This will be short and sweet. I was with Lew Bryson, Fred Minnick, and Dave Waddell on November 15th as the first outsiders to see the new experimental aging warehouse nearing completion at Buffalo Trace Distillery. (Left to right that's Waddell, me, Bryson, and Minnick.)
You should read Lew Bryson's article about it here, with pictures by Fred Minnick. I have little to add except that I admire the willingness of Sazerac/Buffalo Trace to invest real money in experiments that won't yield any useful results for decades, and maybe not even then. That's what companies do when 'long-term thinking' is more than just a commercially-attractive catch phrase.
One thing Mark Brown said that day that struck me: part of their preparation for this was to see what other research has been done on making bourbon. Virtually all of it, he said, was about how to age bourbon faster. None of it was about how to age bourbon better.
Fred 'took' the photograph above, even though he is in it. He set it up. Someone else pushed the button, which is an important job too.
5 comments:
Mr. Chuck,
Point of clarification please...Is "None of it was about how to age bourbon better." attributable to Mark Brown or yourself?
Many thanks for regularly sharing your tremendous insights!
what's in your right hand?
That was Mr. Brown's statement.
The bottle in my hand is Single Oak No. 59.
Hi Chuck - You couldn't have been 'the first' visitors to "Warehouse X" on November 15th... I and a few other restauranteurs from Colorado were there in October, during the annual White Dog Days celebration. Just wanted to pass that along - love the blog!
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