FEW Bourbon

About the FEW Bourbon

FEW Bourbon comes from FEW Spirits, a grain-to-glass distillery in Evanston, Illinois, just north of Chicago. The United States has plenty of bourbon country, but almost none of it sits this close to a major city. FEW runs its stills down a back alley, in what still looks like an old chop-shop. The name honors founder Paul Hletko's original small-batch runs. It also happens to share the initials of Frances Willard, a temperance leader once headquartered in the same town. FEW's founders call that overlap pure coincidence. Evanston spent decades as a proudly dry town, the movement's old headquarters long after national Prohibition ended. FEW Spirits opened there in 2011, distilling grain to glass on site rather than shipping in sourced whisky. Grain goes in one end of the building, and bottled bourbon comes out the other, all under one small crew. That contrarian setting shapes the bourbon's character. FEW Bourbon leans on rye in its mash bill. That makes the spirit spicier and drier than a typical wheated bourbon. Pour FEW Bourbon and cinnamon shows up first, warm and a little peppery. Vanilla follows close behind, rounded out by a streak of anise and baking spice. There's a floral note too, light and fresh rather than heavy or sweet. The rye grain keeps pushing on the tongue, giving the whisky a spicy, almost herbal edge that never turns harsh. A faint touch of spearmint lingers at the finish, cooling things down just as the spice fades. None of this needs dressing up. FEW Bourbon is built to be sipped neat, in a plain glass, without ceremony. That fits a distillery that never much cared for convention in the first place. Evanston tried to stay dry long after the rest of the country moved on. FEW answered by making bourbon there anyway. It's a modern American whisky with an old rebellious streak, distilled close to Chicago. It's built for people who want their bourbon straightforward.