Gonzo Whiskey Comes To Louisville: Bourbon, Rye Honoring Hunter Thompson To Be Introduced At Thurby Party

By Russ Brown | Photos Provided 

Move over Bob Dylan, here comes Hunter S. Thompson. 

Dylan started his own bourbon and whiskey brand, Heaven’s Door, a few years ago and opened “The Last Refuge” restaurant and bar in NuLu. Now Thompson, or at least his name, is getting into the spirits market too. 

The late Louisville native and originator of Gonzo journalism, who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at age 67 on Feb. 20, 2005, at his Aspen, Colorado home, was a well-known lover of whiskey. Sometimes in quantities that, shall we say, were not in his best interest. 

And where else better to introduce Gonzo Whiskey than in his hometown during Derby Week. More about that later, but first some background. 

Thompson rose to fame in 1967 with the publication of Hell’s Angeles in 1967 after spending a year living with the Hell’s Angels. In 1970, Thompson descended on Louisville to write about the Kentucky Derby, which he did. Sort of. Instead of a run-of-the-mill story about the race, he produced a drug-addled, booze-soaked romp for Scanlon’s Monthly titled “The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved.” 

That raised his profile as a countercultural figure and led to a genre termed New Journalism that Thompson labeled “Gonzo”, a style in which the writer is a central figure and participant in the story. 

He is best known for “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1972), along with his unsuccessful run for sheriff of Pitkin County, where Aspen is located, on the Freak Power ticket; his intense dislike of President Richard Nixon; his coverage of George McGovern’s 1972 presidential campaign for Rolling Stone and his iconoclastic contempt for authority. 

There’s much, much more to Thompson’s story, both professionally and his lifestyle, which he often referred to this way: “I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they’ve always worked for me.” But you get the idea. So, moving on. . .

The concept of Gonzo Whiskey grew out of a meeting in Aspen in 2018 between Thompson’s widow, Anita Thompson, and Dr. Matt Patel, to discuss his vision for an innovative distillery just six miles from Hunter’s beloved Owl Farm.

Patel, a Cincinnati native, is an emergency medicine physician in the Queen City and also has a home in Aspen. He is a longtime fan of Thompson and his writing. He had bought some property in nearby Basalt and decided to build a distillery.

“I had gotten to know Anita and a lot of Hunter’s close friends,” he said. “So as I was developing the distillery project we sat down and said, wouldn’t it be fun to do a super premium whiskey and bring back the energy of the community of Hunter in a way that would be fun to engage with friendship and shared stories, and combine it with Hunter’s love for whiskey? That was kind of the origin.”

Over five years, Patel and Hunter’s estate carefully conceived every detail -- blending Kentucky’s rich bourbon heritage, where he was born, with the untamed spirit of his Colorado home.

“Originating at Aspen Distillers, a LEED Platinum distillery, we now carry the Gonzo flame between the rugged peaks of Aspen and the whiskey-soaked soil of Kentucky,” Patel said. “This whiskey is as Dr. Gonzo would have wanted it -- uncompromising and fearless.”

(LEED is Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, a green building certification program used worldwide).

The first offering, “Fear and Loathing,” which pays tribute to Thompson’s most famous work, was introduced at a private party at the Jerome Hotel’s J Bar in Aspen on Thompson’s birthday, July 18, 2024.

Anita Thompson said in a phone interview that she’s excited about the project and was happy to have the estate involved because of the quality of the product.

“I think it’s wonderful to have a high-quality whiskey to honor Hunter, who was a bourbon-lover for sure,” she said. “Quality was the most important thing to me. One of the selling points was their dedication to the best grains and the process.”

However, although she has sampled the initial bourbon and declared it to her liking she won’t be buying it in high quantities.

“I know it sounds ironic, but I’m not much of a drinker,” she said. “Somebody had to try and keep Hunter sober. And it worked because he started writing again in 2000.” 

That was a reference to a period when Thompson’s output declined as he struggled with the consequences of substance abuse.

The original intent was to distill 100% of the Gonzo Whiskey and age it at the Colorado facility, “but with wildfires and all those things in the high country, if you’re storing liquor, it doesn’t make any sense,” Patel said.

So, an independent company, which is Gonzo Whiskey, was created that isn’t associated with the Colorado distillery. The company has a shared agreement with a distillery in Ohio where it can distill its own mash bill, store in their rickhouses and do the barrel dump using their equipment.

Gonzo Whiskey, in partnership with Hunter’s estate, will formally introduce its first two bottles -- Dr. Gonzo, a wheated bourbon and a rye called Buy the Ticket Take The Ryed -- at a Thurby Party at The Eagle on Bardstown Road on May 1. The ticketed event (Gonzowhiskey.com) will start at 5:30 p.m. and end “whenever they kick us out,” Patel joked (or maybe not).

“Gonzo Whiskey features a limited line of premium whiskeys and we’re super proud of the first two core expressions,” Patel said. “Just like Hunter’s writing, this juice is uncut and unfiltered, with just enough burn to keep you coming back for more.”

Thompson always had a soft spot for where he grew up, saying at one time, “If I could think of a way to do it right now, I’d head back to Louisville, sit on the porch drinking beer, drive around Cherokee Park for a few nights, and try to sink back as far as I could into the world that did its best to make me.”

And the Bluegrass State has honored him in many ways, including making him a Kentucky Colonel, featuring him in exhibits in the Frazier Museum and the Kentucky Derby Museum and his induction into the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame.

“He is a true Louisville icon,” Patel said. “So, what better place to introduce Gonzo Whiskey to the world where it all began and celebrate his first truly Gonzo piece. The Eagle is located just a few blocks from Hunter’s childhood home, with a prime view of the Gonzoville mural picturing Thompson. 

“We want to kick off this Derby season Hunter style,” Patel said. “It will be a party to remember, featuring the decadent and the depraved, from fried chicken and caviar to live art and who knows what else. Whatever it is, it will be a hell of a party and an even better story.”