Kentucky, Day 3: Lawrenceburg

Day 3 loomed large on my schedule and, sure enough, it did not disappoint. A lot of alcohol was consumed.

Before Austin, Nichols & Co. changed the distillery's name to match the brand, Wild Turkey Distillery was known as Old Ripy, Old Moore, Old Hickory Springs, Ripy Brothers, Anderson County, and J. T. S. Brown & Sons Distillery. Master Distiller Jimmy Russell has been there since the Ripy family broke ground on the original facility in 1850. Just kidding, a little bit. Jimmy Russell has been working at the distillery for a mere 71 years.

Wild Turkey and its warehouses sit on a gorgeous piece of land bursting with greenery on the day of my visit, thanks to all the downpours.

Here's a pro amateur tip: Go to the toilet before any distillery tour starts, but also leave time to do so. Three times during this Kentucky trip, I ran out of the bathroom, chasing after my tour group, struggling to zip up my fly on at least one occasion.

Wild Turkey grows their yeast on site, from a batch started over 70 years ago, though the Mother is kept in a lab in San Diego, as a precaution. They source their corn from Kentucky, rye from Poland, and barley from Montana (where it's malted). Their mash gets a 72-80 hour fermentation until the distiller's beer reaches 10-12%abv. This cloudy sweet stuff then gets fed into the 52-foot Vendome column still for the low wines, then to the doubler pot still for the high wines. The spirit (which often reaches 65%abv) is reduced to 57.5%abv before barreling. 850,000 of these barrels are currently turning the spirit brown in the company's warehouses.

Warehouse A was built in 1894, and it looks all of its 131 years,
in a good way.

Here's a random bit of trivia: Nearly all of Wild Turkey's emptied barrels are used by Midleton Distillery for Jameson whiskey, out Ireland-way. This practice started back when Wild Turkey and Jameson were both owned by Pernod Ricard, and despite WT's sale to Campari Group in 2009, this part of the supply chain continues.

According to Dwight, the tour leader who balanced loads of information with an excellent sense of humor, the company's current 101 bourbon is 6-8 years old, while the 101 rye is from 4-6 year old lower rack barrels. Their Rare Breed bourbon contains 6, 8, and 12 year old whiskies, while the Russell's Reserve barrels (150 per batch) come from the center of the Nelson & Tyrone rickhouses.

As the tour and its tasting concluded, the smell of smoky pulled pork crept into the room. I followed my nose to the second floor bar and kitchen, whereat I consumed multiple sliders filled with said salty goodness, chasing it down with the rich Russell's Reserve 13 year old.

And that's how my day began. I needed two hours to simultaneously dry out and hydrate up. Then it was off to...

🌹 🌹 🌹 🌹 

When asked what my favorite bourbon brand is, I often say Four Roses. And I don't think I'm lying about it. Aside from the transparency about 10 different bourbon recipes, they also make some reliably very good whiskey under $50. Also, OBSK rules.

I'm looking at my mess of Four Roses notes, and the memories are kinda blurry, except when the reflux (esophageal, not still-related) kicked in at the end of the tasting, probably because I had a freaking cocktail before the tour began. So, I'm just going to list the information and skip any commentary.

Oh look, more rain.

Similar to Wild Turkey, Four Roses sources their corn from Kentucky, rye from Eastern Europe, and barley from Montana. They also grow their two yeast strains on site. Combining those elements with water from the adjacent limestone-rich Salt River, they give the mash an 84-hour fermentation to produce an 8%abv distiller's beer. They use two 45x4 column stills for the first distillation, and a pot still doubler for the second, creating a high wine of 69%-70%abv. This is then reduced to 60%abv for (#4 char) barreling. Four Roses uses single story rickhouses, with barrels stacked six high, in order to maintain control.

The Spanish Mission style facility was known as Old Prentice Distillery back when it was built in 1910. It was owned by Seagram from 1943 to 1999 after which it bounced between Vivendi Universal, Pernod Ricard, Diageo, and finally Kirin across less than three years. Current owners, Kirin, put an end to Four Roses Blended Whiskey to focus on the distillery's bourbon.

Their standard Four Roses bourbon comes from a mix of all 10 recipes, using 5-7 year old barrels. The Small Batch is "a little older" and contains just the K and O recipes. Their newer Small Batch Select is non-chillfiltered, and is fashioned from six of the recipes.

To my great surprise, the gift shop had a single barrel of high-powered OBSK on offer. So I took them up on a bottle, in exchange for money.

Yes, I got back to the hotel safely, after which I watched Manos, Hands of Fate (MST3K style). As I drifted to sleep, I promised myself I would never visit more than two distilleries in one day. I'm a promise-keeper, so I toured no more than two distilleries the following day...