Lexington Brewing & Distilling Co

On a stretch of Cross Street just outside downtown Lexington, Kentucky, a working brewery and a working distillery share the same roof, an arrangement found nowhere else on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. Lexington Brewing & Distilling Co. is the producer behind Town Branch Distillery, and every bottle in the Town Branch lineup is distilled on site, grain to glass, on two copper pot stills imported from Scotland.

History & Heritage

The Lexington Brewing Co. name dates to the 1890s, but the modern company traces its founding to 1999, when Pearse Lyons and his son Mark toured the dilapidated original brewery building and decided to revive it. Pearse Lyons rebuilt the brewery first; the two copper pot stills that would anchor the distilling side arrived from Scotland in 2008. Town Branch Distillery opened in September 2012, the first new distillery built in Lexington in more than a hundred years. Pearse Lyons died in 2018, and Mark Lyons has led the company since. In late 2022 and early 2023, the Lyons family formalized Lyons Brewing & Distilling Co. as a new global umbrella brand for its beverage holdings, naming Lisa Wicker CEO and Master Distiller while Mark Lyons continued on as President. Lexington Brewing & Distilling Co. and Town Branch Distillery are, as of July 2026, family-owned under that structure.

The Whiskey

Town Branch's core lineup runs through several distinct mash bills. Town Branch Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey is built on 72 percent corn, 15 percent rye, and 13 percent malted barley, bottled at 90 proof. Town Branch Straight Rye leans hard into grain character at 90 percent rye, 5 percent corn, and 5 percent malted barley, bottled at 100 proof. Town Branch True Cask Bourbon is an uncut blend of the distillery's two Kentucky mash bills, bottled at cask strength, which varies by batch rather than sitting at a fixed proof. The distillery also produces a Town Branch 7YR Kentucky Single Malt Whiskey, a Single Barrel Reserve Bourbon, and an Overproof Kentucky Straight Whiskey. In May 2026, Town Branch added a 6-Year Wheated Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey to the range, built on 70 percent corn, 22 percent wheat, and 8 percent malted barley and bottled at 99 proof. The bourbon and rye have picked up recognition beyond Kentucky: Town Branch Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey took a Gold Medal at the 2020 San Francisco World Spirits Competition and a 94-point Gold Medal from the Beverage Testing Institute in both 2021 and 2022, while Town Branch Straight Rye was named Best Rye Whiskey by Forbes in 2021.

Why It Matters

Most craft distilleries source neutral spirit or bulk whiskey and finish it locally. Town Branch does not. It is a full grain-to-bottle producer with its own mash bills, its own stills, and a brewery next door supplying the bourbon-barrel beer program that has run since 2006. That combination, a brewery and a distillery operating as one visitable site, is unique on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, and it gives Town Branch's whiskey a defined house character across its mash bills rather than a single sourced base dressed up in different finishes.

Visiting the Distillery

Tours depart from the Visitor Center at 401 Cross Street on the hour, from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM, and run about one hour and fifteen minutes. Guests 21 and older receive four tasting tokens redeemable across the brewery and distillery. Private tours covering both operations are available by reservation through [email protected].