In Owensboro, Kentucky, along the westernmost stretch of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, a distillery that has been making whiskey since 1885 is quietly building a second career. Green River Distilling Company, the 10th oldest licensed distillery in the state, was named Best Bourbon in the World at the 2025 New York World Spirits Competition. It is also the production home for a growing roster of contract clients who want their bourbon distilled on one of the most storied sites in American whiskey. Now part of the Lofted Spirits family alongside Bardstown Bourbon Company, Green River is where 140 years of heritage meets the modern contract distilling business.
Green River Distilling Company sits on 28 acres at 10 Distillery Road in Owensboro, Kentucky, along the Ohio River in the western part of the state. The site has been producing bourbon since 1885, when J.W. McCulloch opened the original Green River Distilling Company. That makes it the 10th oldest licensed distillery in Kentucky, holding DSP-KY-10, one of the lowest permit numbers still active in the state.
The original Green River brand earned a reputation that now reads like folklore. It was once the most widely advertised whiskey in America, marketed as “The Whiskey Without A Headache” and served as the official whiskey of the U.S. Marine Hospital for 18 years. When Prohibition ended that claim (whiskey could no longer be marketed as medicinal), the tagline shifted to “The Whiskey Without Regrets,” a slogan the brand still carries today.
Like many Kentucky distilleries, the site passed through multiple owners over the decades. It operated as the Medley Distilling Company through much of the mid-20th century, then became the O.Z. Tyler Distillery after a 2014 purchase by Terressentia Corporation, which introduced a proprietary rapid-aging technology called TerrePURE. In July 2022, Bardstown Bourbon Company acquired the facility. The Green River brand name was revived, the TerrePURE technology was shelved, and the distillery was reoriented toward traditional Kentucky bourbon production alongside contract distilling for outside brands.
The March 2025 formation of Lofted Spirits placed Green River under the same parent company as Bardstown Bourbon Company and the newly named Lofted Custom Spirits contract arm. Under this structure, Green River operates as both a heritage bourbon brand and a secondary production facility for Lofted’s growing contract distilling network. Master Distiller Jacob Call leads the Owensboro operation.
Green River’s contract distilling role is newer and smaller in scale than its sister facility in Bardstown, but it is growing. The distillery produces new make for outside brands through Lofted Custom Spirits, offering a different production environment and water source than the Bardstown campus.
Buzzard’s Roost sources new make distillate from Green River (alongside Bardstown Bourbon Company and MGP for aged stock), with all finishing and bottling handled at the Bardstown campus. A Kentucky Distillers’ Association press release confirmed the sourcing relationship.
Hooten Young sources both its Bottled in Bond Bourbon and its Single Barrel program from Green River, using a 70/21/9 mashbill. Breaking Bourbon confirmed the Green River source, and an April 2026 press release for the Single Barrel #7 release named the distillery explicitly.
Stonestreet Bourbon, a horse racing-themed brand from Jackson Family Wines, had its Founder’s Edition distilled at Green River using a wheated mashbill (70/21wheat/9 barley), with only 131 barrels produced.
Legendary Duke Bourbon, the John Wayne estate brand, is confirmed as Green River-distilled. Barrel and Brew and Drinkhacker both identified the O.Z. Tyler/Green River source, with a 75/13/12 mashbill, 5-year age statement, and 88 proof.
Green River offers something distinct from the Bardstown campus: Owensboro’s limestone-filtered water, a different microclimate for aging, the heritage of DSP-KY-10, and a production scale that accommodates smaller batch runs. For brands that want Kentucky straight bourbon credibility without the volume commitments of a mega-distillery, Green River fills a specific niche. The Lofted Spirits structure means clients can also access Bardstown’s bottling, logistics, and distribution infrastructure while distilling at the Owensboro facility.
Green River operates on a smaller footprint than the Bardstown campus but still runs at meaningful scale. The distillery’s annual capacity exceeds 95,000 barrels of whiskey per year. Production uses traditional column still distillation, with grain processed, cooked, fermented, and distilled entirely on site.
The distillery’s water comes from Owensboro’s municipal supply, which draws from the Ohio River and is filtered through the region’s characteristic Kentucky limestone. The limestone filtration is significant because it strips iron from the water (which would discolor whiskey and interfere with fermentation) while adding calcium and magnesium, which promote yeast activity. It is the same geological advantage that made central and western Kentucky the historical center of American whiskey production.
The 28-acre campus includes production facilities, barrel warehousing in some of the oldest rickhouses in the state, a visitor experience with tours and tastings, and event spaces. The distillery is a heritage member of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail and serves as its westernmost outpost.
Green River runs several mashbill recipes across both its own brands and contract production:
Traditional Bourbon: A corn-forward bourbon mashbill producing the flagship Green River Kentucky Straight Bourbon. This is the expression that won Best Bourbon in the World at the 2025 New York World Spirits Competition.
Wheated Bourbon (70% corn, 21% wheat, 9% malted barley): The recipe behind the Green River Full Proof and the award-winning Green River Wheated Bourbon (also named Best Bourbon at the 2025 NYWSC). Stonestreet Bourbon uses this same wheated mashbill for its contract production.
High-Rye (95% rye, 5% malted barley): A true high-rye expression used for Green River’s Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey. This is the same mashbill ratio made famous by MGP, but distilled on different equipment with different water and a different fermentation program, producing a distinct flavor profile.
Contract Mashbills: Through Lofted Custom Spirits, outside brands can specify custom mashbills. Hooten Young’s 70/21/9 and Legendary Duke’s 75/13/12 are examples of client-specified recipes produced at the facility.
Green River ages its whiskey in new charred American white oak barrels across traditional racked rickhouses on the Owensboro campus. Some of these warehousing structures are among the oldest active rickhouses in Kentucky, with aging environments that have been seasoned by over a century of bourbon maturation.
The Owensboro location sits in a slightly different climate zone than the Bardstown distilleries clustered in central Kentucky. Western Kentucky tends to run slightly warmer and more humid, which can influence the rate of barrel interaction and the angel’s share. For contract clients working with Lofted Spirits, this means Green River offers a genuine terroir distinction from Bardstown-aged whiskey, even when the mashbill and barrel specifications are identical.
Green River’s own brands carry age statements ranging from 4 to 6+ years, with limited single barrel and full proof releases showcasing what the distillery’s aging environment produces at its best.
Green River occupies an unusual position in the contract distilling landscape. It is simultaneously one of the oldest distillery sites in Kentucky, a heritage brand with a 140-year legacy, and a contract production facility for outside brands under the Lofted Spirits umbrella.
This dual identity matters for consumers. When you buy a bottle of Green River Straight Bourbon, you are buying whiskey distilled at a site that has been making bourbon since 1885, by a team led by Master Distiller Jacob Call, using locally sourced grain and Owensboro’s limestone water. When you buy a bottle from a brand that contracts with Green River, you are buying whiskey made on the same equipment, with the same water, by the same team, to a different recipe. The infrastructure is the constant; the mashbill is the variable.
The Lofted Spirits restructuring actually makes Green River’s contract role easier to understand. Rather than being a standalone heritage distillery that also happens to do contract work, it is now explicitly part of a three-facility production network (alongside Bardstown Bourbon Company) designed to offer brands flexibility in where and how their whiskey is made. A client can distill at Bardstown, distill at Green River, or split production across both, then bottle through the same logistics operation.
Green River’s own portfolio has been growing steadily since the brand’s 2022 revival, and the quality has earned serious recognition.
Green River Kentucky Straight Bourbon is the flagship, bottled at 90 proof. This is the expression that anchors the portfolio and carries the “Whiskey Without Regrets” tagline.
Green River Full Proof Bourbon takes the same base bourbon to barrel strength, showing what the distillery’s core recipe can deliver without dilution.
Green River Wheated Bourbon uses the 70/21wheat/9 barley mashbill, aged 4-6 years at 90 proof. It was named Best Bourbon in the World at the 2025 New York World Spirits Competition, and a Wheated Full Proof expression followed in early 2026.
Green River Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey is a 95/5 rye expression, and Green River Honey, launching May 2026, finishes 4-year bourbon with real locally sourced honey directly in the barrel rather than using additives.
Green River Distilling Company is one of those rare operations where the marketing writes itself. A distillery site that has been making bourbon since 1885, revived with modern production standards, winning Best Bourbon in the World while simultaneously supplying whiskey for a growing roster of contract clients. The Lofted Spirits structure gives it scale and distribution muscle, while the Owensboro heritage gives it a story that no purpose-built facility can replicate.
For anyone trying to understand what is in their glass, the Green River connection is worth knowing. If your bottle was distilled in Owensboro, Kentucky, it was made on the same grounds where bourbon has been produced for 140 years, with limestone water, traditional rickhouse aging, and a production team that has earned some of the highest accolades in the industry.
OAKR’s blind tasting panel evaluates every spirit on 100+ flavor notes, completely independent of where it was distilled or what the label says. Whether you are comparing Green River’s own award-winning expressions against the contract-distilled brands that source from the same facility, OAKR’s spirits data gives you the objective flavor profile to make the call for yourself.
Bourbon enthusiast, spirits industry analyst, and the voice behind OAKR's distillery guides, brand reviews, and bourbon education content. Visiting distilleries, dissecting mashbills, and translating the craft into data since 2024.
Green River has been making bourbon since 1885 and won Best Bourbon in the World in 2025. But what does it taste like to you? OAKR’s blind tasting panel scores every spirit on 100+ flavor notes so you can compare for yourself.
