Pond Fork Bourbon Launches to Consumers After 1893 Trade Debut
Here is a bourbon that waited 133 years for its first customer. Pond Fork was first produced in 1893 in Peoria, Illinois, but it was a trade-only product sold to blenders and wholesale houses, never to the public. Now Corning & Company, based in Rohnert Park, California, has announced the first consumer release of Pond Fork Bourbon Whiskey, a four-year-old, 93 proof blend priced at $69.99 on the company's own product page.
Did You Know?
The original Pond Fork was sold to blenders, rectifiers and wholesale houses, who used it to build and improve their own whiskeys. Regular drinkers could not buy a bottle.
The 1893 bourbon was made in Peoria, Illinois, and the brand stayed a mainstay of Corning's portfolio until Prohibition.
Each bottle today is a 50/50 blend of pot-distilled and column-distilled straight bourbon.
The Release
Pond Fork was built as a workhorse. In the 1890s, blenders needed a dependable, high-grade base whiskey, and Corning made one: a sour mash bourbon (a style where some spent mash from a previous batch starts the next one) produced in traditional mash tubs and charge stills, which are batch stills loaded one run at a time.
The new bottle is a modern take on that idea. Each bottle is 50% pot-distilled straight bourbon from Corning & Company and 50% column-distilled Kentucky straight bourbon, aged a minimum of four years. Straight bourbon simply means a bourbon aged at least two years with no added coloring or flavoring.
The two halves do different jobs. According to the company, the pot still adds texture, weight and complexity, while the column still adds structure, clarity and consistency. It is a blender's logic applied to a bottle you can actually buy. The brand website also calls it a small-batch heritage blend of American bourbons.
Corning CEO Samuel D. Long put the shift simply: "This time around, we are bringing it to consumers." The official profile, as listed by one retailer, is oak, vanilla and warm spice.
The Story of Pond Fork
Pond Fork is a name from another era. According to the company, it comes from the language of Appalachian creek country, and the whiskey was a fixture of Corning & Company's lineup in the years before Prohibition.
Corning & Company made Pond Fork for the people who made other people's whiskey, and that trade-only history is what sets this relaunch apart. Many revived heritage labels started life as consumer brands. This one never did.
According to the brand website, Corning & Company has since been revived by the great-great-grandson of its founders, and it now distills its own bourbon at a Northern California distillery. That pot-distilled bourbon is the half of the blend Corning contributes today.
Why It Stands Out
A 50/50 blend of pot and column distillate is an unusual pitch in bourbon, where most bottles lean on column stills alone. Pairing a distillery's own pot-still whiskey with Kentucky column-distilled bourbon is a nod to how blenders worked a century ago. For history-minded collectors, a label with a genuine 1893 trade pedigree and a first-ever consumer debut is an easy story to follow.
The Details
Style: Blended straight bourbon (pot and column distilled)
Age: Minimum 4 years
ABV/Proof: 46.5% ABV (93 proof)
Mash Bill: Not stated
Cask/Finish: Not stated
Bottle Size: 750 mL
Release Size: Not stated
Price (SRP): $69.99, as listed on Corning & Company's product page
Availability: Sold via Corning & Company's product page and at least one retailer listing; no full list of markets or retailers announced
US Availability: Appears to be a US release priced in dollars; no state-by-state rollout has been announced
Release Date: Announced October 22, 2026; no on-sale date given
Tonights Poison Take
A 93 proof, four-year bourbon at $69.99 is a fair ask, and the story is the draw here. Drinkers who like to know how whiskey was really built will enjoy a bottle that is itself a blend of two distilling styles. The missing pieces, like a mash bill, will be the first thing collectors want to learn more about.
Bar Talk: Pond Fork was made in 1893 for blenders only, and this is the first time anyone outside the trade can buy a bottle.
Send this to the bourbon friend who loves a good history lesson, and tell us in the comments if you plan to pour it.
Please enjoy responsibly.
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