Home of Keeper's Heart Whiskey
Keeper’s Heart is a new style of whiskey born right here at O’Shaughnessy Distilling Co.—where Irish and American whiskey-making traditions come together.
Our award-winning blends marry the smoothness of Irish whiskey with the boldness of American whiskey, giving you a taste experience that’s just as good neat as it is on the rocks or in a cocktail.
And now, we’re excited to share our first self-distilled expression: Keeper’s Heart American Pot Still Whiskey. Made from malted and unmalted barley and triple distilled in the traditional Irish pot still style, then matured for four years in virgin American oak, it brings rich notes of vanilla, caramel, and toasted oak—unlike anything else in American whiskey today.
Meet Master Distiller Brian Nation
Meet Brian, our Master Distiller. He is an absolute legend in the world of Irish Whiskey and we couldn’t be more proud to call him a member of our family. Brian’s experience speaks for itself. For the last 7 years, he was Master Distiller for some of the most renowned and high-quality Irish whiskeys in the world including Jameson, Redbreast, Middleton Very Rare, the Spot range, and Powers Irish Whiskey.
It is not just Brian’s taste for whiskey that brought him to Keeper’s Heart—Brian was captivated by the opportunity to bring his skills and family to America in order to explore new expressions in whiskey, bringing together two whiskey traditions to create something entirely new. We are thrilled he is part of the family.
Since launching, Keeper’s Heart Whiskey has earned 150 awards and accolades across leading whiskey competitions.
Our Irish American Whiskey Making Process
All whiskey starts with a sugar source—usually in the form of starch that is found in grain. Irish style whiskey typically starts with barley (malted and unmalted), a traditional ingredient in single pot still Irish Whiskey since the early 1800s. The first step in the process is to mill the barley by cracking the grain to expose as much of the starch as possible so we can start the next step of the process.
In this step, we add warm water to the milled barley to start to convert the starch in the grain into sugars. Over the course of about two hours we increase the temperature of this “mash” to convert all of the starch into fermentable sugars. In the end we are left with what looks like a big pot of oatmeal, but is the makings of a delicious whiskey.
Lautering separates the sugary liquids (known as wort) from the milled grains in the mash. The mash is transferred to a stainless steel vessel (called a Lauter Tun) with a perforated floor known as a false bottom. The mash is constantly and gently stirred by a big rake and the sugary liquid called “wort” filters through the holes in the floor. Occasionally we spray the mash with more water to extract as much sugar as possible. This is called sparging — a strange word but an important step.
Now we are ready to start making some alcohol. This is done the way nature has been doing it for years—with yeast. Yeast is
present almost everywhere in the world and loves to feed on sugars. When they do, they release alcohol, water, and CO2. We
add dried yeast to our wort and let the yeast go to work for about 60 to 72 hours. This results in what is called a “wash, ”which is essentially an 8% ABV beer.
This stage is when we transform our wash into a whiskey and is the defining characteristic of Irish style whiskeys. Distilling is essentially the process of separating the alcohol from the water to create a desirable high strength alcohol that will deliver an excellent quality whiskey after maturing in oak casks. We call it Triple Pot Distilling because the final liquid has been distilled 3 times, and each distillation takes place in a separate copper pot still.
In this step, the liquid is moved into barrels. We use American Virgin Oak and other types of barrels such as Sherry, Malaga, and Refill Bourbon. It goes into the barrel no higher than 63% abv and we plan to mature it for at least 2 years, but are also planning to have much older expressions. As the seasons change, the liquid in the barrels expand and contract, causing it to move in and out of the wood which adds flavor and color to our liquid. Throughout this process, some of the whiskey evaporates. This is known as the “Angel’s Share”.
