Knoxville a launch market for new Kentucky bourbon
Louisville, Ky. — Knoxville has been tapped by the Louisville Distilling Co. to be among the launch markets for Angel’s Envy, a new super-premium bourbon developed by master distiller Lincoln Henderson, who formerly was with Jack Daniels.
Henderson will introduce his small batch artisan bourbon in Knoxville on Feb. 2 at a private reception in West Knoxville.
In addition to Knoxville, Angel’s Envy will be available in Nashville, Louisville, New York, Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., Chicago, San Francisco, Austin, Texas, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Houston, Dallas, Washington, D.C., Portland, Ore., and Boulder-Denver, Colo.
The suggested retail price for a 750ml bottle, which may vary by market, is $44.99. Angel’s Envy is 86.6 proof and 43.3 percent alcohol by volume. Louisville Distilling Co. is marketing the bourbon at www.angelsenvy.com and on Facebook.
Henderson is described as one of the original pioneers of the premium bourbon and whiskey categories in the United States. He came out of retirement to develop the bourbon “on his own terms – with a simple desire to enjoy the art of making whiskey,” according to Louisville Distilling. During his 40-year career, Henderson has worked on whiskey brands including Woodford Reserve and Jack Daniels.
The Louisville Distilling Co. said it gave Lincoln creative freedom to create his bourbon, adding that he returned to an original way of producing whiskey and using only locally sourced, special grains, Kentucky limestone water and hand-chosen port barrels shipped from Portugal.
“Angel’s Envy is a lot of things,” Henderson said in a statement. “It’s my life’s work. It’s a whiskey of incomparable smoothness. It takes into account over 200 years of bourbon heritage and mingles it with over 400 years of port wine heritage. And it’s something I’m going to let develop each year so every batch will be a natural expression of the distiller’s craft.”
Louisville Distilling explained the bourbon’s name by saying, “it’s well accepted in bourbon circles that each distillery owes a percentage of the bourbon in their barrels to the angels — known as the Angel’s Share. But, Lincoln sat the angels down and got them to agree that they could take a larger share if they agreed to leave behind something even better. The result is Angel’s Envy.
