In Sarasota, Florida, the distillery’s CEO/co-founder Roy “Corky” Taylor III, found himself in a state of misery in the Sunshine State after having a 2009 exit with his company, Bencor, that specialized in retirement plans for public education employees. (And no, the irony isn't lost there.)
Luckily, Taylor’s youngest of three children, Carson, had the perfect solution: Resurrect a bourbon brand that had been tied to his family since 1889 in Henderson, Kentucky, and move it to Louisville. This was provided that they could get the rights to the name and distilled spirits plant (DSP) number (No. 50).
Another almost-retirement involved Mike Young, a longtime executive at Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC) who had been living in the Dallas metro area after retiring in July 2023 as a senior vice president.
“My whole dream, my whole career, was to move back home — and build a brand that I could kind of feel like was my own brand, instead of helping other people build their own, so I picked up the phone and called Carson,” Young said.
“If we were to choose one, he’d be the one we chose. And it just so happened he was available and would be interested — and we were happy as could be to have him,” said Corky, who was named to the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame earlier this year.
“Carson and I had talked about it, and then when I sold [Bencor], I walked along the beach for about a year-and-a-half,” said Corky, whose great-grandfather, Henry Kraver, began the Peerless line 135 years ago. “I was the most depressed I’ve ever been in my life. I kept calling him. I said: ‘Let’s do something. I don’t care what we do. We gotta do something.’”
Reviving the Family Brand
Corky Taylor, and his son, Carson, the fourth and fifth generation owners, and Executive Vice President Mike Young pose for a portrait in the still room at Kentucky Peerless Distilling Co. The Taylors are responsible for reviving the family brand which was founded by Corky’s grandfather, Henry Kraver, in 1889 in Henderson, Kentucky.
The distillery has been riding the momentum of having two of its expressions earn top honors at the 2024 International Wine and Spirits Competition in October. Its Toasted Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey was the only bourbon to earn a 98 and the “Outstanding Gold” Award on a blind taste test out of hundreds, while the High Rye Bourbon Kentucky Straight Whiskey was voted the top gold medal winner out of 12 gold-medal bourbons.
“I think we’ve gotten a lot of exposure — basically all over the United States and all over the world,” Corky said.
Aside from the recent accolades, Young said that the “attack plan” for Peerless in 2024 was to re-introduce the brand to the markets, which included more than doubling its marketing budget.
Now 10 years into its journey, Peerless has been accumulating a record amount of volume of barrels. The increased volume will lead to older age statements, finishes and other innovations. There is a possibility of the distillery being able to double its sales volume over the next three years, Young said. In addition, over the last five years the distillery has had a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 50% (starting from zero).
“We’re never going to be huge. … We like it the way that it is,” Corky said, “but we need to grow so that everybody in this building can do better. And we’re conscious of that, but we’re right where we need to be right now.”
Charting its own course
In an era where several bourbon distilleries have become whiskey portfolio holdings to the titans of the beverage alcohol industry, Kentucky Peerless stands as a bit of an anomaly as a family-owned, independent distillery that has never used a drop of bulk whiskey for its expressions since it opened its doors in 2015 — or accepted a dime from outside investors. It did its first release on June 21, 2019, on the birthday of Corky’s father, Roy "Ace" Taylor Jr.
It should be also noted that with its sweet-mash-only practice, the distillery is only one of a few that runs on strict kosher guidelines to honor his great-grandfather being Jewish.
The location of the 43,000-square-foot building — off North 10th Street on the far southeastern tip of Louisville’s Portland neighborhood — also makes it unique to its counterparts.