The ledger of
Hartwell
Reserve
Patience you can taste.
You must be of legal drinking age to enter.
Are you 21 or older?
Kentucky straight whiskey. Enjoy responsibly.
Ex libris
The Ledger of Hartwell Reserve
Kept at the still house in Nelson County, Kentucky, since 2009.
Turn pages by dragging a corner, swiping, or with the arrow keys.
Barrel No. 1
April 2009. Filled barrel No. 1 and chalked the date on the head.
Hartwell Reserve is a small distillery in Nelson County, Kentucky. We bottle a barrel once our spring tasting says it's ready, so release dates change from year to year. Every fill and every tasting goes in this ledger.
Taste again spring 2013. J. Hartwell
What goes in the cooker
One recipe for every batch. We mill the grain on site the morning we cook.
| Grain | Share |
|---|---|
| Corn | 72% |
| Most of the sweetness | |
| Rye | 18% |
| The spice | |
| Malted barley | 10% |
| Converts starch to sugar | |
2012: rye up from 15 to 18 after the spring tasting.
Water and yeast
- Water
- Limestone spring on the farm, low in iron.
- Yeast
- Our own strain, kept going since the first ferment.
- Ferment
- Four days in open cypress tubs.
- Still
- Column still, then a copper doubler.
- Barrel
- New charred white oak, filled at 118 proof.
Recipe unchanged since 2012.
One line per barrel
Barrels on the top floors sit in more heat, so they age faster and pull more from the oak. We record where each one sits and taste it every spring.
Choose a cask to see its stamp.
The cask stamp
0417: pulled at 12 years for Twelve Winters.
We stamp each barrel head on fill day and check it at every tasting. Tap the stamp to press it again.
Twelve Winters
Batch No. 7, bottled summer 2026 from fifth-floor barrels.
- Age
- 12 years
- Proof
- 107
- Bottles
- 2,400
- Casks
- 32
Nosecherry, pipe tobacco.
Palateburnt sugar and clove, some leather toward the end.
Finishlong, dry oak.
Buy Twelve Winters
$89 a bottle
Limit 2 per household. Each bottle is hand dipped in wax and numbered.
Adult signature required on delivery.
Pick your flavors
Choose up to 3 and we'll suggest the bottle that fits best.
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Your pour
Visit the tasting room
Seated tastings run about an hour in Rickhouse B. You'll try four whiskeys, including one poured straight from the barrel.
- Where
- 1200 Old Cooper Road, Nelson County, Kentucky
- Open
- Thursday to Sunday, 12 to 6pm
- Price
- $35 per guest. Designated drivers sit free and get a non-alcoholic pour.
- Bring
- Photo ID for every guest. 21+ only.
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Concept demo: nothing is charged or sent. Enjoy responsibly.