Smooth Ambler - Maxwelton, WV

[bllygthrd]

Spent a very pleasant mid-day at Smooth Ambler yesterday with John Foster, SA's Director of Sales and his young son. John gave me and my family a very extensive tour of their distillery and rick house ...

Per John [with some of my editorializing] ...

• Business is good and Old Scout bourbon is their best selling line. They also distill vodka and gin.
  
• 1Q 2013 sales exceeded sales for 2, 3 and 4Q 2012 combined. [yep, they are here to stay].
  
• Vodka and gin are distilled based on demand ... otherwise they are putting all there resources into distilling, barreling and aging WV bourbon.
  
• The Very Old Scout 14 YO straight bourbon run [sourced from LDI] is gone.
  
• The Very Old Scout 19 YO straight bourbon run [sourced from LDI] is long gone ... it was a blend of 19 and 21 year old LDI juice ...
  
• 75% of their present rick house has WV juice ... 25% is LDI juice (my estimate).
  
• They are starting to build a second rick house as the first is near capacity.
  
• Their oldest WV distilled bourbon is 3-3.5 years old ... but don't expect a release when it becomes 4 years old ... they want to make sure that they produce/release a quality and sustainable product ... so it won't be rushed to market just to make a quick profit. Think maybe 5-7 year old release ...
  
• Their WV distilled bourbon is sweet mash ... not sour mash.
  
• WV does not strongly support SA [2 of the three restaurants in Lewisburg we visited didn't have SA bourbon] ... a sad reflection of my fellow mountaineers ... but they love their Bud Light
  
• Their Yearling Bourbon is a blend of 1, 2 and 3 YO WV juice.
  
• They recently opened a dedicated bottling room.
  
• The TPS special bottling was at barrel strength.
  
• They get their barrels from Interdependent Stave - Lebanon MO ... not Lebanon KY.
  

I'll post my tasting notes elsewhere ... I was able to try their Old Scout 7 YO, 10 YO and Old Scout Rye (also LDI sourced) ... as well as their barrel aged gin.

John was nice enough to hook me up with a bottle of Very Old Scout 19 YO ... thanks John!!

The photo of the tasting room include John and his son.

[bllygthrd]

Forgot to mention ... SA is no longer using small barrels to age their bourbon ... it all goes in to 53 gal barrels ...

[squire]

Thanks for the tour.

[WAINWRIGHT]

Great pics and thanks for sharing. It's nice to see a little more insight on the operation and that they will be do things right in the future as I look forward to trying some of their own juice down the road.

[MyOldKyDram]

Are they aiming for a similar profile to the sourced stuff they bottle now? Or will it be a complete 180?

[Yeti]

If I remember correctly, when I spoke with John in November he said that the official Smooth Ambler bourbon will be a maker's mark-ish wheater.

[squire]

Well that's an interesting choice, not a bad one by any means, but interesting.

[theglobalguy]

Awesome details. Thanks for both making the trek and documenting it for those of us not so close. Does the gift shop have anything unique?

[Yeti]

The gift shop had VOS for a while after it started to disappear in the wild, but they usually only sell the regular stuff (White Whiskey, Vodka, Gin, Barrel Aged Gin, Yearling, Old Scout, Old Scout Rye). I've been pestering them to start selling single barrel OS at the distillery like they do with TPS.

[bllygthrd]

Are they aiming for a similar profile to the sourced stuff they bottle now? Or will it be a complete 180?

Yeti is correct ... the WV juice is a wheated bourbon ... the LDI is a rye ...

[bllygthrd]

Does the gift shop have anything unique?

I picked up a SA on the rocks glass for the wife, and they have a fleece vest I suggested would be a good Father's Day gift ... but other than that, nothing you don't see at the other distilleries. They do have one of the nicest tasting rooms though!

[SmoothAmbler]

bllygthrd,

It sounds like you got good treatment at the distillery; that always makes us happy.

You all are correct that our house produced bourbon will be a wheater....or at least the majority of it will be. It used to be 60% corn, 20% wheat, and 20% malted barley but we tinkered with it and now it's 73, 15, 12. It's there to stay. We also make a wheat whiskey and a few experimental products like triple malt bourbon (60% corn, 40% of three different malts).

To some it may seem a bit odd that we aren't making a product that replicates the Old Scout Bourbon (OSB), but to us, that's really what's great about it. Not only is OSB great, but it's different from what we make. We didn't want to be another one of those guys that said "We're only making this until our stuff is ready" and then never make our own juice. We want to treat the entire line of Old Scouts as their own separate thing and let our house-produced juice stand on it's own merit.

Yearling will most likely disappear in the future and be folded into our house bourbon. But we have a couple of years before we can get there. We really want to turn out a mature, complex, intriguing product that can be a brand for years to come.

Thanks for being a fan, for bringing the family out to the distillery, and for your support. We still sell bottles one at a time, so it means a great deal to all of us.

John Little

[MyOldKyDram]

Cheers John. From what everyone's saying sounds like you guys are doing things the right way. I like the sourced stuff you've out now and look forward to heading over that way and eventually trying your own juice.

[SmoothAmbler]

Cheers John. From what everyone's saying sounds like you guys are doing things the right way.

Thanks! I will say that we are doing everything in our power to make sure we are doing it "the right way". That should be the only way to go through life, IMO.

[squire]

Thanks for that information John, please keep us posted.

[bllygthrd]

bllygthrd,

It sounds like you got good treatment at the distillery; that always makes us happy. ...

John Little

John L

"good treatment" is a significant understatement ...

Thank you for the warm welcome.

Terry W

[WhiskyRI]

billygthrd - thank you for the great description and information. It sounds like I have another stop right off of 64, when I make my Distillery tour trip to Kentucky. Smooth Ambler is on the shelves here in RI and it's being well received.

[bllygthrd]

billygthrd - thank you for the great description and information. It sounds like I have another stop right off of 64, when I make my Distillery tour trip to Kentucky. Smooth Ambler is on the shelves here in RI and it's being well received.

WhiskyRI

Hope you enjoy your pass through WV ... when you travel I-64W to Kentucky, you'll experience having to climb Sandstone Mountain ... always a joy! :grin:

Regards ...