Chicken Cock Is Reviving a 168-Year Whiskey Legacy

What we’re drinking: Chicken Cock Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey and Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey

Where they’re from: Established in Paris, KY, in 1856, Chicken Cock was popular throughout the 19th century and enjoyed some notoriety during Prohibition when it became a staple of several speakeasies (including the Cotton Club, where it was smuggled in via nondescript tin cans). The brand was dormant for a few decades but revived in 2012; since 2018, the whiskey has been produced at Bardstown Bourbon Company through a collaborative distillation program.

Why we’re drinking these: Limited-edition expressions from Chicken Cock have made multiple appearances in our year-end best-of lists, and we referred to their Cotton Club Rye as the rare expensive rye whiskey that’s worth the steep price.

But yours truly had never tried their affordable core expressions, a straight bourbon and a straight rye. So we recently had a virtual tasting with National Brand Ambassador Will Woodington to get a little more insight into the brand and its 168-year history. But honestly, we’re gonna start with the name.

“Yeah, it’s the number one question we get,” Woodington admits. “It’s probably the most unique name in the whiskey industry.” That said, it’s no gimmick. Apparently, while the word “rooster” did exist in the 19th century, the phrase chicken cock was far more common to describe a male chicken. Plus, you had several competing brands that utilized bird or animal names, such as Old Crow.

“A lot of those whiskey brands at the time started with farmers,” Woodington says. “They would take excess corn and distill it to make whiskey. So there’s a lot of farming influence there. A rooster is also meant to be a symbol of defiance and pride, and the brand has gone through a lot, from distillery fires to being sold off to Prohibition to being discontinued. So there’s nothing more defiant than the Chicken Cock story.”

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So stop your giggling and take a sip. Outside of a few sourced products (like the Cotton Club Rye), Chicken Cock oversees its distilling at nearby Bardstown and, for the most part, utilizes a similar mashbill throughout its line (70% corn, 21% rye, 9% malted barley for the bourbon and 95% rye/5% malted barley for the rye), using additional maturation barrels for the special releases. But today, we’re simply looking at the two core bottles, which retail for about $60 to $80. Let’s dig in.

How they taste: Both expressions come in 45% ABV with no age statement (although they’re certainly more than four years, given the use of “straight” in the bottle names).

Chicken Cock Kentucky Straight Bourbon: A floral, fruity and malty take on a classic bourbon with notes of cloves, orange peel, oak spice and citrus. It reminded me slightly of Wild Turkey 101 — a good sipper and a versatile mixer with enough complexity to be pulled in multiple directions in a cocktail.

Chicken Cock Kentucky Straight Rye: The spearmint, citrus (mainly lemon) and honey notes dominate at first, with bready rye and some spice coming toward the finish. Subtly sweet, this one is a great rye for people who may not think they like rye. And again, the balance here makes it a cocktail winner.

Fun fact: While the liquid today is certainly different from what you’d find in a Chicken Cock bottle before or during Prohibition, the modern design certainly takes inspiration from the bottles of the early 20th century. The excellent Chanticleer release (with additional aging in Cognac barrels) even arrives sealed in a Prohibition-era collectible tin.

Where to buy: You can find Chicken Cock Kentucky Straight Bourbon and Rye in stores and for $63 to $78 on ReserveBar.