Bulleit

Type: Blended or sourced brand

High-rye Kentucky straight bourbon and Indiana-made rye give Bulleit two distinct American whiskey identities. The Diageo-owned brand is also older than the distillery bearing its name: its modern story began in 1987, while Shelbyville opened in 2017. Sourced whiskey built the brand before it had a production home of its own.[1][2][6][8]

What Bulleit is known for

Rye runs through both sides of Bulleit's range. The producer describes its bourbon as high-rye, while Bulleit 95 Rye makes the grain the centrepiece: its mash bill, the mixture of grains used to make the whiskey, is 95% rye and 5% malted barley.[1]

Breaking Bourbon reports a bourbon recipe of 68% corn, 28% rye and 4% malted barley. This trade-reported mash bill is neither a current producer-confirmed formula nor an independently verified specification for every Bulleit bourbon release.[7]

Just as important is the distinction between the name on the bottle and the place that made its contents. Bulleit grew through sourced whiskey before establishing its own production base, and sourced rye remains part of its identity. The expression, rather than the brand name alone, tells the more useful story of origin.[6][8][9]

The modern founding and the family story

Thomas E. Bulleit Jr. left a law practice to establish the Bulleit Distilling Company in 1987, according to the producer. His aim was to revive an old family bourbon recipe inspired by his great-great-grandfather Augustus Bulleit, whom the producer describes as a whiskey maker working between 1830 and 1860.[1]

The modern business has a clear founding year. The earlier family account is a separate strand, not a history of continuous Bulleit whiskey production from the nineteenth century to today.

Story box

The recipe story carries a separate Disputed verdict. The producer says Augustus made whiskey from 1830 to 1860 and disappeared. Tom Bulleit's account, reported by Breaking Bourbon, says production stopped after Augustus's death in 1860 and describes a recipe of two thirds rye and one third corn.[1][7]

Ownership and the brand's development

Seagram bought the Bulleit brand name in 1997. Two years later, in 1999, Bulleit was introduced to US markets. Diageo, its eventual owner, had itself been formed in 1997 through the merger of Grand Metropolitan and Guinness.[7][12]

The date Bulleit passed to Diageo is Disputed in the supplied record. Breaking Bourbon gives 2000, while Diageo dates its acquisition of part of Seagram's spirits and wine business to 2001. Diageo's account covers the wider transaction; the exact Bulleit transfer date remains unresolved.[7][12]

From 2017, Tom Bulleit's daughter Hollis Worth, a brand ambassador until 2016, made allegations against him and Diageo, which both denied. Tom Bulleit stepped back as brand ambassador in 2019. The reporting documents the allegations and denials, not the truth of the allegations.[11]

Where Bulleit whiskey comes from

Bulleit bourbon came from other distillers before Shelbyville opened. Trade sources identify Four Roses as a supplier for more than a decade, although the producer does not name its past sources.[7][8]

One trade source places the earliest Bulleit bourbons at Ancient Age. That claim is Disputed because the producer has not confirmed it.[8] Together, these accounts offer part of the sourcing history, rather than a complete supplier chronology or an origin for every current bottle.

The rye's source is clearer. Paste reports that Bulleit rye has always come from MGP in Indiana. The producer's 2026 material likewise describes rye distilled and aged in Indiana before going to Shelbyville.[8][9]

From visitor attraction to production sites

Bulleit's first Kentucky home welcomed visitors but was not a working distillery of its own. In 2014, Diageo opened the Bulleit Frontier Whiskey Experience at the silent Stitzel-Weller site in Louisville. That same year, it revealed plans for a new production site.[6]

Shelbyville opened on a substantial scale in 2017: a 300-acre site with a 52-foot still made by Vendome Copper and Brass Works. Reported capacity was 1.8 million proof gallons a year, with four barrel warehouses each able to hold 55,000 barrels. These figures describe the opening installation, rather than current equipment or output.[6]

The Shelbyville site has the first industrial solar array in Shelby County and is zero waste to landfill.[3][4][6]

At Lebanon's 2021 opening, Diageo said the facility would supplement Shelbyville production. It described Lebanon as the company's first carbon-neutral whiskey distillery in North America, using electrode boilers powered by renewable electricity and locally sourced non-GMO corn.[4]

Lebanon's subsequent operating history is less clear. In March 2025, Diageo announced a pause in distilling and barrel filling through June 2025. The supplied record does not establish whether distilling resumed afterwards, or Lebanon's operating status in November 2026.[5]

The range and its development

Bulleit Bourbon and Bulleit 95 Rye anchor the range. The rye arrived in 2011; other documented names include Bulleit 10 Year Old, Barrel Strength and Blenders Select. Their inclusion here does not establish availability in every market.[2][9]

Blenders' Select No. 001 puts a name to the blending work. Released in 2020, it was conceived by blender Eboni Major as a blend of bourbons aged at least nine years and bottled at 100 US proof. It formed part of Diageo's Craftswomen campaign, highlighting women in spirits.[8]

Bulleit '87

Bulleit '87 brought bourbon and rye together in a new core expression. Launched at Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans in July 2026, it was the first addition to the core range since Bulleit 95 Rye in 2011, and the first Bulleit bottle with a blue label. Its name points to the modern founding year, 1987, rather than the whiskey's age.[9][10]

The blend combines bourbon distilled and aged in Shelbyville with rye distilled and aged in Indiana. Each component is aged at least four years. According to the producer, the components receive separate finishing with toasted American oak and French oak staves for four to six weeks, before blending and bottling at 90 US proof.[9]

The distinction is in the making: Shelbyville bourbon and Indiana rye are finished separately with staves, then brought together. This is not simply the established bourbon in a blue-labelled bottle.

The 2026 older rye release

In June 2026, Bulleit released a 20-year-old straight rye, reported as its oldest rye release. Distilled in Indiana and aged in Kentucky, it was bottled at 137 US proof. The release comprised 1,776 bottles, marking America's 250th anniversary.[10]

This is a separate release from Bulleit 95 Rye. Its age, strength and production history should not be assumed to apply to other bottles bearing the Bulleit name.

Visiting Bulleit

Shelbyville joined the Kentucky Bourbon Trail as its seventeenth stop when the visitor experience opened on 25 June 2019. Diageo's opening account describes an interactive Frontier Gallery and a Bulleit Studio where guests aged 21 and over could design a label. The attraction is now called the Frontier Whiskey Experience, Shelbyville.[2][3]

Before travelling, check the official website for the location, booking arrangements, accessibility information and current age conditions. The 2019 opening description is useful background, not confirmation that each activity or access arrangement remains unchanged.

Common mistakes

• Treating Bulleit as one distillery: Shelbyville is part of the brand's production story, not the source of every expression.[6][8]
• Calling Bulleit Rye Kentucky-distilled: its documented origin is Indiana.[8][9]
• Reading '87 as an age statement: the name refers to 1987, not its components' minimum age of four years.[9]
• Assuming uninterrupted production since the 1830s: the modern brand began in 1987; even the family account reported by Breaking Bourbon describes production stopping in 1860.[1][7]

Sources

1. Bulleit. Our History. Producer's account, undated. https://www.bulleit.com/en-gb/the-story
2. Diageo. Bulleit. Producer's brand profile, undated. https://www.diageo.com/en/our-brands/whiskey/bulleit
3. Diageo. Bulleit Partners with Leaders in Tech & Sustainability to Open the Newest Visitor Experience on The Kentucky Bourbon Trail. Producer's announcement, 2019. https://www.diageo.com/en/news-and-media/press-releases/2019/bulleit-partners-with-leaders-in-tech-sustainability-to-open-the-newest-visitor-experience
4. Diageo. Diageo opens its first carbon-neutral whiskey distillery in North America. Producer's announcement, 2021. https://www.diageo.com/en/news-and-media/press-releases/2021/diageo-opens-its-first-carbon-neutral-whiskey-distillery-in-north-america
5. The Spirits Business. Diageo boosts efficiency with distillery shutdown. Trade reporting, March 2025. https://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2025/03/diageo-boosts-efficiency-with-distillery-shutdown/
6. The Spirits Business. Diageo opens Bulleit Distilling Co in Kentucky. Trade reporting, March 2017. https://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2017/03/diageo-opens-bulleit-distilling-co-in-kentucky/
7. Breaking Bourbon. Bulleit Bourbon Review. Trade review, publication date not supplied. https://www.breakingbourbon.com/review/bulleit-bourbon
8. Paste Magazine. Bulleit Bourbon Blenders' Select No. 001 review. Trade review, 2020. https://www.pastemagazine.com/drink/whiskey/bulleit-bourbon-blenders-select-001-review-whiskey
9. Bulleit, via Breaking Bourbon. Bulleit Frontier Whiskey Introduces New Core Expression: Bulleit '87. Producer's press release, 2026. https://breakingbourbon.com/bourbon-whiskey-press-releases/bulleit-frontier-whiskey-introduces-new-core-expression-bulleit-87-the-distillerys-first-ever-blend-of-bourbon-and-rye
10. Forbes. Bulleit Is Adding Its First New Core Whiskey In 15 Years. Trade reporting, 25 July 2026. https://www.forbes.com/sites/emilyprice/2026/07/25/bulleit-is-adding-its-first-new-core-whiskey-in-15-years/
11. Courier Journal. Bulleit Bourbon's founder steps back as brand's face amid daughter's abuse claims. Trade reporting, 2019. https://www.courier-journal.com/story/money/companies/2019/08/27/bulleit-bourbon-founder-accused-of-abuse-daughter/2050140001/
12. Diageo. Our History. Producer's account, publication date not supplied. https://www.diageo.com/en/our-business/our-history

This desk-researched article uses the supplied verified fact sheet TOP-A293, distinguishing producer accounts from trade reporting and retaining its story verdicts.

Last checked: November 2026