Hazelbaker Bourbon

Hazelbaker Bourbon Whiskey Bottled in Bond arrives at The Sentinel Room's Reserve Whiskey Library as a bottled-in-bond bourbon built on a straightforward premise: find well-aged barrels, prove their pedigree under federal bond law, and bottle them without apology for where they came from.

History & Heritage

Hazelbaker Bourbon is a brand of Prohibition Craft Spirits Distilling Company, doing business as NULU Whiskey Co., headquartered at 436 Baxter Ave in Louisville, Kentucky. Keith Hazelbaker purchased a fledgling spirits company in 2016 and built it into Prohibition Craft Spirits, serving as founder and president. His sons, Carson and Chase Hazelbaker, are also involved in the family operation, and the Hazelbaker name now anchors this specific bottled-in-bond line within the broader NULU Whiskey portfolio. On-site in Louisville, the company distills its own vodka, gin, and rum, giving it a working distillery identity even though its bourbon program runs differently.

As of July 2026, Hazelbaker Bourbon is owned by Prohibition Craft Spirits Distilling Company (NULU Whiskey), with Keith Hazelbaker still at the helm of the parent company he purchased in 2016.

The Whiskey

Hazelbaker's bourbon is not distilled on-site. Prohibition Craft Spirits operates as a non-distiller producer for this line, sourcing whiskey primarily from MGP in Indiana and from an undisclosed contract distillery in Bardstown, Kentucky, then applying its own blending, re-barreling, and finishing to the sourced spirit, including toasted and French oak treatments. Every expression carries the Bottled in Bond designation, meaning it meets the requirements of the Bottled in Bond Act of 1897: a single distilling season, aged at least four years in a federally bonded warehouse, and bottled at exactly 100 proof.

Two flagship expressions define the mash bill split. The Kentucky Bottled-in-Bond, aged six years, runs 75% corn, 21% rye, and 4% malted barley. The Indiana Bottled-in-Bond, aged seven years, uses a rye-forward 60% corn, 36% rye, and 4% malted barley mash bill, with an unusual aging path: 5.5 years in Indiana followed by re-barreling and roughly two more years of maturation in Louisville. Beyond the standard bottled-in-bond releases, the lineup extends to the Hazelbaker High Proof "Cookies & Creme" Single Barrel Bourbon, distilled by MGP and bottled by Prohibition Craft Spirits, and the barrel-strength Hazelbaker Bourbon High Proof. Some expressions are bottled non-chill filtered, preserving more of the natural fatty acids and character that chill filtration typically strips out.

Why It Matters

Hazelbaker's value proposition is transparency about a sourcing model that many brands obscure. Rather than inventing a founding myth, Prohibition Craft Spirits leans into the federal paper trail: bottled-in-bond status is a legal guarantee, not a marketing claim, and the brand pairs that guarantee with real information about mash bill and origin state (Indiana versus Kentucky) on the label. The dual-mash-bill approach, one high-corn Kentucky recipe and one high-rye Indiana recipe aged and finished differently, gives those who appreciate good whiskey a genuine side-by-side study in how sourcing state, mash bill, and secondary aging change the final pour, all under the same bonded discipline.

Visiting the Distillery

Tours and tastings are available at the NULU Whiskey Co. facility in Louisville, Kentucky, including a Barrel Pick Experience. The NULU Room, which houses the tasting bar and gift shop, is open to the public Wednesday through Sunday. Tours run by appointment only and typically last 45 minutes to an hour. Pricing is $25 for adults, $10 for children under 21, and $20 for military and Medicare ID holders.