
Jim Rutledge, the former master distiller of Four Roses, has treated the concept of “retirement” awfully loosely. In 2016 he attempted to crowdfund a new distillery, a campaign that flopped spectacularly in less than a week. At some point Jim got his hands on some old Kentucky bourbon and acquired a long-defunct brand called Cream of Kentucky. He’s been putting out “11.5” and 13 year old bottlings of the stuff for a couple of years in order to fund another distillery project that’s seemingly underway. And now comes yet another whiskey project: Blue Run, an ultrapremium whiskey that also has a variety of expressions planned. Produced in collaboration with current Nike brand designer Devon McKinney (who designed the bottle), the first bottling is — perhaps entirely coincidentally but probably not — a 13 year old bourbon.