Beneath the surface

In 1987, the coal town of Pikeville in eastern Kentucky achieved the unthinkable with its Cut-Through Project, the biggest engineering feat in U.S. history. The small but ambitious town excavated 18 million cubic yards of earth to relocate a river, a railroad, and multiple highways—all in the name of protecting its residents from flooding and expanding (along with believing in) its town.

Now, in the same spirit of ingenuity, a distillery in the town that moved a mountain has come up with a process combining two of Kentucky’s most famous industries. Namely, it’s begun aging bourbon in abandoned coal mines.