Angel's Envy Co-Founder Wes Henderson Stages His Whiskey Comeback

When Angel’s Envy co-creator Wes Henderson left Angel’s Envy in 2022, his departure ended a 12-year stewardship, but the brand had been sold to Bacardi and it was time to move on. Back then, he called it retirement and was ready to kick his feet up and do nothing. But soon enough, he began to wonder if his working days were really behind him. “I wasn’t very good at sitting around and not doing anything,” he says with a laugh. “I felt there was more I wanted to do in this business, and I wanted to create a legacy project for my six sons.” And so, he’s triumphantly ditching retirement to launch True Story, his next chapter in whiskey making.

While Henderson wasn’t completely quiet in retirement—he worked on a one-off port-finished Kentucky bourbon with Blackened—the new True Story venture marks the first time he’s been at the helm since co-founding Angel’s Envy in 2010. Fans of Henderson’s work will be pleased to know that True Story is debuting with what the whiskey maker knows best: cask finishing. “My dad [Lincoln Henderson] and I essentially created the category of finished bourbon, and while finishing itself had been around for quite a while with scotch and other styles, we were the first to make finishing within American whiskey commercially viable,” he says. “We were really good at it, and I believe we do it better than anybody else in most regards, so you can expect more of that from us,” he says. The “us” Henderson refers to in this case is himself and four of his six sons; eventually, he hopes that the other two will also come on board.

True Story will launch on October 10 with two whiskeys: a Kentucky straight bourbon finished in white moscatel casks, and a blend of straight ryes finished in amburana, oloroso, and Pedro Ximénez casks. The bourbon ($60, 45% ABV) is sourced from undisclosed distilleries in Kentucky and aged 5 to 6 years in charred oak before finishing for up to 6 months in the moscatel barrels. The rye ($70), on the other hand, is a 50% ABV blend of 5 to 8 year old straight ryes, which is ultimately finished for 2 to 12 months in the amburana-sherry combo. Initially, both whiskeys will be available in Kentucky and Tennessee, as well as online, but wider retail distribution will follow in the months and years to come.

While Henderson is proud of his cask-finishing accomplishments, but don’t expect him to rest on those laurels. “We’re going to experiment more with blending and non-finished products as well, and I think we can be very expressive with both,” he explains. “People understand the artistry of blending far better nowadays, so it’s the best of both worlds for us to be able to play in our sandbox—where we finish, but also step outside that and do unfinished whiskeys and blends of whiskeys from all around the world.”

A New Distillery

At the moment, the whiskey for True Story is 100% sourced, with Henderson noting that he’s working with a variety of partner distillers both in and outside of Kentucky. That won’t be the case forever, though—alongside the debut of True Story is Henderson’s creation of a new spirits company, Saga Spirits Group, at the center of which is a $92.5 million investment that includes the construction of a new distillery that will be the home of True Story.

Through Saga Spirits, last September Henderson purchased both the Kentucky Castle, a luxury hotel in Versailles, and its next-door neighbor, the Edgewood Industrial Site, where the new distillery is being built. According to Henderson, the distillery will include a visitor center, tasting room, and a private barrel selection barn; once it’s up and running, a distilling experience will be offered for groups to work at a distillery for a weekend. Renovations to the Kentucky Castle (as well as Kentucky Castle-exclusive whiskey) will also be made.

Ahead of the official launch of True Story next month, Henderson is about as moved as you'd expect. “This is merely the next chapter for us, and we invite all the wonderful friends we’ve made along the way to join us on this journey,” says Henderson. “I’m bursting with excitement here, and I can’t wait to get back out there.”