KILN, Miss. (WLOX) - Thanks to a South Mississippi distillery, you can take home a taste and a bottle to remember the Cruisin’ the Coast.
Hundreds of aging barrels of bourbon are stored in Matt Crittenden’s Kiln facility.
“You mash, ferment, distill, age, and you bottle all in one place,” Crittenden said.
What started with Kiln Shine has grown over the last seven years into Crittenden’s Cut Above Bourbon Whiskey featuring a variety of different flavors and labels.
Crittenden has accounting and law degrees, but bottling bourbon is his passion. He says it’s his way of carrying on his community’s legacy.
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“You’ll hear stories of old times that Al Capone used to come down here, and they would take whiskey from Kiln, Mississippi to Chicago,” Crittenden said. “It would just be labeled Kiln on it, and the Kiln got to be known as some of the best shine in Chicago.”
Now, bourbon from the Kiln is building its own reputation.
“That’s something I really like about doing this, just people come here and say, ‘My buddy shared your bourbon with me,’” Crittenden said. “People that weren’t really friends before sharing bourbon together makes you feel good that in this day and age, you can physically bring people together.”
Nothing brings people in South Mississippi together more than Cruisin’ the Coast. Crittenden is mixing his bourbon with Cruisin’.
“You give that car lovers and bourbon enthusiasts something to rally around,” Crittenden said.
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In partnership with Pass Christian Bottle Shoppe, Crittenden created the limited-release Cruisin’ the Coast Classic Series with double oak bourbon.
“We knew we had a fan favorite with the double oak, and we know that people will like it,” Crittenden said.
A big crowd lined up early on Monday at the Bottle Shoppe with cruisers trying to get their hands on the collector’s edition bourbon.
The Mustang pictured on the bottle is a tribute to the car’s owner Jerry Todd. He keeps coming back to Cruisin’ the Coast year after year, even after almost losing his life during the event.
In 2021, he was shot by a stray bullet from a drive-by shooter while he was just sitting on the side of Highway 90. Now, his car will be remembered for a different reason.
“It’s a big honor, especially being the first year for it,” Todd said. “I just told them thank you.”
“He [Jerry Todd] got a second lease on life, his car’s also had a good lease on life,” Crittenden said. “You take his story of him getting a second chance on life, you take a double oak getting put in a second barrel, I think that’s a cool deal.”
The special release bourbon is the start of a new Cruisin’ tradition. Going forward, a new bottle with a picture of a different car will be released every year.
“It goes along with one of our greatest events we have here,” Crittenden said. “Cruisin’ the Coast is our biggest event, so it’s really kind of cool to be able to do that and bring people together.”
Monday night, just a handful of the special bourbon bottles were still available.
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Even if you don’t get a bottle this year, you can still stop by the Pass Christian Bottle Shoppe and enter your car in a raffle.
The winner of the raffle will be the featured car on next year’s bottle. The drawing will happen on Saturday.
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