This is a big year for Limestone Branch Distillery and the Yellowstone brand.

It’s 150th anniversary of Yellowstone National Park, the first National Park in the United States and one of the true natural wonders of the world. The TV shows Yellowstone and 1883 are drawing record audiences, bringing more attention to the brand.

To celebrate, the anniversary is emblazoned on every Yellowstone Bourbon bottle across the product lines. Yellowstone Select, their core bourbon, has six collectible labels with six different natural features of Yellowstone National Park, including a wild bison and Old Faithful. Every bottle sold means a donation to Yellowstone National Park, even more important now following a devastating series of floods.

Yellowstone as a whiskey brand has been around as long as the park, changing hands multiple times over its history. At times, it was owned by what is now Diageo, the Old Trump Distillery, and, of all people, a Beam. Today, Yellowstone is owned and produced by Limestone Branch Distillery in Lebanon, KY, distilled by 7th generation distillers - and brothers - Stephen and Paul Beam.

It’s common knowledge that you can’t throw a rock in Kentucky without hitting a Beam family member. In a recent conversation with Stephen Fante, National Brand Ambassador for Limestone Branch, he threw out a few mind-boggling statistics about the family and its whiskey connections:

At least 68 brands are distilled by or have a connection to a Beam
They’re now on their 8th distilling generation
Six of the Seven major/heritage distilleries in Kentucky had a Beam at the helm at one point (to my knowledge, the only exception is Wild Turkey)
And my personal favorite, a direct quote: “There’s never been a secret in Kentucky bourbon, because the Beams all get together for Thanksgiving.”

Simply put, the Beams are the royal family of Kentucky whiskey-making. That statement has zero disrespect for other long-standing heritages such as the Russells, the Shapiras, or any other family you can think of. There’s no other group that so thoroughly permeates the history, present, and future of Kentucky whiskey in time and widespread presence.

All that said, not every Beam works at the James B. Beam Distillery, and not every Beam has the same resources available to them. Stephen and Paul’s Limestone Branch produces nine - 9! - barrels of whiskey a day. Their corn comes from the farm across the street. As Stephen Fante put it, some distilleries “sweep off their floors more than we produce in a day.”

The distillery itself is a quaint, modernist design imbued with elements of a natural park cabin. The space, which you can see all of from a single spot on the floor, is about closeness and welcoming. You walk in and are offered a cocktail or a taste of their bourbons and rye. The gift shop covers the usual shirts, bungs, bottles, and ephemera. A lone barrel stands against the central wall with a cutout and a cat bed for Corky, who was conspicuously absent when I visited (doing his job hunting vermin or, more likely, basking in what was a beautifully sunny day).

A short but engrossing walkthrough shows the full history of the Yellowstone brand, replete with old bottles, signs, ads, and relics. Returning to the gift shop and walking towards the wall of bottles, I saw the six beige-labeled versions of Yellowstone Select, each with the different Yellowstone facet on the front. To the right were bottles of Minor Case Rye, a sherry-finished rye that I need to do a write-up on because it’s fascinating and delicious (it also uses Minor Case Beam’s yeast - more on that shortly).

Then, there were a set of bottles I hadn’t seen before. With dark maroon labels and the inset Yellowstone image, this bottle stood out as different. The color was incredible, a mahogany/cherrywood that you’d find in a super-aged or sherry-finished whiskey, or perhaps one that’s high proof. Instead, right there on the label, were two pieces of info that boggled my mind: 50%/100 proof and six years old.

What was this? How could a 100-proof bourbon at six years old have that color? It seemed impossible and, honestly, I still don’t quite understand how it happened, but there it is.

This bourbon is Yellowstone Family Recipe Bourbon, a new line honoring the brand’s and the Beam’s heritage. And it is a beauty. The recipe comes from Guy Beam, a Prohibition-era family member (1885-1962) who worked in Kentucky before and after the great experiment and in Canada at Canadian Club during Prohibition. The mashbill for Yellowstone Family Bourbon comes from meticulous notes and digging by Stephen and Paul.

Minor Case Beam (his real name) was born a decade later (1896-1947) and had a hand in around a half-dozen brands just on his own. Like so many things, though, his yeast was lost to whiskey history. Or was it?

In today’s world, we are blessed with the technology to revive and identify yeast strains from whiskey’s history. Enter Dr. Pat Heist, guest on Whiskey Ring Podcast episode 35 and yeast expert. The Oscar Getz Museum had a Donna jug from Minor Case, a yeast container meant to keep the “mother” strain pure. The yeast inside was unusable, but Stephen and Paul wanted to know if the identical strain could be found. Some scraping and DNA sequencing later, they had the same yeast strain Minor Case used. Man do I love science.

The Yellowstone Family Recipe Bourbon is, truly, a family recipe. One member’s yeast, another’s recipe, on a third and fourth’s equipment. It’s a cigar-lover’s bourbon for sure, with deep, rich red fruit notes and freshly-dried tobacco leaves. I still can’t comprehend the color, and yet it tastes the way it looks.

It’s different, a throwback flavor profile and experience. And I love it.

A final note that I found both hilarious and timely: this was originally planned to be Bottled-in-Bond, and the Bottled-in-Bond Man himself Bernie Lubbers (Whiskey Ring Podcast guest 34) was excited as hell for this to come out. In the end, though, it fit all but one requirement: to reach the nationwide demand, Limestone Branch had to mix barrels from two seasons, a no-no for Bottled-in-Bond, much to Bernie’s chagrin.

Why is this so funny? Well, when I asked Bernie if there were any edits he’d make to the Bottled-in-Bond Act, he thought about it for a minute and answered “the seasonal requirement. It was a feature of farming in 1897 that doesn’t exist in the same way today, so maybe it’s a bit anachronistic.” Of all the reasons for the Yellowstone Family Recipe to not fit the criteria, the fact it was the one Bernie suggested to change was an incredible coincidence.

To close this out, here’s what I’ll say: I opened this and loved it. I tried it with Stephen Fante and loved it. I encouraged my cigar-loving friends to go back and grab a bottle (and some cigars finished in Yellowstone barrels). The old is new again, and I’m here for it.

Yellowstone Family Recipe Bourbon Whiskey: Specs

Classification: Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Origin: Limestone Branch Distillery

Mashbill: 75% White Corn, 13% Rye, 12% Malted Barley

Proof: 100 (50% ABV)

Age: 6 Years Old

Location: Kentucky

Yellowstone Family Recipe Bourbon Whiskey Price: $59.99

Official Website

Yellowstone Family Recipe Bourbon Whiskey Review: Tasting Notes

Eye: Amber. Splotchy rims and tiny random droplets dotting the glass.

Nose: Different right off the bat. Lots of tobacco, burnt grapes, fresh-baked bread, a solid corn and rye mix. Astringent Oloroso sherry and dusty oak. Put out campfire embers, fresh-rolled cigars leading the way.

Palate: Fruity! Fruit leather (honestly, closer to those super sweet fruit roll-ups), dark fed fruit, back-of-the-throat pepper kick like Bottle Caps you swallow too fast. Dried tobacco is still a powerful note here. Homemade fruit leather (yes, it’s strong enough to mention specifically again) and actual leather. Mouthfeel is prickly, thin-to-medium growing with the chew, concentrated Burgundy wine lacquering the tongue.

Finish: Medium length, almond skins joining the dark, dark grapes that turn smoky, with tobacco and fruit leather still in the forefront and a leather goods shop.

Overall: Unique, and it’s refreshing to have something both old and new. Led all the way by heavy tobacco and fruit leather flavors but never feels one-note. This doesn’t taste like anything else in the Yellowstone or Limestone Branch portfolio. Proof and age are spot on.

Final Rating: 7.3

10 | Insurpassable | Nothing Else Comes Close

9 | Incredible | Extraordinary

8 | Excellent | Exceptional

7 | Great | Well above average

6 | Very Good | Better than average

5 | Good | Good, solid, ordinary

4 | Has promise but needs work

1-3 | Let’s have a conversation