On the face of it, Never Say Die is as American as apple pie or biscuits and gravy—it’s a bourbon, after all, and it’s distilled in Danville, Kentucky. However, it’s also got more than a bit of tea and crumpets in its pedigree.
The brand ships the barrels of bourbon to England for additional aging before they’re emptied and bottled. Its founders describe the product as having “Kentucky provenance, English character.”
“We thought about building a distillery in England, but then we wouldn’t be able to call it bourbon; we’d have to call it ‘bourbon-style,’” says Brian Luftman, the brand’s general managing partner, speaking with me via Zoom from his home in Lexington, Kentucky. The distance between him and where I’m sitting in Manchester, England, is roughly equal to the nearly 4,000 miles that Never Say Die barrels travel to the neighboring county of Derbyshire, where it finishes its journey.