dbk Posted September 30, 2011 Share Posted September 30, 2011 This is the third of three posts about a few tours I took this past weekend. This one concerns the Buffalo Trace "Hard Hat" tour. For context, see the first and second posts.We had arranged with Harlen Wheatley to pick up some barrels and, while there, arranged a "hard hat" tour. This was a much more comprehensive tour than any I had been given before, and it was excellent.We had good access to the weigh scale, cookers, fermenters, stills (column, pot, and experimental), and stillage driers, as well as mountains of dried stillage. Cooked sweet mash (for the wheated, Weller recipe) was being piped into a fermenter next to a separate pipe of sour mash, so the tour guide prompted us to take a swipe of each and taste them. The experience was pretty great. At the column still, the tour guide gave us some white dog, which he poured into our hands to taste. He then told us to wash our hands with it and smell them. As they dried, the odor continued to change for the better. We were also given access to a bonded rickhouse and the bottling plant. Like Wild Turkey, the rickhouse was a great experience. The place just felt old and smelled so sweetly of whiskey. They were bottling Eagle Rare and Blanton's that morning, and so we got to see the process from start to finish. Amazingly, no one got cross when we were underfoot. The tour guide was knowledgeable and thorough, and we felt we had been given a very good view of the process at Buffalo Trace. The tasting following the tour was only of Buffalo Trace and their new bourbon cream liquor (which, admittedly, wasn't half bad), and the bourbon balls were a nice touch. Afterwards, our very own Mobourbon helped us locate and load our barrels with some very helpful young men. Sorry, Fred: had I known you were on SB before I got to the distillery, I would have introduced myself properly! Thanks for your help, in any case.I'd very highly recommend the Buffalo Trace "Hard Hat" tour. It's really quite excellent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bourbon Boiler Posted September 30, 2011 Share Posted September 30, 2011 Thanks for the post. Out of curiousity, was there a selection process for finding the barrels you were taking back or was it just the product that was arranged beforehand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbk Posted October 1, 2011 Author Share Posted October 1, 2011 We had arranged with Harlen in advance for some specific, recently emptied barrels, though that apparently got lost in translation. When we arrived, the staff had been told that we were to get "select" barrels, meaning barrels in top condition. Unfortunately, these were all—to the last one—Benchmark barrels, and thus each only about 4 years old. My friend wanted to see how the beer would respond to different barrel types, so he managed to swap some of the Benchmark barrels for some Eagle Rare barrels, which will be about 10 years old. It'll be interesting to see how the beer in the two kinds of barrels turns out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted October 1, 2011 Share Posted October 1, 2011 Sounds like a great tour.I am going to try and do this one next year.Best regards, tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer&Bourbon Posted October 2, 2011 Share Posted October 2, 2011 How much did he purchase the barrels for? (if you don't mind sharing) As a beer brewer I've been interested in this idea as well, but the barrel prices are normally too high for me to consider.Also, what is he putting in the barrels? Obviously stouts do well, but I'm really a fan of bourbon barrel english barleywines. I also had a saison recently that was in a second use bourbon barrel that was quite good.Roger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbk Posted October 2, 2011 Author Share Posted October 2, 2011 I believe the used barrels cost somewhere between $80 and $90 apiece. His plan was for an Imperial Stout, but he's also considering adding a Maple Porter and an IPA to the list. Obviously, the lighter beer will age more quickly than the darker brews, so he'll have to taste them regularly. Poor guy!A barrel-aged saison sounds wonderful. Was it sour?PS I love your avatar! Rushmore is my favorite movie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bourbon Boiler Posted October 2, 2011 Share Posted October 2, 2011 For those interested on a much smaller scale, I have been experimenting with filtering various store-bought beers through used BT barrel char. For any homebrewer (or commerical microbrew I suppose) it is probably a decent pilot run for experimentation before committing to a barrel and a recipe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StraightNoChaser Posted October 2, 2011 Share Posted October 2, 2011 Fred is a great guy. He gave us an excellent tour as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TN Colonel Posted November 4, 2011 Share Posted November 4, 2011 We did the hard hat tour last fall, too. It was my second time and for this one I brought my wife along. We loved it. Also, had a great thrill. We got to meet Elmer T. Lee and have our picture made with him. Very nice old man. One of just three or four (I forget) master distillers still alive in the U.S. Highly recommended. Then go to Rick's White Light Diner. Featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. It's in downtown Frankfort. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clavius Posted November 19, 2011 Share Posted November 19, 2011 The hard hat tour is great! Fortunately I live just miles from BT and have done the tour several times. You learn something new each time. And Freddie is an awesome tour guide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
p_elliott Posted November 27, 2011 Share Posted November 27, 2011 Fred has done every tour we have done at BT because we have requested him specifically. I just love touring BT but I need to tour the Glenmoore distillery the third Sazerac distillery in KY. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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