Liquid Amber Exploring the Bourbon Heartland
Exploring the Bourbon Heartland
J. Nicklin1
The Bourbon Heartland
Evan Willams Bulliet Frontier
Buffalo Trace
Louisville
Woodford Reserve Jim Beam
Clermont Bardstown
Wild Turkey Four Roses
Heaven Hill
Town Branch
Frankfort Versailles
Lexington
Lawrenceburg
Willett Maker’s Mark
Loretto Cover photos: front - inside the visitor’s rick house at Buffalo Trace, rear - unloading barrels at the bottling line at Buffalo Trace
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Bourbon - Liquid Amber They say that all bourbon is whiskey but not all whiskey is bourbon. In this volume, we will explore what makes a whiskey bourbon and the many distinct products to be found in the Bourbon Heartland. We’ll find bourbon makers in the hills and hollows, the bluegrass meadows and forests, and along the riverbanks of the Bluegrass State all sharing a rich heritage with the state’s second famous talent, raising thorough-bred race horses. It must have something to do with the water. Kentucky is blessed with iron-free, limestone filtered water. You can get grains anywhere but you can’t get that water. That’s what makes Kentucky the bourbon heartland Bourbon has a long history punctuated by the Prohibition from 1920 to 1933 when all but four of America’s distilleries were forced to close their doors. One of those four is in Kentucky. Today, the market for bourbon is growing so quickly that Kentucky alone has over 5 million barrels aging in warehouses. That’s half a million more barrels than there are people in the state. The amber spirit has gained a world-wide audience and the distilleries attract thousands of visitors every year to see how its made. A word about the word whiskey, or is it spelled whisky? Most, but not all, American distillers use the “e” whereas Canadian, Scottish and Irish distillers use the name whisky. So pour yourself a splash of your favourite liquid amber, sit back and follow along as we explore the bourbon heartland. Go on, there’s no rush.
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What sets bourbon apart from other whiskeys is a specific set of regulations set down by law by the Congress of the United States of America. There are many other whiskeys made in the USA, like Jack Daniels and Dickel’s Tennessee Whiskeys, but as good as they are, they are not bourbon. By law, bourbon must be: 1.
distilled in the USA
2.
made from at least 51% corn
3.
aged in new, charred oak barrels
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distilled to no more than 160 proof
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entered into the barrel for aging at no more than 125 proof
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bottled at 80 proof or more
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free from added colouring or flavouring
8.
pure, meaning it cannot be blended with other spirits.
Bourbon does not have to be made in Kentucky or Bourbon County. Many fine bourbons are made in other states and since Prohibition none are made in Bourbon County. While it does not have to be made in Kentucky, over 95% of all bourbon is produced in the Bluegrass State.
Whiskey can be called Bourbon once it is aged for at least 3 months but to be called a straight whiskey it must aged at least 2 years. Most, if not all, modern bourbons are aged for at least 4 years Later we’ll sidle on down to Lynchburg, Tennessee to see why Jack Daniel’s isn’t bourbon. Bourbon is made from corn (at least 51%) and barley with rye or wheat making up the remainder of the mash bill. Bourbons with rye tend to be spicy whereas those made with wheat tend to be more mellow. Aging in charred oak barrels provides colour and notes of vanilla, caramel, and other flavours. A word about proof and alcohol by volume (ABV) - proof is the traditional standard value for alcohol content in American spirits and is twice the alcohol by volume or ABV, so 100 proof is 50% ABV. The term arose back in the days when there were no labs or fancy gadgets to check alcohol levels so a vendor could, let’s say, water down the whiskey and that’s like horse stealing to a whiskey drinker. So how do you prove that the whiskey is at least 50% ABV? Well, gun powder burns but it won’t burn if it’s wet… wet with water that is. Turns out that gun powder, when mixed with whiskey of at least 50% ABV, will burn providing 100% proof that the alcohol is there. So when you see 90 proof on a bottle, do the math and you get 45% ABV. Bourbon barrels, the most expensive component in bourbon, can only be used once which begs the question… what do they do with the used barrels? Used barrels are auctioned off. Many are sold to distillers in Scotland where they are used to make Scotch Whisky, some make it to Canada to make Canadian Whisky, and others go the Rum industry in the Caribbean. They don’t all end up as flower pots.
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The history of bourbon is not clear, but there are some clues that lead to today’s version of this American Whiskey. Bourbon owes its roots to Scottish and Irish settlers who moved into Bourbon County, in what is now Kentucky, in the late 1700’s. Settlers were granted land on the agreement that they would plant corn. Most farms had a still for making raw corn whiskey from surplus crops. The name Bourbon is said to have been adopted when whiskey from the old Bourbon County was shipped to New Orleans by river boats. Lacking large containers to ship the whiskey in, the settlers repurposed old oak shipping barrels for the task. To make the barrels safe for storing the corn spirits, they charred the insides. In the time it took for the whiskey to get to its destination, it had absorbed flavour and colour from the charred wood making it smoother and amber red in colour. When customers started asking for the red whiskey from Bourbon County, the still owners were mystified because they had shipped crystal clear spirits. Some experimentation led to barrel aging and the art of charring new barrels. Bourbon was born. So why does bourbon have to be made in new oak barrels? Well, bourbon makers consider reusing a barrel akin to reusing a teabag. You still get tea but it’s not as good as the first cup. Then there are rumours about the barrel makers in the US lobbying congress to include the requirement in law to guarantee that they would always have a steady business. Why do Scotch makers use second-hand barrels? It turns out that the Scots are both frugal and patient and don’t mind waiting 10 to 12 years to get 4 years of maturation.
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Making Bourbon Grains Bourbon starts with the mash bill which specifies the grains to be used and in what quantity. Corn must be the predominant grain and in some mash bills it makes up 51% - the minimum allowed by law. In others, it goes up to 75% or 80%. Barley and rye or wheat make up the remainder of the bill. Malted barley is used because it contains natural enzymes that convert starch to sugars that yeast can digest. The grains are milled to varying degrees because some distillers prefer a fine meal consistency. A hammer mill is used to reduce the grains to powder. Other distillers prefer to crush the grains between steel rollers like oatmeal.
Water Water is used to make the milled grains release their starches and allows the malted barley to perform its magic converting starch to sugars. Not just any water will do. It must be free of iron which would foul the spirits. Iron bearing water makes for a sour and off-colour whiskey. Kentucky and Tennessee are blessed with natural sources of iron free water filtered through the limestone bedrock that underlies the two states.
The Mash Once the grains are milled and mixed with water the resulting mash is heated to just below boiling, to avoid destroying the malt enzymes, then cooled to about 32 ° C (90° F.) Yeast, and residual mash from a previous run - this is where the term sour mash comes from - are added . Souring the mash by adding some residual beer from a previous run helps to control the pH of the mash and maintain consistency from batch to batch. The new batch is piped into mash wells made from Cyprus wood or stainless steel. The mash sits in the well for 3 to 5 days during which time the yeast multiplies and feeds off the sugars from the grains producing heat, CO2, and alcohol… lots of alcohol. 30,000 gallons of mash will make about 2,400 gallons of the stuff.
The Yeast All dogs are dogs and all yeast is yeast, just like there are many breeds of dogs, there are many strains of yeast. Every distillery has its own special yeast, cultivated over many years to produce exactly what the distiller wants in terms of alcohol production and flavour profile. Some of the yeast strains are over 60 years old and have been passed on from generation to generation. These yeasts are closely guarded secrets but distillers, being the kind of folks that they are, have been known to share with their secrets with their cousins down the road. It’s all friendly competition with more emphasis on the friendly part.
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Distillation When the ferment is done, the resulting distillers beer is piped to the beer still which is usually a column where the beer enters at the top and flows down over copper plates. Steam enters at the bottom stripping alcohol from the beer, carrying the alcohol vapours to the top of the still. The resulting vapours are then cooled, producing low wines between 80 and 130 proof. Some distilleries use copper pot stills where the beer is heated in the bottom of the pot and the vapours are carried to the top by convection. The result is similar but there are subtle differences. The low wines then go to the doubler where they are redistilled to produce high wines or new make at about 130 to 160 proof. This is now whiskey but not yet bourbon. It is still pretty rough and there’s none of the colour and extra flavours. The new whiskey has to spend time maturing in those new charred oak barrels to get those.
This small test still at Jim Beam shows all the parts with a continuous column still,. The doubler on the right and the “tail boxes� for the low and high wines are all in one neat little package.
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Maturing the spirits Before entering the barrels, or casks, the white dog whiskey or new make is diluted to 125 proof to meet legal requirements and to produce a more mellow bourbon. All of the barrels are made in the USA from white oak and are charred on the inside to a varying degree from lightly “toasted” to deep “alligator” char. Charring the barrel releases sugars in the oak and converts some to caramel. The oak itself provides vanilla and other flavours. Once filled, the barrels are moved to the rick houses or warehouses where they will rest from 3 to 23 years depending on the bourbon being made. The bung (plug) is the weakest part of a barrel so when the barrels are rolled into the ricks, they must be placed so that the bung is on top so the whiskey doesn’t leak out. Getting the bung up is a little trick that requires a lot of practice so when you get things bunged up in the rick house, it’s a good thing don’t you know. In most cases, the rick houses are not climate controlled although distilleries do provide some heat in the winter mainly to keep the sprinkler systems from freezing. In the heat of summer, the whiskey is driven deep into the charred oak to be drawn back out in the colder winter temperatures. Where the barrels are located in the rick house is important. Those down low will age slower than their counterparts at the top. Maturing is a somewhat uncertain process because two barrels side by side in the ricks will age differently—sometimes remarkably so. Each seasonal cycle adds flavour and character to the whiskey until the master distiller deems the contents of the barrel to be just right for the bourbon to be bottled. Each season also brings the price of the angels’ share. About 3% per year is lost so of the 53 gallons that entered the barrel only 32 gallons will remain after 8 years. Loss also includes the 6% to 8% that is lost in the wood as the barrel wets. The angels’ share is very important in maturing whiskey. Without this evaporation the spirits will not oxidize and develop desired flavours. The bit that the angels take away also concentrates the flavours in the whiskey making the resulting bourbon more robust and more satisfying than a cup of tea.
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Dumping and Mingling When the whiskey is mature, the bungs are pulled and the barrel is dumped and collected in stainless steel mingling tanks. Single barrel bourbons are not mingled. They are just dumped and filtered to remove bits of char. Bourbons are aged to maturity rather than a set number of years so most bottles don’t show an age number. When bottles do show the age, it must be that of the youngest barrel used in the mingling. Some bourbons are made by mingling many casks together while others are made from fewer, usually 40 or less, to produce small batch bourbon. Some are the product of a single barrel. Distilleries may chill the new bourbon to just above freezing to gel fatty acids and other compounds that might give the whiskey undesired flavours or show up in a bottle left in the freezer for those who want a cold sip without polluting it with ice. Once chilled the whiskey is passed through a neutral filter which traps these compounds and leaves the whiskey at its finest. Most bourbons are cut from their cask strength, which may be as high as 130 proof or down to 80 to 90 proof, using filtered or distilled limestone water. Some premium bourbons are bottled at cask strength. These are generally between 105 and 125 proof. An odd thing happens with cask strength bourbon. Ice sinks to the bottom of the glass! The new bourbon is then sent to the bottling line where it is lovingly entered into bottles.
Whiskey Trivia: three quarters of all the counties in Kentucky are dry, or have restrictions on the sale of alcohol.
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Bottling While bottling is all done on automated lines, the process can be small and hand controlled by filling bottles in batches or industrial scale by filling hundreds of bottles per minute. Distilleries may use both methods depending on the batch. Before bourbon is entered into the bottle, the bottles are all cleaned thoroughly. In some cases, bourbon is used to flush the bottles. Full bottles are capped and sealed either with a metal screw cap or a “cork� which is then covered by foil or wax.
Filling bottles of Eagle Rare at Buffalo Trace, a few bottles at a time Large scale at Jim Beam, upwards of 300 bottles per minute.
Waxing the corks on Blanton’s at Buffalo Trace
Applying foil seals to Eagle Rare bottles.
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Hand dipping the seal on a bottle of Knob Creek at Jim Beam
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Maker’s Mark Nestled in the hills near Loretto, Maker’s Mark is a family operated distillery producing easy drinking bourbons. The site has been home to whiskey makers since 1805. In 1953, Bill Samuels Sr. purchased the site and started producing Maker’s Mark. Bill Sr’s wife Marjorie gave the whiskey its name, designed the label and the trademark, and chose the bottle shape. Bill inherited a whiskey recipe from his father but chose to develop a new mash bill and burn the old one. According to Maker’s lore, Bill had Marjorie baked hundreds of loaves of bread with different quantities of corn, rye or wheat, and barley because it was cheaper and faster than brewing and distilling spirits but gave a similar flavour profile. He eliminated rye from the mash bill in favour of wheat and the rest is, as they say, history. When Maker’s Mark came out in the late 50s, it was called the bourbon for people who don’t like bourbon. Back then they used the tag line "It tastes expensive ... and is.” Maker’s Mark produces three distinct bourbons from the same mash bill. They are the flagship Maker’s Mark and the new “46,” which gets to spend a little extra time in barrels that have French oak stave inserts. The third variation is Cask Strength, bottled without dilution, at around 113 proof . Bill Samuels Jr. says that if his great-grandfather had produced a bourbon as smooth as Maker’s Mark back in the old days, it would have been called sissy-whiskey. It seems the good old boys on the frontier liked their whiskies raw and mule-kick powerful.
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Maker’s matures their bourbon for about 6 years until it is judged ready to bottle. During this time, the whiskey heats and cools with the seasons and gets drawn into and out of the charred oak picking up flavours from the barrel. Fifty-three gallons go into each barrel and after 6 years only 35 gallons or so remains. The rest is the Angels’ Share. Walking through the warehouse is a sensory experience. The smell of oak and alcohol gives a hint of the magic that is taking place in the barrels.
The cut-away barrels beside Charlotte show the added French Oak staves that give “46” its characteristic flavours. Maker’s Mark produces small batch bourbon. Each batch is bottled from 20 or fewer carefully chosen barrels. Over time, all barrels reach maturity. It just takes some a little longer but there’s no rush.
Whiskey Trivia: George Washington, yes that George Washington, was a whiskey mogul. Liquid Amber
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Once matured, the new bourbon is sent to the bottling line where it meets up with the distinctive Maker’s bottles. Every bottle is inspected to ensure that nothing but Maker’s Mark Bourbon is in the bottle. From here, the bottles get their trademark red wax seal. Every bottle is hand dipped in red wax and every bottle has a unique drip pattern. This pattern is the signature of the person who dipped the bottle. About those glasses? She’s not an undercover agent. They just help her see what’s in the bottle.
A little dip, a turn of the wrist and it’s sealed up tight.
All of the labels used at Maker’s Mark are printed in-house. The ladies who run the print shop can print and cut 6400 labels a day which is just enough to label every bottle of Maker’s.
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The Maker’s Mark experience started at the kitchen where Marjorie Samuels baked the bread to test the mash bill. Bill Samuels Sr. nearly reduced the office to cinders when he burned his great-great-great-grandfather’s recipe from the 1780s in a funnel shaped can that acted more like a rocket nozzle than a fire pit. In the process, Bill Sr.’s daughter got a few singed hairs and there was that hole in the ceiling to mend.
Bill Jr. ran the distillery from the time his father established the business until 2011 when his son Rob Samuels took over as president and CEO, carrying on the family tradition of making fine bourbon with Master Distiller Greg Davis. The grounds around the distillery are more park-like than industrial. Grass and plantings provide a sense of calm that is carried over into Maker’s Mark bourbon. The site was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974 and named a National Historic Landmark in 1980. Many of the buildings at Maker’s Mark are the original structures used in the original distillery in the 1800’s, including the old fire hall. That tall building on the right houses a beer still. This column stands about 5 stories high.
Maker’s two gleaming copper pot stills. Plans are to include a third still identical to the first two in order to increase production.
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A creek runs through the property but, don’t worry, they don’t get the water from it.
The old fire hall complete with a vintage fire engine.
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A special treat for the eye at Maker’s Mark is the glass artwork of master glass blower Dale Chihuly.
The colours of the glass are reminiscent of the blue limestone water, the green of bluegrass, the amber of the bourbon and the red wax seal on each bottle of Maker’s Mark.
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Jim Beam A pleasant drive through the Kentucky hills brings us to Clermont, the home of the largest Bourbon maker, Jim Beam. Seven generations of the Beam family have been making Bourbon since 1795 with a short 13 year pause during Prohibition. The distillery was named after Jim B. Beam who rebuilt the business after the end of Prohibition. The newest master distiller is Fred Noe, who took over the distillery from Jerry Dalton, the only nonBeam family member to be Master Distiller at Beam. Fred’s father, Booker Noe, was Jim Beam’s grandson. It is a family business after all. Booker was master distiller at Jim Beam for over 40 years, overseeing the production of what is now the best selling bourbon in the world. Fred continues the tradition making sure that every drop is worthy of the family name.
James Beauregard Beam, the founder of the modern Jim Beam Company.
Booker Noe, still keeping an eye on the distillery
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Jim Beam uses a mash bill containing corn, rye, and barley. Where Maker’s Mark uses wooden beer wells, Beam uses stainless steal, which is easier to clean. This is an important consideration when one considers the shear volume that Beam distillers produce. Our tour guide, Hunter, jokingly said that Jim Beam spills more whisky in a day than some of the smaller distilleries make in a week. The low wines come out of the column still at about 120 proof and are sent to the pot-still doubler to be redistilled to making high wines at135 proof. The high wines are then cut with water to produce a barrel ready white whiskey at 125 proof.
Whiskey Trivia: One of Jim Beam’s stills produces about 12 gallons per minute, enough to fill a barrel every four and a half minutes with some left over.
The low wines, not quite ready for the Beam name High wines ready to be cut and barrelled.
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Touring the Jim Beam facility provides a glimpse of bourbon making on an industrial scale along side a more gentile small batch and single barrel operation. After barrelling, the new whiskey is trucked to one of the many rick houses on the site to be placed somewhere in the ricks.
During production, the only thing that escapes from the operation is steam and a little bit of alcohol. Visitors to distilleries often remark on the dark discolouration of the buildings. It’s not dirt. Alcohol vapours support a type of black mould that soon covers nearly everything anywhere the vapour is present.
Jim Beam makes a variety of whiskey, from the ubiquitous white label to the more premium brands like Knob Creek, Booker’s, and Baker’s bourbons. Knob Creek whiskeys include the single barrel and small batch bourbons and a rye whiskey made from a predominantly rye mash bill. Booker’s and Baker’s are cask strength bourbons bottled without dilution at around 105 to 123 proof. The angels get their share, but now the devil gets his cut. New to the Beam lineup is Devil’s Cut made by extracting the bourbon that is trapped in the oak. This cut is mixed with extraaged bourbon producing a rich and bold flavour with spicy notes and a hint of black cherry. Keeping tradition alive, Jim Beam also produces Old Grand Dad, a bourbon developed by Basil Hayden in the 1800’s.
Whiskey Trivia: Congress passed the “Whiskey Tax“ in 1791, sparking the Whiskey Rebellion.
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The tour includes a close-up look at the Knob Creek bottling line from dumping the barrel to sealing the cork. The freshly dumped bourbon is filtered to remove bits of char and the single barrel bourbon is bottled at cask strength of 120 proof. The small batch bourbon is reduced to 90 proof for bottling.
Bourbon straight from the barrel.
Each bottle is rinsed with Knob Creek bourbon before filling to ensure that nothing but Knob Creek is in the bottle. The filled bottles are then corked and sealed by hand dipping the neck of the bottle in black wax. The final step is to emboss the wax with the Knob Creek logo. Y’all can put your thumb print on the seal if you want to buy that bottle.
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The “Stillhouse” is a recent addition to the distillery. It is a combination visitor centre and store and is the starting place for tours of the distillery. Visitors can walk the grounds taking in all that the site has to offer. Guided tours take you inside and end up in the tasting room and you can keep your glass.
Jim Beam has a collection of decanter bottles including the Persian-style bottle used in I Dream of Genie.
Whiskey Trivia: The left over mash from the still is sold off to local farmers as cattle feed. No cow tippling here though. The alcohol is all gone.
If you look closely, you will see a Baptist church nestled between two of the rick houses. Two different spiritual pursuits.
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If you have time, stop by Fred’s for a pulled pork sandwich
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Buffalo Trace Buffalo Trace is situated on the east bank of the Kentucky River in Frankfort. The operation takes its name from the trails or traces that migrating buffalo made across the landscape. These traces provided settlers with ready made roads during the settlement era. Buffalo Trace uses metal and brick rick houses to age their whiskies. The brick construction slows down heating and cooling allowing distillers to control the maturation process more closely. In summer months, the warehouse windows are opened to allow the building to ventilate. When winter brings temperatures below 5°C (40°F) the buildings are steam heated to maintain the whiskey at about 16°C. This allows the whiskey to keep maturing and speeds up the aging process so that 4 years of aging will achieve the same results as 6 years in an unheated warehouse. Each master distiller has his own favourite warehouses, Colonel Blanton preferred some buildings whereas Master Distiller Emeritus Elmer T. Lee preferred others. Who can argue with guys who have bourbons named after them? Like other distilleries, Buffalo Trace offers tours of their facilities from the mash room to the tasting room and everything in between. Fred, our tour guide proved to be well versed in the processes involved in making fine bourbons.
Buffalo Trace is the oldest, continuously operating distillery in America. The Old Fashioned Copper Distillery, as it was known at the time, was the only Kentucky distillery to remain open during Prohibition. During those years OFC made “medicinal spirits,” or whiskey for the ill. All you had to do was ask your doctor for a prescription and you could get a pint of 100 proof whiskey every 10 days. Fortunately for OFC, there were a lot of ailments going around at the time.
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Buffalo Trace Bourbons Master Distiller Harlen Wheatley oversees the production of Buffalo Trace products from the signature small batch bourbon which bears the Buffalo Trace name to single barrel bourbons like Stagg, Eagle Rare, Elmer T. Lee, and Blanton’s. The Stagg bourbons are uncut and unfiltered making for a bold character.
The single barrel bourbons are bottled in small quantities with hand operated filling machines. Corks and seals are applied by hand and every bottle is inspected carefully to ensure the highest quality product. The Blanton’s line is particularly labour intensive, Each filled bottle receives a cork topped with a horse and jockey. There are eight different corks in the collection. Each bottle of Blanton’s is sealed with a bead of black or gold wax before having its label affixed by hand. The barrel number, date, and proof are all handwritten by retired employees. Then, each finished bottle is placed in a cloth bag and put in a decorative box.
Finishing touches on Blanton’s Single Barrel
In partnership with the Old Rip Van Winkle company, Buffalo Trace makes the Van Winkle series of wheated bourbons. Twenty-three year old Pappy Van Winkle is one of the most prestigious whiskeys on the market... when it’s available. Chosen from the heart of the rick house, each barrel of 23 year old bourbon contains only a few precious gallons, making this a premium bourbon with a premium price… $100 a shot in Lexington.
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The distillery grounds are a mix of industrial and natural elements. Driving into the site, visitors pass through a park with trees and lawns and several historical buildings from bygone days. In 2001, under one of its old names, George T. Stagg Distillery, the property was placed in the National Register of Historic Places and in 2013 Buffalo Trace was designated a National Historic Landmark. The site contains one of the oldest, if not the oldest, buildings in the original Leestown settlement. Built in the late 1700s the building remains at the heart of Buffalo Trace..
Whiskey Trivia: Buffalo Trace makes around 3,500,000 gallons of bourbon every year. That would enough whiskey to fill over 17,000,000 750ml bottles..
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Woodford Reserve In the woods outside of Versailles, we find Woodford Reserve, a small batch distillery specializing in a limited number of quality bourbons. Woodford’s regular bourbons include Woodford Reserve Distiller’s Select and Woodford Reserve Double Oaked. If you ever see a Woodford bourbon in a bottle shaped like a pot still, buy it, because these are the Masters Collection series. They are special, one time only, bourbons. The distillery was established in 1790 by the Pepper family and became known as the Oscar Pepper Distillery. They engaged the services of Dr. James Crow in the mid 1800s and he set to studying, understanding, and refining the bourbon-making processes of sour mash fermentation, pot still distillation, and barrel maturation. Before Dr. Crow’s work, these processes were poorly understood and often resulted in bad whiskey. Woodford bourbons are well balance with distinctive character with just the right amount of sweetness from 72% corn, and spice from 18% rye, in the mash bill. The whiskey is triple distilled using their pot stills. The third still, or spirit still, redistills the high wines for a more polished whiskey. The high corn mash bill and triple distillation give Woodford Reserve a distinctive and unique character. Woodford Reserve is the official bourbon of the Kentucky Derby which is something to crow about.
The visitor centre at Woodford reserve sports a comfortable place to relax by the fire and the wall of Woodford Reserve bourbon. Tours include a trip to the tasting room where you can compare the bourbons for yourself and enjoy a chocolate bourbon ball.
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Situated in a hollow and right beside a horse farm, the Woodford Reserve distillery is picturesque and particularly peaceful. The stone and brick buildings blend in with the landscape making Woodford one of the most beautiful sites along the trail. Woodford is also in the National Register of Historic Places and a National Historic Landmark.
Master Distiller Chris Morris, the seventh master distiller in the company’s history, is responsible for maintaining the award winning taste of Woodford’s fine bourbons. If you have the inkling and the cash, you can buy a whole barrel of your favourite Woodford Reserve. You get to personally select your barrel from a group chosen by the master distiller. If you can’t get there, they will link you up for a virtual selection session.
Whiskey Trivia: The dates used on whiskey barrels include months designated from A to L so there’s no confusion about January, June, or July. Those would be A, F, and G. on the barrel.
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Four Roses The Four Roses brand was established in 1888 by Rufus Mathewson Rose, his brother Origen, and their two sons which may explain the name. The current distillery, outside of Lawrenceburg, was built in the Spanish Mission Style in 1910 and is listed in the National Registry of Historic Places. Four Roses produces 10 separate bourbons based on two mash bills and five yeasts. Only three of these bourbons are readily available in North America. They are the Yellow Label, Small Batch, and Single Barrel. The “Marriage Selection” is available seasonally and the remainder include anniversary editions and bourbons destined for overseas markets. The overseas market was their prime focus for bourbon sales and for forty years between 1971 and 2011, they did not sell any bourbon in the North American market opting to sell blended whiskies overseas. All of the whiskies produced under the watchful eye of Master Distiller Jim Rutledge at the Lawrenceburg distillery are barreled and matured at the company’s Cox Creek site. Unique to Four Roses, barrels are housed in single story rick houses. Aging in the low rick houses slows the maturation process allowing the whiskey to develop distinctive flavours and aromas.
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Four Roses uses Cyprus, Douglas Fir, and stainless steel fermentation wells to create their distiller’s beer. With two different mash bills and 10 different bourbons, the wells are in constant use, keeping the wooden wells wet and sealed tight. Our guide, Walker, encouraged us to take a taste of the beer and it does taste like beer but a little grainy.
The column beer still and copper pot still produce the new make which is stored in stainless steel vats before being trucked to the Cox Creek site. While the column beer stills are efficient, the old-style pot stills seem somehow more romantic. Four Roses has a private barrel selection program but y’all need a liquor license so that leaves out struggling travel writers.. Tours at both sites conclude with a tasting of the three signature bourbons and you get to keep the glass... definitely worth the price of admission.
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Wild Turkey Wild Turkey’s distillery is found high up on the south bank of the Kentucky River near Tyrone just east of Lawrenceburg. The name is said to come from a time when Thomas McCarthy, a distillery executive, took some warehouse samples on a wild turkey hunting trip, after which his friends asked for “some of that wild turkey whiskey”. The name stuck and became one of the iconic bourbons.
Wild Turkey is home to Master Distiller Jimmy Russel, the longest tenured active Master Distiller in the world. A legend in the industry, Jimmy is responsible not only for producing fine bourbon but also for pioneering flavoured whiskeys and liqueurs. Jimmy says that he has never worked a day in his life. He’s just passionate about making bourbon. As a student in high school he always said that he wanted to be a professional baseball player. Well that didn’t work out but he did find his calling. He can often be seen in the visitor centre talking to guests about Wild Turkey. Tours start at the visitor centre where visitors can purchase their favourite Wild Turkey whiskey and memorabilia. The tour covers the making of bourbon from start to finish. All of the operations are carried out on site.
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Wild Turkey uses stainless steel fermentation and beer wells. The fermentation wells typically hold 30,000 gallons of mash and the beer wells weigh in at 42,000 gallons.
42,000 gallons of distiller’s beer requires a big still and Wild Turkey has one. As with other distilleries, the low wines from the beer still are sent to a doubler to become high wines and the new make for barreling. In the barreling room, the new make is entered into the barrels at 125 proof as required.
The barreling process is a hands on activity. New barrels arrive by conveyors and are rolled into position under the filling nozzles. An operator monitors the filling process and fits the bung with a solid rap of a mallet when the barrel has its 53 gallon load.
Whiskey Trivia: Whiskey is the most regulated and taxed product in the United States.
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All that bourbon is just resting right there, breathing in and out with the changing seasons, soaking up what the barrel has to offer and feeding the angels their share until bottling time rolls around. Sometimes the angels get greedy and take a whole barrel but that’s the way the magic of bourbon making works.
When the barrels have rested long enough and the whiskey is matured to just the right level to meet Jimmy’s standard, the barrels are selected and dumped. Samples of each barrel or batch go to the quality control room where the new bourbon is subjected to some high-tech tests to check for clarity and alcohol level.
Once it gets the nod from the chemist, the whiskey is sent to a panel of tasters who taste the bourbon. By comparing it to a standard sample, they give the final verdict on whether the bourbon is worthy to bear the label.
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The Wild Turkey Breeds Wild Turkey produces six distinct bourbons, two rye whiskies, and two liqueurs. On the bourbon lineup we can find: Wild Turkey 81, a high rye bourbon bottled at 81 proof well suited for cocktails Wild Turkey 101, bottled at 101 proof, this bourbon has character with notes of vanilla, honey, caramel, brown sugar, and tobacco. It’s best served neat or with ice. Wild Turkey Rare Breed, bottled at 108 proof, this one is a blend of 6, 8, and 12 year old barrels. Jimmy suggests that you keep it in the freezer so you don’t have to dilute it with ice. Russel’s Reserve 10, selected from the centre of the warehouses from barrels aged to ten years and bottled at 90 proof. This bourbon has deep vanilla toffee flavours. Russel’s Reserve Single Barrel, from the centre of the warehouse, and bottled at 110 proof with notes of vanilla, caramel, and liquorice. Kentucky Spirit, a single barrel bourbon bottled at 101 proof. Expect flavours of vanilla, almonds, honey, blackberries, and leather. Other bourbons are crafted for sale overseas and are not usually available in North America. Like other distilleries, Wild Turkey does not offer a ride home program so visitors can choose any two of the whiskies to sample in the tasting room. Discerning bourbon connoisseurs will choose carefully from Russel’s Reserve and Kentucky Spirit, the premium labels. Our guide, Edwina, even let us keep the Wild Turkey old fashion glass. It is simple and rugged and just right for sipping some Russel’s Reserve Single Barrel chilled ,without ice, of course.
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Heaven Hill Heaven Hill is a family owned distillery just outside of Bardstown. Since its founding in 1935, just after the repeal of Prohibition, the Shapiro family has employed master distillers from the Beam family, starting with Joseph L. Beam, Jim Beam’s first cousin. The current master distillers are Parker Beam and his son Craig. Heaven Hill produces two flagship bourbons, Elijah Craig and Evan Williams, as well as their Heaven Hill brand. In all, the family produces fifteen different bourbons. Recently they have expanded their portfolio to include gin, malt whiskey, and vodka, but bourbon is still the cornerstone of the business. Barreling, aging, and bottling are all done at the Bardstown facility. The actual distillery is now in Louisville following a fire that destroyed the original plant in 1996. The inferno burned 90,000 barrels of bourbon and set loose a river of flaming bourbon that flowed down to the creek setting the water ablaze for several hours.
Oddly, one of the bourbons is named T. W. Samuels. Now T. W. was a distiller and High Sherriff for Nelson County back in the 1860s. T. W. was also a direct ancestor of the very same Samuels family that owns Maker’s Mark. It’s probably just a coincidence.
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Willett This family owned and operated distillery is just down the road a piece from Heaven Hill. Willett is a small operation employing 14 to 16 people including 4 family members. The company was formed in 1935 by A. Lambert Willett. From 1980 to 2012 Willett distilled its whiskies at other distilleries nearby. As part of the site’s restoration, new stills were installed and on-site production was once again underway. We’ll give them some time to get on with it. Most of their bourbons have been labelled with names other than Willett but that is changing. Willett bourbons can be found under the names of somewhat fictitious distilleries like Old Bardstown Distilling Company for the Old Bardstown bourbon brand and the Noah's Mill Distilling Company for the Noah's Mill bourbon brand. The new distilling operation uses a column still, a doubler, and a pot still which is an exact replica of the original still used by the company in the 1980s. Willet Family Estate bourbons can only be purchased by the barrel, a very customized service, for the bourbon connoisseur.
Whiskey Trivia: During the 1970s energy crisis, Willett stopped making whiskey and started producing ethanol for gasohol fuel. They gave it up after gas prices dropped. Exploring the Bourbon Heartland
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Town Branch Right in the heart of Lexington you can find a small distillery called Town Branch, named after the river that flowed through the city before it flowed under the city. Here Master Distiller Mark Coffman crafts some fine bourbon. The site also houses a craft brewery that uses their spent whiskey barrels to age the beer. This diminutive distillery makes bourbon, a rye whiskey, and a single malt whisky reminiscent of the Scottish lowlands. The barrel aged beer is a treat for the pallet but packs a punch. Those barrels give up an extra kick of alcohol that raises the alcohol content to around 12%. Town Branch uses copper pot stills from Scotland for all of its whiskey production from start to finish. Their bourbons are made with corn, rye, and malted barley which is mashed, fermented and distilled before barreling. Their maturation process produces a very smooth bourbon that is best enjoyed neat or with a very small bit of ice. In February 2015, Town Branch released their single barrel bourbon, bottled at cask strength, so the proof varies. This one is big and bold with lots of vanilla and caramel and just the right amount of spice from the rye. It’s not chill-filtered so it’s best not to put it in the freezer. Town Branch also makes a liqueur called Bluegrass Sundown which is infused with coffee. This one could make you give up Irish Coffee for good. Tasting is limited to two products so go as a group and share. The tour comes with a free Town Branch whiskey glass.
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Whiskey Trivia: Distilleries pay $13 federal excise tax, per year, on every gallon of whiskey from the moment it is distilled to the time it is sold. So if you have 5,000,000 barrels at 53 gallons per barrel...
The bright and lively visitor centre is done up in Irish style. Visitors can purchase bottles of Town Branch products and memorabilia.
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Bulliet Frontier Located in south Louisville, Bulliet Frontier is a new resident at the StitzelWeller distillery. While it may be new to the site, this whiskey has a long but punctuated history having recently been resurrected from an old family tradition of distilling. The first batch of Bulleit bourbon was made around 1830 by Augustus Bulleit. Augustus produced his whiskey but it was discontinued after his death in 1860. The new recipe has changed greatly from the one Augustus used. That whiskey used about two-thirds rye and one-third corn in the mash bill making it a rye whiskey in today’s market. Tom Bulleit, Augustus’s great-great-grandson, reincarnated the family brand in 1987 and oversaw the distillation of the first batch of the modern-day Bulleit bourbon. The new bourbon has a relatively high rye content (28%) and is aged for a relatively long time as these things go. Bulleit uses a filtering process that reduces the phenol content making a smooth whiskey with no “off” flavours. Bulliet is made down the road a piece at Four Roses in Lawrenceburg but you have to go to Louisburg to get the low-down on this bourbon and sample the range of Bulleit whiskeys. Bulleit Frontier was closed the day that I made my way over to Louisburg from Lexington, but it is one of my favourite bourbons for just sitting a spell and relaxing with a glass of liquid amber. Bottled at 90 proof, Bulliet is a smooth whiskey, surprisingly mellow considering the high rye content in the mash bill. New to the Bulleit line is the 10 year old bourbon, but it is still hard to find in Canada.
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Jack Daniel’s Now for that side trip to Lynchburg, Tennessee to see why Jack isn’t bourbon. Remember those rules for making bourbon? Well Jack Daniel’s meets all of them. They use at least 51% corn, they distill to no more than 160 proof, they cut the new make to 125 proof before aging the whiskey in new, charred American white oak barrels, they bottle at no less than 80 proof, and they don’t add any flavours or colour.. So why isn’t it bourbon? Well, it seems that there’s a fine line that Tennessee whiskey makers cross. They mellow the new make by passing it through upwards of ten feet of maple charcoal. This process takes a long time and strips out some of the less desirable compounds in the whiskey like those fatty acids. In Lynchburg they call it the “extra blessing.” This one step is enough to make it “not bourbon.” Then again, there’s lots of folks who call that malarkey. It is best not to get into it. Jack Daniel’s is the highest selling American whiskey in the world but that doesn’t include Lynchburg. You see Lynchburg is in Moore County which has been dry since Prohibition. It seems that there just aren’t enough people in the county to repeal the dry status. So you can’t get a drink of Old No. 7 in town. You can, however, buy souvenir bottles in the local shops. You’re buying the bottles and what’s in those bottles is of no concern until you get it out of Moore County. Jack Daniel’s produces Jack Daniel’s and that’s it, no more, no less. There’s Old No. 7 named after the original registration number of the distillery, or the number of girlfriends Jack had, or not. Old No. 7 is bottled at 80 proof. It used to be 90 but for economic and tax reasons they lowered the proof. There used to be a green label No. 7 which was 80 proof from the get go but why print two different labels for the same whiskey? Gentleman Jack is run through the charcoal before and after barreling so it’s more mellow and would be the Jack for people who don’t like Jack. It’s also cut to 80 proof to make an easier drinking whiskey and to keep the tax man from the door. Single Barrel Select is from a single barrel carefully selected from the best in the rick houses. You can buy a whole barrel if you are so inclined. You get to choose from barrels selected by the Master Distiller Jeff Arnett and have it bottled and shipped to your door. You even get to 240 bottles of Barrel keep the barrel. What does this service cost you ask? Only $10,000 to Select, all from the $12,000 depending on how many bottles are in your barrel. For those of same barrel. us with shallower pockets, you can buy individual bottles of Barrel Select at your better purveyors of whiskey. Exploring the Bourbon Heartland
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A little history is in order before we get much further. Jack Daniel was born in 1850, or 1846 or 1849. Take your pick because nobody knows for sure. Jasper Newton, “Jack” Daniel ‘s mother, died in 1849 or 1847. That pretty much narrows it down the date. Who knew it was going to be important? Jack’s father was killed in the Civil War so Jack was left in the care of his step-mother, whom he did not like. At the tender age of 8 (or so), he left home, and was taken in by Dan Call, a preacher and moonshiner. This is where Jack learned the trade. When the local parish decided that preaching and moonshining were mutually incompatible “spiritual” occupations, Preacher Call sold the still to 14 year old Jack for $21. Now Jack knew of a limestone cavern that produced the best spring water in the county so he set to making whiskey right by the creek that runs from the cave. He adopted barrel aging and found that running the raw whiskey through charcoal made for a better, more enjoyable drink. He built his distillery and added the big stills and rick houses to age his barrels. Jack’s motto was “Every day we make it, we make it the best we can.” And they do. A man of diminutive stature, he only stood 5 feet 2 inches tall. Jack was a gentleman. He employed his nephew Lem Motlow to keep the books and manage parts of the business so he could focus on making whiskey. One day Jack came in early, ahead of Lem, who always opened the safe on arrival. Finding the safe locked and having forgotten the combination, Jack kicked it so hard that he broke his big toe. He never sought medical attention and within a few years he developed gangrene and had to have his leg amputated. Jack died in 1911 from blood poisoning. The moral of the story is never go to work early because it’s bad for your health. Now Jack may have had several girlfriends but he never took to settling down and having children so Lem inherited the business when Jack died. That’s why it says Lem Motlow -Proprietor on the sign at the distillery. Lem ran the business until it was time to pass it on to his 4 sons when he died. In 1956, the family sold the business to the BrownForman company for a tidy $20,000,000. Since Jack’s days, the distillery has grown a tad with 81 barrel houses on the hill tops around the site giving Jack Daniel’s an aging inventory of around 2.2 million barrels.
Jack Trivia: Jack Daniel stood 5’2” tall and wore size 4 shoes, but his statues all have size 12 shoes to keep him from toppling over.
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Now that the history lesson is over, let’s start with a trip to the charcoal yard where ricks of sugar maple are burned in a controlled process to make the filtering medium. The fire is started using uncut 140 proof whiskey to start the fire and set it to burning really hot. Just when the wood is charcoal, and before it turns to ash, they spray good clean limestone water on it to stop
the burn. Y’all should know that it’s an art that takes some time getting used to. All y’all maple syrup lovers can relax because the climate in Tennessee is too mild for sugaring. Once the charcoal has cooled, it is taken to the shed to be ground into smaller pieces to maximize surface contact with the new whiskey.
The charcoal nuggets are placed in a large wooden well and packed in good and tight to make sure that every drop of the whiskey gets mellowed. The charcoal mellowing process takes 4 to 6 days and every drop flows from the top of the well to the bottom aided only by gravity. Charcoal mellowing is called the Lincoln County Process and is named after the county that Jack Daniel’s distillery and Lynchburg were in when the process was developed. County lines have been redrawn since then and today none of the distillery using the process is in Lincoln County. The slow mellowing process at Jack Daniel’s is said to give the whiskey a two year head start before it hits the barrel for aging. There is no set time for changing out the charcoal. Tasters determine when it needs to be done. Charcoal mellowing gives Jack a smoother finish while still hanging on to some of that raw, mule-kick, character that Old No. 7 drinkers cherish.
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Next stop is the limestone cave where Jack got the water for his whiskey. You can taste the water and cool down in the shade on a hot day. This would be the perfect place to sit a spell and sample a little of that Old No. 7.
Now y’all need to be careful because there’s this endless stream of trucks coming and going all day. It takes a lot of grain to make whiskey, don’t you know. The tour includes the mashing and fermenting, the still house
with it’s massive column stills, a trip to the old office, some time by the limestone cave, and the barrel select bottling room where you can see what y’all are going to get when you buy that barrel.
If you find yourself in Lynchburg, stop by the Bar -B-Que Caboose Café for a pulled pork sandwich and a cup of lemonade, which is about the strongest drink in town.
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We can’t leave Jack Daniel’s without a visit to the tasting room which is the only place in Lynchburg where you can get a real drink. Well, a little sample anyway. Here visitors are taught the right way to enjoy Jack Daniel’s. First, hold the glass to your mouth and breathe in. This way you don’t get overwhelmed by the alcohol and you can smell and taste the aroma. Then take a sip, but don’t swallow. Instead, mash the whiskey against the top of your mouth with your tongue. This lets the whiskey flow down the front and sides of your tongue where your taste buds are most active. Then, swallow and enjoy the warm feeling that drinking Jack gives you.
The visitor centre includes all kinds of Jack Daniel’s history including the different bottle styles used over the years. You can even have one of those “souvenir” bottles laser engraved with your name or some great quote from Jack Daniel’s lore.
A final note before we leave Jack Daniel’s. Employees get paid once a month with a cheque and a bottle of Old No. 7. No wonder they are all happy.
And that, as they say, it that. Thanks to all of the guides and other folks at the distilleries who made for an enjoyable and educational journey.
Mr. Jack with our tour guide Cortney who also stands 5’2” tall and wears size 4 shoes. Exploring the Bourbon Heartland
Jack Trivia: The makers of Tabasco use Jack Daniel’s barrels to age their sauce. That’s why Tabasco is so good, there’s a little bit of Jack in every bottle. 43
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Epilogue I have avoided using the words Bourbon Trail for two reasons. It’s a trademark of the Kentucky Distillers Association and it does not include all of the distilleries that this book is about. Buffalo Trace is not on the official Trail. Also, I did not have the pleasure of visiting the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience. They were closed for a special event on the day I planned my trip to Louisville. Too little time and too many distilleries. There are many new small craft-style distilleries popping up around Kentucky that I did not have time to visit but are worth mentioning by name. They are: Barrel House Distilling Co., Lexington Limestone Branch Distillery, Lebanon New Riff Distillery, Newport Wilderness Trail Distillery, Danville
Corsair Artisan Distillery, Bowling Green MB Roland Distillery, Pembroke The Old Pogue Distillery, Maysville
A word about ownership is probably in order to complete the tale. All but two of the distilleries mentioned in this book are owned by large corporations but still operated by local interests or families. Luckily, the corporations let the bourbon makers get on with their trade unhindered and the products are as good as, or better than, they have ever been. Those corporations and their associated distilleries are: Beam Suntory - Jim Beam and Maker’s Mark, Brown Forman - Jack Daniel’s and Woodford Reserve, Sazerac - Buffalo Trace, Kirin - Four Roses, Alltech - Town Branch, Diageo - Bulleit Frontier, and Campari Group - Wild Turkey Now, about that “not bourbon” distinction… there is nothing in the regulations that specifically prohibits charcoal filtering. Some pundits claim that because the Lincoln County Process gives Tennessee whiskey a distinct character, it is not bourbon. Others say that it’s all technically the same by law so it is technically all bourbon. I’m not taking sides. Y’all can decide for yourselves just don’t press the point in Kentucky or Tennessee or you could find out why being happy is better than being right. I devoted more “ink” to some distilleries than others, partly because they have big stories and partly because I like their products. No apologies. It is just the way it is. Visiting the home of Kentucky Bourbon and Tennessee Whiskey was on my bucket list for a long time. While there’s now a tick mark beside that entry, I would be remiss in saying that I would not return one day. Drink responsibly and drink with friends. If you spin a good enough yarn, they won’t notice that y’all are drinking their bourbon.
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AllAmber original Liquid
content and photography is Copyright J. Nicklin 2015, all rights reserved.
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