there would be more about the name, the back story of why Latitude launched Wheel Horse, things like that, but it really is presented as a true partnership.

Wheel Horse came out around the same time as Green River Bourbon, meaning consumers could try two different whiskies (bourbon and rye) and at different proofs, with the latter being 90 proof. No TerraPURE, no rapid aging, just good old fashioned Kentucky bourbon and rye aged the way (I think) they should be.

The rye in particular is notable - it’s the first rye produced by Green River (apparently they don’t count the TerraPURE Rye and that’s fine by me!)

Altogether, the notes of the whiskies (below) show a clear thought process and good-sense whiskey production. You’ll see in both reviews and tasting notes that beyond the scores lie high quality bourbon and rye at affordable pricing and, most surprisingly, are both just 2-3 years old.

Whether Wheel Horse continues to buy and sell at that age or if they go older, they’ve set a standard for themselves and for Green River Distillery. And unlike the reputation of the not-so-distant-past, this is one they’ll both be proud of.

Wheel Horse Bourbon Whiskey: Specs

Classification: Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Origin: Green River Distillery

Mashbill: 70% Corn, 21% Rye, 9% Malted Barley

Proof: 101 (50.5% ABV)

Age: 2-3 Years Old

Location: Kentucky

Wheel Horse Bourbon Whiskey Price: $35

Official Website

Wheel Horse Bourbon Whiskey Review: Tasting Notes

Eye: Black iced tea. Thin rims, thin-medium legs and droplets.

Nose: Warm and corn-forward, doesn’t smell young or grainy at all. Black tea leaves, brewed Assam. No proof heat. Mild tarragon, more of a general sweet herb than an overt licorice flavor.

Palate: A bit of proof heat comes forward initially, followed by caramel corn and black pepper. Grape and cherry candies, very slight oak astringency. Settles into the palate nicely. Mouthfeel is piquant, light-to-medium, opens sweet cinnamon and star anise, nutmeg, black cherry cola syrup. Coating and intense.

Finish: Long, cola syrup-forward (especially black cherry but not exclusively). Astringency fades quickly, allowing the caramel corn and stone fruit to reassert themselves. Sweeter side for sure, but delicious.

Overall: I’m impressed right off the bat. It’s on the sweeter side of bourbon, but the palate has enough proof and oak to balance the sweetness before it goes syrupy. On the finish, it needs a bit more oak to balance the corn and fruit, but this is ultimately a great sipper and equally great entry bourbon that drinks easier than the 101 proof.

Final Rating: 6.8

Wheel Horse Rye Whiskey: Specs

Classification: Straight Rye Whiskey

Origin: Green River Distillery

Mashbill: 95% Rye, 5% Malted Barley

Proof: 101 (50.5% ABV)

Age: 2-3 Years Old

Location: Kentucky

Wheel Horse Rye Whiskey Price: $35

Official Website

Wheel Horse Rye Whiskey Review: Tasting Notes

Eye: Mott’s apple juice. Medium rims, oily legs and droplets.

Nose: A bit tight at first, more so than the bourbon. A bit of herb comes through, but I gave this nose time and came back to it. After a while, grape and tarragon open.

Palate: The more familiar 95/5 profile comes in, mild-to-medium spice and not too sweet. Caramelized grain, a touch of proof. Tarragon, sweet herbs, and aniseed roll in too. Mouthfeel is oily and coating, with growing spice and cinnamon red hots. Chewable - the mouthfeel grows as it sits on the palate.

Finish: Proof sticks around for a few seconds, with oak and cinnamon bark growing from background to front palate. Medium-to-long finish.

Overall: An initially tight nose opens after some air and a sip or two. At first, I was conceerned this wouldn’t differentiate itself enough as another 95/5 rye, and the initial sweetness didn’t counter that worry. That being said, the growing complexity in the back palate brings a clear, independent note that will set Wheel Horse and Green River apart.

Final Rating: 6.7

10 | Insurpassable | Nothing Else Comes Close (Elijah Craig Barrel Proof Old Label Batch 4 or 2, Blanton’s Straight from the Barrel)

9 | Incredible | Extraordinary (GTS, Elijah Craig Barrel Proof B518 and B520)

8 | Excellent | Exceptional (Stagg Jr. Batch 10, Highland Park Single Barrels)

7 | Great | Well above average (Blanton’s Original, Old Weller Antique, Booker’s)

6 | Very Good | Better than average (Four Roses Small Batch Select, Knob Creek 14+ YO Picks)

5 | Good | Good, solid, ordinary (Elijah Craig Small Batch, Buffalo Trace, Old Grand-Dad Bottled-in-Bond)

4 | Has promise but needs work

1-3 | Let’s have a conversation