By Ben Sheroan
Source: The News-Enterprise
Boundary Oak celebrates award for Kentucky Amber
One of Boundary Oak Distillery’s first products is an award winner.
Kentucky Amber earned a silver medal earlier this month in the Denver International Spirits Competition. The local product received one of 10 awards presented in the American Craft Whiskey category.
“A win in these international spirit contests puts the county on the map as a good whiskey producer,” said Brent Goodin, the owner and master distiller of Boundary Oak.
Goodin was especially pleased to be recognized the first time any of his products were entered in a contest.
Developed from cane and not grain, Kentucky Amber is aged briefly in used bourbon barrels to extract flavoring absorbed by the wood. In addition to a smooth taste, the process gives the drink the amber color for which it is named.
When introducing Kentucky Amber last May, Goodin described amber as an old product, dating back to the Revolutionary War, yet it is new in commercial circles. The U.S. Department of the Treasury, which regulates and taxes alcohol production and sales, had difficulty deciding how to categorize it.
Kentucky Amber was the third commercial release for the distillery, which is manufacturing daily on family property near a natural limestone-filtered spring off Battle Training Road.
He plans to open a second distillery and tourism destination off Joe Prather Highway in Radcliff. The new still is in place and operations are awaiting regulatory approval, Goodin said Monday.
Because of an increased interest in craft distilleries, the Treasury Department is running as much as 150 days behind on processing applications, Goodin said. Once the location receives federal approval, he also must be approved by Kentucky’s Alcohol Beverage Control regulators in order to operate.
The building was constructed as The Challenger Center, an education tourism attraction focused on space exploration. The building was vacant for a time and used as a satellite campus for several colleges before the distillery deal was reached.
Goodin entered a lease-to-buy agreement with Radcliff city government to establish a distillery there in hopes of being added to the Kentucky Bourbon Trail’s craft tour.
In addition to Kentucky Amber, Boundary Oaks currently produces 101 and 121 proof moonshines. The company will go to market this summer with its Lincoln line of amber and rye whiskey beverages with a Lincoln bourbon to follow.
Goodin’s first small-batch bourbon is aging in charred white oak barrels now and is expected to be released late this year or in 2017.
Ben Sheroan can be reached at 270-505-1764 or [email protected].
