Distilled Identity

Just eight years ago, Chicken Cock Whiskey reawakened after a seven-decade slumber, its 170-year backstory simultaneously in the rearview and on the horizon. The brand’s refresh embraces its rich, rebellious heritage while delivering full-bodied spirits to thirsty American whiskey aficionados.

As part of its crusade, this year, the brand teamed up with Inked Magazine and Brooklyn-based Three Kings Tattoo’s Matt Adamson to develop a beguiling limited-edition rooster-and-snake label.

“For me, pairing the rooster and the snake felt like the right balance,” Adamson says. “The rooster, of course, ties back to Chicken Cock’s long-standing heritage and nods to previous labels, while the snake brings in a piece of my own tattoo style. Together, it creates something that feels both true to the brand and personal to me.” And with 2025 being the Chinese zodiac’s Year of the Snake, the design felt predestined.

“Tattoos are and have always been a way of expressing something internally on the outside,” says Grain & Barrel Spirits Vice President of Marketing Tyler Rothenberg, explaining, “This form of expression deeply communicates and differentiates the human experience in a unique and individualized way. Much like the way Chicken Cock Whiskey immediately stands out through its name and ability to share a very unique story rich with heritage and legacy. Each symbolizes a deep sense of pride and the fearless pursuit of authenticity.”

Revelatory Roots

Chicken Cock Whiskey was founded in 1856 by James A. Miller, who died just four years after launching the “Famous Old Brand.” George G. White purchased the rights and rebranded it as J.A. Miller’s Chicken Cock Whiskey — a tip of the hat to farming roots and a familiar phrase for a rooster.

Although a commonly known term in the early 1800s, “chicken cock” mostly represented a male chicken, or known today as a “rooster.” However, it was around this time that the word “cocktail” was emerging in American slang. “It’s meant to describe a bartender stirring a drink with a cox (rooster tail) feather, and there used to be sayings where you’d wake up in the morning, and instead of the ‘hair of the dog,’ you ‘cock your tail’ to start your day,” Grain & Barrel Spirits National Whiskey Brand Ambassador Will Woodington explains.

“I actually discovered the brand during broader research into the early days of distilling in the U.S.,” Grain & Barrel Spirits Founder and CEO Matti Anttila says. “The name jumped out at me immediately before realizing the brand was actually a large player during that era.”

“A lot of people might assume that we’re trying to pull off a gimmick,” Woodington elaborates. “When they realize that, hey, this is actually a brand that goes back almost 170 years, it puts it into perspective a lot more, because the vernacular and the English language that we use here in America was much different.”

In the early 1900s, Chicken Cock Whiskey changed hands again, with the Kentucky Distilleries & Warehouse Co. purchasing the brand’s rights and assets. When Prohibition roared through the 1920s and into the 1930s, Chicken Cock Whiskey covertly crossed the Canadian border in tin cans. However, the flavor began to fall flat for former fans due to quality standards and an overly saturated whiskey market, and the brand came to a hush in the 1950s.

The label was lost to history until Anttila discovered an old bottle of Chicken Cock in 2011 at the Oscar Getz Museum of Bourbon History. “The deeper I got into the story of the brand, the more my excitement to bring it back to life grew. This included discovering old bottles and information at the Oscar Getz, seeing the remnants of the original distillery in Paris, Kentucky, and reading about it in Duke Ellington’s memoirs,” Anttila explains. “Between a unique name, beautiful heritage packaging, and a real, authentic history, everything lined up to make resurrecting the brand a no-brainer.”

This bygone spirit was roused and reborn in Bardstown, Kentucky, in 2017, with traces of history brought to the forefront. Some varieties come in tin cans, a witty tribute to smuggling the spirits across the border, while others are topped with metal caps, just like the ones prescribed by doctors to measure “medicine” in the bygone days.

“Today, we are the most conversation-starting brand name in the world, I think,” Woodington says. “It’s a blessing and a curse to have to explain it every day.”

Strong Sense of Taste

A rich history and conversation-starting name don’t mean much if the product doesn’t deliver. Luckily, Chicken Cock leaves no stone unturned to ensure every sip is savored to peak satisfaction by implementing strict processes and maturation standards, resulting in numerous prestigious awards.

Chicken Cock Kentucky Straight Bourbon is aged at least four years in toasted American white oak barrels, delivering a full-bodied punch with buttery texture, waves of butterscotch, and a vanilla wafer sweetness. In a similar vein, Chicken Cock Straight Rye Whiskey hits even harder with spicy, complex tasting notes that unfold with warm spices, vanilla, butterscotch, and hints of pepper, citrus, and oak. A peppery, sweet honey finish lingers with a smooth, buttery mouthfeel.

Both sit at 90-proof and come in Prohibition-era style bottles that nod to the brand’s bootlegger past, proving that, nearly 170 years later, Chicken Cock is still ruffling feathers.

Learn more and see how it came together in this behind-the-scenes video.