TROY — Two men are bringing back Hayner Distilling after more than 100 years of the brand being out of business.
Hayner Distilling was founded in 1866 in Troy and had to close because of prohibition. Co-president Greg Taylor said the inspiration to revive the brand came after completing the Kentucky Bourbon Trail more than two years ago.
“Coming back to Troy we visited the Hayner Cultrual Center and saw the amazing Hayner Whiskey Museum where we thought to ourselves, we love bourbon, we love Troy, we love the community, can we do this, can we bring this brand back to life?” Taylor said.
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The Hayner Cultural Center allowed Taylor and co-president Andrew Wannemacher to take 4 ounces of bourbon that was 120 years old from an original bottle. They had the sample analyzed and tasted it to try and recreate the century old brand.
“You can’t match it exactly but we came very very close and what’s great about this story is it was an incredible whiskey so we sampled it from 100 years ago, took it down to Bardstown Bourbon company and they helped up analyze the mash bill, analyze the proof of the spirits,” Taylor said. “It was a very sweet, smooth whiskey so we’re very excited about that. I think we’ve got just as good of a product if not better than the original Hayner Whiskey.”
Hayner’s roots are in Troy but the history of the company expands across the United States too.
“They were they largest mail order whiskey company in the United States,” Taylor said. “They had branch offices all over the United States went as far west as California, to the east coast in Boston. Everything was made here in Troy. It was bottled here in Troy, shipped out via train to depots across the United States.”
To pay tribute to Hayner’s mail order history, all bottles will feature a postmark date on the cork. Only the first 500 bottles will feature the June 4, 2021 postmark. That date marks the first bottling of Hayner Bourbon in over 100 years. The distillery will be open from 5-9 pm on June 4 and 5th at 619 Lincoln Avenue in Troy to purchase these commemorative bottles. The distillery will soon add additional June sales hours and Hayner Bourbon will be available in state liquor stores beginning July 1.
In addition to Hayner Bourbon, the first Hayner Rye in 100 years will be available in late July. To learn more about Hayner Distilling visit www.hayner.com.
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