First visit to FR, WT and WR

[mhatzung]

My wife and I just did our first distillery tours and had a wonderful time! For our first tour, we went to Four Roses. I thought they had a beautiful setting and enjoyed the historic distillery building. Our tour guide was informative and did a nice job, but because they were shut down for maintenance we got the short tour. I guess we’ll just have to return in the fall. Their tasting was done very well. We sampled the yellow label, small batch and a single barrel and then were able to buy our tasting glasses (125th Anniversary) for $4 each. Nice touch and nice glasses for a souvenir.

On to Wild Turkey. We both found the visitor center ‘nicely quaint’ and in direct contrast to the stainless mash tanks and industrial feel of the new distillery. They are opening their new visitor center September 12th (I think). I’m sure it will be great, but they will probably loose the comfortable feel of the old center. Dave was our tour guide and we only had 4 in our group. Dave was very good as a guide. Even though they were shut down, it was a great tour. The 80000 gallon stainless mash tanks were amazing and fun to see empty. I work in an auto parts test lab, so I liked the industrial feel of the new facility. The tasting was not at the level of the Four Roses tasting – they served our samples in little plastic cups, but it was still good. Hopefully they will pick it up a notch in the new facility. We did get to choose 2 from a selection of 5 or 6 labels. Dave then took us in to meet Jimmy Russell after the tasting. What a gentleman – he took his time to talk with us, posed for a picture and signed a bottle for my wife and one for me. That alone makes me want to drink Wild Turkey.

Since we had to drive back to Michigan, I figured I was lucky my wife went on 2 tours with me. As we were walking to the parking lot, she asked if I thought we had time for one more! Bless her, we moved on to Woodford Reserve. What a gorgeous setting they have. The turn of the century buildings (last century, not this one) went along with the three pot stills and their cypress mash tanks. Tom gave us the best tour of the day and showed us all we could ask for. Woodford distills through the summer, I assume because they use a well for their water as opposed to a river, so we did get to see the process running. Their tasting took place in a public room which took away from some of the ambiance that we had at Turkey and Four Roses, but we did get to keep our acrylic shot glasses as a memento which I liked and they also served some bourbon balls to sample. Tom did walk around and hold conversations with us as we sipped our samples.

All in all, it was a great experience and we will be back in the fall for more tours. Each tour had its own appeal, but if I had to choose one it would be WR.

Thanks to all you at SB that posted tour descriptions and other information. What a great resource this forum is.

[GaryT]

Nice write ups, and awesome that you got to meet Jimmy Russel! He is a really great guy (as are most of the master distillers from what I hear; I've only briefly met a couple of them long enough to shake their hands and thank them for making lovely bourbons!) WR is a very nice tour - lovely grounds as you noted. It is interesting to see how these different companies that make the same type of product for the most part in the same way - have their operations setup differently. And, importantly - be able to taste their products at the end :yum:

[mhatzung]

Darylld - You mentioned differences in operation - my wife (who won't drink bourbon) pointed our how our tour guide at FR said that they don't like to age too far out, that the bourbon goes away from their profile (I'm interpreting what the guide said) and at WT and WR they talked about how aging farther out changes it in good ways. I guess I was surprised my wife picked up on it - I really didn't catch it. The differences are what makes this bourbon adventure so much fun I guess.

[squire]

What's even better is we have different styles to choose from.

[smokinjoe]

I guess I was surprised my wife picked up on it - I really didn't catch it.

Whatever you do, don't admit this to her...

[squire]

I suspect she already knows.

[HighInTheMtns]

Funny thing is, only one of those distilleries sold an 11+ year old bourbon in the US this year... And it wasn't Turkey or Woodford.

[mhatzung]

You know, I spent some time reading up on mash bills and age and noticed the same thing about ages.

I was also surprised that WT's mash bill was not higher in rye than it is. I have perceived their bourbon as tending toward 'spicy' and assumed it was high rye that did it. Turns out that 4R is much higher rye but tastes less spicy to me. I'll have to sit down and try them again, because I got that wrong. I'm obviously tasting something else.

[GaryT]

You know, I spent some time reading up on mash bills and age and noticed the same thing about ages.

I was also surprised that WT's mash bill was not higher in rye than it is. I have perceived their bourbon as tending toward 'spicy' and assumed it was high rye that did it. Turns out that 4R is much higher rye but tastes less spicy to me. I'll have to sit down and try them again, because I got that wrong. I'm obviously tasting something else.

I think the single story rickhouses at 4R impact that as well. I love the high-rye recipe from 4R but also don't find it to be as spicy as some others that are actually lower rye.

[jbowl]

I took the 4R tour in July. The tour guide gave the 'wore four-roses corsage to accept marriage proposal' explanation for their name.

I had to bite my tongue to keep from asking about Mr. Cowdery's thoughts from Bourbon, Straight.

[squire]

I think the yeast, fermentation time and stills (not all column stills are created equal) have more to do with it than the amount of rye in the mash bill.

[cowdery]

I will qualify a little what I wrote there with something I've learned since. Talking to Al Young, a Four Roses employee who literally wrote the book on Four Roses, I asked why he didn't at least mention the explanation involving the Rose family. He said that he did the research and there is zero evidence of any connection between Four Roses and Atlanta's Rose family. The family and the people promoting the Rose family home claim they originated the brand but there is no evidence to support their claim. As logical as it all sounds, there is no evidence to support it. As far as history records, John Paul Jones created the Four Roses brand.

Al Young and everyone else in the know will readily admit that the corsage story is fanciful, but it's the story the Jones company always used.

A few years ago, Jim Rutledge learned about a supposed 'language of flowers' practiced in the American South, in which flowers (type and number) were used to send messages, which lent some credence to the corsage story.

[tanstaafl2]

Al Young and everyone else in the know will readily admit that the corsage story is fanciful, but it's the story the Jones company always used.

A few years ago, Jim Rutledge learned about a supposed 'language of flowers' practiced in the American South, in which flowers (type and number) were used to send messages, which lent some credence to the corsage story.

I thought the whole language of flowers code was more a 19th century Victorian practice rather than a southern tradition although I suppose if could have been brought to the South from Victorian England. Certainly wasn't around in the South in the "flower of my youth" in the 70's

[smokinjoe]

I will qualify a little what I wrote there with something I've learned since. Talking to Al Young, a Four Roses employee who literally wrote the book on Four Roses, I asked why he didn't at least mention the explanation involving the Rose family. He said that he did the research and there is zero evidence of any connection between Four Roses and Atlanta's Rose family. The family and the people promoting the Rose family home claim they originated the brand but there is no evidence to support their claim. As logical as it all sounds, there is no evidence to support it. As far as history records, John Paul Jones created the Four Roses brand.

Al Young and everyone else in the know will readily admit that the corsage story is fanciful, but it's the story the Jones company always used.

A few years ago, Jim Rutledge learned about a supposed 'language of flowers' practiced in the American South, in which flowers (type and number) were used to send messages, which lent some credence to the corsage story.

Ah, this should come as welcome news to those who have boycotted drinking 4R whiskey over the years due to that ridiculous rose yarn...