Meeting the Master Distiller at Woodford Reserve and Bourbon Sweet Potato Biscuits

Kentucky certainly comes to mind as the bourbon making capital of the world, although there are distillers in several other states. In fact, there are only ten distillers in the entire country that produce over 300 different brands of bourbon.

One of our favorites is Woodford Reserve, so we were thrilled to be able to meet with Chris Morris, the Master Distiller at Woodford Reserve, while we were in Lexington, Kentucky last month.  Woodford Reserve is also the official bourbon of the Kentucky Derby, so we could not have visited at a better time, considering Derby Day is today!

Bourbon making is an art that dates back as far as 2,500 years ago and was first discovered by the Venetians (and we thought they just knew how to make wine!). It is a complex process and hasn’t changed too much over the years.  In fact, Woodford Reserve is making bourbon today much the same way they did when the distillery was first started in 1812.

The property that Woodford Reserve sits on was at one time a 500 acre working farm with cattle. Today they have a total of 72 acres just outside of Lexington in Versailles, Kentucky.  It is known as the most beautiful bourbon facility due to its picturesque setting and historic stone buildings surrounded by thoroughbred horse country.  The property is also a National Landmark. Nothing but bourbon has been made there since 1812 (although there were periods when the facility was idle, especially during prohibition).

The current owners, Brown-Forman, purchased the property for quite the deal in 1940 (six years after prohibition).  They bought it from the Lebrot family knowing there were 25,672 barrels of bourbon untapped on the property which made the purchase price for the property $3.25 per gallon! 🙂

Brown-Forman’s other bourbon labels include Jack Daniels, Old Forester, Gentleman Jack, Early Times and Canadian Mist. Woodford Reserve is the only small batch bourbon that they make. There are only 21 barrels produced a day compared to their sister bourbon Jack Daniels which produces 2,100 barrels a day.

The are several reasons that Woodford Reserve is a very different bourbon.  One is that it is a sour mash bourbon and is made with more rye than other brands. The sour mash procedure was actually discovered right in their distillery (then known as Oscar Pepper Distillery) in 1840 by a Scotsman, James Crow, who was the Master Distiller at the time.

So what exactly is a “mash”? A mash is a combination of grains (corn, rye, barley, wheat) that are coarsely ground and mixed with water (at Woodford Reserve it is well water).  It is heated to convert the starches in the grain into fermentable sugars.  This in turn allows the yeast to consume and convert to ethanol.

A sour mash bourbon is made almost like making a bread with a “starter”.  Most of the spent mash from the fermentation process is dried out and given to local farmers to feed their animals (just as it has been done since the distillery first started in 1812). However, they will reserve 500 pounds of the spent mash and put it back into the next cycle of the distilling process to create a consistent product. It also keeps the pH level at a 7.0, which is neutral (like rain water). The cypress vats where this mashing process occurs are over 100 years old and are made from wood that originated in South Georgia.

When alcohol is present and you are making a mash, it becomes a distiller’s beer. Their beer is very fruity. The process at Woodford Reserve makes the bourbon very complex and you will find lots of green fruit on the nose of their beer (like apples and grapes). Because their bourbon has a high rye content, it is not the typical bourbon. The breakdown for their bourbon is 78% corn, 18% rye and 10% malted barley.

We put our hands a few inches above the fermenter during our visit. First of all, it was incredibly warm. The second shock was that when we put our faces down to smell the mash, we almost fainted! It was like we had sniffed a whole jar of wasabi! It literally took our breath away, we could not breath and it burned all the way down our chest. This is because there is no oxygen as the yeast eats the mash. We were told ahead of time about this intense reaction but, count us as stupid because we just had to smell and see this for ourselves.

On the 6th day of fermentation, the distiller’s beer is drained from the fermenter (cypress vats) and in turn goes into a beer well to ultimately be run through the distiller. Their distillers were made in Scotland (they might know a thing or two about making whiskey) and they actually have three distillers that they run their bourbon through. The first is Low Wine, the second and third is High Wine or White Dog (sounds like moonshine to me!). To read the complete description of how bourbon is made, you might want to check out this link .

We tasted the “bourbon” that comes out of the distiller and it is white (just like white lightening) and is what people used to drink and some still do (moonshine!). It becomes the bourbon that we know through the aging in the oak barrels that have have been slightly charred. This is what creates the caramelization and the color that we associate with bourbon. During this maturation process (which is between 4 to 7 years), the bourbon will take on the flavors of soft oak, caramel, cinnamon and clove (the flavor profile for Woodford Reserve).

Woodford Reserve is the only single bourbon brand distiller. Chris told us that the palate in tasting bourbon is now more important than ever because they are selling bourbon all over the world. It is all about a “consistent flavor profile”.

Chris told us that bourbon sales have only increased by 1% in the past year, which is surprising. I thought with all the hype about bourbon (both in drinking and in cooking) and groups like the Bourbon Women (which is a popular, fast growing organization) that the rate of sales would be greater. He said that the older brands are in decline (like Old Crow), but that newer, smaller brands are experiencing astronomical growth (remember they are still made by one of the ten distilleries that exist in the U.S.).

The other brands that are experiencing major growth are Jack Daniels, Knob Creek, Maker’s Mark and Woodford Reserve. In fact, their sales were up 18% from last year. That pace is difficult to keep up with when they only produce 50,000 cases a year and do not have the capacity to produce more. They operate year round to keep up with the demand. Please don’t run out of bourbon! 😉

Chris has a really tough job tasting all that bourbon, so I wanted to know how you become a Master Distiller. He has been with Brown-Forman for 18 years and has worked his way through the company and has worked for several other brands under the company umbrella, so I guess he might know a thing or two about bourbon. He has been the Master Distiller at Woodford Reserve for 7 years. This job is one that you retire from and you certainly don’t leave it until you aren’t interested in tasting any more bourbon. Guess he’s not leaving the position any time soon!

One of the major differences in Woodford Reserve is the way they decide to batch and bottle their bourbon. They will start with samples from 8 different barrels that are sent off to a panel of tasters once it has passed Chris’ sophisticated palate. Based on this tasting, it will be narrowed to 4 barrels that have similar characteristics. From there, they will combine 2 barrels and bottle those together.

That is why you will never see a year on a bottle of Woodford Reserve. It could be a combination of different years. It is all about the taste and not the age. The barrels mature at different times based on factors like the temperature in their warehouse and how the barrels breathe over time. We were extremely fortunate to be with Chris when he tapped a barrel for us to taste!

By the way, if you have $10,000 and several friends, you too can taste a few barrels and combine the two you like most to create your very own batch of Woodford Reserve!

Chris is also working on the latest Master’s Collection, which is his personal project.  The current one (which we saw the new barrels for) is a Double-Oaked Bourbon.  This will be aged in American Oak barrels that have been slightly charred.  The final results should be buttery, with notes of honey and vanilla.  Sign me up for one of those barrels!

Woodford Reserve is part of Slow Food USA and is the original Slow Food Bourbon Distillery (and may be the only one). They are also members of Kentucky Proud. They buy local corn and are the only bourbon distillery that does. Unfortunately, no grains or rye grow in Kentucky that are fit for human consumption, so they purchase the rye from the Dakotas and the malted barley from Wisconsin.

Chris says that Wooddford Reserve lends itself well to cooking as many other bourbons do not. “It is balanced and sophisticated and easy to use in the kitchen”. He said that if a bourbon has more wood notes it is less versatile. If a bourbon is corn driven, then the corn flavors will come out.

So, what is Chris’ favorite dish made with bourbon? Since they have a two times James Beard award winner, Ouita Michel, as their resident chef, that might be a tough question! He told us that it had to be a Woodford Reserve honey-brined chicken that was prepared at a bourbon dinner in New Orleans one year. He said it was just an incredible blend of bourbon, herbs and spices and I am sure it was! However, I like my Woodford Reserve a wee bit too much right at Derby weekend to use it as a brine, so you all are getting a recipe for Sweet Potatoes Biscuits made with bourbon! 😉

Thank you so much to Chris Morris and the staff at Woodford Reserve for making our visit a memorable one!

Chris gave me a copy of their wonderful cookbook, The Woodford Reserve Culinary Cocktail Tour: A Journey with Bourbon. It is filled with incredible recipes from well-known chefs and I highly recommend it.

Here is the recipe for Sweet Potato Biscuits from that cookbook. We paired them with a wonderful local country ham from North Carolina. I also made a few with some melted Farmstead Cheddar Cheese. Either way, they were delightful. You get such a nice subtle flavor of the bourbon in the biscuit. Paired with a glass of Woodford Reserve (or a nice bourbon cocktail), you will be all set for Derby Day today!

Enjoy your weekend!

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