Northern Region

Old Pogue Distillery

October 25th 2025

Today we head to the Old Pogue Distillery. Our friends own the distillery, so we do have a bias on rating it.

The Old Pogue Distillery is located just west of downtown Maysville, where six generations of the Pogue family have proudly produced Bourbon and rye whiskies using time-honored family recipes. The distillery is situated on the southern bluff of the Ohio River Valley alongside the historic 1845 Pogue family home. The Pogue Family Homestead, which serves as the distillery’s offices, displays many original pre-Prohibition artifacts and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

We had a nice visit with the master distiller and he was able to answer all our questions on the process. He shared a story where they accidentally over roasted the corn. Not wanting to waste it, he went ahead with the process and created a new bourbon. They called it “Limestone Landing”. This is a favorite of my wife. She is not a bourbon drinker, but likes this one.

We tasted it and it was actually quite good.

I ended up purchasing three bottles. One bottle of Maysville Rye, one bottle of Limestone Landing and one bottle of the Old Pogue Master Select.

A great place to sit and enjoy the Ohio River.

It is a small operation, but very intimate. I would reccommend stopping in and trying the bourbon. (buy some as well!)

Augusta Distillery

October 25th 2025

Next we did a long drive to Augusta to tour the Augusta Distillery.

The Augusta Distillery is located just blocks from the Ohio River and city center of Augusta. It occupies the old F. A. Neider Building, an old button factory dating back to 1883. Our tour began with a short presentation on the history of the building and a free Old Fashion.

After the presentation, we were given a tour of the distillery. Everything was shiny and new and they had some fun paddle wheels where the “low wine” from the first distilling come out. There is another paddle wheel where the second distilling “high wine” come out.

We were given a tasting that included “low wine”, “high wine” and two other bourbons. This is a fairly new distillery and they are still waiting to bottle their own bourbon. The tasting also included pairings with different chocolate. The “low wine” was terrible, which should be expected. The ‘high wine” was strong and did not have much flavor. The other bourbons we tried were pretty good. It was interesting how they changed when you tried different chocolates before tasting. I would recommend tasting before the chocolate, then try after the chocolate.

Bourbon Tunnel entrance into Distillery.

This distillery is set up for large part events. The reception area was large and they had a bar with bourbon slushies. We stayed for one drink. My wife had a slushie and I had an Old Fashion. this is the first Old Fashion that I had that had Orange Liquor added. It was not too bad.

I would recommend stopping in for a visit.