Join Wilderness Trail Distillery's co-founders, microbiologist Dr. Pat Heist and Master Distiller Shane Baker, as they take you from Bourbon's beginning with yeast and hammering some copper to filling your own bottles of a private barrel pick that you help choose.
From a scientific perspective, taste and experience differences between yeast, sweet mash and sour mash, Kentucky water sources, various grains and processing. You also will examine how bacteria and other microbes play a role in flavor development.
By now, you've worked up an appetite and we aim to please with a barbecue lunch prepared by award-winning pitmasters and founders of the Kentucky State BBQ Festival, Brad and Cindy Simmons. While enjoying the meal by Lucky Dog BBQ, you can continue discussions with Dr. Pat and Shane, the brains behind Wilderness Trail's distilling operations. During lunch, you also can watch a special presentation from Vendome Copper and Brass, the craftsman of all the beautiful stills and equipment behind making great Bourbon.
Next, it's time to head to one of our rickhouses to put your palate to work. This is the fun part: You will taste from a few hand-selected barrels of our aged Kentucky Straight Bourbon and as a group we will narrow down to the best barrel pick. We will then prepare that barrel for a cask strength bottling and allow each person to bottle up to six bottles each. Those bottles can be purchased in the gift shop in addition to the bottle you receive in a special collector box set as part of this event package. The box set contains a one-of-a-kind Bourbon expression bottled exclusively for this event.
Dress for the heat, so cooler, casual wear with flat-sole shoes.
