Premier Drams emerged through the expertise of Bill Thomas, the owner and whiskey curator of the renowned Jack Rose Dining Saloon in Washington DC. Bill has been instrumental in the growth of American whiskey for more than two decades, but this is his first foray into developing a brand. Creating a label has long been a dream of his (he bided his time by hand-picking single barrels on behalf of Jack Rose from other distilleries’ labels over the years), but the wheels were set in motion nine years ago when he began formulating the brand and quietly sourcing whiskey from esteemed distilleries.
Because of Bill’s relationships, he was able to source from places few have access to. Premier Drams contract distills, barrels and ages their whiskey at these renowned distilleries, which is then bottled as cask-strength single barrel releases.
Starting their lives as new make, Bill has a hand in many aspects of creation from start to finish, including mashbills, yeast strains, entry proofs, barrel type and char level, corn varietals, warehousing locations and aging. Premier Drams’ oldest whiskey aging is more than 8 years old.
They’re currently aging several hundreds of barrels of bourbon, rye and American whiskey,
hailing from various distilleries across Kentucky. Premier Drams is dedicated to
transparency; unfortunately, some distilleries require non-disclosure agreements, but
Premier Drams has added as much detail as possible on their labels. They eventually plan
to expand outside the US, aging Scotch and other international whiskeys down the line.