Bull Run Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Bull Run Straight Bourbon Whiskey is Portland, Oregon's high-rye flagship: a straight bourbon at 90 proof (45% ABV) in a 750mL bottle, built on a 65% corn / 25% rye / 10% malted barley mash bill and rested a minimum of four years in new charred American oak. Proofed with water from the Bull Run watershed — the protected mountain catchment that gives Portland its famously pure drinking water — it pours spicy, honeyed, and clean. It is available to order online at Del Mesa Liquor, San Diego, CA.
- ABV: 45% (90 proof)
- Size: 750mL
- Mash bill: 65% corn, 25% rye, 10% malted barley (high rye)
- Aging: minimum 4 years, new charred American oak
- Origin: Portland, Oregon — Bull Run Distilling Co., founded 2010
Merchant Bottlers Turned Distillers
Bull Run's founders, Lee Medoff and Patrick Bernards, started as merchant bottlers — sourcing barrels of whiskey and selecting the best — before opening their own Portland distillery in 2010. Medoff came from House Spirits, where he helped create Aviation Gin, and brought a blender's palate to bourbon. The flagship straight bourbon follows the merchant-bottler playbook: fewer than a dozen hand-selected barrels, blended and brought to proof with Bull Run watershed water, bottled in numbered batches. It earned a Gold Medal at the American Distilling Institute competition, and the high-rye recipe keeps it firmly in the spicy camp.
Tasting Notes
Rye spice and caramel on the nose with butterscotch, vanilla, and light barrel char. The palate opens soft and sweet — butterscotch and toffee — before the 25% rye cuts through with pepper and baking spice. The finish is warm, clean, and honeyed, the watershed water lending the soft, supple mouthfeel the distillery is known for.
How to Enjoy
Drink it neat after dinner or over a single large cube; at 90 proof it has the backbone for an Old Fashioned or a Manhattan that needs no dressing up. It belongs with the best of the Northwest in our American whiskey shelf — compare it with more high-rye pours in bourbon whiskey, and see the distillery's range at Bull Run.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the mash bill of Bull Run Straight Bourbon?
65% corn, 25% rye, 10% malted barley — a high-rye bourbon recipe.
How old is Bull Run Straight Bourbon?
Aged a minimum of four years in new charred oak; some barrels in the blend run to five or six years.
Where is Bull Run Distilling located?
Portland, Oregon; founded in 2010 by Lee Medoff and Patrick Bernards.
Why is it called Bull Run?
For the Bull Run watershed in the Cascades, the protected catchment supplying Portland's water — the same water used to proof the whiskey.
Explore more craft distilling in bourbon whiskey. Order Bull Run Straight Bourbon Whiskey online from Del Mesa Liquor, San Diego, CA — Oregon water, Kentucky soul.