Traditional Old World
Pot Still Bourbon
Single pot still whiskey, in the late 1700s and by the 19th century, was the most popular style of whiskey in the world. Our desire to create a truly distinct high quality bourbon, like our founders created, has led us to use the classic pot still method.
We grind our own grains for consistency. Our recipe is 74% corn along with 21% rye and 5% malted barley.
We marry the ground grains to what is called backset from a previous cook. The backset is the foundation of the sour mash and we add water and heat it in our mash cooker to soften the grains to make it easier for the yeast to eat the sugars.
From the mash cooker we transfer the mixture to one of our four fermenters. When the bubbles slow down and the mash becomes quiet, we know it’s ready.
The color and depth of bourbon flavor really happens in the barrel. The barrels go to the barrel rickhouse to age. There’s a LOT of activity inside the barrels due to our great warm Kentucky summers and cool winters which cause the bourbon to expand and contract pushing the liquid in and out of the charred wood barrels, gathering complex flavors and rich color over the years.
We transfer the fermented mash to our 500 gallon pot still we call THE BEAR which is made of 100% copper. Our first “wash” run results is what some call “low wine”. We will accumulate 4 wash runs in the tank and then transfer the low wine to the still for the “spirit” run. The Spirit run is the final distillation that produces the finished whiskey.
We transfer the fermented mash to our 500 gallon pot still we call THE BEAR which is made of 100% copper. Our first “wash” run results is what some call “low wine”. We will accumulate 4 wash runs in the tank and then transfer the low wine to the still for the “spirit” run. The Spirit run is the final distillation that produces the finished whiskey.
The color and depth of bourbon flavor really happens in the barrel. The barrels go to the barrel rickhouse to age. There’s a LOT of activity inside the barrels due to our great warm Kentucky summers and cool winters which cause the bourbon to expand and contract pushing the liquid in and out of the charred wood barrels, gathering complex flavors and rich color over the years.
