Wilderness Trail Wheated Bourbon Whiskey

Product Description

Wilderness Trail Distillery opened in 2012. It was founded by Shane Baker and Pat Heist, who are experts in the growing of yeast and had founded the company Ferm-Solutions. Ferm-Solutions specializes in the cultivation of yeast for distillers, breweries and wineries. In fact, they have worked with many distilleries in Kentucky and elsewhere, providing yeast for starting a distillery or fixing problems distilleries have problems that arise with their yeast. It only made sense that Baker and Heist would enter the distilling industry. Wilderness Trail Distillery started with a small, 250-gallon pot still that made about a barrel a day. They quickly expanded to a 40 foot tall, 18-inch diameter column still with a 250-gallon pot still doubler in 2016. They have expanded yet again to a 40 foot tall and 36-inch diameter column still with a 500-gallon pot still doubler. They distill to about 137 proof after doubling. They can now use both of these stills to produce over 200 barrels of whiskey a day. They have several iron-clad warehouses with traditional barrel ricks on-site for aging their whiskeys. Once they distill the whiskey, they put it into 53-gallon barrels that have been toasted and charred to a level 4 char. The Bourbon enters the barrel at 110 proof and the rye goes into the barrel at 100 proof – the lowest entry proof I am aware of for a rye whiskey. They make a traditional Bourbon made with rye and a Bourbon made with wheat. The wheat recipe Bourbon has a mash bill of 64% corn, 24% wheat and 12% malted barley. The rye whiskey is 56% rye, 33% corn and 11% malted barley.

The bouquet shows soft wheat grain, corn, slight oak, and a few minutes of air opens it up to a caramel sweetness and a slight butteriness. The palate translates directly with that soft wheat grain and sweet caramel on the palate and corn on the finish. There’s a medium heat that doesn’t punch you in the face like a barrel proof would. It is much what you would expect from 100 proof and it’s a great sipper to pull out any night…