FEW Whiskey

FEW is an American craft whiskey brand from Evanston, Illinois, just north of Chicago. Founded in 2011 by Paul Hletko, it took shape in a city with a long temperance history, making its emergence as a grain-to-glass distillery part of the brand's story as well as its identity.

The brand became part of Heaven Hill's wider portfolio after Heaven Hill acquired Samson & Surrey in 2022. FEW produces bourbon, rye, American single malt, gin and a variety of limited or collaborative releases, with its whiskey range led by FEW Bourbon and FEW Rye. The distillery is particularly associated with bold flavor, small-batch production and a modern Midwestern take on classic American styles.

FEW Bourbon is typically spicy, grain-forward and full of character, with notes of caramel, vanilla, orange peel, rye spice, malt and toasted oak. FEW Rye is drier and more assertive, often showing pepper, baking spice, citrus, honey, tea-like tannin and a firm rye backbone, while special releases explore cask finishes, higher strengths and collaborations outside the standard range.

FEW has helped define the more adventurous side of modern American craft whiskey. It is not a smooth, anonymous bourbon-house style, but a distinctive Illinois producer with a clear point of view: expressive, slightly unconventional and rooted in the post-Prohibition revival of small-scale American distilling.