Lexington Brewing Kentucky Old Fashioned Ale Review

By Richard Thomas

Rating: A-

Although Lexington Brewing occupies a clear place in my heart, their place in the beer world is not quite as easily summed up. On the one hand, the company is owned by Alltech, not a big drinks conglomerate. Although Alltech is a substantial company, their base is in animal feed, with brewing and distilling being an adjunct that draws on their existing yeast expertise. On the other, their output and national distribution footprint puts them outside what almost everyone thinks of when they speak of “craft beer.” They fit in the tiny class of mid-sized brewers aren’t part of Big Booze.

There is some synergy between Alltech’s brewery and its various distilleries, especially when it comes to barrel stock. Their latest creation takes full advantage of this, and is the sort of thing that I wonder why nobody thought of it before, certainly once Ready To Drink (RTD) canned and bottled cocktails came into vogue during the Pandemic: Kentucky Old Fashioned Ale. What they’ve done is taken their classic Kentucky Ale (now the Kentucky Irish Red Ale) and brewed it up with cherries and orange peels, then aged it in freshly dumped bourbon barrels. That is a key advantage of running a brewstilling operation: you can get the freshest of freshly dumped bourbon barrels.

The Ale
As you can see from my photo, this is a deep brown ale with red highlights, too dark to be anything like amber. The head off my pour was minimal, and what I did get faded fast.

The name is exactly what you get: it is an ale that leans very heavily into Old Fashioned territory. In particular, that Old Fashioned is one that has tripled down on the orange, as if the bitters chosen were orange, the simple syrup had an orange zest infusion, and the cocktail was served with two peels instead of one. This isn’t to say its orange ale, however: the bourbon vanilla is very present, and the accents of red berry and cookie spice round the picture out.

This is a must-have for anyone who likes their beer interesting and their cocktails classic. I fully intend to go get a four-pack the next time around.

The Price
A four-pack is listed online for $16.