Bourbon Barrel Beef brings a better cut to Richmond
Bourbon Barrel Beef was never supposed to be a chain of meat markets.
It started because Perry and Shelly Harrison wanted to know where their own food came from. Perry grew up on a ranch in West Texas, where raising and butchering a steer for the family each year was simply part of life. He kept doing it after he and Shelly married, even though farm life was new territory for her.
“ I did not grow up on a ranch,” Shelly said.“ This was a very different world for me.”
She learned quickly. There were animals to feed in the rain and snow, frozen water troughs to break and, eventually, cattle to work and calves to bottle-feed. By the time the couple moved to Kentucky, what had been a family practice was beginning to turn into something much bigger.
The idea for the business came during COVID, when the Harrisons couldn’ t get their own cattle scheduled for processing. Perry saw a need and decided to open a small processing plant in Carlisle.
Then came a practical problem. If they hired employees and local processing business slowed down, they still needed enough cattle to keep the plant working. That meant raising more beef themselves. And if they raised it, they needed somewhere to sell it.
“ It was like this led to this, led to this,” Perry said.“ Suddenly we are a retail store.”
That unexpected progression has now brought Bourbon Barrel Beef to Richmond, its fourth location after Carlisle, Georgetown and Maysville.
The Harrisons didn’ t want to simply buy beef and resell it. Perry spent about a year researching breeds, genetics and the factors that affect tenderness, marbling and consistency before choosing Red Angus. The cattle are DNA tested for traits such as marbling and tenderness, giving the Harrisons an early indication of the quality of beef each animal is likely to produce. Perry said about 50 % of the beef they have graded is reaching Prime.
For Shelly, knowing the cattle from the farm through processing is one of the most important parts of what they sell.
“ We know what they’ ve had, and more importantly, we know what they haven’ t had,” she said.“ We know that we are providing a clean, wholesome product to people.”
The Harrisons raise cattle on two farms in Nicholas County and work with other Kentucky cattle producers who have joined their Red Angus program. Perry supplies bulls to participating farms and contracts to purchase the resulting calves that meet their standards.
At the Richmond store, boneless ribeyes have already become the top seller, but the Harrisons want customers to try cuts they may have never considered. Some ideas come from chefs the company supplies to restaurants. Others are cuts that typically get passed over or turned into ground beef simply because they take more work to prepare.
Shelly said offering those cuts also helps them keep good beef within reach of different budgets.
“ Everybody should be able to have the experience of grilling out and cooking out with their family or with their friends,” she said.“ We have worked really hard to give a variety of steaks at every price point.”
There is also some fun in the meat case. Opening weekend in Richmond included two“ Thor’ s hammers,” oversized beef shanks with long exposed bones that look a little like clubs.
“ People bought it just because they were curious,” Perry said.“ It’ s just fun stuff like that that they’ re not gonna find anywhere else.”
Only a couple of weeks into the Richmond opening, Shelly said she was already recognizing returning customers. That is the part of the retail side she enjoys most.
“ I want our staff, myself included, to know,‘ Hey Jim, are you here for another ribeye?’” she said.“ Just knowing what their order is, knowing things about them, creating those relationships.”
So far, she said, Richmond customers have been bringing friends back with them and sending others through the door based on what they tried at home.
“ You can put all kinds of money into advertising,” Shelly said,“ but you can’ t buy your customers sharing those comments.”
386 Highland Park Dr. Richmond, KY 40475 859.972.3592 Facebook: Bourbon Barrel Beef( Harrison Harvesting)
Madison Magazine September-October 2026 7