Squeezing the Barrel, and the Public Purse

Yesterday was goodie day at the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority (KEDFA), where several well-known small-government conservative Republican distillery owners and wanna-bees lined up with their hands out. Toyota was the greatest beneficiary of taxpayer largesse ($145 million), but several bourbon companies also got a taste.

Among them was Maker’s Mark, which got $100,000 in incentives to support its $8.2 million plan to “extract additional gallons” from its barrels by introducing “a state-of-the-art rinse process” in a new facility at the distillery, according to the Courier-Journal.

Angel’s Envy, through one of its many cross-owned affiliate companies, won approval for as much as $800,000 in incentives for up to 10 years, and also $72,000 in state sales tax rebates, according to Business First.

Previously approved incentives for Michter’s and Wild Turkey were extended.

From Maker's Mark we get squeezing but from Angel's Envy, all we get is teasing.

According to its KEDFA filing, Angel's Envy estimates that within its first three years of operation, it will make a total investment of $10 million in building materials and capital equipment. The project is expected to create 40 new jobs with an average hourly wage of $25 and a total estimated payroll of $1.5 million. The proposed distillery will include a column still, bottling line, grain-handling equipment, and barrel storage, according to the Lexington Herald Leader.

The Herald Leader spoke to Chris Poynter, spokesman for Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, who would not name a specific site but said that the city and the state have been talking to Angel's Envy about a project that would be part distillery and part visitors center for the Main/Market corridor in what is historically Louisville's Whiskey Row area, now under redevelopment.

Angel’s Envy has been teasing the distillery project for about three years, with company representatives typically saying they expect to make an announcement "soon" or in "30 to 60 days." They did it again a week ago and, as of today, have missed yet another of their own deadlines. A Louisville architecture firm has proclaimed itself the winner in a competition to design the new facility, but the company remains silent about its intentions.

Last week, a published rumor identified the site as the old Vermont American factory on Main Street opposite Louisville Slugger Field.

The Hendersons are well-liked and everyone is pulling for them, but fans need to curb their enthusiasm. Remember Willett/KBD? They resumed distilling about a year ago, but only after 20 years of promising it would happen "soon." No one wants Angel’s Envy to become the next "Distillery That Cried ‘Wolf.’"

In related news, Poynter also told the Herald Leader that there are more whiskey attractions on the way for Louisville. "We have most of the major distilleries looking at some sort of presence in downtown,” he said.

Maker's Mark has not given details about its 'new process,' beyond the KEDFA filing, but parent company Beam Inc. has been squeezing Jim Beam barrels for a few years now to produce its Devil's Cut bourbon.

Distillers have always rinsed barrels to get a little more whiskey out. Jack Daniel's was the first to take it further. Several years ago, they built a facility where they take freshly dumped barrels, fill them about 1/3 full with water, then store them for about two weeks before dumping them again. Beam took it a little further by heating the water and using a device like a paint mixer to shake the barrels. This probably accomplishes the same thing storing does for Daniel's, without the huge warehouse Daniel's had to build just for its 'super rinse' operation.

Obviously, the amount of additional alcohol extracted more than justifies the expense.

When asked if the Beam process makes the barrels less desirable for the scotch makers who get them next, Fred Noe replied, "I don't really give a fuck what scotch makers think."

How Long Does It Take to Make Good Bourbon?

"How Long Does It Take to Make Good Bourbon?" he asked with the innocence of youth.

Little did he know what a slug fest asking that question can ignite. Since the micro-distiller age has dawned, much of the discussion on that question has been bullshit. This is an attempt to answer it honestly and equitably in the context of our times.

Most micro-distillers are faced with a dilemma. They rarely have enough capital, or patience, to put their product away for four years or more, so they try to come up with ways to make it drinkable at a younger age. If they tell you it's the product they want to make and not a financial decision, they are lying. If it's not money it's petulance. They just don't want to wait so long.

So we have small barrels, spirals, vacuum pumps, finishes, and rationales that remind one of the fable, "The Emperor's New Clothes." And we have a lot of very hot, harsh, white-doggy spirits.

But it's not all bullshit. Some producers have tried to solve the problem thoughtfully and stylistically, remembering that the first rule of beverage making is: "Don't try to pass off disgusting crap with a good story. Make something that, first and foremost, tastes good."

At this, some have been more successful than others, but no product has been completely satisfying. Still, it's a worthy quest and none of them have been at it for very long. They will get better. They probably hurt themselves when they call their product 'bourbon' or 'rye whiskey,' if the taste and character one usually associates with those styles are nowhere to be found.

Which brings us back to the original question: "How Long Does It Take to Make Good Bourbon?" Let's assume that by "good bourbon," the questioner means the drink most whiskey drinkers would recognize as "good bourbon." The wisdom of the families and companies who have been making bourbon for a long time--several centuries in some cases--is that in a climate similar to Kentucky, it takes a minimum of four years in new charred wood to make something you would like to drink.

There are a few three-year-olds out there from the major distilleries, and they pretty much prove the point.

And four years, in itself, is a short cut compared to the minimum ten to twelve years it takes in chilly Scotland or Ireland. The short cut Americans came up with is the new, charred oak barrel, emphasis on 'new.' That innovation was a different and shorter route to deliciousness, but it made a different style of whiskey, as did our use of corn and rye instead of barley malt. We call that style 'bourbon.' 'Tennessee whiskey' is what Tennessee producers call the same style.

In a way, American rye whiskey should be called 'rye bourbon,' since it is whiskey made in the bourbon style but with rye as the dominant grain rather than corn. Wheat whiskey could probably be called 'wheat bourbon,' using the same logic. That's because, under U.S. rules, mash bill is the only variable. All require the new, charred oak barrel.

But that's just by way of making a point. No one is proposing that nomenclature.

If you're worried about all of those used-once barrels going into land fills, they don't. They go to Scotland, Ireland, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Jamaica. You get the idea.

Looked at in that broad historical context, you can say today's micro-distillers are working on their own new style of whiskey, something that's tasty after less than four years in wood, and frequently much less. It's a work in progress. Some are trying to do it the old-fashioned way, although few have anything on the market that's more than two years old.

Eventually, though, they will. And through experimentation the younger products will get better too. Either that, or there will be a lot of second-hand stills for sale.

So, again, back to the question. Traditionally, in Kentucky and Tennessee, the consensus is that four years is the minimum, five to six is better, eight to ten is optimum, and beyond ten you're again getting into a different, wood-heavy style, which is risky but can be superb.

Beam Moves Vodka Bottling to Kentucky

A small announcement today from Beam illustrates why bourbon-making is so good for Kentucky, even when bourbon-making itself isn't directly involved.

Last year, Beam acquired the Pinnacle vodka brand, which continues to boom. Pinnacle and other products from that deal are now bottled in Maine, but Beam has decided to close and possibly sell that facility, and will bottle in Frankfort, Kentucky, instead. The move is expected to add 45 jobs. Last year, Beam closed a facility in Cincinnati and moved those operations to Frankfort as well.

Consolidating operations is efficient and just good business, but where to consolidate? In the case of Kentucky's bourbon makers, since Kentucky bourbon whiskey can only be made in Kentucky, and is preferred by consumers, Kentucky is always the obvious choice. Since they aren't going to move bourbon distillation and maturation to another state (or country), they might as well do everything in Kentucky, at least everything that can be done anywhere, like bottling vodka, and that's a boon to Kentucky's economy.

Beam obtained the Frankfort facility, located at Forks of the Elkhorn, in 1987 when it acquired National Distillers. It was then the Old Grand-Dad Distillery but other National brands, such as Old Overholt Rye Whiskey, were also made there. Beam closed the distillery portion but still has active maturation warehouses there, and the bottling operation has been expanded several times. Beam's distilleries are at Clermont, which also has bottling, and Boston, which does not.

Beam's Maker's Mark Distillery in Loretto is entirely self-contained; distilling, aging, and bottling Maker's Mark Bourbon and nothing else. All three distilleries are close to Bardstown, Kentucky.

This phenomenon is not unique to Beam. Last year, Campari America announced that it is building a new bottling facility at the Wild Turkey Distillery in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky. It will bottle Wild Turkey, of course, but also the company's much larger Skyy Vodka brand. Again, since Wild Turkey needs to be in Kentucky, it just makes sense for other company operations to be there too.

Another example is 'California' brandy. Although the grapes are grown in California, and the brandy is distilled there, three of the top five domestic brandies are aged and bottled in Kentucky, primarily because it's cheaper to transport the brandy than it is to transport the used bourbon barrels in which it is aged.

Wherever bottling is done, that's where finished good distribution begins, which benefits shipping companies and their drivers, as well as all the businesses that support that industry, from truck mechanics to road builders.

Although the Commonwealth has gotten much better in recent years, Kentucky often seems to take its bourbon industry for granted. Other states would kill for something like that, an industry so tied to its home state in the minds of consumers that it can't possibly relocate, and that by its mere presence attracts other businesses that produce jobs, tax revenue, and economic vitality.

Both literally and figuratively, Kentucky would be a much poorer place without its bourbon makers.

Beam's New Visitor Experience Is Officially Open

Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear and Beam executives officially opened the doors yesterday to a new visitor experience at Beam's flagship distillery in Clermont.

They also officially inaugurated Beam's new Global Innovation Center and celebrated Beam's one-year anniversary as a standalone, publically-traded company, Beam Inc. (NYSE: BEAM).

Beam predicts that the new visitor experience will more than double tourism visits to Clermont, to 200,000 annually.

This will be the first time public tours have gone inside a Beam distillery.

Yesterday's openings represent a $30 million multi-year investment by Beam.

According to family lore, patriarch Jacob Beam sold his first barrel of whiskey in Kentucky in 1795.

“Today is another great day for the Commonwealth of Kentucky,” said Governor Beshear. “The Bourbon industry plays a vital role in Kentucky’s economic success and the opening of the fantastic Jim Beam American Stillhouse means more tourism for our state and ultimately more jobs for Kentucky families.”

The new 57,000 square foot Global Innovation Center on the distillery grounds features state-of-the-art technical, R&D and design labs that will fuel the company’s aggressive new-product development initiatives for all markets around the world. “We aim to deliver 25 percent of our company’s annual sales growth from new products, and our new Global Innovation Center will help ensure our innovation capabilities remain second to none,” said Beam President and CEO Matt Shattock.

The Jim Beam American Stillhouse showcases the Jim Beam Bourbon-making process from start to finish. Guided tours start with Beam’s natural limestone water well and take guests through the mashing, distilling, barreling, storing and bottling lines. A total whiskey immersion engages the senses, while also offering guests a historical look at The First Family of Bourbon.

The Jim Beam American Stillhouse is located approximately 30 minutes southeast of Louisville and is open weekdays and Saturdays 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Sundays from 12:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. (Closed on Sundays in January and February, as well as New Year’s Day, Easter, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day). For more information or to order your reservation tickets online, visit the Jim Beam American Stillhouse online at www.AmericanStillhouse.com or under the “distillery” section of www.JimBeam.com.

Lexington Micro Joins Kentucky Bourbon Trail.

The Kentucky Distillers' Association (KDA) announced today that Town Branch Distillery in Lexington has become the seventh distillery, and first micro-distillery, on the KDA's official Kentucky Bourbon Trail tour.

Town Branch, also known as the Alltech Lexington Brewing and Distilling Company, is in downtown Lexington, which is Kentucky's second-largest city and home of the University of Kentucky. “We’re thrilled to add Lexington as a host community to greet thousands of visitors to our trademark attraction," said Jeff Conder, chairman of the KDA Board of Directors and Vice President of Americas Operations for Beam, Inc.

Like Louisville, Lexington is a good home base for whiskey tourists who want to enjoy urban amenities after a long day of visiting distilleries. In addition to Town Branch, it's convenient to Wild Turkey and Four Roses in Lawrenceburg and Woodford Reserve in Versailles, not to mention Buffalo Trace in Frankfort, which chooses to operate outside of the KDA trademark but has a great distillery tour nonetheless.

Alltech, led by President and Founder Dr. Pearse Lyons, is a global leader in animal health and nutrition. Its distilled spirits products include Town Branch Bourbon, Pearse Lyons Reserve malt whiskey, and Bluegrass Sundown, a Bourbon-infused coffee drink.

Town Branch is named after the stream that runs under downtown Lexington, from which many early distillers drew their water supply. The new $6 million, 20,000 square-foot distillery is scheduled to open in September, with tours starting Oct. 1. It is built with Kentucky limestone and features glass walls on three sides to showcase the copper stills and fermentation tanks to outside viewers. It’s the first new distillery to be built in Lexington in more than 100 years.

“Kentucky Bourbon is a red-hot industry, and we are proud to support its continued growth around the world,” said Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear. Kentucky Bourbon Trail distilleries have recorded more than 2 million visits in the last five years, with 450,000 in 2011 alone, said KDA President Eric Gregory. Visitors have traveled from all 50
states and more than 50 countries, he said.

Sam Cecil Talks About The Beam Family.

The Beam Family Reunion is coming up on September 8, at the Jim Beam Distillery in Clermont, Kentucky. If you are descended from Jacob Beam, you should check it out.

Like most of the Beams, Sam Cecil was born and raised in Nelson County, Kentucky. Like so many of them, he spent his entire career in the whiskey business. In his case, the career spanned more than 40 years. Even after he retired in 1980, Cecil worked occasionally for Heaven Hill, giving history-oriented tours of Bardstown and vicinity.

In 1999, he published The Evolution Of The Bourbon Industry In Kentucky, an invaluable historic resource. Cecil died in 2005.

In 1992, he was interviewed for the documentary "Made and Bottled in Kentucky," which you will see is available for purchase in the column to the right. If you live in Kentucky, you can probably catch it on KET, where it first aired 20 years ago and is still in heavy rotation.

In this excerpt, Sam Cecil sorts out the many threads of the whiskey-making Beam family.

Brown-Forman To Build New Cooperage In Alabama.

The bourbon whiskey boom has been good for the economies of Kentucky and Tennessee, and now Alabama is getting a taste.

Brown-Forman Corporation has announced that it will invest about $60 million to establish a new cooperage in Lawrence County, Alabama, near Decatur. The company is also about to open a sawmill in Stevenson. The new cooperage should come on line in 2014 and will have about 200 employees.

The location of the new cooperage is based on its proximity to Lynchburg, where Brown-Forman's Jack Daniel's is made. The sawmill project suggests that the new cooperage will receive at least some of its white oak from Alabama forests.

Brown-Forman's existing cooperage in Louisville, which currently supplies barrels for Jack Daniel's and other Brown-Forman products, primarily uses white oak grown in Missouri, Arkansas, Minnesota, and West Virginia. The wood is typically rough cut at sawmills close to the forests before being shipped to the cooperage.

All whiskey is aged in oak barrels but American whiskey is unique because it is always aged in new barrels. It is estimated that half or more of the flavor in a bourbon or rye comes directly from the wood, as does all of the whiskey's color. The new barrel maximizes extraction of tannin, vanilla, caramelized sugar, and other substances. A whiskey barrel is like a tea bag, as far as we're concerned, one and done.

If you want to make more whiskey, you have to make more barrels and build more aging warehouses. That's the only way to do it.

Used barrels typically go to Scotland, Ireland, and Canada.

Louisville has been operating at full capacity for several years and it has long been recognized that a second cooperage, when built, should logically be closer to Lynchburg. Brown-Forman is headquartered in Louisville, operates a whiskey distillery in nearby Shively, and another in Versailles, which is about 65 miles to the west. Lynchburg is 250 miles to the south. Decatur is much closer to Lynchburg, only about 80 miles away.

Brown-Forman is the only distilled spirits company in the world that manufactures its own barrels.

In addition to the barrel-making shop itself, a cooperage typically includes a large outdoor area where wood can be naturally seasoned by exposure to the elements. The Louisville Cooperage simply has no more room, either inside the building or on its grounds.

Up until a few years ago, Brown-Forman's cooperage also sold barrels to other bourbon and rye distillers, a practice they may resume after the Alabama facility comes on line. The only other large barrel-maker serving whiskey country is Independent Stave, which has cooperages in Lebanon, Kentucky, and Lebanon, Missouri. There are also several small cooperages that make whiskey barrels.

Whiskey-making and related industries such as cooperage are great examples of value-added manufacturing businesses that make products for both domestic and foreign consumption, and really can't move their operations out of the U.S. Cooperages are located where the trees and distilleries are, not where the cheapest workers are. U.S. laws, buoyed by international agreements, require bourbon and Tennessee whiskey to be made in the USA, and the strength of the Kentucky and Tennessee brands means whiskey-makers aren't about to move en mass to Vermont.

So drink American, it's good for the economy.

Frivolous Fungus Suit Endangers Kentucky Prosperity

Kentucky is abuzz about a lawsuit filed in federal court last week. It alleges that vapors emitted by aging whiskey carry a fungus that produces persistent black spots on homes and cars.

This is nothing new in Kentucky, or anywhere that distilled spirits are aged. The Louisville Courier-Journal has a well-reported story about it here.

The fungus is well known and generally regarded as harmless, if a bit of a nuisance. It can be removed with a little soap and water. Typically, all a distillery neighbor has to do is ask and the distillery will send a cleaning crew at no charge.

It is extremely doubtful that any complainant bought their house before the accused distillery was built. The fungus was likely on their house when they bought it. It's nothing new, although it may have gotten a little worse lately because more bourbon is being made. This appears mainly to be a case of a lawyer seeing an opportunity to make some money. The allegations of serious harm are dubious and the proposed solutions are much more destructive.

For instance, one of the reasons three of the top five domestic brandies are aged and bottled in Kentucky is because California is forcing distillers there to wrap their barrels in plastic or otherwise prevent the release of ethanol, which also prevents the spirit from aging properly.

The suit alleges that the fungus is borne by the alcohol vapors. This is likely untrue. Much more likely is that the spores are everywhere in the environment, just waiting for the right combination of water and ethanol.

Kentucky is enjoying significant economic development benefit from the present bourbon boom. In addition to increased bourbon production, there is significant ancillary business such as Beam's decision to move DeKuyper Liqueur production to Kentucky and Campari's decision to also bottle Skyy Vodka in Kentucky when it returns Wild Turkey bottling to the Commonwealth next year.

The Kentucky House, primarily because of representatives from dry counties, is constantly in danger of killing the goose that lays the golden egg. Kentucky doesn't have that many booming industries, it needs to play nice with the ones it has. Kentucky readers of this blog are advised to contact your legislators. While this is a court case and not proposed legislation, it never hurts to get a jump on these things. Perhaps something can be done proactively to prevent these nuisance suits from being brought in the future.

If the case gets to trial, it will be in District Court, but if it gets to the Sixth Circuit on appeal, the bourbon-makers will have a sympathetic ear. The senior judge there is Boyce F. Martin, Jr., who demonstrated in the recent case of Maker's Mark v. Diageo that he knows his way around bourbon.

Big Fun In Frankfort.

Thank you to everyone who attended my American Whiskey 101 class at Capital Cellars on Saturday. Special thanks to Capital Cellars and proprietor Rachael Peake for hosting, to Rachael's helpers for helping, and to Carl Shields for instigating. I had a great time and downtown Frankfort is a fun and lively place on a warm, late-April afternoon-into-evening.

We hope to make it a regular thing.

Capital Cellars is unusual in that it is a retail wine and spirits shop with a bar and restaurant, all in the same space. They have pleasant outdoor seating on Broadway, a terrific bourbon selection, and special expertise in the growing number of Kentucky-made wines. It's a very comfortable and relaxed place. I saw one woman cheerfully enjoying her white wine on the rocks.

Frankfort, as you may know, is the state capital and has a lot of history. It is home to the Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History, the commonwealth's main history museum, and many other museums and historic sites. Located at the base of steep cliffs along the Kentucky River, it's quite picturesque. There is challenging white water canoeing and kayaking on nearby Elkhorn Creek, the lower part of which is pleasant for any skill level. Buffalo Trace is the local distillery. It's close to Lexington, Lawrenceburg, and Versailles.

I guess what I'm saying is, it's a good place to base your Kentucky getaway. It has plenty of amenities but more of a small town feel than Louisville or Lexington.

Come See Me In Frankfort This Coming Saturday.

Rachael tells me there are still a few tickets left for "American Whiskey 101 with Charles Cowdery" at Capital Cellars, 227 W. Broadway, Frankfort, Kentucky, this Saturday, April 28, from 4 to 6 PM.

The class will be an introduction to bourbon and other American whiskeys, but we'll get as 'advanced' as the class wants and time permits.

You’ll learn what whiskey is, how it compares to other distilled spirits, and how American whiskey compares to other world whiskeys, such as scotch, Canadian, and Irish. Production methods, recipes, tasting techniques, and history are all covered.

And we will taste four, maybe five whiskeys (Class Theme: "All Bourbon, All 100 proof and Above"). The class will be informal and student participation is encouraged. You'll also have a chance to buy copies of my book, Bourbon, Straight, and my DVD documentary, "Made and Bottled in Kentucky."

Cost is $30 ($25 for Cru Club Members). Contact Rachael Peake at Capital Cellars, 502-352-2600, for more information.

The Mint Julep, An Appreciation.

If ever there was a special occasion drink, it is the mint julep, so closely has it come to be associated with the Kentucky Derby. (Two weeks from today, May 5.)

The julep is a very ancient cocktail type, going back to a time when distilled spirits were considered medicine and, by some, magic. Mint was just one expression. In Colonial Virginia, a julep made with spearmint was a popular summer refreshment. In addition to spearmint and alcohol, sugar was the other principal ingredient.

Bourbon whiskey is usually the alcohol, but Straight Rye has a venerable history in mint julep recipes too.

Kentucky was originally part of Virginia and many of her first settlers came from the Old Dominion. They brought their julep recipes with them.

You will see julep recipes everywhere over the next couple of weeks, but how you make it isn't as important as how you drink it. A mint julep is not like a cocktail in the ordinary sense. It is more like a shooter. It should be made quickly, served immediately and consumed promptly, before the ice starts to melt and water the drink.

The julep is at its peak of flavor the instant it is completed and every moment that passes thereafter diminishes its quality. There should be just enough liquid in the glass for one or two good swallows.

It's hot. You're thirsty. Drink, drink.

Taken appropriately in a suitable context the mint julep can be delightful. Its sensuality can be nearly overpowering.

Here is a recipe that is authentic, tasty and easy. First, muddle a few fresh mint leaves with simple syrup. There are specialized tools for doing this, but a spoon works fine. 'Muddle' just means crush the mint leaves into the syrup. Fill the glass with crushed ice, then with bourbon. Stir one or two times, garnish with more fresh mint leaves, serve, and drink.

To make multiple juleps at the same time, have your ice and bourbon ready. Then in a bowl make enough mint muddle for one round. Place some of the muddle into the bottom of each glass, fill them with ice and bourbon, and stir. Add mint leaf garnish and serve. The ability to make a round of juleps quickly but with style is a practiced and prized art in Kentucky.

The classic serving container is a sterling silver cup. Silver plate and pewter are also popular.

If you want a cocktail you can nurse, use cubed ice instead of crushed, but beware. Under any circumstances, a watered-down mint julep is a pretty sad thing. The whiskey starts to taste sour and the mint gets bitter.

As you can image, the mint julep is not a good session drink. For something you can stay with all day, take the julep and mohito-ize it. One trick is to infuse mint into your simple syrup. That way the drink is just whiskey, syrup, ice and club soda, plus the fresh mint garnish. To keep your mint fresh all day, keep the sprigs upright in a glass with a little water in it.

If you want the spirit of the thing without the work, a few sprigs of fresh mint in your standard bourbon on-the-rocks is a nice change of pace.

Silver Trail Distillery Joins KDA.

On Wednesday, Silver Trail Distillery announced that it has joined the legendary ranks of the Kentucky Distillers’ Association, the Commonwealth’s leading voice on spirits issues for more than 130 years.

“It’s taken years and a lot of hard work to realize his dream, but Spencer Balentine has persevered and brought distilling back to the Land Between the Lakes region for the first time in a century,” said Jeff Conder, Chairman of the KDA Board of Directors and Vice President of Americas Operations for Beam, Inc. “We are proud to welcome him to the KDA and congratulate him on his efforts.”

Silver Trail, located in dry Marshall County in far Western Kentucky, opened in 2011. Balentine, a former champion motorcyclist and aspiring screenwriter, toured Maker’s Mark Distillery several years ago and decided to get into the spirits business based on his family’s colorful moonshine past. His distillery’s still is a recreation of one originally designed by his great uncle in 1947. His first product is 100-proof “LBL Most Wanted Moonshine,” packaged in ring-handled jugs. He has plans for an apple pie moonshine to be called “Apple Cin.”

“It’s a distinct honor for Silver Trail to be accepted into such a historic organization that represents the finest distilleries in the world,” Balentine said. “This has only added to my determination to showcase our proud Between the Rivers heritage.”

Silver Trail becomes KDA’s 12th member and the sixth Kentucky craft distillery to join. The KDA is a non-profit trade association founded in 1880. Members include Beam Inc. (Jim Beam and Maker’s Mark), Brown-Forman, Diageo North America, Four Roses, Heaven Hill Distilleries, Inc., and Wild Turkey. Craft distillery members include Alltech, Barrel House Distilling Co., MB Roland Distillery, Limestone Branch Distillery and Corsair Artisan Distillery.

The KDA’s craft membership is available to licensed Kentucky distillers that maintain an inventory of less than 25,000 barrels of distilled beverage spirits, according to KDA President Eric Gregory.

“Our craft members are an important part of our organization,” Gregory said. “As small businesses, they often bring a different perspective on issues that affect our industry. We now have operating distilleries of all sizes in almost every corner of the state.”

The Kentucky Bourbon Festival Sampler Is April 28. Here Is Why You Shouldn't Go.

The Kentucky Bourbon Festival in Bardstown, which happens in September, is preceded each year by the Kentucky Bourbon Festival Sampler, a one-night event, this year to be held on Saturday, April 28.

If this year's Sampler is anything like last year, and there is every reason to believe it will be exactly like last year, it is a waste of your time and money. That's a nice weekend to go to Bardstown and there will be many bourbon enthusiasts in town, but the smart ones won't be at the official event, which has always had problems but last year was an abomination

Imagine a Kiwanis Club Monte Carlo Night in a high school gym, if they started to plan it that morning. It was a big, sorry mess. Many of the producers privately expressed their disgust with it as well. Not one master distiller was in attendance and only a handful of top distillery people of any kind came. Everything about it had an air of desperation.

The Guthrie Opportunity Center, the venue, is a big, open, fluorescent-lit, concrete-floored, concrete block room with high ceilings and zero charm. It looks exactly like the empty industrial space it, in fact, is.

Each distillery has a folding table from which it dispenses samples, seemingly as fast as possible, to the ravenous hoard. There is no place to sit. Last year it was uncomfortably warm.

The reason for the mad dash is that in most, but not all cases, the samples come in nice logo glassware and the main activity engaged in by most attendees is a frantic progression from table to table, to accumulate as many free glasses as possible, as quickly as possible. In many cases they don't even drink the whiskey, they throw it out.

Some of the distilleries, unhappy with this particular turn of events, now use plastic glasses. Sometimes you can't tell they're plastic until you have invested the time in line to get one. This disappoints the mob and makes it surly. 

It's all very 'Day of the Locust.'

There is food, dumped inelegantly around the room like slop in a trough. The fluorescent glare, bright industrial paint job, too-loud bad DJ, and zero seating all say, "we have your money, suckers. Now drink up and go." Attendees aren't treated like valued guests, they're treated like cattle entering the abattoir. 

Speaking of which, as bad as the event is, you have to stand in line for an hour to get inside. Tickets are all pre-purchased, it's not that. It's just poorly organized and no one seems to care.

One of these years, it's going to rain.

The mad dash for free glasses is even more ridiculous when you consider that for the $40 individual ticket price, a couple could buy a nice set of glasses, a nice bottle of bourbon, two Carne Asadas to-go from one of Bardstown's excellent Tex-Mex restaurants, and spend a nice Spring evening on their deck.

In addition to being a miserable experience for anyone who attends, the Sampler is an embarrassment to the industry. American whiskey is an important international product and its premier events are being presented by people who would be over-matched organizing a high school prom.

Micro Limestone Branch Joins KDA.

Limestone Branch Distillery today announced that it has joined the historic ranks of the Kentucky Distillers’ Association, the Commonwealth’s leading voice on spirits issues.

“We’re proud to welcome yet another one of the state’s emerging and innovative Craft distilleries to the KDA,” said Jeff Conder, Chairman of the KDA Board of Directors and Vice President of Americas Operations for Beam, Inc. “Our Craft members are an important part of our organization, and we look forward to working with them to promote and protect our signature Bourbon and distilled spirits industry,” Conder said.

Limestone Branch was founded in 2011 by brothers Steve and Paul Beam, whose ancestral roots run deep in the Bourbon industry. Their great-great grandfather was Joseph Washington Dant, an early Bourbon pioneer, and their great grandfather was Minor Case Beam, the eldest son of Joseph M. Beam in the legendary Beam lineage.

Their small batch Craft distillery is producing a variety of whiskeys from heirloom white corn grown on its Marion County property. The first offerings will be T.J. Pottinger corn whiskey and T.J. Pottinger Sugar Shine, with plans for an artisan rum and vodka. “It is an honor to join this distinguished group of Kentucky distillers,” Steve Beam said. “As Craft distillers, we are fortunate to have such a valuable resource as the KDA and its members to draw upon. “We are very excited to return our family to the Kentucky distilling community.”

Limestone Branch becomes KDA’s tenth member and the fourth Kentucky Craft distillery to join. The KDA is a non-profit trade association founded in 1880. Members include Beam Inc. (Jim Beam and Maker’s Mark), Brown-Forman, Diageo North America, Four Roses, Heaven Hill and Wild Turkey. Craft distillery members include Alltech, Barrel House Distilling Co. and MB Roland Distillery.

The KDA’s Craft membership is available to licensed Kentucky distillers that maintain an inventory of less than 25,000 barrels of distilled beverage spirits, according to KDA President Eric Gregory. “Craft distilleries bring a unique perspective on issues that affect our industry because they’re small businesses,” Gregory said. “Yet they’re an important part of our growth, and we’re thrilled that many are choosing Kentucky, the authentic home for Bourbon, to launch their business.”

“We applaud Limestone Branch on their opening, and we look forward to working with them to promote our rich heritage, to advocate fair treatment of our industry and to continue our commitment to responsible drinking.”

"Bourbon Is Job Creator," Says Congressman.

Kentucky Congressman John Yarmuth, founder of the Congressional Bourbon Caucus, praised the economic contributions of Kentucky’s bourbon industry yesterday, after a new study revealed that the signature industry is in the midst of a worldwide resurgence that is centered in the Commonwealth.

The distilled spirits industry in Kentucky – which produces 95 percent of the world’s bourbon – has expanded more during the past three years than at any time since Prohibition, according to the University of Louisville study. Bourbon contributes $1.8 billion a year to the state’s economy and employs nearly 9,000 people, directly and indirectly, with a total annual payroll of $413 million, the study revealed.

The industry has also created 4 percent new job growth since 2008.

"I’ve always been proud to support the bourbon industry, and this reaffirms the vital role that bourbon plays in our state," Yarmuth said. "Far more than a drink of choice for those with discerning taste, bourbon is an economic driver and job-creator.”

The study focused on the bourbon industry’s broader economic impact across the Commonwealth, which is home to 19 major distilleries and numerous craft distilleries. Kentucky distilleries export bourbon to 126 countries, and there are more barrels of bourbon aging in Kentucky (4.7 million) right now than residents (4.3 million).

The bourbon industry’s renaissance has also led to a surge in Kentucky tourism. The Kentucky Bourbon Trail program, which offers tours of some of the Commonwealth’s most scenic and iconic distilleries, has become one of the state’s top tourism destinations. Since August 2007, more than 25,000 people have completed the tour, resulting in a total economic impact of $18.4 million. More than 80 percent of Bourbon Trail visitors came from out of state.

Read the full study here.

Yarmuth formed the Congressional Bourbon Caucus in 2009. The bipartisan group is dedicated to maintaining and strengthening the bourbon industry in the United States and educating other Members on the legislative and regulatory issues affecting the industry.

Bike The Kentucky Bourbon Trail.

The Kentucky Distillers’ Association (KDA) and the Bluegrass Cycling Club have teamed up to provide back-road bike routes for the Kentucky Bourbon Trail tour. The routes are designed to take you through the rolling hills and scenic countryside of Central Kentucky on your way to visit six historic distilleries.

Maps and cue sheets can be found at the Kentucky Bourbon Trail web site under the Map and Guide tab. Links to the maps are also posted on the Bluegrass Cycling Club web site.

“We’ve been surprised at the growing number of requests for bicycling routes,” said Eric Gregory, KDA President. “So we turned to the experts who know the rural roads and who know the roads that work best for bicyclists.”

The various route options provide experienced cyclists with a unique ride opportunity unavailable anyplace else in the world. The Kentucky Bourbon Trail tour features six distilleries, each offering a unique educational experience. They are: Four Roses, Heaven Hill, Jim Beam, Maker’s Mark, Wild Turkey and Woodford Reserve.

You’ll have to figure these routes out on your own, but can also bike to Buffalo Trace Distillery and Barton 1792 Distillery, even though their parent company, Sazerac, isn’t a KDA member.

Country Ham: Another Great Kentucky Product.

I call the above “a baggie of bliss.” Many convenience stores in Kentucky sell them at the cash register. It’s just a slice of Kentucky country ham between two pieces of white bread, and it is sublime.

Although bourbon whiskey is Kentucky’s best known consumable, it’s not the only Kentucky product that I crave. I’ve written before about other local specialties such as the Hot Brown Sandwich. Today I rise in praise of Kentucky country ham.

Country ham is a characteristic Southern food and not limited to Kentucky, but most of my experience has been with the Kentucky version. Kentucky country ham is salt-cured and its saltiness is what you notice first. It’s too much for some people. But behind the salt there is a wonderful, rich flavor that quickly spoils you for any other type of ham.

Most of the country ham producers in Kentucky are small and family-owned. It’s a good product for mail order because it doesn’t have to be refrigerated. You can buy everything from packages of ‘biscuit slices’ up to whole hams. Finchville Farms is a brand I can usually pick up at Kroger’s in Kentucky when I’m visiting there and it’s the one I’ve enjoyed most recently, but there are many others that are just as good. Country ham is also surprisingly inexpensive.

Although country ham doesn’t have to be refrigerated it is raw and needs to be cooked before eating. I always get slices, which can be fried in a hot, dry skillet in a few minutes, just until the meat starts to brown. Don’t overcook, because it gets tough if you do.

Although it’s very simple, it took me a while to master red eye gravy, mostly because I kept expecting it to be something it’s not. After you finish cooking the ham, remove it from the skillet and add a small amount of water to deglaze the skillet. Some people use coffee instead. Use a spoon or spatula to loosen the flavorful residue and keep stirring it as the liquid reduces. It will thicken only slightly. Then pour it over the ham. It’s not gravy in the normal sense. Mostly it’s used to enhance the flavor of the meat while also giving it back some of its moisture, making it more tender.

Kentucky country ham and Kentucky bourbon complement each other well because both are highly flavorful. Kentucky country ham is usually eaten at breakfast, but finger sandwiches of country ham tucked inside beaten biscuits are popular at parties. Kurtz’s Restaurant, in Bardstown, offers a dinner of country ham and fried chicken that is hard to resist.

Best Use For Turkey Leftovers: The Hot Brown.

There is more to Kentucky than bourbon, including foods you won’t find anywhere else. As we are entering prime turkey-eating season, here is the best and highest use for leftover turkey: the Hot Brown.

The Hot Brown is a very rich, open-face sandwich. It was created in 1926 at the Brown Hotel by Chef Fred K. Schmidt. The recipe below, which claims to be the original, was published by Cissy Gregg, the late Food Editor at the Louisville Courier-Journal.

Hot Brown (4 servings)
4 tablespoons butter
1 small onion, chopped
3 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
8 slices toast, with crusts cut off
Turkey breast slices
Crisp-fried bacon, crumbled
Mushroom slices, sauteed

Saute onion in butter until transparent; add flour and combine. Add milk, salt and pepper and whisk until smooth. Cook on medium heat until sauce thickens, stirring occasionally. Add cheese and continue heating until they blend. Remove from heat.

Put one slice of toast in each of four oven-proof individual serving dishes. Top each piece of toast with slices of turkey. Cut remaining toast slices diagonally and place on sides of sandwiches. Ladle cheese sauce over sandwiches. Place sandwiches under broiler until sauce begins to bubble. Garnish with crumbled bacon and sauteed mushroom slices and serve immediately.

If two cups sounds like a lot of sauce for four servings, you have perceived the essence of the Hot Brown. The typical Hot Brown is smothered in sauce. You’ll also notice it says nothing about heating up the turkey slices. You can but it's not necessary. This is a recipe designed for leftovers.

There are many variations. Most places don’t crumble the bacon, and there are many substitutes for the mushrooms, including tomato slices and asparagus spears. Some simply forgo the vegetables altogether. Cissy Gregg even suggested you can substitute chicken for the turkey, but I can’t get behind that.

If you’re traveling to Kentucky, you will find the Hot Brown on the menus of many restaurants. The Brown Hotel still serves it, of course. Kurtz’s, in Bardstown, has a good one too.

Detour For Kentucky Visitors.

As I told you last month, fall is a great time to visit bourbon country, but there is a ground transportation problem you need to know about.

One of the three Ohio River bridges at Louisville, the Sherman Minton (I-64), is closed for repairs for the foreseeable future. This is an unplanned, emergency closure, so detour plans are being improvised.

Traffic is mainly being diverted to the John F. Kennedy Bridge (I-65), which is leading to long backups on it, depending on time of day, especially for drivers trying to access I-64 or I-71 on the Kentucky side. My tip is stay to the left as you cross and exit at either Liberty Street or St. Catherine Street, and take surface streets back to the interstate. You'll need a good map, of course, but it's pretty easy.

As for alternatives, there are bridges between Cincinnati and Louisville at Lawrenceburg and Madison, Indiana. The next one south of the Sherman Minton (I-64) is the Matthew E. Welsh Bridge at Brandenburg, KY. These are two lane bridges not directly connected to any interstate and, as such, probably won't be the publicized detours.

Brandenburg is an especially good choice if you are coming from the west and heading to Bardstown or anywhere south of Louisville, as it is just west of Fort Knox. Work your way from there to Elizabethtown, where you can pick up the Bluegrass Parkway to points east.

There is also the William Natcher Bridge at Owensboro, KY, which is new and a real beauty.

These detours have the added benefit of taking you through some very scenic countryside and while the roads aren't interstates they are generally pretty good.

The third bridge at Louisville, by the way, is just west of the Kennedy. Officially it's the George Rogers Clark Bridge but locals call it Second Street Bridge. It might be an alternative. It's easy to find on the Louisville side (just go north on Second Street), a bit harder in Jeff (local shorthand for Jeffersonville, Indiana).

More Thoughts About Elijah Craig.

Reading back Tuesday's post about Elijah Craig, I got to thinking about it.

Since Collins is the sole source for such a pivotal claim in bourbon history, it bears closer examination. First, Collins (in 1874) uses the term 'bourbon whiskey' without defining it, either there or anywhere else in the book. That suggests he was confident his readers would understand the term the same way he did. Although we don't know exactly what that was, the inclination is to assume that 'bourbon whiskey' meant then what it does now. Did it? Is that a fair assumption? Maybe not.

Second, why did he clearly point to Craig without naming him? If you read the rest of the page, it is what in 1874 may have passed for a light diversion in the midst of a serious enterprise, a sidebar meant primarily to entertain. Therefore, I have always assumed, he was sloppy about it, just making a list from odds and ends in his notes, but not treating it as seriously as he did most of the work. What if I'm wrong? What if he was more purposeful than I've ever suspected? And, if so, what was he trying to say?

Henry Crowgey in his book, Kentucky Bourbon, The Early Years of Whiskeymaking, mentions a 1789 letter from Craig to his legal representative that may shed some light.

In the letter, Craig announces that he has a man from Pennsylvania "coming to make corn." Who was this man, and why was the event so memorable? Are we right to assume that "to make corn" means to make corn whiskey?

Perhaps Collins is coy about naming Craig because he is referring to something done by this "man from Pennsylvania" at Craig's behest, but not by Craig himself.

Craig is usually ruled out as the 'inventor' of bourbon because routine aging in new, charred oak barrels came much later, probably in the mid-19th century.

But maybe Collins is talking about something else. We know Kentuckians were making whiskey from corn before 1789, maybe the 1789 innovation was the deliberate addition of rye to the recipe. Perhaps that was the initial distinction between corn whiskey and bourbon whiskey.

Today, most bourbons contain a little bit of rye, 8 to 15 percent in most cases, to give the beverage a little more flavor and, more to the point, a distinctive flavor that is neither corn whiskey nor rye whiskey, but bourbon whiskey, even with little or no aging. Pennsylvania was known for making rye whiskey just as Kentucky was known for corn. Perhaps this mysterious man at Rev. Craig's fulling mill brought the two together and that is what Collins was really memorializing on his page of 'Kentucky Firsts.'