New distillery opening in my town in Sept.

[grubbster]

Even though this is way down the line, always nice to have new players. Link to article:

http://www.centralkynews.com/amnews/news/local/amn-new-wilderness-trace-distillery-will-focus-on-quality-not-quantity-20130221,0,3583109.story

[wadewood]

"Baker said the company intends to do this by offering a unique sweet mash process that is more expensive and time consuming for mainstream distilleries driven by the economy and revenue.

Wilderness Trace Distillery’s “Wilderness Trace Bourbon†and “Kentucky Blue Vodka†will be among the purest and clean in the industry, Baker said.

For example, Greygoose vodka is distilled four times, he said. Wilderness Trace will distill its vodka 17 times, offering a “very unique†product.

In addition, the distillery plans to offer a once-a-year product that is nearly unheard of — a 34-times distilled “heart-cut vodka.â€"

I would not have too high of hopes based on the above from article.

[savagehenry]

I thought it sounded good until the "we will cut the 4 years aging down to 5 months by using small barrels" part.

[MyOldKyDram]

Yeah, may want to rethink that if their focus is truly on quality. I still love ya though, Danville.

[LiveFromLou]

I'd like to reflect on something Chuck said earlier this week about his excitement with the MGPI new mash bills, and that is that I believe we'll get better quality out of people buying that product and aging/blending it than we will from people making their own product. At this point, we're paying a high premium for sub-par products from most (not all) craft distillers so we can finance their learning curve. This doesn't mean I'm against craft distillers at all, and I understand they have to charge more because they don't benefit from economies of scale, but I can't remember the last time I bought a second bottle of a craft distilled BOURBON after buying the first one. I've bought second bottles of craft rum, gin, other whiskey styles, but bourbon really is a fickle mistress that takes time to learn.

[squire]

When the micros describe their operation it sounds as if they are all singing from the same songbook.

[tmckenzie]

most use the one provided by Bill Owens. False doctrine.

[MyOldKyDram]

Not expecting much, but at $20 I'll give the bourbon a shot down the line. Won't find that hymn in many micro songbooks.

[WildernessTrace]

Thank you for the comments, we have had tremendous support from Danville and we hope you come by and visit when we open up. We are progressing with construction very well and we hope September / October we will be open. We also wanted to clarify a few things.. "we didn't write the article, and there were a few things that were reported on incorrectly". Albeit the reporter did a great job translating a complex story, our main production by design will fill two 53 gallon barrels per week + a little extra to assure we fill two barrels. The little bit extra we "discussed" we could put that in smaller barrels..which went into a whole other discussion but was reported differently. We are not planning to shorten any maturation process..it will take 4-7 years in the 53 gallon barrels in our climate. We have designed our two column still to produce a Vodka so pure it wouldn't require filtration or to produce our Bourbon with the exact amount of copper exposure at the right vapor rates for the best congener mixture. We are not new to fermentation or making alcohol, this has been the foundation of our careers, so we are excited to bring our expertise into our own craft operation to produce spirits that we like to drink and from our experience the best way to make the best tasting spirits. For example our Sweet Mash process for our Bourbon.. we believe once you taste the difference you will want to know more about it. Thank you again for the support and hearing from the newspaper article critics'..we want to get the correct message out there and we don't mind answering any questions.

[MyOldKyDram]

Thanks for stopping by and talking shop with us. Very glad to hear of the corrections, clarifications to the article. I like the approach you guys are taking. Where in Danville are/will you be located?

[P&MLiquorsEric]

Kentucky blue vodka? sounds a little too similar to Barrel House in Lexington that produces "Pure Blue" vodka.

[WildernessTrace]

Thank you again.. I must admit we are new to the forum(s) but we are working to get some staff communicating more regularly to support the distillery. We are located off of Roy Arnold Ave, behind Centre College, in the heart of Danville. You will see our main operation Ferm Solutions, as we haven't posted anything publically about the distillery yet. The distillery will consume about 75% of our current space, as we hope to grow the brand in the next few years, we do have plans to separate the distillery and build a stand alone operation on the edge of town. However as you will find coming through one of the tours, there is a reason we started it here within our current location and again a little something different we are trying to offer to everyone around the science of making spirits. We are very excited, its all about our local area from the history that settled here to all of our grains being grown within 2 miles of us on the Caverndale family Farm..

[WildernessTrace]

You know what.. you are correct. Honestly we weren't aware that the Barrel House had a vodka, nor did we know about Pure Blue. We are UK graduates and of course wanted to try and include Kentucky into our products some how.. well long story short.. we aren't calling our Vodka Kentucky Blue anymore. At the current time, we have selected Blue Heron, again trying to keep our state in our brand with the blue, but more about we have a lot of Blue Heron's in our area and its associated with lake herrington for example which we live on. Thank you for the comment, its amazing how many names are out there on products.. again one of those things that the newspaper reporter asked and we said, well we are thinking this but....

[WildernessTrace]

Its been a few months on this post.. We wanted to invite everyone to our Grand Opening this coming Saturday December 7th from 10am-4pm. We are offering a Open House style tour to the public for free, providing free BBQ and drinks to the first several hundred visitors. We ask that you come back for our detailed tours and really learn about our operation and how we are producing premium spirits. Our gift shop is open and stocked with our 100% local grain-craft made Blue Heron Vodka, and there might be some of our limited-seasonal Harvest Rum available, which is made from Kentucky sorghum molasses, unfortunately our bourbon is starting to age and wont be mature for a while. We have been operating about 6 weeks and selected our grand opening following the 80th anniversary of the repeal of prohibition this Dec. 5th. Sign up for our limited edition Bourbon at our website www.wildernesstraceky.com , our first two barrels are already sold and come by and visit us this Saturday at 445 Roy Arnold Ave, Danville, KY.. (p.s. it will be warm inside)

[MyOldKyDram]

Bummer, will be out of town this Saturday. Look forward to visiting you all another time in the near future!

[KySalesRep]

I will be there with my Dad. He makes the sorghum your rum is made from :grin:. I'm looking forward to meeting you guys and touring the distillery.

[MyOldKyDram]

Awesome be sure and report back Dan!

[WildernessTrace]

Thank you and please come by anytime..

[suntour]

i guess my eternal problem with this is all that with microbreweries really did something radical with offering real beers when all the big boys were producing was the same flavorless crap. it was almost revolutionary to offer a beer with flavor and the slight premium you paid was worth it. it was legitimately better. now there's eight trillion microbreweries all evolving independently with one another on a parallel line. the innovation got us somewhere and its now leveling off arguably. now people are so willing to like their local brewery because its local not necessarily because its better.

the micro distilleries are kind of reinventing a wheel that was fine in the first place. we've got tons of micro distillers around here and frankly the product is crap. a bottle of ogd bib costs less than $20 and is perfection comparatively. my point is ... WE DIDN'T NEED TO REINVENT DISTILLING. The big boys are doing it fine and on a scale that makes so much more sense. Honestly this is getting to be so pointless and redundant.

All this being said some great distilleries will emerge from this and perhaps we will all be better served. But as far as pointless things go I feel like 99.9 percent of these potemkin distilleries will be distant memories only a year or two from now and they will have turned enough people off on whiskey that we might be able to buy some of the good stuff off the shelf again. I've been wrong before.

[WildernessTrace]

We will be looking for you with Danny then.. Everyone loves the Rum! We have three barrels aging in used bourbon barrels (I think Danny tasted some of that already) and we are actually making another batch this week of the clear Rum along with two barrels of Bourbon.

[suntour]

I'm going to start a revolutionary new nail company where I will be buying nails at the hardware store and labelling them and selling them at a premium until i can finance my own smelter and manufacturing concern so that I will be able to one day offer you nails similar to the nails you are currently buying only it'll cost more. It'll have a different label and story though about my journey about learning about products and imitating them in a slow inefficient manner.

This will be my label

[suntour]

WildernessTrace sorry about that post. My in-laws have been in town for a week and they aren't leaving until Wednesday.

[WildernessTrace]

Suntour; I have visited a few subpar operations and can understand one can form an impression when one visits only a few places that might not have got it right or even understand what they are doing. However I would invite you to come visit us and taste our difference and experience in producing spirits before offering an opinion, you certainly haven't tasted our spirits or even understand what we are accomplishing different and why we are doing it that way. To another point, maybe you haven't tasted a lot of different brands of the same breed..(bourbon, Vodka, etc..) there is a difference in each of them and some are great and some are crap.. even amongst the big boys, that's why some of it sells for $9.99 a 1.75 liter. I appreciate your opinion but please be sure its a factual one in respect to our spirits, otherwise you are right in people getting turned away from the good stuff. Please come by and visit us, you can make your judgment after a tasting.

[KySalesRep]

As far as I know, Wilderness Trace IS distilling their own products, not sourcing them from other people and making up a story. I know several other companies have/are doing that, but I don't think Wilderness is one of them.

I have no idea as to what their prices are, but I can report back next weekend and let you know.

[WildernessTrace]

Good luck with your nail company, sounds like you have good skills.. As for our operation; Our grain is grown two miles from us, we mill our grain with our rotary hammer mill ourselves, we cook our mash, and use our own yeast.. not a store bought one. We ferment and then distill in our custom made copper still and columns made from Vendome, not ebay or your welding buddy down the street and we barrel it or bottle it by hand. We are 100% craft and also have years of experience in making some of the best brands on the market and we don't take lightly to false claims... so again please come by and visit us, I am sure we will change your mind.