Cowboys & Whiskey

If Kentucky is the Ivy League of bourbon, Wyoming Whiskey is the scrappy kid who shows up in boots, skips the dress code, and aces the final. Founded in 2009 in Kirby, Wyoming, the brand had no business succeeding. Which, of course, is exactly why it did.

The idea came from ranchers Brad and Kate Mead, along with attorney David DeFazio, who looked out at Wyoming’s vast, whiskey-free landscape and thought, Why not here? After all, the state had pristine limestone-filtered water, local grains, and temperature swings so violent they practically dared bourbon barrels to mature faster. What Wyoming didn’t have was a whiskey legacy. So the trio built one.

To avoid rookie mistakes, they hired bourbon royalty Steve Nally (formerly of Maker’s Mark), which is a bit like asking Tom Brady to help you throw a backyard football spiral. The first releases were earnest, ambitious, and slightly rough around the edges. But like any good Western story, Wyoming Whiskey improved with time, patience, and a stubborn refusal to quit.

What ultimately made the brand click was authenticity. This wasn’t “Wyoming-inspired” whiskey made in Indiana. Every bottle was distilled, aged, and bottled on site in Kirby, using Wyoming grains and water pulled from a mile-deep aquifer filtered by ancient limestone. The climate did the rest: hot summers, brutal winters, and enough barrel stress to extract bold flavors whether the whiskey liked it or not. The result? Big, confident bourbons and rye-leaning expressions like Outryder that tasted less like marketing decks and more like place.

Success, however, brings a familiar problem: how do you go global without becoming boring? Enter Edrington Group, the Scotch powerhouse behind The Macallan and Highland Park—brands that know a thing or two about prestige, patience, and price tags with extra zeros.

Edrington took a minority stake in 2018, quietly helping Wyoming Whiskey expand distribution while letting the cowboys stay in charge. Then in 2023, the gloves came off: Edrington increased its ownership to 80 percent, while promising not to tear down the barn. The founders retained a minority stake, production stayed in Kirby, and the brand’s “Made of Wyoming” identity remained non-negotiable. In whiskey terms, this wasn’t a sell-out; it was a well-timed cash-in. Wyoming Whiskey got access to global distribution, capital, and operational muscle. Edrington got a genuinely American craft bourbon with credibility, provenance, and zero fake backstory.

Today, Wyoming Whiskey sits in a rare sweet spot: still rugged, still authentic, but now backed by a global luxury-spirits machine. It’s proof that you can start in a town with more cattle than people, make bourbon where no one expects it, and still end up on the world stage.

Cheers!