In 1788, nestled along Stoner Creek and the South Fork Licking River, Kentucky Pioneer Isaac Ruddell founded a grist mill creating Bourbon County’s first industrial district.  The mill processed grains, in part for the production of local whiskey, and a generation later was the home of the now defunct Ford & Bowen distillery.  

One of Kentucky’s first covered bridges, “Ruddles Mill” Covered Bridge, was built at this site in 1861.  The bridge functioned to provide easy access to both sides of the Stoner Creek until 1964 when it was destroyed by arson.

The Mash Bill

Ruddell’s Mill Bourbon is born from a high corn mash bill that replicates the whiskey mash bills of Kentucky’s early days before there was a legal definition of “Bourbon.”