A malt whiskey for Kentucky

Kentucky is known for its bourbon, but a new product called Lyons Reserve may broaden that description just a touch.

Alltech, which owns the Lexington Brewing Co., is planning on making a malt whiskey named for Pearse Lyons (shown here), the company's founder.

Lyons himself announced the project in a speech at the Kentucky Chamber's Economic Summit and Annual Meeting in Louisville Monday. He said production is expected to begin in about six weeks and yield the first whiskey in time for the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games at the Kentucky Horse Park in 2010.

Alltech is a biotechnology company in Nicholasville, KY, that is paying $10 million to be the Games' title sponsor.

Lyons said it also is developing a bourbon drink similar to Irish coffee. It has not yet been named. He said the bourbon ingredient in the drink will be purchased from other Kentucky distillers.

The company has been reported as claiming that when Alltech receives final federal approval, probably this week, for the Lexington distillery, it will result in creation of the only distillery-brewery combination in the country. Alltech produces Kentucky Ale and other beverages at the Lexington brewery. However, as Frank Coleman of the Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S. (DISCUS) points out, Fritz Maytag's Anchor Distilling is in the same San Francisco building that houses his Anchor Brewing.

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