Blacklion Vodka, an award-winning British vodka made from rare sheep’s milk, is finally crossing the pond to sell at American distilleries.

So where will the spirit celebrate its U.S. launch? Hotel Covington in Northern Kentucky.

The brand’s founders, and the sheep themselves, will make their way to Covington on Saturday to celebrate the European vodka brand opening its first U.S. farm and distillery in nearby Paris, Kentucky. They hope to have them both open either later this year or in 2025.

Blacklion Vodka, created by sheep farmers Tim and Tanya Spittle, uses milk from Black Lion dairy sheep, which the Spittles cross-breed from traditional Cotswold Lions sheep and the farm’s flock of Valais Blacknose.

“The climate and the landscape (in Paris, Kentucky) very much mimics (the Spittles’) home in the UK in the Cotswolds of England … when they think about bringing over and breeding their Black Lion sheep, it makes a lot of sense to have that same sort of atmosphere,” Susanna Kalnes, a PR executive affiliated with the brand’s U.S. launch, said.

The event at Hotel Covington is closed to the public.

Tim and Tanya ran their family sheep farm in the Cotswolds of England for several years before experimenting with spirits.

“Sheaf House Farm, which Tim’s mum and dad bought over 50 years ago, would simply never survive today as a small Cotswold sheep farm if we didn’t also try new things,” Tanya wrote on the brand’s website.

The vodka is derived from the sugar-rich whey that is a by-product left over from processing sheep’s milk cheese. This was once simply cast aside as waste, as stated on the brand’s website.

The remaining whey, combined with spring water sourced from the Cotswolds, undergoes a process of fermentation, triple distillation, and triple filtration. This results in a smooth spirit that is described as subtly sweet with hints of caramel toffee, as reported by Forbes.

The entire process spans across two years.

In 2021, the couple premiered their sheep-milk vodka in the United Kingdom and across Europe. The drink received significant recognition as they were awarded the Launch Design Bronze and Presentation Gold at the 2022 World Vodka Awards. They also bagged the title of 2022 Diversification Farmer of the Year.

They have already brought sheep embryos over to the region to begin breeding the rare Black Lion sheep, which are going to be born in the next couple of months, Kalnes said.

The brand started accepting pre-orders on its website, blacklionvodka.com, Thursday, Jan. 18. Orders will be sent to the designated address within two weeks.

The vodka is becoming available at various U.S. retailers, including the 21c Museum Hotel in Lexington, Kentucky, and various other bars in the city, according to The Lexington Herald-Leader. To stay updated, sign up for the brand’s Friend of the Flock newsletter on its website.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Blacklion Vodka, made from sheep’s milk, to launch in US