A Toasted Bourbon Unlike Any Other

The Maven Distillery is the groundbreaking homeplace of The Maven Kentucky Straight Bourbon, brought to life as a beautiful, singular experience designed to redefine what a bourbon distillery can be. Quietly built over the past decade in Shelbyville, Kentucky, it represents the foundation for the future of the bourbon category. Through a deliberate approach combining self-distillation, custom-specified sourcing, and selective barrel acquisition, the team assembled one of the most diverse privately owned bourbon libraries in America, an unparalled foundation built for purposeful innovation.

The library is the most diverse and deliberate collection of privately owned aging whiskey in America, and serves as the foundation for the future of bourbon. The ever-growing collection is currently comprised of 55 different cask types, 18 toast and char variations, and 24 different base whiskeys.

Where many bourbon houses are defined by a single inherited recipe, The Maven is defined by the range of its library and the rigor of its blending. Master Blender Steve Hughes, Master Distiller Kevin Curtis and Associate Master Blender Ashley Moore draw on an unusually broad inventory of owned whiskeys and rare oak types, guided by a proprietary toasting profile built specifically for this expression.

“Maven” refers to “One who understands, has deep knowledge, an expert; Naturally shares advice and insights with others.” Driven by a desire to translate experience into innovation, our founding trio Kevin Curtis, Steve Hughes, and Ashley Moore chose to name the project “The Maven” as a reflection of their years of learning, creating, and intent to show the world something new.

The Maven Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey is a complex toasted barrel Kentucky Straight Bourbon carefully curated from whiskeys matured in an array of toasted oak casks, including traditional American white, Chinkapin, Garryana, French, and Japanese Mizunara. As a Kentucky Straight, each component is distilled in Kentucky according to the most elusive quality standards in American whiskey. Category: Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey. Style: High-rye. Age: 7+ years. Proof: 94. ABV: 47%.

The Maven is proprietary blend of high-rye Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskeys.

The Maven does not carry an age statement, though each of the components in the blend are aged for a minimum of 7 years. Our blenders believe in blending to taste rather than a number.

Yes. The Maven Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey earned a 99-point score and a Double Gold medal at the 2026 San Francisco World Spirits Competition.

Aroma: Apricot jam, baked apple, and graham cracker are framed by toasted coconut and crème brûlée, with a subtle hint of dark chocolate covered almond. Palate: Rich and seamlessly layered, unfolding from dried stone fruit and caramelized vanilla into toasted almond, bittersweet chocolate, and warming gingerbread spice. Finish: Dark chocolate and gingerbread linger through the finish, yielding gradually to toasted coconut, caramelized sugar, and toasted oak.

The Maven’s complexity comes from the combination of advanced toasting technique together with rare oak types for a distinct, layered and complex bourbon experience. Its high-rye bourbon profile is complemented by five distinct oak types, each of which contributes different characteristics that build layers of flavor and structure into the final expression.

The Maven’s maturation combines whiskey aged its full term in new charred American oak, toasted prior to charring to develop deeper caramelized wood sugars, with whiskey finished in a second new charred, toasted oak barrel following its primary aging.

Master Blender Steve Hughes developed The Maven’s proprietary toasting profile in close partnership with its barrel supplier, calibrating time and temperature to draw out the American oak’s most desirable flavor compounds. Toasting caramelizes the wood’s natural sugars before charring locks them in, and The Maven’s longer, slower toast builds a deeper toasted layer that pairs with the bourbon’s high-rye profile for a more layered finish.

For The Maven, blending is more than combining exceptional whiskies. It is the pursuit of balance, complexity and harmony, with the goal of creating an expression that is superior to any individual component — a philosophy that draws from Japanese and Scottish blenders. The breadth of The Maven’s privately owned bourbon library gives the team an unusually broad foundation from which to explore those possibilities with components curated from beyond the Bluegrass State.

Traditional American Oak lends coconut and sweet aromatics. Chinkapin Oak, a species that grows in the eastern and central United States, including Kentucky, contributes a nutty spice note. Garryana Oak, sourced from the Pacific Northwest, delivers spice. French Oak brings structure through tannins alongside notes of dark chocolate and cocoa. Mizunara Oak, imported from Japan, introduces exotic notes of incense and sandalwood.

Kevin Curtis brings more than 25 years of experience and a level of mastery honed across a career in bourbon’s most storied houses, with particular expertise in mashbill development and distillation science. At The Maven, he inherited no legacy brand and no existing inventory, only the freedom to create an intentionally exceptional whiskey with remarkably distinctive characteristics.

Steve Hughes joined The Maven with 37 years of experience shaping some of the most iconic whiskeys of the last century. Here, he found an unprecedented opportunity to experiment with rare woods, developing the proprietary toasting profile that gives The Maven its remarkable complexity.

Ashley Moore brings more than 15 years in whiskey development and a world-class palate tuned for flavor nuance. At The Maven, she reunites with her longtime mentor, Steve Hughes, pairing his maturation expertise with her next-generation mastery of flavor, formal training in sensory science, and blending artistry.