Augusta Distillery

Augusta Distillery is located in Augusta, Kentucky, two hours east of Louisville on the southern bank of the Ohio River. It was conceived in 2017 by three college friends—Lance Bates, Robert Burns, and Jeff Johnson—who pledged themselves to bourbon’s historical benchmarks by focusing on single barrel, cask strength Kentucky whiskey at a minimum of eight years old. Augusta swiftly earned acclaim with its Buckner’s 13 Year, which earned World’s Best Bourbon at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition in 2023 and sparked a cult-like following for the distillery’s expertly curated lineup of limited and continuous releases.

While current bottlings reflect Augusta’s talent for sourcing quality whiskey and its steadfast commitment to core production parameters (now adding its first small batch bourbon to its single-cask offerings), a state-of-the-art distillery and event center came online in 2024, run by Augusta’s Director of Distillery Operations & Master Distiller Alexandra Castle (a celebrated member of the American whiskey community and former distiller at Old Dominick Distillery in Memphis and Wild Turkey in Lawrenceburg), promising an exciting continuation of Augusta’s burgeoning bourbon legacy.