Chicken Cock Whiskey traces its history to 1856, when James A. Miller built a distillery in Paris, Kentucky. Despite surviving several challenges, including changes in ownership, a distillery fire and prohibition, the brand eventually faded and was lost in the 1950s.
Fast forward to 2011 when the Chicken Cock Whiskey brand was acquired by Grain & Barrel Spirits, also known for Dixie Vodka, High Goal Gin, Eterno Verano Tequila and other spirits brands. In 2012, the first reborn Chicken Cock Whiskey hit the shelves, but that initial revival was based on flavored whiskey distilled outside of Kentucky; the liquid did not reflect the brand’s original quality nor honor the brand’s Kentucky history.
Enter Gregg Snyder, a 46-year whiskey-industry veteran.
For Snyder, to bring Chicken Cock to its former glory, it was important that distillation return to Kentucky and that the entire process be controlled by the company. Today, Chicken Cock is distilled under Snyder’s watchful eye, to his recipe, at Bardstown Bourbon Company. That recipe is much more than merely the grain bill. Snyder overseas the brewing, fermentation and distillation, keeping a watchful eye over time and temperature , the enzymes and yeast. “From barley to bourbon to barrel to bottle,” said Snyder in a video interview.
Snyder even hand picks the oak logs harvested in Appalachia that will be used to make the barrels in which Chicken Cock Whiskey is aged. Snyder says the oak from Appalachia has more flavor because it has an extremely tight grain, the result of the rough and rocky terrain in which the trees grow. Snyder even has a preference for logs from trees growing on the north slope, where the lower exposure to sunlight further contributes to slower growth and tighter grain.
“When Grain & Barrel acquired the brand, they searched the archives, but could not find the original recipes,” says Snyder. “So I set about creating a a high-rye bourbon indicative of the time period.” The grain bill of Chicken Cock’s core brand is 70% corn, 21% rye and 9% malted barley. The distilled spirit is aged in barrels made from air-dried staves cut from the logs Snyder has selected, so Snyder has controlled the process from beginning to end.
In addition to the core line up of a Kentucky straight bourbon, Kentucky straight rye, a small batch bourbon and a double-oak whiskey, Snyder flexes his creative muscle with limited time offerings. “So many whiskey lovers today are looking for something new to try,” says Snyder. “But we only make whiskey worth crowing about.”
Snyder says that a local whiskey bar, which he refused to name but serves many whiskey tourists from around the world, loves to serve Chicken Cock in a blind line up against other top brands. He says that the bar reports to him that customers select Chicken Cock as the best whiskey 80% of the time.
That may be a proud distiller crowing about his own spirits, but “this is a true testament to what we’ve been able to accomplish in bringing Chicken Cock back to its high quality provenance,” says Snyder.