Buzzard's Roost Spirits

Buzzard's Roost Spirits makes an argument that the most important tool in American whiskey is not the still at all. It is the barrel. Founded in Louisville, Kentucky in 2019, this woman-led independent blender and bottler sources well-made whiskey and then transforms it through a secondary-maturation program built around barrels most of the industry would never think to order. The results have earned medals at major competitions and a home on Louisville's Whiskey Row.

History & Heritage

Buzzard's Roost was founded in 2019 by Judy Hollis Jones and Jason Brauner, who met on a barrel pick and decided their complementary backgrounds added up to a whiskey company. As of July 2026, Jones serves as chief executive, making Buzzard's Roost a woman-led company, and Brauner, co-owner of Louisville's influential Bourbons Bistro and a veteran of more than one hundred barrel selections, serves as master blender. On April 29, 2023 the company opened the Buzzard's Roost Whiskey Row Experience at 624 West Main Street in downtown Louisville, a 6,000 square foot space on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail with a tasting room, whiskey and cocktail classes, and a 75-gallon Vendome still nicknamed Buzz Cauldron. As of early 2025, the whiskeys are distributed in 26 markets across the United States and Canada.

The Whiskey

Buzzard's Roost is candid about being a blender rather than a traditional distiller. Its bourbons and ryes are sourced, largely from Indiana, then re-barreled into proprietary casks the founders developed with a barrel expert at Independent Stave Company. Two decisions define the program. First, the company says its oak is seasoned for 18 months, roughly three times the industry norm. Second, the barrels carry a light Char #1, a level most of bourbon passes over in favor of Char #3 or #4, which the company says preserves caramelized wood sugars. Varied toast times and temperatures across the barrel types give each release its own profile. The range shows the method's flexibility: Buzzard's Roost Signature Double Oak Bourbon is the flagship statement, Buzzard's Roost Char 1 Bourbon puts the light-char thesis front and center, Buzzard's Roost Toasted American Oak leans into toast-driven sweetness, and Buzzard's Roost Bourbon Bottle In Bond applies the program to bonded stock. Competition judges have taken notice. Buzzard's Roost Toasted Barrel Rye won Double Gold at the 2021 San Francisco World Spirits Competition, and Buzzard's Roost Char #1 Rye Whiskey took Gold for Best American Rye Whiskey at the 2024 International Whiskey Competition.

Why It Matters

Secondary maturation is often dismissed as a gimmick, a way for sourcing brands to dress up commodity whiskey. Buzzard's Roost is the counterargument: a barrel program specified from the stave up, with unusual seasoning and char choices that produce genuinely different whiskey rather than a finishing veneer. The Sentinel Room carries six Buzzard's Roost expressions in its Reserve Whiskey Library, from Buzzard's Roost American Whiskey to Buzzard's Roost Double Oak Cigar Blend Bourbon, which makes it possible to taste across the barrel types and judge the thesis for yourself.

Visiting the Distillery

The Buzzard's Roost Whiskey Row Experience at 624 West Main Street in Louisville offers sensory tastings and whiskey education classes, and its public bar serves cocktails, flights, and single pours with no reservation required. Visitors can see the Buzz Cauldron still, a speakeasy-style lounge is available for private events, and some limited releases are sold only on site, most recently the Buzzard's Roost Red, White & Roost Double Oak Bourbon, a single barrel release introduced in June 2026 to mark the country's 250th birthday.