“It’s really just a story about three friends who loved American whiskey.”
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Three Friends. Twenty Barrels.
Founded in 2011 by long time friends Sean Josephs, Charles Fulford, and Jay Peterson, Pinhook started with a shared vision to bring a fresh take to bourbon. Driven by curiosity, they set out to tease the best qualities out of every barrel they would encounter, and build a whiskey around the results. Each brought different skills to the table: Sean, a certified sommelier with an extensive knowledge of American whiskey; Charles, an expert in design and branding; and Jay, with deep roots in business and the horse industry. Despite their varied backgrounds, they all had one thing in common: a love for American whiskey.
Obsessed with bourbon’s history and excited about its future, they wanted to use their combined expertise to craft bourbon and rye in a new way; one that would both wow committed whiskey fans and create new ones. In 2011, they purchased 20 barrels from Lawrenceburg Distillers in Indiana (now MGP) and shipped their barrels to Kentucky for aging. Over the next three years, they visited Kentucky frequently to monitor their barrels and find inspiration in the birthplace of bourbon. During these early Kentucky adventures, they discovered the many parallels between bourbon and thoroughbred racing which led them to a eureka moment and the name Pinhook, an old industry term for buying young horses and seeing them through to racing maturity.
Pinhook released its first bourbon in the fall of 2014 to considerable acclaim. The next major step came in 2017 as Castle & Key restored production at Kentucky’s abandoned Old Taylor Distillery, and Pinhook began distilling its own mash bills there. The resulting bottles were the first to come out of this historic site in nearly 50 years, and now form the basis of Pinhook’s core whiskeys.
In the years since, the Pinhook approach has continued to resonate with whiskey drinkers. Today, Pinhook is sold in about half the US states. With a commitment to authenticity and integrity, plus a healthy dose of curiosity, Pinhook continues to make its mark ion the whiskey world – crafting bourbon and rye that’s as approachable as it is delicious, consistently captivating whiskey lovers everywhere.
Whiskey with a vintage approach
Pinhook breaks with tradition and embraces a vintage approach to blending whiskey, much like wine. The standard blending process in American whiskey replicates an established flavor profile, year in and year out.
Pinhook releases its whiskeys in singular annual vintages, blended from that year’s mature barrels, which have been shaped by natural variations in the ingredients, the particular character of each oak barrel, and ever-shifting conditions in the warehouses where the barrels age.
This uniquely modern vintage approach means that Pinhook crafts the best—not the same—whiskey every year.
What’s in a Name?
The name Pinhook comes from the old Kentucky term for buying young thoroughbreds, nurturing them to maturity, and selling them as they reach racing age.
Successful pinhooks–much like whiskey–are made on instinct, experience, a little luck, and a lot of patience. The Pinhook brand pays tribute to the parallels between horse racing and bourbon, with bottles inspired by the bright colors and bold geometry of jockey silks and portraits of up-and-coming thoroughbreds featured on the labels.
Learn more about the thoroughbreds on our labels.
