As a young tyro growing up in East Kentucky, Colin Spoelman would visit his local bootlegger on Pine Mountain (pretty much what you had to do if you wanted to have a good time in the dry county of Harlan). These clandestine, illegal, night-time bottle runs led Spoelman to a passion for Whiskey and distilling, and it wasn’t long before he was trying his hand at producing his own moonshine.

Spoelman’s obsession with moonshining continued through college, where he joined forces with his Yale roommate David Haskell, and the pair have been making Whiskey together ever since. In 2010 Spoelman and Haskell made it official by founding New York City’s first distillery since Prohibition, housed in the 117-year-old Paymaster Building in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Now a decade in, Kings County has established itself as one of the most creative and uncompromising distilleries in the country; expanding the boundaries of what an American Whiskey distillery can aspire to be while scooping up a string of awards and critical successes along the way.

Feeling that something vital had been lost from the post-prohibition conglomeration of the American Whiskey scene, Spoelman’s melting-pot approach draws from a wide range of old-school traditions—from the illicit bootleggers of Kentucky to the best Bourbon, Irish and Scotch Whisky distillers.

Like all stories that result in the highest quality, this one has many small steps that reflect both raw passion and deep knowledge of craft and history.

Generally eschewing flavour grains (such as wheat or rye) Kings County’s unusual mash bill comes from two single sources—New York State organic corn and UK malted barley. Kings County open-ferment and then use a pot still to take a cleaner, more textural and flavourful distillate; unlike most Bourbon new make, which is distilled in a column. In their quality-over-yield approach, the distillers take only very narrow cuts, whereby only a tiny proportion of spirit from the very heart of the distillation is selected. Another positive eccentricity here is a focus on small-format barrels. Kings County does work with Bourbon’s traditional 53-gallon barrel, but much of the inventory is matured in 10, 15 and 30-gallon barrels. This size not only allows for experimentation but also brings lovely Christmas spice, resin and chocolatey depth alongside the traditional fruity, caramel and vanilla notes.

The Kings County process yields some of the purest, and most flavoursome Whiskey on the market. In the sometimes-opaque world of American Whiskey, where knowing who distilled it—or even where it was made—is considered a bonus, Kings County places transparency and the craft of distilling at the heart of its story. So, while these Whiskeys are not inexpensive, they are not made to be. Instead, these are reference-quality American Whiskeys where quality shines through in every sip.