Karrikin Is Prepped To Release Their Award-Winning Orion’s Reserve

Written By: The Gnarly Gnome
Photography By: The Gnarly Gnome

5/7/25

I mean it when I recently wrote about how excited I am to see some of our local distilleries getting well-deserved accolades in the US Open. I might be known around Cincinnati as “the beer guy” – but I have a deep, deep love for all of the places around here that make and serve the beverages that fuel this city. Karrikin Spirits is one of those places, and you’d be very wrong if you thought that they were just an event space. Karrikin is a world-class distillery, a wonderful Cincinnati brewery, and, on the people side, the home of one of my favorite beverage producers in this city.

A few weeks ago, I got a text from Chris Mitchell (you remember that guy, right?). Chris has been quietly working his butt off over at Karrikin Spirits, distilling and brewing up a bunch of new products that deserve more attention in my opinion than they have been getting in Cincinnati. His text to me was pretty simple: “You wanna come taste some bourbon sometime?”

The answer is pretty simple. Yes, yes, I do want to try some Bourbon. But this isn’t just any bourbon…

Getting Some Attention

Sometimes you have to physically grab drinkers by the shoulders and give them a little shake if you want them to pay attention to what you’ve got going on. That’s what a good showing at an awards competition will do for a brewery or a distillery.

Consider yourself shaken.

Not only did Karrikin’s old standby ‘Blaze’ (their agave-based spirit) take home a bronze medal in the US Open this year, but their Rye Whiskey took home a silver, and their ‘Orion’s Reserve’ brought home a sweet gold medal.

Orion’s Reserve? Remember how Chris Mitchell wanted to know if I wanted to try some bourbon?

Orion’s Reserve

When I showed up one very, very hot afternoon at the distillery to meet up with Chris, things were quiet. It feels like Karrikin is lying in wait, on days like that. The distillery has shifted its business plan in the last couple of years, leaning heavily into the contract business and opening their taproom for limited hours and private events – but if I were to guess, there are a lot of folks there that would love to see that shift back in another direction if the market allows it.

I bellied up to the bar, and Chris plopped a taster glass in front of me full of a dark amber brown spirit that I’d been very curious about.

The Bourbon is called ‘Orion’s Reserve’ – a single-barrel bourbon that spent 8 years tucked away in barrels after being distilled in Kentucky. The mash bill of the whiskey is a bit of a mystery, but when I tasted it, I was hit by a soft, rounded body, which to me, suggests wheat. The 120+ proof gives the Bourbon a strong pop of heat, and there’s a wonderful spiciness that lingers on the tongue.

This Whiskey is nothing short of incredible to my palate.

You Should Be Paying Attention

Karrikin is a sleeper hit. Their taproom/tasting room is only open two days a week right now. They are spending most of their time working on contract products, both on the brewery side of the business and the distillery side of things, but that doesn’t mean that it’s all that they are doing.

Looking at the tap list, it’s full of great beers. There was a few lagers, a couple IPAs, a coffee blonde, a pair of milk stouts (one with chocolate and raspberry), a Berliner, A Kölsch, an Amber… there’s a full lineup, and they’re not the Karrikin beer that you probably remember – these are all newly crafted recipes for this new era of the brewery/distillery.

They’ve been refining and working on their core line of spirits alongside the new beer, too. Over the last year or so the distillery has been crafting some stuff that I can say no more than to implore you to taste it for yourself.

The good news is that you can taste all of these award winners.

The Release

Let’s do a little more shaking of your shoulders. Get to the taproom. In fact, on 6/2/25, they’re releasing bottles of Orion’s Reserve (while they last) for $68.99 – and it’s probably a really good chance for you to head over and see what you’ve been missing.

The doors will be open from 12-8 pm, and while they have a decent amount of whiskey, with these things, you can never guarantee that anything will last for any amount of time.

Don’t miss out on trying this. This is a bottle that if you miss buying it, and you end up trying some with a friend, you’re going to be kicking yourself afterwards.