Dierks Bentley’s New Bourbon Could Be a Hit

“Ain’t enough bourbon in Kentucky for me to forget you.” That’s a teary-eyed line from country music superstar Dierks Bentley’s 2013 song “Bourbon in Kentucky,” but the sad sentiment can now be challenged, as Bentley just released his own bourbon (and can probably make enough of it to get over any situation).

Called Row 94, the whiskey is made at Green River Distilling Co. in Owensboro, KY. The $40 bourbon — a price point and quality that’s shared across Green River’s excellent portfolio — features a mash bill of 70% Kentucky-grown corn, 21% rye and 9% malted and row barley, along with an elevated 47% ABV. Aged four years in new white oak barrels with a level 4 char, it’s a classic bourbon with notes of vanilla, toffee, tobacco, green apple and oak spice.

Between tour dates, we caught up with Bentley by phone. The musician — who’s had eight number-one albums since launching his career in 2003 — was incredibly down-to-earth and seemed well at home discussing the history of bourbon, why Row 94 can be both serious and unserious at the same time, and how both ‘90s country music and Jim Beam shaped his life.

InsideHook: What was your first experience with whiskey?

Dierks Bentley: It was Jim Beam. I fell in love with country music at 17, and Hank Jr. loved Jim Beam. It was a little early to start, but I was a big fan; I’d collect the bottles and when I went to college, I’d put ‘em on my desk.

I’d mix it with Coke, and my dad would give me grief. Not that I was drinking, but because real men don’t mix whiskey with Coke. I wasn’t overly concerned with taste at the time but just how it made you feel. My taste for whiskey really came about during the pandemic. I got way more interested in the smell, taste and the history. You know, instead of just drinking it as quickly as possible.

You’re working with Green River, and that distillery is making some really good stuff — and it’s affordable good stuff, too.

Yeah. I toured a lot of distilleries before we decided on them. The price point works for my fans. And I’m not sitting here drinking Pappy behind closed doors. I’m a Busch Light kind of guy; I don’t like to pay a lot unnecessarily. Green River, I loved their vibe. It’s what Kentucky bourbon should be like; it’s very old-school. Row 94 is kind of based on their flagship bourbon but with a stronger proof.

I put in a significant amount of my own money, but if I hadn’t partnered with Green River and did this from scratch, it’d be $80. So to work with them and release something for $40 is great. You don’t have to spend more to get an exceptional whiskey.

What was the taste profile you were looking for?

Gotta be honest — somebody like Fred Minnick, he’s amazing, he has a palate. He can talk about a whiskey having a note of burnt Frosted Flakes. How do you do that? I can’t, but I know good from bad.

This one has an interesting mash bill. A little more corn than Jim Beam and a lot of rye, so it has some kick to it. And a higher proof. I taste heat and smoothness. It’s great out of a red Solo Cup, which is how I do most of my drinking. Or neat in a rocks glass.

How did you land on 94 proof?

It was kind of a synergy. It has a bit more kick. I do think we’ll do some stronger, single-barrel/cask-strength type of releases in the future. But also ‘94, that’s the year I moved to Nashville and discovered bluegrass. I built my foundation on that music. And Owensboro [home to Green River] is the home to the Bluegrass Hall of Fame.

If you read the side of a lot of whiskey bottles, it’s like Chat-GPT wrote it. But we’re all about this being “Three Ingredients and the Truth.” We’re all using the same ingredients. And I’m not chasing any sort of trend. I’m making this like an album; I’m sequencing it to tell a story. Ninety-four, bluegrass — it all matters to me even if doesn’t matter to the people drinking this. If it doesn’t work? That’s ok, no regrets.

What did you learn about whiskey during this years-long process?

I didn’t know bourbon was an American invention! I love studying the roots of country music — you get into one person, like Hank Jr., and that leads you to Hank Sr. and Waylon and so on. So I loved reading about all the great distillers, the fires, the laws, the characters. It’s American, like country music. I never thought of those things when I was a teenager.

Chris Stapleton has his own whiskey. Is this going to be a rivalry?

(Laughs) Chris is maybe the greatest modern country singer. And I’ve known him since before he was known, since like 2005. That song he covered, “Tennessee Whiskey,” is the greatest. I admittedly don’t know much about his whiskey, but I will say his voice is better than mine. Maybe my whiskey will be better than his.

Speaking of songs, I understand why you named this Row 94. Your music catalog doesn’t really lend itself a good bourbon name: “Drunk on a Plane,” “I Wanna Make You Close Your Eyes,” “Sideways” …

Oh, ha, I do have “Bourbon in Kentucky.” Good song, wasn’t really a hit. I’m working on a track called “Well, Well Whiskey” that might have worked. “Well, well whiskey, looks like we meet again.” There are a lot of whiskey country songs out there, aren’t there?

Is Row 94 going to be on your tour rider?

We have a little bit of everything. Backstage, I’m hosting a lot of people and friends, and it becomes a drinking celebration. I actually work with a non-alcoholic mixer brand based out of Nashville called WithCo; I use that a lot.

One music question: Tell me about your side project, [‘90s tribute/parody band] Hot Country Knights.

Oh, that’s a lot of fun. I love ‘90s country music, and the clothing was so great. So about 10 years ago, I started this alter ego band. The band sometimes opens or even closes our show. It’s for people who like their Wranglers high and tight and their mullets.