Burks Spring Bourbon reconnects founder with family's past - VIA LouisVILLE BUSINESS FIRST

Via Louisville Business First

July 16, 2024

Some new bourbon brands want to come out with multiple expressions — and new-age flavors.

Some, though, just want to reconnect with their family’s past.

The latter is true for Burks Spring Bourbon.

Launched in April, it only comes in one expression — a high-rye, 100-proof Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey aged a little less than six years.

The company was formed in 2016 by Dick Burks with the help of a group of nine other investors of family and friends. His name might be familiar to many Louisvillians, as he served as an insurance agent for 54 years in the city before retiring last year.

When the idea came to him, Burks Spring Bourbon was “going to be a fun project, something to do — not a job.”

Yeah, about that ...

“I’ve had to remind myself several times it’s not supposed to be a job because this is very hard,” Burks recently told me. “I know about bourbon, but I didn’t know anything about the business of bourbon.”

His ancestors certainly did, though, on the site in Loretto, Kentucky, where the famed Maker’s Mark Distillery now sits.

The history of the Burks family on the site dates back to 1805. That’s when Dick’s great, great, great grandfather, Charles Burks, who built a grist mill there — and later the Burks Spring Distillery that produced a variety of bourbon brands including Burks Spring and Happy Hollow.

The distillery shut down at the start of Prohibition in 1919, forcing his grandfather, George Richard Burks, to sell the property. When Prohibition ended in 1933, it was owned by two other people who failed to run the business and ultimately shut it down again.

Then Bill Samuels Sr. purchased the 200-plus-acre property in 1953 and the rest is history hand-dipped in red wax. Maker’s Mark still uses a stillhouse that was built by George Richard Burks, according to his grandson. Note: Maker’s Mark Distillery sits on Burks Spring Road. Burks Spring was another name for what most people know as Hardin’s Creek.

In addition, Burks’ father and aunt, George and Lucille, were born in the building that is now the Maker’s Mark visitor’s center.

“We wouldn’t do this if we didn't have historical significance,” Dick Burks said.

George Burks broke rank and decided to not pursue a career in the family business. Instead, he charted a path by moving to Louisville to try his luck as an insurance agent. Dick, one of four children and the oldest son, followed his father’s lead. In fact, we met for the interview at a coffee shop in St. Matthews that he had once insured when it was a bakery many years ago.

One of Dick Burks’ cousins had a mostly full bottle of Happy Hollow sitting around, which is more than 100 years old. He would later seek out the services of Pat Heist, one of the co-founders of Wilderness Trail Distillery in Danville, Kentucky, to take that bottle and study it to determine its mash bill through reverse engineering

The mash bill ended up being 60% corn, 25% rye and 15% barley.

“We were just trying to duplicate what my grandfather last made before Prohibition,” Burks said. “We’re trying to duplicate everything as much as possible.”

The bourbon was initially produced in 2018 at Jeptha Creed Distillery in Shelby County, before moving all barrels and operations to Kentucky Artisan Distillery in Crestwood about three years later. The initial release (approximately 2200 bottles) was bottled in April.

Bottles are available only in Kentucky. A list of where it can be purchased can be found on the brand’s site. The retail prices range from $60 to $69.

In addition, a tasting will be held at Party Mart at 4808 Brownsboro Center in East Louisville on Aug. 3 from 2-5 p.m.