Hartfield & Co

Where Bourbon Went Back to Bourbon County

The name on the label points to history: Isaac and Leopold Hartfield operated a distillery in Green County, Kentucky, from 1865 to 1870, and their descendant Andrew Buchanan resurrected the family name when he opened this distillery in Paris, the seat of Bourbon County, in 2014. That detail is not incidental marketing. Prohibition shut down every legal distillery in Bourbon County in 1919, and none reopened there for nearly a century. Hartfield & Co. changed that, becoming the first business to legally distill Bourbon in Bourbon County, Kentucky since 1919.

History & Heritage

Buchanan launched the operation in 2014 as "The Gentleman Distillery," alongside partner Curtis Mackley. A trademark dispute forced a rebrand the following year, and the distillery took the name Hartfield & Co. in 2015, drawing on Buchanan's own family history in Kentucky whiskey-making.

The ownership structure shifted again in 2016, when Andrew's brother Jeremy Buchanan and their father Reid Buchanan joined the company, buying out Andrew's original partners. Actress Kaley Cuoco later became a silent partner in the venture. Jeremy Buchanan took on the roles of President and Master Distiller in October 2021, and the distillery remains owned and operated by the Buchanan family, based at 320 Pleasant St in Paris, Kentucky.

The Whiskey

Hartfield & Co. builds its production around a custom-made Vendome copper still and a hybrid of traditional and modern methods: hand-mashing, open-top fermentation, and grain-out fermentation, a technique more commonly associated with Scotch whisky production. Removing solid grain from the mash before fermentation strips out harsher congeners and produces a softer, cleaner spirit. Each batch runs through a single pass in the batch still and is distilled at barrel entry proof, 115 to 120 proof, a comparatively low proof for American whiskey production that preserves more grain character in the unaged spirit. Grain is sourced from within a 50-mile radius of the distillery, and the whiskey is cut with local limestone-filtered water, the same mineral-rich water credited with shaping Kentucky whiskey more broadly.

The lineup spans several distinct mash bills. The Pre-Prohibition Style Small Batch runs 62% corn, 19% rye, and 19% malted barley, aged one to two years. The Wheated Bourbon swaps rye for wheat at 80% corn and 20% malted wheat. Old Bourbon County, bottled at 110 proof, uses 70% corn, 20% wheat, and 10% six-row malted barley and carries a minimum four-year age statement in 53-gallon barrels. The Hartfield Family Reserve, built on 72% corn, 18% rye, and 10% malted barley, is aged nine or more years and represents the distillery's oldest regularly available expression. Beyond bourbon, Hartfield & Co. also produces small-batch rum and gin, and releases an annual Frankenwhiskey, a blend assembled from leftover barrels across multiple mash bills.

Why It Matters

Hartfield & Co.'s whiskeys have picked up recognition well beyond a regional curiosity. The Hartfield Family Reserve 9-Year won Double Gold at the 2025 San Francisco World Spirits Competition and Double-Platinum at the 2025 ASCOT Awards, and the same expression, listed as Family Reserve / 9 Years Old Single Barrel, took Bronze at the 2026 World Whiskies Awards. The core Bourbon Whiskey earned Silver at the 2023 Denver International Spirits Competition. For a distillery that only started laying down barrels in 2014, awards on whiskeys with real age statements signal that the grain-out fermentation and low-proof distillation approach is producing spirit that holds up against far older houses.

Visiting the Distillery

Hartfield & Co. offers three ways to experience the operation in person. The standard tour runs about 45 minutes, costs $15, walks through production across three floors, and ends with a four-pour tasting at the bar. A shorter tasting option, about 25 minutes for $10, pours the H&C White Whiskey, Pre-Prohibition Style Bourbon, Old Bourbon County 110, and a seasonal feature, and typically starts within minutes of arrival rather than on a fixed schedule. For a deeper visit, the Day As A Distiller experience runs roughly five hours for $160 and puts guests to work alongside production staff on mashing, fermentation, and barrel filling.

Regular hours are Monday 1 to 5 PM, Tuesday through Friday 9 AM to 5 PM, and Saturday 10 AM to 5 PM. Tours can be booked online in advance or joined on a walk-in basis.