Manassas Distiller Wins Top Prize, Credits Outpouring Of Community Support

MANASSAS, VA – Manassas’ own KO Distilling just won best in show at the 2026 First Landing Cup, the annual competition of Virginia spirits organized by the Virginia Distillers Association.

KO Distilling announced Thursday that their Bare Knuckle Cask Strength Rye Whiskey won not only best in its class but was the highest-scoring spirit of the competition, taking home the First Landing Cup.

KO’s Battle Standard 142 Gin also won best in class for Gin and a nod for best value. The distiller’s Reserve Bottled in Bond Straight Bourbon Whiskey and Bare Knuckle Cask Strength Straight Wheat Whiskey each also won for their categories and took gold medals.

No other distillery earned four gold medals at the competition, KO says.

Co-founder Bill Karlson, the K of KO Distilling, told Patch that credit is due to quite a few people for this spirit’s success, starting with co-founder John O’Mara (bestower of KO’s O) and head distiller Ryan Hendricks, who joined the company in its very early days in 2014.

Virginia grain also deserves commendation, Karlson told Patch Friday. “We source all of our grain, our corn, our rye, our wheat, and even our barley from the Northern Neck Peninsula down in the Heathsville area, [from] Bay's Best Feed Farm … So our spirits are locally made and locally sourced.”

That local rye especially helped make their Bare Knuckle Cask Strength Straight Rye Whiskey into the atypical, award-winning spirit it is.

“It is smooth, light, clear,” Karlson says. “It really is an atypical rye. And I have to credit that to the rye that we get from the Northern Neck Peninsula.”

Karlson also commends the state of Virginia and the city of Manassas for their support of small businesses. “The economic development office within the city went out of their way to get us up and running, and to do so quickly,” he said. “I give the city of Manassas a lot of credit.”

In 2018, when KO wanted to upgrade its distilling equipment, it was a $50,000 matched Agriculture and Forestry Industries Development (AFID) grant from the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and the city of Manassas that allowed them to do so. “We have a state-of-the-art distilling plant, and it has a lot of capabilities for us to really manage how we process from beginning to end, how we do distilling.”

The grant helped them up their game, Karlson says. “We're thankful to Virginia and the City of Manassas for that.”

Then again, during the pandemic lockdown, Virginia’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority helped KO Distilleries and others in the industry survive by relaxing shipping restrictions.

“They allowed Virginia distilleries to ship within the Commonwealth, so people were able to get spirits. And I guess in a nutshell, I'm just thankful for our relationship with Virginia ABC through the years, because without that, we wouldn't exist.”

That support helped the distillery get through the early years and be able to age their whiskeys, a crucial development for any distiller. Their Best in Show rye was aged for five years; their gold-medal-winning bourbon for six.

Being able to sell these aged spirits is a whole different ballgame, Karlson says.

“The transformation of the liquor, especially about the four-year point, is truly amazing. And we're fortunate. We've waited a long time to get there, but now that we're there, it makes a huge difference in terms of quality.”

It’s a bittersweet arrival because times are tough again in the beer, wine and spirits industry, as consumption falls while the supply of high-quality products grows. Still, that makes it a great time to visit KO Distillers’ tasting room at 10381 Central Park Drive, Suite 105. They have tasting room hours and tours from Thursday through Sunday. Check here for times and directions.