Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Food & Drink

William Grant & Sons Go Full Cowboy and Release a Fistful of Bourbon

Sam Slaughter
By

With Tuthilltown Spirits (where Hudson Bourbon is made) already a part of the family, William Grant & Sons (who also owns an assortment of brands, including Glenfiddich, The Balvenie, Flor de Caña, and more) is adding to their American repertoire a new product: Fistful of Bourbon.

Fistful of Bourbon Neat Pour
Image used with permission by copyright holder

The name indicates exactly what you’ll find inside the bottle; Fistful of Bourbon is a blend of five straight bourbons, all of which have been aged for at least two years. The blend is bottled at 45 percent alcohol by volume.

Recommended Videos

In a statement, William Grant & Sons president and Managing director of the Americas, Jonathan Yusen, called Fistful of Bourbon a “hallmark” for the company.

Related

“From Glenfiddich’s pioneering position in single malt Scotch to Hendrick’s leadership role in reinvigorating the gin category to Monkey Shoulder introducing blended Scotch to a new generation of whisky drinkers, William Grant & Sons has never stopped experimenting and pushing the boundaries. With over a century of award-winning whisk(e)y experience, we’re thrilled to bring our liquid expertise to something truly unique in the bourbon category,” Yusen said.

Fistful of Bourbon Front Back
Image used with permission by copyright holder

The blending was accomplished by William Grant & Sons master blender Brian Kinsman and William Grant & Sons whisk(e)y blender Kelsey McKechnie. The duo sampled straight bourbons from across the country before settling on the quintet that made it into the bottles.

The five whiskeys chosen by Kinsman and McKechnie give the bourbon five distinct flavors: balanced and sweet; green, leafy floral notes; soft spices and hints of nutmeg; buttery toffee; cinnamon and licorice.

“There’s an art and science to blending — and Fistful is a balance of both,” McKechnie said in a statement. “Our creative process combined the art of nosing along with our vision for the whiskey and the science of blending different bourbons to create a unique taste all its own. We’re excited to showcase William Grant & Sons’ long-time blending experience by bringing it to the American whiskey scene.”

Fistful of Bourbon will initially only be sold in Texas in both on- and off-premise locations. If the crazy bellringers are right, then its distribution will be expanded to other major markets, followed eventually by global distribution. It will retail for around $25.

Editors' Recommendations

Sam Slaughter
Sam Slaughter
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Sam Slaughter was the Food and Drink Editor for The Manual. Born and raised in New Jersey, he’s called the South home for…
Southern Grace Conviction Bourbon Review
conviction bourbon

The first time we wrote about Southern Grace Distilleries — the prison distillery located just outside of Charlotte, North Carolina — the space was only getting set to open. At the time, they had their white whiskey, and that was about it. Flash ahead to now and Southern Grace has launched their aged whiskey: Conviction Bourbon.

More whiskey guides

Read more
Bardstown Bourbon Company Releases 3 New Collaborative Series Bourbons
Bardstown Bourbon Company Mistelle

Bardstown Bourbon Company is the most modern distillery in the epicenter of bourbon country, a relatively new operation that is contract distilling, making its own whiskey, and sourcing whiskey from other distilleries which it blends and finishes in-house. The distillery's Collaborative Series, which uses barrels from different wineries, distilleries, and breweries to finish whiskey in, has three expensive new members that were recently added to the lineup.

The first release is a collaboration with Louisville's Goodwood Brewery. This is an 11-year-old bourbon from Indiana (75% corn, 21% rye, 4% barley) that was finished in Goodwood Brandy Barrel Honey Ale casks for 18 months. The result is a very interesting bourbon, reminiscent of a wine cask finish but with more honey and fig notes than dried fruit. There will be another release in 2020 from the two brands, a bourbon finished in Walnut Brown Ale.

Read more
Legent Bourbon Teams Up with Tokyo Butcher Kentaro Nakahara
legent bourbon burger popup

When Beam Suntory released Legent Bourbon last spring, the whiskey world was divided. There were many who liked this new bourbon, a collaboration between Jim Beam and Suntory. The whiskey was distilled at Beam, finished in wine casks, and finally blended by Suntory master blender Shinji Fukuyo with non-finished Beam bourbon. There were also some who were not so enamored (there always are), who felt that the final product was a bit heavy on the finish and did not live up to the hype. If nothing else, Legent was a first for the mega drinks company, combining the resources of its American bourbon and Japanese whisky operations, at least conceptually.

This week Legent is back in the news, as Beam Suntory has brought Tokyo-based butcher and restaurateur Kentaro Nakahara to America to do a couple of pop-up dinners in New York City and Chicago. Nakahara is known for his burgers in Japan, and the point of these events is to showcase how he remixes and redefines an American classic, much in the same way that Legent claims to redefine what bourbon can be (within limits, obviously, as the category is highly regulated with certain rules that must be followed).

Read more