Building on Heritage…Building to Legacy

Building on Heritage

Nearly four decades before the signing of the Declaration of Independence, a Neeley was distilling in America (or, more accurately, the American Colonies at the time). Distillers can be found in each of the eleven generations since James John Neeley, an Irish immigrant, set up his pot still in the Pennsylvania colony around 1740.

That size of a family tree can represent tradition and strength, but it can also cast a big shadow. In 2015, Royce Neeley and his father, Roy, stepped out of that shadow, in a way, by opening Neeley Family Distillery in Sparta, Kentucky. This would be the first legal distilling operation for a Neeley since landing on these shores in the 18th century. At the same time, Royce and Roy were committed two things: preserving the family heritage and self determination. There are two stakeholders in Neeley Family Distillery: Roy and Royce. There are no other investors or lenders or corporate suits. This gives them the freedom to determine their own course and they have to answer only to each other. Decisions on staffing, product mix, expansion, equipment, etc. are made by father and son. This is that self determination. And that allows everything else to be about family heritage.

Thriving In a Year of Surviving

Like practically every other distillery in America, Neeley Family Distillery made its share of hand sanitizer in 2020. Despite the pandemic and the adjustments required because of it, last year was still one of growth for Neeley…both the distillery and Royce, personally.

The distillery opened the “family room” in the summer of 2020. This is a large space at the front of the distillery that can be used for tours and tastings or hosting events. Last year also saw the completion of the bottling room and the groundbreaking for a second distillery, Neeley Family Mountain Distillery. The Mountain Distillery is in Slade, Kentucky (about an hour southeast of Lexington near Natural Bridge State Park) and will primarily be a tourism destination.

Throughout last year, the distillery continued to produce and sell several flavors of moonshine, PawPaw Sizemore’s Whiskey (named after Royce’s grandfather, Thomas “PawPaw” Sizemore) and, of course, single barrel bourbons. During 2020, NFD released their first “straight” (aged two years or more) bourbon whiskey.

In the midst of navigating the pandemic and the new expansion projects going on with the business, Royce expanded the family as he got married. His new bride, Rebekah, moved from North Dakota to Sparta and is now the distillery’s director of operations and manages the single barrel program. You may also know Rebekah as “Miss Beka Sue” when she co-hosts podcasts for the ABV Network.

Busier Still in 2021

One of the first major events for Neeley Family Distillery in 2021 was the installation of their new, Vendome pot still. The 500 gallon still is named Ol’ Browney, which was the name of the Colt 1900 pistol carried by Royce’s great grandfather, Leonard. This still will contribute to the distillery being able to double capacity when necessary.

Yours truly flanked by Rebekah, Royce & Ol’ Browney.

Ol’ Browney will also allow Neeley’s smaller stills to be used for creative side projects such as absinthe, apple brandy and rum.

Another new product from Neeley in 2021 will be Bottled-in-Bond, barrel-aged moonshine. Royce says, “This is the first bottled-in-bond moonshine that has ever been released. The barrels used for aging the moonshine will be a tribute back to some of our most popular single barrel bourbons - like Marshmallow Black Belt. This may be my favorite product I’ve ever produced”.

Neeley Family Distillery also released the first in a Master Distiller Experiment Series, which is bourbon aged in eight-year, air-seasoned barrels. The initial offering aged in these barrels is called “Good Ryes Finish Last”. It is a two-year old bourbon with a mash bill of 67% corn, 25% rye and 8 % malt. The mash bill is one of the several standard ones used by Neeley.

To consider the possible effect of these special barrels, I tasted “Good Ryes Finish Last” alongside “Long Smooth Rye”. Both of these NFD single barrels are the 67/25/8 mash bill, however, Long Smooth Rye is only 20 months old as opposed to “Good Ryes Finish Last” which is 24 months, but that is the most similar comparable Bourbon that I had (barrel size is the same and barrel proof is within 1.5 points).

I found the Long Smooth Rye to be floral, grassy and buttery with notes of light fruit (apricot/peach).

Was there a significant difference in Good Ryes Finish Last? To me, absolutely there is. Overall, Good Ryes is more complex and flavorful. The grassiness is not there, and it is isn’t quite as fruity and floral as Long Smooth Rye, but it is still very buttery and has some excellent cinnamon and chocolate notes.

Are these differences due to an additional four months in a barrel? Are they due to simply the standard randomness found barrel to barrel? There is no way to know for certain, but I would say the eight-year, air-seasoned barrels have some immeasurable affect and it is arguably a positive one.

Also new in 2021 will be batched releases from Neeley Family Distillery. This will be different as all releases of Bourbon to this point have been single barrels. Royce and his team will actually created separate brand identities around batches of the distillery’s primary mash bills. The first will be a wheated Bourbon with “breakfast” notes. It will also be a bottled-in-bond product.

An on-site yeast room will be completed in early 2021, as yet another addition to the distillery. It will be named in honor of distilling legends Dick Stoll and Jerry Dalton. Last, but certainly not least, will be the opening of Neeley Family Mountain Distillery. The ribbon-cutting will be sometime during the Spring of 2021. The Mountain Distillery will feature a fire copper pot still and focus on Neeley family history.

Building to Legacy

It felt a little odd to ask a 29-year old distiller what he wanted his legacy to be, but I asked Royce that question anyway. Contemplating one’s contribution to nearly three centuries of family distillation history is something to consider at some point…why not start now?

For someone who said he hadn’t really thought about it before, Royce had some good answers ready to the question of legacy. “First and foremost”, Royce said, “we are committed to doing things the right way using old school methods. We will always use pot stills. As we need more capacity, we’ll just add more pot stills and may start to resemble some of the larger distilleries in Scotland or Ireland.”

I asked Royce what he meant by “old school methods” and he replied, “Well, use of pot stills, of course. We’ve stopped using enzymes and won’t be bringing them back. We will also always be a sweet mash distillery. And we will grow our own yeast, too”.

“At some point, of course, it would be an honor to be inducted into the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame”, Royce added. “And I want to be more involved in the KDA (Kentucky Distillers Association). I need to be able to give back to the industry as so many have been doing to make the industry better for me as I was starting out”.

Royce mentioned Steve Beam (Limestone Branch), Paul Tomaszewski (M.B. Roland), Peg Hayes (Casey Jones), Shane Baker (Wilderness Trail) and Sam Rock (Bluegrass) as mentors and peers who have provide much-needed leadership for craft whiskey within the KDA. “These are people I respect and I am grateful for their service to the industry. I hope to be able to do the same in the future”.

As we finished up our conversation in the tasting room of the distillery that bears his family name, Royce summed up his thoughts, “I want to have a legacy that preserves history and stays committed to the old school way no matter how difficult.I hope my ancestors would be proud of what we are doing here”.

Cover photo credit: Neeley Family Distillery website