Since 1866, the Winchester name has stood for what holds up — in the field, around the fire, on the long way home. Winchester Bourbon honors that promise.
An American manufacturer is founded in New Haven, Connecticut. Over the next century and a half, the name comes to stand for craftsmanship, reliability, and the outdoors.
Model 1866 Distillery is founded in Bardstown, Kentucky — built by people who know that bourbon, like everything worth keeping, takes time.
A four-grain mash bill, charred new American white oak, and the patience to leave it alone for the better part of a decade.
Model 1866 Distillery formalizes its tribute to the Winchester legacy — a name older than the bottle, but worthy of one.
The first expression goes to retail in Kentucky. Six summers in the rickhouse. One name, one promise, kept.
Bourbon is what time does to grain in oak. We don't rush it, don't add anything to fake it. Six summers minimum. Sometimes more. Never less.
Bardstown, Kentucky — limestone water, four real seasons, a tradition that predates the country. The barrels age where the bourbon is meant to age.
Built to be poured around a fire, after a long day, into the kind of glass that has been in the family. Bourbon for the long way home.
"Made for adventure, the fire, and the finish."
Bardstown sits at the heart of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail — limestone-filtered water, the right humidity, the right swing of summer-to-winter heat that drives spirit deep into oak. Model 1866 was built here on purpose.
It's a working distillery: a stillhouse, a fermentation room, a rickhouse you can walk through if you ask politely. We mill our own grain, we cut our own runs, and we bottle on site.