A Bourbon Upstart Carves Out Its Place Among Kentucky’s Greats With Its New Founder’s Collection
by Allyson Reedy
Like many good love stories, the one behind Louisville, Kentucky, distillery Rabbit Hole involves a beautiful woman, a plot twist, and, oh, about 27,000 barrels of whiskey. Our protagonist is Kaveh Zamanian, and the object of his affection is that quintessential American spirit, bourbon—specifically, the bourbons and ryes that he’s obsessively created at the company since he founded it in 2012, making a big impression on the American whiskey industry in the process.
But first, the beautiful woman.
Before Zamanian became a producer, he spent his 20s and 30s earning degrees and climbing career ranks as a respected clinical psychologist, psychoanalyst, and academic in Chicago, all while developing an appreciation of whiskies from Scotland and Japan. Then he met his future wife, Heather—and as they fell in love, Zamanian became similarly captivated by bourbon, an emblem of her native Kentucky.
“Whiskey seduced me,” Zamanian says. “I always knew about bourbon, but I didn’t have a full understanding of the deep tradition and what it represents to Kentucky and America until I met her.” That first attraction deepened, turning into the sort of all-consuming love that many can only dream of finding. Zamanian spent years researching, tasting, and obsessing over bourbon, honing his palate and knowledge until he decided to turn his life upside down—which brings us to the plot twist.
More than a decade ago, despite his successful medical career, lack of connections to the American whiskey business, and, by this point, three young children with Heather, Zamanian decided to take his family down the, well, rabbit hole by officially venturing into the distilling business. “I felt that was my opportunity, in my 40s,” he says. “I thought, ‘If I want to do something with my passion, I have to do it now.’ I had a conversation with my wife, got her a little worried, [but] eventually she succumbed.”
And so the family moved to Kentucky, pursuing Zamanian’s goal of elevating the classic American spirit to the level of, in his words, “reverence” earned by Scotch and Japanese whisky. “There was something missing with bourbon,” he says. “I felt it needed to go from the bottom shelf to where it belongs, which is on the top shelf with all the other great whiskeys of the world.”
Embracing the fresh perspective that came with his outsider status, Zamanian shadowed bourbon makers and experts to learn the techniques and traditions that define the category. When he was ready to launch Rabbit Hole, instead of buying existing spirits and labeling them as his own, as many brands do, he found a contract distiller to produce his own recipes, which marry heritage techniques with the innovative mash bills he created.
“You’ve got some basic rules with bourbon—51% corn, aged for so long in brand-new oak barrels—but outside of that, there’s a lot of room to improvise and play,” says Zamanian, who does exactly that by considering different yeast strains for fermentation, aging the liquid for various durations in small batches, trying out different types of barrels, tinkering with the cooking process, and exploring a variety of grains, the latter of which might be his favorite part of the process.
“I use ingredients that inspire me,” he says. “I think that’s what’s magical about Rabbit Hole—I don’t want to do the same thing over and over again. I want to produce new and unique things. When you buy a bottle of Rabbit Hole, you know that it’s one of a kind.”
His approach is working. Consider that, in the past year alone, Rabbit Hole has expanded its reach from 19 states to 48, representing a 153% increase in distribution. For the distillery’s fiscal year beginning July 1, 2020, total business grew 216% in the first quarter compared to the same period in 2019.
Rabbit Hole’s core portfolio consists of four signature expressions: Cavehill Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Heigold Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Boxergrail Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey, and Dareringer Straight Bourbon Whiskey Finished in PX Sherry Casks. But because Zamanian continues to prioritize experimentation, he just introduced the Founder’s Collection, a limited-edition series that perfectly embodies everything he believes bourbon and the broader whiskey category can be.
“I’m a pretty restless guy, and I can’t sit still,” he says. “The Founder’s Collection was an avenue for me to take it to another level and make something even more special than our core products.” For the series’ inaugural release—a cask-strength, six-plus-year-old version of Boxergrail—Zamanian and his team tasted through countless barrels to find just seven “honey barrels,” as he calls them, from his first batches of rye. The liquid is bottled in numbered editions to ensure connoisseurs that they’re experiencing it as he intended it to be, untouched; he describes it as “sublime” in the way it showcases the incredible dimensions of flavor that whiskey at its natural strength develops in wood-fired, toasted, and charred casks.
“We taste [so much] to make sure the poetry comes through. It’s a sensory and emotional process, and the liquid has to move us,” he says. “That’s my criteria for the Founder’s Collection: something that really feels extraordinary from a taste standpoint . . . and gives you a nice long finish that stays with you and makes you want to remember it.” Always innovating, Zamanian plans to release a new label for the Founder’s Collection every spring and fall to highlight his brand’s creativity and commitment to the art of whiskey making.
Because that’s what you do when you’re in love. To make any romance last, you have to work on it and dedicate your life to it, pouring your heart and soul into making it the best it can be. Zamanian is ensuring that the love story behind Rabbit Hole will continue to unfold for many years to come.
