Former Four Roses Master Distiller Releases Blue Run 13-Year-Old Bourbon

• Blue Run is a 13-year-old Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey created by Jim Rutledge, a 50-plus-year whiskey veteran and the former master distiller of Four Roses.
• The Blue Run Spirits brand was started last year by a group of friends and Bourbon lovers, including a Nike designer, Facebook’s first director-level employee, a hospitality executive, a political advisor, and a philanthropist.
• Blue Run 13-year-old Bourbon features all the hallmarks of a Rutledge whiskey: It is exceptionally smooth and mellow, with a long, sweet, and dry finish, and little to no burn on the back end. Tasting notes include brown sugar and brown butter sauce that give way to apricot and golden raisins, with crisp vanilla and hints of tarragon on the nose. 
• The bourbon is bottled at a higher proof (113 proof) than most extra-aged Bourbons, providing more flavor because less water is added to reduce proof, so its smoothness could be compared to Bourbons with proofs 10-20 points lower.
• The bourbon is priced at $169.99, with only 2,600 bottles available in the first run; however, it will be followed by other expressions selected or distilled by Rutledge, who has already crafted Blue Run’s next whiskey.