Every industry needs its trailblazers and mavericks. For American Whiskey, that’s Colin Spoelman. Spoelman’s Whiskey journey has taken him some way from his East Kentucky roots. His fascination with distilling began at an early age after visiting local bootleggers on Pine Mountain in the dry county of Haran. That interest evolved into a not-so-legal moonshine garage project set up in his small apartment in New Haven, Connecticut, while completing his BA in Architecture and Theatre at Yale. Fast-forward to today, and Spoelman’s Brooklyn-based Kings County Distillery crafts some of the best, most creative, most uncompromising damn Whiskeys in the United States. “I’m a distiller, not a brand,” Spoelman said on a recent podcast in a thinly veiled sideswipe at the mass-marketed brands that dominate the volume side of American Whiskey. Crazy as it may sound, Kings County also stands apart from the big boys and many of its ‘craft’ competitors because it actually makes and ages all its own Whiskey. There is a transparency and passion behind the label that shares some parallels with the great growers of Champagne versus the large houses: American Whiskey with a human face. Spoelman’s more thoughtful, traditional, pre-prohibition vision of Whiskey production is reinforced by using organic grains, open fermenters and pot rather than column stills. Like all stories resulting in the highest quality, King’s County’s has many small steps reflecting raw passion and a deep knowledge of craft and history. 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. And, like all great artisans, his approach is exacting, and his standards impeccable. You can read the full low-down on our website, but suffice it to say, from the quality of ingredients through to its precision distilling, the Kings County process yields reference-quality Bourbon and some of the most flavoursome and intense Whiskey on the market.