Culinary excellence between the distillery walls

The Bar at Willett is mastering the art of serving up signature spirits with exceptional food

A2016 law passed by the Kentucky General Assembly (i.e. the state legislature) was a game changer for distilleries. For the first time it allowed the places where Bourbon was made to sell their products by the drink. Several of the large legacy distilleries were quick to create cocktail bars on-site, including Woodford Reserve, Jim Beam and Four Roses. A restaurant with a full bar was included in the design of Bardstown Bourbon Company, which opened to visitors in 2018 and immediately raised the level of dining in Bardstown, traditionally a very meat-and-potatoes area.

The newest distillery-run restaurant is also in Bardstown. Last fall Willett Distillery, a small, family-owned craft operation, entered the cocktail and culinary scene when it opened The Bar at Willett.

Located on the level above the gift shop, it’s reached via a wide outer staircase leading to a veranda overlooking the grounds. A heavy wooden door leads to a small, but airy, dining room dominated by a floor-to-ceiling bar stacked with Willett’s portfolio of Bourbon and ryes (plus some other quality bottles) on one side and an open kitchen flanked by a stone fireplace on the other.

In between are handsome dark wood tables with seating for about 40, including a dozen seats at the bar. Vintage photographs and lithographs, some of Hollywood’s Golden Age movie stars and others ranging from Willett family pictures to a very funny black and white photo showing several nuns lighting cigarettes, line the walls. The tall windows are dressed by shear white drapes. It’s a sophisticated room that instantly raises expectations for an equally sophisticated experience, which the bar and kitchen more than deliver.

My friend Susan and I stopped by Willett for lunch on a weekday. We decided to go with classic whiskey cocktails, an Old Fashioned for her and a Manhattan for me. Susan is a selfdescribed “ice snob”. So, she was absolutely delighted when her drink, made with Old Bardstown Bourbon, Angostura bitters, and an orange twist, arrived containing one large crystal-clear cube stamped with the Willett coat of arms.

My Manhattan was equally elegantly presented. Containing Willett Rye, Cocchi Vermouth di Torino and Angostura, it was garnished with a Luxardo cherry skewered on a steel pick balanced across the top of the icecold coupe glass in which it was served.

Willett general manager Andy Barr and fellow barkeep John Knott take the details of their cocktail making very seriously. A small building near the restaurant houses a special ice maker that produces giant slabs of clear ice, which are first cut with a chainsaw then sliced into oversized cubes. Cocktail glasses are chilled by pouring a stream of liquid nitrogen into them from an insulted carafe.

This attention to every aspect of a mixed drink more than pays off. Each of our cocktails were expertly chilled, exhibiting a perfect balance of all flavors. The Old Fashioned was not too sweet and was countered with tart citrus. The Manhattan had exactly the right amount of bitters – as in, you don’t know they are there, but would miss them if they weren’t.

These were cocktails of the first order, as fine as any found in an expensive New York or London bar. Could chef John Sleasman’s kitchen match the quality of these drinks?

The answer is an emphatic yes.

Sleasman came to Kentucky from Charlestown, South Carolina where he had been chef de cuisine at Mcgrady’s Restaurant, the state’s only AAA Five Diamond restaurant. It was part of James Beard,

This attention to every aspect of a mixed drink more than pays off