Whiskey Trails

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March 15, 2009

Whiskey Trails

The Cathedral of Whiskey & BBQ

Anyone who has looked at their dramatic black and white logo knows Jack Daniels Distillery is in Lynchburg, Tennessee. Who the hell though really knows where Lynchburg is? The tiny town is far enough from Nashville that I had to break one cardinal rule of travel - I left my hotel too early for the complimentary, club level breakfast.
Two and a half hours later I discovered that Lynchburg is a delightful little burg whose soul reason for being is to welcome the pilgrims to Jack Daniels. The whiskey distillery is set in hills so tall you can see Alabama. Every Fall, this is the final stop on the competition BBQ circuit. So it’s a holy cathedral to devotees of the American food culture.
Our tour guide was marvelously named Morgan Stillman. He told us he as a former farmer and dedicated whiskey drinker.
“You got to have whiskey in a small town cuz that’s all we got to make the time go by,” he explained.
Ironically, Lynchburg is in a dry county, liquor has not been legal here since 1909, and yet, all kinds of concessions have to be made because of the economic impact of the distillery.
Morgan reminds us, “This place pays $13 million a year in federal taxes, let alone other taxes,” as we watch charcoal being made in a huge bon fire of stacked maple logs. The fire was started fire with 140 proof whiskey which elicited a few EPA jokes from our docent.
Morgan shows us: a 1919 fire engine, “We got modern equipment, but we ain’t used it;”
And the house that Jack built, “They must a been pretty lit when they built it cuz it leans to the left pretty bad.”
Jack Daniels was a 61-year-old bachelor when he died. Jess Motlow and his sons then took the company to international prominence. All together, there have only been six master distillers, and all came from within 6 miles of the distillery, all but two from within 2 miles.
Morgan tells us that since it’s the first Friday of the month, all employees get free whiskey.
Tip # 2: Every Friday, between May 1 and October 1, the distillery hosts a mountain top BBQ, with hickory smoked pork shoulder, chicken and all the usual trappings of Q, including live music. The pavilion is a huge open air venue with unbelievable views. The Q is pretty darn good too, so good in fact that we talked them into sharing a few recipes from the “little lunch” we had there.
While celebrating the joys of pig butt, I asked Morgan:
“Why is the whiskey called Old # 7?”
“My theory is it was probably the maximum number of girl friends Jack kept at any one time.”
After lunch we watched the six day fermentation process, in 40,000 gallons stills. We visited the barrel aging room, “where whiskey gets its color, not flavor.”
“Each barrel pays $13.50 in federal tax,” we heard, surmising that Morgan doesn’t much care for taxes.
After fermentation, the grain mash is recycled to local cattle. “The cows are famously happy in these parts. Keeps ‘em from kickin’,” Morgan explained.
Finally we saw the mellowing room where the whiskey is filtered, through the charcoal we saw being made earlier. In the case of Gentleman Jack, it is twice filtered.
“The difference between bourbon and Tennessee whiskey is filtering in charcoal.”
A British tour group was excited to hear that master distiller Jimmy Bedford had been sited on the property, They were told that his autograph on a Gentleman Jack or single barrel bottle was worth $400 on E Bay. It’s legal to buy whiskey here, just not to drink it in public, I think.
Single barrels are for sale, too, 53 gallons for $9,000. “Only $7,500 in states without so many taxes,” Morgan reminded us.
We were told that George Strait had just been here to pick out his annual barrel for aging. I settled for a bottle of Gentleman Jack with Mr. Bedford’s autograph. I have no intention of selling it on E Bay.
Geology & Whiskey
After the 1792 Whiskey Rebellion in Pennsylvania, many Irish and Scottish settlers came looking for respite from federal tax collectors. Those rebels had a tradition of distilling rye whiskey, but the Kentucky climate was too hot and humid for that grain.
In the bluegrass area, they discovered a divine coincidence of geology and weather — perfect for making whiskey. The limestone soil was ideal for growing corn, a rebel grain at a time when wheat was the grain of sophisticates and international trade, and when rye was the poor man’s wheat. Plus the limestone-enriched water was superior for distilling spirits.
Note: whiskey is spelled with an “e” in Ireland, but without an “e” in the United Kingdom and Canada. Probably because sons of Eire predominated in Kentucky, bourbons use the Irish spelling because my grand mothers were Irish.
Today’s Bourbon Trail extends 80 miles southeast of Lexington and is home to 17 distilleries. The name predates statehood; several present counties of Kentucky were in Bourbon County, Virginia. Most bourbon is made with 70 % corn, though only 51 % is required. Bourbon also must be aged in charred oak barrels for at least two years. I visited two distillers who make super premium products.
Buffalo Trace
In Frankfurt, Buffalo Trace Distillery hugs the banks of the Kentucky River. Originally named Old Fired Copper, they have been making bourbon here continually since 1787. (During Prohibition, they wrangled a special permit to make whiskey “for medicinal purposes.”) The grounds encompass 119 acres and 114 buildings dating to 1881.
They offer tours six days a week, year round. Among their distinctions, they were the first distiller to ship whiskey down the Mississippi River, to use steam power for distilling and to heat warehouses. They are currently the only distiller: to use five whiskey recipes; to create vodka from organic corn; and to have a computer-free still house.
After repeal of Prohibition, Albert Blanton began producing single-barrel bourbon for himself and his friends. In 1984 the distillery became the first to commercially market single-barrel bourbons. They changed their name in 1999 because the site was once a major crossing for migrating buffalo. When renamed, they introduced their super premium Buffalo Trace Kentucky straight bourbon.
Approximately 30-35 barrels of aged whiskey are selected from the middle floors of three warehouses. If anyone on their tasting panel rejects a sample, the barrel is voted off the island. Only 25 to 30 barrels are chosen. The others become Blanton’s, W. L. Weller, Old Charter and Eagle Rare
Buffalo Trace also distills an organic corn vodka.
When I visited, a tornado had taken the roof and wall off the warehouse, but not a single drop was spilled from the massive wooden beam old-aging home. Our tour guide told us that the grain leftover from the whiskey making process is so valued by cattlemen that it sells for more than the original cost of the grain!

“That works out great for everyone but the pigs. We used to just give it away to local hog farmers,” he remarked.
Woodford Reserve
In the middle of the horse country near Versailles, Woodford Reserve spreads out like a centerfold for Southern Culture. The buildings, built by Irish and Scottish stonemasons, rise from a creek hewn valley while a thoroughbred-in-residence gallops
the hills.
His name tops anything else that could be written about the place — Distill My Heart.
This is the only distillery in America that still uses the three copper pot method, with sweet Kentucky (limestone filtered) water from deep wells. Copper stills are the best conductors of heat and are also malleable enough for gooseneck tops, which helps in distillation, and for purification.
Copper is slow though, so only a small distiller can use it. Woodford Reserve is the slowest, oldest and smallest in USA. At peak times, it produces 105 barrels of whiskey a week. By contrast, Jack Daniels produces 2100 barrels a day.
“They joke that they spill more whiskey than we make,” said David Scheurich, plant manager. David told Wro that the best of each batch of whiskey is called “honey pot” and that Woodford Reserve uses cypress plank in their vats, not stainless steel like most of the industry.
A Little Kentucky History
A little history — Kentucky was a border state in corn as well as slavery. Boone County White was the secret to old fashioned southern cornbread. It reigned from Tennessee south. Hardier Flint was ubiquitous north of the Ohio River. In rebel fashion, bourbon corn was different. The modern corn that most resembles the original Kentucky bourbon corn is #1 Yellow. David said that’s the only corn used in Woodford Reserve.
It’s grown on contract by a single farmer who lives a few miles away. No other corn is grown in the area, so nothing can cross pollinate the GMO-free crop. Three tanks graduate the alcohol content from beer to wine to whiskey levels (15% to 22% to 80 % alcohol respectively). Wro was told that Ronald Reagan is still a hero here — for getting rid of the cumbersome tax process, still symbolized by now-decorative double padlocks.
Woodford Reserve also has their own cooperage and is thus the only whiskey maker that chars the heads of their barrels, where 30 % of the surface lays. Their stone aging warehouse is also unique. But, the real distinction of Woodford Reserve, at least from a foodie’s perspective, is the magical way they use whiskey in their kitchen.
Terrace brunches here, during warm weather months, feature the work of chef-in-residence David Larson, mentor to the fresh and local food movement that has elevated Lexington cuisine
Like other bluegrass chefs from the fresh-and-local school of thought, Larson features much more local product than whiskey — Blue Moon garlic, John Medley’s free range pork, Judy Schad’s goat milk cheese and Bill Best’s heirloom produce on the day of our visit. Larson laughed about how he came to be resident chef to the distillery.
“I delivered two box lunches and never left,” he said. “I was dragged kicking and screaming into cooking with bourbon. But people now treat super premium like they do fine wine, and I have to believe that Woodford Reserve is the best of the batch. I taste tobacco and leather in it.”
Tips and Insights over a Whiskey-Flavored Lunch
As he prepped his way through a delightful, whiskey flavored lunch, Larson dispatched tips and insights. Here are three shots worth:
~ I used to think it was only good in sweet applications, but I learned that it’s a catalyst to flavor. I think this whiskey is similar to cinnamon in that it takes flavors literally all over your tongue;

~ Grilling chicken over whiskey barrels is similar to aging whiskey. You are caramelizing sugars;

~ I always add Woodford Reserve to Béchamel (white sauce). I think it brings out umami (Japanese word for the fifth savory taste), the flavor of glutamates.