10 Lesser-Known Producers You Should Try if You Love Bourbon

There are two ways to view the bourbon market in 2026. The first way is through the current lens of doom and gloom, lamenting the slowdown in bourbon sales and complaining about how Gen Z doesn’t drink as much as previous generations, even though data suggests this hot take looks increasingly like a load of fertilizer.

The other (more positive) way is to take a longer view of the way the category has grown since the dawn of the 21st century. Bourbon’s glow-up makes it almost hard to fathom a time when the category was on the outs. While there’s been a dip in sales (which, to be fair, is partially course correction from customers stockpiling booze during the pandemic), there’s no sign of bourbon falling out of favor like it did during the disco drink era.

A combination of Kentucky legacy brands and tater-cajoling cult superstars stand at bourbon’s modern forefront. If you like bourbon, you already know the names: Maker’s Mark. Jim Beam. Wild Turkey. Blanton’s. Pappy Van Winkle. They’re all popular for one reason or another. But lurking behind these known commodities are several exceptional bourbons from lesser-known distilleries spread across the country. These bottles compensate for their lack of hype by being delicious, and their existence gives you all the excuse you need to occasionally deviate from the well-known brands you know and love.

Real talk: There is an abundance of under-the-radar bourbons out there worthy of praise and recommendation. What follows is just a sample of the goodness that awaits you when you’re ready to reach for something unfamiliar. That said, the featured bottles here represent one hell of a great way to dig a little deeper into your bourbon appreciation.

New Riff

Looking beyond Kentucky’s legendary bourbon brands can yield massive rewards. New Riff delivers a noteworthy prize. Based in the city of Newport, just across the river from Cincinnati, this family-owned distillery launched in 2014 and has gradually built a devoted following among consumers desiring something new from the Bluegrass State. Its mission isn’t to disrupt the old guard. In fact, the brand is quite respectful of what’s gone on here for decades. New Riff’s self-titled Kentucky regimen process honors the traditional steps of sour mash bourbon production, like open fermentation and copper column distillation. However, the limestone-rich water it sources from the aquifer sitting below the distillery gives its juice enough distinctive pop to stand out among the well-known legacy brands. The result? A delicious expression that gently nudges the idea of Kentucky bourbon in a different direction.

Milam & Greene

Milam & Greene’s master distiller Marlene Holmes and master blender Heather Greene have more than 50 years combined experience in the bourbon game. This pedigree alone should be enough to put this Blanco, Texas, distillery on your radar. They use their collective acumen to produce outstanding blended bourbons that highlight the impact location can have on distilled spirits. After gathering distillate from different states, including juice distilled by Holmes in Bardstown, Ky., the expressions are blended with pot-stilled Texas juice and aged in the blistering Texas heat — a process the brand dubs “Texification.” The coined phrase may strike some purists as silly, but the results are seriously terrific enough to instantly refute any argument about blended bourbons being subpar.

J. Rieger & Co.

Launched by Andy Rieger and Ryan Maybee in 2014, J. Rieger & Co.’s debut was technically a relaunch of a distillery founded in 1887 by Andy’s great-great-great-grandfather, Jacob Rieger. The original distillery shuttered in 1919 due to Prohibition, which is kind of ironic given Kansas City’s attitude toward the 18th Amendment. The new iteration shows no signs of slowing down, and its rich, balanced, and affordably priced bourbons are a big reason for the brand’s staying power. J. Rieger’s production prowess doesn’t stop at bourbon and rye: Its vodka and caffe amaro bottles are popular choices among the distillery’s fans, and its Midwestern Dry Gin hauled in Double Gold at the 2023 World Spirits competition in San Francisco.

Garrison Brothers

Putting Garrison Brothers on a list like this may potentially raise some eyebrows. After all, the Texas brand first hit the market in 2013, instantly earning the distinction as the first legal whiskey distillery in Texas. It’s also hauled in a rather impressive stash of medals. The combination of time and accolades makes it a well-known commodity for passionate whiskey lovers. But the brand still tends to fly under the radar among the casual consumer. Garrison Brothers makes a terrific brand for these imbibers for a couple of reasons. First, its unwavering commitment to craftsmanship results in bourbon that never ceases to satisfy. Second, it produces nearly a dozen bourbon expressions every year, giving folks a trusted muse to comfortably explore bourbon’s boundaries.

Brother’s Bond

When is a celebrity brand not necessarily a celebrity brand? We may never have a complete answer, but Brother’s Bond comes awfully close. Actors and former “Vampire Diaries” co-stars Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley launched Brother’s Bond in 2020 not as stars seeking to slap their names on something, but as bourbon nerds who spent about a year blending juice in Somerhalder’s kitchen to figure out the desired flavor profile. While the duo’s photos are scattered about the brand’s website, they take a back seat to the bourbon’s award-winning quality. They also sacrifice pushing themselves into the spotlight, using their platform instead to promote regenerative farming practices that aim to organically create healthier soil and farming ecosystems (even though they don’t grow their own grains). Brother’s Bond currently sources its juice from Indiana distilling behemoth MGP, but don’t let that dissuade you. Even the snobbiest of bourbon snobs know MGP can churn out excellent bourbon, and this brand upholds that notion rather well.

Laws Whiskey House

Conversations regarding terroir in whiskey seem to get louder every year. Denver-based Laws Whiskey House is one of the leading voices. The process behind its bourbon production does quite a bit of the talking. The brand produces its bourbons from heirloom grains directly sourced from trusted Colorado farmers. After a period of cooking and open-air fermentation, the juice settles into barrels to allow Denver’s climate to invoke its mile-high influence. This voodoo yields bourbons that taste familiar but deliver a unique sense of place, lending credence to the notion that whiskey regions exist.

Minden Mill

Located some 20 miles east of Lake Tahoe, Minden Mill is quietly positioning itself to be an intriguing player in the growing concept of estate-grown whiskey. Unlike fellow Nevada estate-grown distillery Frey Ranch, Minden Mill’s grains aren’t grown on distillery grounds — perfectly reasonable, since the distillery is in the city of Minden’s tiny downtown. Instead, the brand grows its grains on distillery-owned farmland roughly two miles away. Plus, the bourbon it produces from these grains is terrific. Launched in 2024, the brand is a relative newcomer to the bourbon landscape, but it is also a label to watch.

Wyoming Whiskey

Wyoming’s wide open spaces and sparse population organically create an untamed yet romanticized setting for bourbon production. Wyoming Whiskey leans into this ethos. The distillery stands in the tiny town of Kirby (population: 76), and there’s not much to do here except create bourbons that reflect the intent of its name. Indeed, its bourbon is unapologetically forged from the Wyoming landscape, from the water pulled from its limestone-laden aquifer to state-grown grains that endure the Wyoming’s occasionally dramatic diurnal temperature swings. This terroir-forward, grain-to-glass process may pique enough interest to pick up one bottle. The top-notch bourbon inside may compel you to pick them up on the regular.

Still Austin

The first thing you’ll notice about Still Austin is its label. Colorful artwork designed by local talent takes the place of big splashy wordmarks or old-timey sepia-toned portraits, causing the bottles to practically leap off the shelves. The art outside the bottle provides the ideal match to the art inside. Distilled on a 42-foot Scottish still named Nancy, its award-winning bourbon “The Musician” features a high-rye mash bill that leads the juice to comfortably settle into a flavorful gap between rye and bourbon, making it an ideal expression to get into if you prefer your bourbons to have a bit of a bite.

Redwood Empire

This Northern California bourbon is another bottle that may initially win you over on packaging, as the labels’ collection of mythical critters and gnarled forestry give off Lewis Carroll vibes. Peering past the whimsy reveals a bourbon with a distinctive regional approach. Rather than following the Kentucky distilling playbook, Redwood Empire builds its distilling process around the area’s cooler climate, ultimately giving the juice extra time to mature. In other words, it’s letting the elements have a say in production, not unlike how the wineries in nearby Napa and Sonoma operate. Judging by the bourbon’s high quality, the elements say a lot of great things.

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