What's The Deal With Wild Yeast In Bourbon Making?

I have written that Jim Beam uses 'wild yeast' and was just asked twice in as many days what I mean. Unfortunately, the term 'wild yeast' is used by different people to mean different things. In the case of Jim Beam and other 'practical distillers' of American whiskey, here is what it means.

Yeast is, of course, required for fermentation, which is how alcohol is made. Yeast eat sugar and produce alcohol, carbon dioxide, and also flavors. There are millions of different yeast strains and each produces different flavors.

To obtain a 'wild yeast' for making whiskey, a yeast maker would mix up a yeast mash from his own personal recipe, typically one taught to him by his father or uncle. The yeast mash would be a different recipe from the whiskey mash, as its purpose was to make yeast, not whiskey. He would set it in a preferred location and wait. Booker Noe told me that Jim Beam used his screened-in back porch and 'stank up the house' according to Mrs. Beam.

The yeast maker would wait until the mash began to ferment. He would then watch it, smell it, and taste it, to see if it had the qualities he preferred. If it didn't he would try again, over and over, until he got one he liked. He would then propagate it, typically keeping it cool so it would work slowly, periodically transferring some of it to fresh mash in another container, keeping it alive the way a baker does with sour dough starter. This was known as 'jug yeast' because it was kept in a sealed container that looked like an old time milk jug.

The yeast strain would be cultivated in this way and used for as long as possible, indefinitely if it made good whiskey. This was the great skill of the old time distillers, who were sometimes referred to as 'distiller and yeast maker.' Craig Beam has described to me how his grandfather, Earl Beam, taught him how to use the Heaven Hill distillery's version of the Beam family jug yeast to produce enough yeast for production. It was a three day operation that had to be done once a week. That was Craig's first lesson in distilling.

Eddie and Jimmy Russell also have told me yeast making is the distiller's most fundamental skill.

Craig and Eddie have only learned how to propagate the jug yeast for production. They haven't learned how to make yeast from scratch. I asked Craig Beam if he thought anyone today could make a good whiskey jug yeast from scratch. His answer was "maybe."

Kentucky Bourbon Trail Breaks Passport Record.

In Bardstown last week at the Kentucky Bourbon Festival, I saw several people wearing the brown T-shirts that proclaim their completion of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. Yesterday the Kentucky Distillers Association (KDA) announced that it has surpassed last year’s record number of visitors who toured all of its legendary distilleries and completed the souvenir 'passport' program.

Here is a tip for people who live in the north like I do. When fall really starts to hit Chicago, it's still summer in Kentucky for another two or three weekends.

The Bourbon Trail record was apparently broken some time ago. Yesterday's announcement said that through August of this year, more than 4,000 visitors had returned their completed passport to the KDA and received a commemorative T-shirt for their accomplishment. The total for all of 2009 was 3,000 and the total since the program started in 2007 was 8,000 before 2010 began. So, yeah, it's catching on.

The point of this isn't that 4,000 people had their passports stamped at every Bourbon Trail distillery, or that the number for all of 2010 might be 5,000 or more. It is that each 'passporter' represents X-number of other people who didn't do the passport, but did spend some time engaged in whiskey-related tourism. If the passport program is growing then it's a pretty good bet that whiskey tourism itself is growing at a similar pace, i.e., rapidly.

Tennessee's Jack Daniel's is still the tourism king, with about 250,000 visitors a year. (It probably goes without saying that Jack Daniel's is not on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.) Several Kentucky distilleries now draw at least 100,000 people a year, and they're all reporting growth. Several have upgraded their visitor experience in recent years or are in the process of doing so now, most notably Jim Beam at its main Clermont plant.

Both of Kentucky's main cooperages (barrel makers) now offer public tours.

What's also happening is that other businesses are noticing these numbers and wondering where whiskey tourists like to stay, what they like to eat, and what they like to do when they're not visiting distilleries, other than drink whiskey. Louisville has instituted its own Urban Bourbon Trail (UBT) which focuses on bar-restaurants with a particular focus on bourbon. Several of the UBT spots are in hotels.

The Kentucky Bourbon Trail passport program also helps the KDA develop demographic and psychographic data about bourbon tourists, again assuming the passporters are representative. They are coming from all over the place, including many foreign countries, although the greatest numbers are coming from adjacent states such as Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and...yes...Tennessee.

What Is Tennessee Whiskey?

Question: What is Tennessee Whiskey?

Answer: Tennessee Whiskey is whiskey made in Tennessee.

Question: What does "made" mean?

Answer: "Made" can mean "barreled, aged & hand bottled," apparently.

Ergo...

First Taste; Knob Creek Single Barrel.

I've written about Knob Creek Single Barrel several times since rumors of it first reached me in July. Last Friday I finally had a chance to put some in my mouth. The details of this new release, and a picture, are here.

I was in Bardstown, Kentucky, last week for the annual Kentucky Bourbon Festival and the kind folks at Beam Global arranged for me to have my first taste of Knob Single Barrel poured by Fred Noe, on the back porch of his dad's house, which was also Jim Beam's house. It was a lovely, warm, late-summer day, so what could be better?

With us was Don McGrew, who works in Research and Development for Beam. How great a job must that be?

They'll do fine with this product because it is positioned as a step-up for current Knob Creek drinkers, just like Maker's 46 is positioned primarily as a step-up or change-of-pace for regular Maker's Mark drinkers. If either product happens to bring new drinkers to the brands that's great, but not the main objective. (It's also about controlling shelf-keeping units [SKUs], but that's a bit too inside, isn't it?)

Fred poured some regular Knob and some of the new Single Barrel. On nosing, the higher alcohol content of the Single Barrel was the first thing I noticed. On first sip, the Single Barrel seemed less flavorful than regular, but that was the alcohol bloom obscuring everything else. It opened up with a little water.

The two are very similar, as you might expect. The Single Barrel also bears a strong resemblance to Booker's, not surprising either as the specifications are very similar. (e.g., Booker's is barrel proof and Knob Single Barrel is nearly so.) There is an earthiness in regular Knob that I did not detect in the Single Barrel. It tastes very clean, like Booker's.

The primary appeal of Knob Single Barrel will be its higher 120° proof (60% alcohol). Think of it as getting 20 percent more whiskey, instead of water. Since that's about the price premium they're really the same price if you think of it that way. You can drink it neat (very carefully) or dilute it to taste. If you're an on-the-rocks drinker the Single Barrel will stand-up much better, although at 100° proof regular Knob is no slouch.

The other attraction is the opportunity to experience slight variations from bottle to bottle (i.e., barrel to barrel). For that you will need to buy several different bottles, but I'm sure the folks at Beam are okay with that.

I asked Fred and Don if the profile for selecting barrels for Single Barrel was different in any way from regular Knob. They said no except with regard to color. They looked for darker whiskey to help distinguish the two bottles on the shelf.

In conclusion, Knob Creek Bourbon is a good thing and Knob Creek Single Barrel is even more of a good thing. Our work concluded, we three just drank and told stories for the next two hours. A good day.

They Did It! Signs At The KBF!

I have complained for years that the Kentucky Bourbon Festival (KBF) needs more signs, starting with big ones as you come into town, welcoming visitors to the KBF. It seems like a little thing, also an obvious one. It's a big deal, right? Then why keep it a secret?

As you can see from the pictures above and below, they've taken a step in the right direction. I saw at least two of the official welcome signs, on major thoroughfares coming into town. Also saw the sign boards on two different restaurants with a 'welcome KBF' message. That sort of thing goes a long way toward making out-of-towners feel ... well ... welcome!

I was told by someone in a position to know that Bardstown has a sign board with very restrictive policies. Every time the festival proposes more signs their requests are denied.

But the new signs are a step in the right direction. Still, the sign promoting St. Monica's Parish Festival in October is bigger and in a better location.

Find It If You Can.

It's Fleischmann's Rye, a straight rye whiskey made at Tom Moore (Sazerac's distillery in Bardstown). It's the only straight rye they sell, only sold in northern Wisconsin, only in handles (1.75 L plastic bottles). It's not great (too young), but not bad. It's cheap.

Fleischmann's is an old brand that has passed through many owners. There is a Fleischmann's Preferred American Blended Whiskey that is more widely distributed but apparently the rye sells well enough in this one part of Wisconsin to justify its continued production. 

I wonder if by "premium taste through the years" they mean "but not right now."

A Shot of Knob Creek Takes On New Meaning.

At exit 117 on I-65, the Shepherdsville exit, one of the attractions listed on the highway sign is the Knob Creek Gun Range, where the next machine gun shoot is scheduled for October 8-10.

Shepherdsville and Bullit County are also proud of the nearby Jim Beam Distillery at Clermont (exit 112), where Knob Creek Bourbon is made.

Knob Creek is a real creek. The gun range is on it. The distillery is not.