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Produced in a distillery that dates back to the early 1800s, Woodford Reserve is one of the smoothest, most innovative bourbons in Kentucky – and that’s quite an accolade
H
istory is a big deal in Kentucky. This is the state, after all, that gave us the famous old Derby horse race, bluegrass music and the “long rifle” that was the weapon of choice when it came to kicking out the British redcoats in the 1770s.
Produced in a distillery that dates back to the early 1800s, Woodford Reserve is one of the smoothest, most innovative bourbons in Kentucky – and that’s quite an accolade
H istory is a big deal in Kentucky. This is the state, after all, that gave us the famous old Derby horse race, bluegrass music and the “long rifle” that was the weapon of choice when it came to kicking out the British redcoats in the 1770s.
And then there’s whiskey. Nowadays one of the biggest draws for visitors to these parts is the Bourbon Trail, taking visitors on a meandering route from distillery to distillery, encouraging them to sup the wares of both of innovative newcomers and long-established veterans.
And they don’t come much more innovative than Woodford Reserve (or, in a sense anyway, more long-standing). Set in a tree-lined hollow, the distillery’s rough-stone buildings would not look out of place on the Scottish islands of Skye or Islay.
Whiskey has been produced on this site since 1812, when an entrepreneurial distiller by the name of Elijah Pepper set up business here. His career had started in neighbouring Virginia, but he had upped sticks in the years following the Brits getting their marching orders and he liked the combination of woods and water that the site promised.
Stroll around the place and you could almost imagine Pepper himself appearing around a corner. Aromatic steam rises from cedar-wood fermenters that date back more than 100 years, while barrels wait in orderly lines and copper pot-stills tower over proceedings in all their gleaming glory.
Master distiller Chris Morris has been a fixture in these parts since the mid-1990s and is a passionate advocate for Woodford Reserve, whose recipe he created andwhose virtues he extols with a suitably Kentuckian accent. ‘A whiskey is a whiskey in terms of its DNA, whether it’s from Scotland, Japan or Sweden,’ he says. ‘They’re all made with fermented grain and water. But it’s how we do things a bit differently that makes us, well, different.’
Motes of dust hang in the air and the malty smell and hushed calm give the place the feeling of a temple to grain spirit
Woodford Reserve includes corn, rye and barley in its recipe, to deliver a distinctive spiced note, plus yeast for fruitiness and then melds it all together with the limestone water for which the state is famous, in this case drawn directly from an artesian well on the premises directly into the distilling process.
And that’s not all, Morris adds. Depth of flavour calls for a patient approach. ‘If you visit a whiskey distillery anywhere in the world and ask them how long they ferment their wash, they’ll give you the answer of three days. We ferment ours for seven, the longest in the world of whiskey.’
For all the heritage of the site, Woodford itself is a relative newcomer. The distillery in its current incarnation only opened its doors in 1996, as a super-premium offshoot of the giant Brown-Forman company. You wouldn’t necessarily guess that as you walk through the barrel house. Here, barrels rest on high shelves, where they are occasionally turned (maybe once every six years or so).
Motes of dust hang in the air and the malty smell and hushed calm give the place the feeling of a temple to grain spirit.
The pot-stills also add another aspect to the low-key feeling of heritage that infuses the site. ‘We brought these all the way from Scotland,’ Morris explains. ‘America had abandoned the technology after Prohibition in favour of column distillation.’
Not only that, Woodford decided to follow a method of triple-distillation favoured by leading producers of Irish whiskey such as Bushmills and Jameson.
‘We did that to make absolutely sure we were bringing all our flavours to life,’ Morris comments. ‘Then, when we have this superb spirit, we put it into oak barrels to add to the overall flavour.’
These are specially ‘toasted’ inside, essentially heated without being burned, to add ‘buttery notes of vanilla’ to the finished product.
A recent addition has been the Woodford Reserve Baccarat Edition Whiskey. Bottled in crystal carafes by the famous French firm
‘We also have our own whiskey barrel cooperage,’ says Morris. ‘We are the only whiskey company in the world that makes its own new barrels.’
Partly because of its youth and the fact that it isn’t restricted by having to adhere to a historic recipe, Woodford Reserve has built up a reputation as an innovator. As part of this process Morris creates annual special releases that are much sought-after by collectors and which bring together wood and grain for some remarkably satisfying experiments in flavor. Another recent addition has been the Woodford Reserve Baccarat Edition Whiskey. Bottled in special crystal carafes developed by the French firm Baccarat, the product is selling for around $1,500 a bottle.
Kentucky is an intriguing place in so many ways; a state where elements of North and South merge and meld. Caught on the border between Union and Confederacy in the Civil War it famously (and perhaps naïvely) declared its neutrality. In the end, its sons ended up wearing both blue and grey and the place was the site for battles such as Mill Springs, where it is still possible to walk in the steps of those who battled with bullet and bayonet on a freezing day in January 1862.
Such warlike events seem a long way away now, however, particularly in the grounds of the Woodford distillery, where bees hum amid specially nurtured native plants, while thoroughbred horses look on from neighbouring fields, perhaps dreaming of the day they get a shot at the Derby. With the smell of wood and whiskey in the air, it’s all too easy to take a seat and sip and contemplate the marvels of this most charming place.
Words: DH
Woodfordreserve.com