The Nelson Brothers Are Relaunching Belle Meade Bourbon

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In 2019, the Nelson brothers sold a majority stake of their Nashville whiskey distillery, Nelson’s Green Brier, and their original whiskey brand, Belle Meade, to drinks company Constellation Brands (owner of Modelo and Corona beers, and High West Distillery in Utah). In 2024, the brothers parted ways with both brands, but at the end of that year they got Belle Meade back. And though we haven’t heard much about the whiskey since that time, the brothers are about to relaunch this high-quality collection of bourbon and cask-finished whiskeys regionally.

Andy and Charlie Nelson are a pair of brothers who, like many others who have started a whiskey brand over the years, can trace their family history back to some 19th-century distiller ancestors. They started their whiskey journey by founding Belle Meade in 2012 as a brand consisting of sourced bourbon that they blended and gave various secondary finishes to, and then opened the Green Brier Distillery in Nashville two years later where they would actually make their own Tennessee whiskey. Over the years, more and more of what you’ll find in a Green Brier bottle is actually made at the distillery, which unfortunately laid off 15 staff members in the spring of 2025 “in response to shifting consumer and industry dynamics,” according to Constellation. (Read: the downturn in the whiskey market.)

But Belle Meade was and remains a sourced brand, primarily getting its whiskey from MGP in Indiana and Bardstown Bourbon Company in Kentucky. According to a recent article in the Nashville Scene, the Nelson brothers don’t have a production facility as of yet (although the website says they will open a brand home this year), but they are still stockpiling barrels of whiskey in warehouses to age and blend. Technically the brand relaunched last spring in Nashville, but it’s just starting to really get up and running with regional expansion, and the Nelsons have revamped their core lineup a bit.

Currently, the core expressions are Belle Meade Bourbon Classic, a blend of two high-rye mashbills aged six to eight years and bottled at 90.4 proof; and Belle Meade Bourbon Reserve, a small batch of just seven barrels aged seven to 11 years and bottled at 108.3 proof. Over the years, Belle Meade has released many different cask finishes as well, including whiskey finished in sherry, calvados, madeira, and honey barrels (that last one is quite good). A rep for the brand says cask-finished expressions won’t return again until 2027, but in the meantime you can find the core bourbons in select markets, as well as at online retailers like Total Wine.