Hi [[ contact.first_name | capitalize | default: "Fellow whiskey drinker" ]],
Colonel A.S. Winstead first produced Silk Velvet in Henderson, Kentucky in 1880 — tasted it, called it the smoothest whiskey on the market, and named it for the only two things he could think of finer than itself: silk and velvet. Prohibition ended it. A hundred years of silence followed.
The Hargis family spent years piecing the brand back together, securing the rights, and reviving Silk Velvet through a collaboration with 8th-generation Kentucky master distiller Jacob Call. That lineage matters — Call's family has been distilling in Kentucky for generations, and the production philosophy behind Silk Velvet's revival reflects that heritage rather than simply borrowing it for
marketing purposes.
The bourbon is 75% corn, 21% rye, and 4% malted barley — a high-rye mashbill for a brand whose original reputation was built on smoothness, which is an interesting tension that the barrel selection and aging program resolves in the glass. At 107 proof the rye's grain spice is present but integrated, the corn sweetness and the rye's natural assertiveness finding a balance that the high-rye
proportion pushes toward complexity rather than heat. Honey and vanilla on the nose with a fresh apricot note, caramel and toasted grain on a mid-palate with white pepper threading through, a finish that holds longer than the proof suggests and fades cleanly.
Silk Velvet once shipped to every section of the United States before Prohibition silenced it. The Hargis family brought it back without shortcuts. Available now in limited quantity.
Cheers, De Wine Spot Team
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