An English-inspired pub, a micro-distillery and a tasting room with a racetrack-shaped table are coming to downtown Lexington, Kentucky, where bourbon brand Never Say Die is opening its first brand home in autumn 2026.
Work is already under way on the two-floor venue at 249 W. Short St., which marks a return to the area where the brand’s story began.
From racehorse to bourbon
Never Say Die takes its name from the racehorse born near Lexington on co-founder Pat Madden’s family farm, which went on to win the Epsom Derby at odds of 33-1. Liverpool resident Mona Best placed a winning bet on the horse and used the proceeds to establish the Casbah Coffee Club, where The Beatles played some of their early performances.
The bourbon makes a transatlantic journey of its own. It is distilled and aged for more than six years in Kentucky before its barrels cross the Atlantic for further maturation at White Peak Distillery in Derbyshire.
A pub with live music
The ground floor will be an English-inspired pub, serving British pub dishes and American favourites, with drinks spanning British and European options as well as Kentucky bourbon. Regular live music is planned as a nod to the Casbah Coffee Club and its connection with The Beatles.
Upstairs, the visitor journey begins in a 1950s-style British library that traces the history of the racehorse and the creation of the bourbon brand, before moving into a limestone and oak tasting room, where the core Never Say Die range is served at a racetrack-shaped table.
Bottle your own Double Ocean
The experience ends in a barrel room designed around the character of a traditional Kentucky rickhouse, where visitors can try and bottle the forthcoming “Double Ocean” aged Bourbon. It crosses the Atlantic twice in its original barrels, returning to Kentucky after a year of maturation in England, and will only be available at the Lexington brand home. The venue will also initially be the only place in the US selling Never Say Die’s Barrel Strength Bourbon, which has previously been sold exclusively in the UK.
With its own distilled spirits plant licence, the venue will be able to produce spirits on site, making it a micro-distillery in downtown Lexington.
“The story of our namesake racehorse and the Bourbon that followed is an unbelievable tale, so we are delighted to be opening up our very own brand home which gives us the chance to immerse people in that journey first hand; to walk them through the story, pour them the whiskey, and let them taste the difference the trans-Atlantic journey makes. The English pub and the live music are our way of continuing to pay homage to the horse and everything his story set in motion – right down to The Casbah Coffee Club and The Beatles. We can’t wait to welcome people through the doors.”
Never Say Die’s core range comprises Barrel Strength Bourbon at 56%–61% ABV, Small Batch Bourbon at 47.5% ABV and Rye Whiskey at 52.5% ABV, made using a sweet mash and limestone-rich Kentucky water. Since launching in 2022, the brand has received recognition at the Global Spirit Masters, San Francisco World Spirits Competition and Ascot Awards.
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