Thanks Jim. Interestingly, neither distillery included warehouse tours. I think it is primarily due to visitor safety, as a couple of large warehouses have recently collapsed. It is a leap of faith to walk into a century old warehouse with all those 550 lb barrels stored overhead. We recently visited a distillery where steel beams had been added to the exterior of some older warehouses for additional support.
The Bulleit distillery did a "study" to debunk the myth that bourbon will age better if the the barrels are stored on their sides. I can't imagine it would make a difference, but they checked it out anyway. Storing barrels on their sides and rolling them is a common method of transport in older warehouses. Bulleit decided to store them vertically on pallets six high, which is a more efficient use of space. They have a "no shoes on the floor" policy in their warehouses, and they move barrels with fork trucks. Makes sense to me. Every distillery, it seems, has a different strategy for warehouse storage and barrel aging. It's all part of the fun of the distillery visits.
The "Hillbilly Still" you see in one of the photos can distill 1 barrel of of spirits over a period of several days. Jeptha Creed uses it to trial different recipes. The "Bless Your Heart" storage space shows examples of recipes they don't want to repeat. You win some, you lose some.
They also use a red corn variety and a malting technique to impart a sweetness to their mash. They honor our Vets by making a special mash with red, white, and blue corn (see the single barrel photo). Very cool.
The larger copper still at Jeptha Creed is operating. You can see the mash being distilled through the view ports on each tray, and you can see the 'white dog' coming off the top. And yes, the whole thing is uninsulated...something you probably won't see in a refinery or chemical plant due to safety and efficiency concerns.
Click to expand...
