The tasting room at Bespoken Spirits' new home in Lexington.
Whiskey producer Bespoken Spirits has been a disrupter since its inception seven years ago. The company has prided itself on being different—Bespoken was born in San Francisco and eschews whiskey aging in favor of a proprietary rapid-aging process. Following its successful start on the West Coast, the company is now moving to American whiskey’s motherland, having announced plans to relocate its headquarters and operations from California's Silicon Valley to Lexington, Kentucky next week.
Bespoken Spirits is moving into a space in Lexington’s Greyline Station, a former bus depot that has been turned into a public marketplace complete with restaurants, bars, and retail shops. The company will celebrate its grand opening at the new site on March 27th with much fanfare, including an appearance by rock legends Lynyrd Skynyrd; Bespoken Spirits produces the band’s Hell House Whiskey label.
“This transition marks a pivotal moment for our company, placing us at the epicenter of whiskey making and giving us the opportunity to bring our technology to the forefront,” says Bespoken Spirits CEO Peter Iglesias.
Instead of aging its spirits (sourced mostly from MGP) in traditional barrels for extended periods of time, Bespoken Spirits uses a rapid-aging method that involves infusing the flavors of wood, toast, and char commonly associated with whiskey into its liquids using what it calls "micro staves" over the course of just a few days. The practice, which the company calls Tailored Wood Finishing, allows Bespoken to create any number of flavor profiles from a single base liquid while using less wood, water, and energy than traditional whiskey-aging methods. Along with using fewer materials and benefiting from a much faster aging process, Bespoken’s Tailored Wood Finishing also eliminates the angels' share evaporation.
Bespoken Spirits currently offers a bourbon, a rye, and an American whiskey. Iglesias says the company’s move to Bourbon Country will not influence its production methods. “We will remain centered around our technology,” he explains. “We don’t plan to deviate from our identity by adopting traditional methods.” He adds that the new Kentucky space will replace entirely the facility in California, which will close by the end of the month.
The company’s celebrity whiskey partnerships include not only Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Hell House, but also country-rock band Whiskey Myers’ Uncle Chicken’s Sippin’ Whiskey, and a soon-to-be-released offering from The Best Man Group, comprising actors Taye Diggs, Harold Perrineau, and Morris Chestnut and director Malcom Lee. Bespoken Spirits has received financial backing from notables like billionaire scientist and entrepreneur T.J. Rodgers and retired baseball great Derek Jeter. Bespoken Spirits’ whiskey portfolio is available in Texas, Florida, Tennessee, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, New York, and North Carolina, with expansion into Illinois and Colorado planned for 2024.
