You may remember of Dr. Pat Heist of Ferm-Solutions back on episode 121 talking about the science of yeast. This episode feature his counterpart Shane Baker, Master Distiller of Wilderness Trail Distillery, as he answers all the questions you ever wanted to know from a Master Distiller. These guys are very well known in the bourbon world amongst distillers who know what they are doing. We take a deeper dive into grains and how this distillery has been aging product for almost 4 years and still hasn’t released a bourbon yet.
Show Notes:
- Tell us a bit about Wilderness Trail?
- Where are you located?
- Do you use the same yeast strain in all your different mash bills?
- Adam Kessell I’d like the hear about all crop yield, and the agricultural footprint of bourbon/whiskey and what safe guards we take for the long term success of the product.
- Can you continue to keep it local?
- How often do you turn away grains?
- What do you think about the bourbon boom from a craft standpoint. what needs to be done to maintain this momentum?
- Aged stock vs making money. where’s that balance?
- What advice to give to other craft distillers?
- What in your opinion is the biggest factor in distilling/aging? Mash?,distillation temperature?, entry proof?, barrel type or aging location?
- Chris Scott I want to hear more about sourcing grains. We already heard Jimmy Russell say he must source rye from Europe. That blew my mind.
- Dustin Charles Herr Discuss year to year variation of crops affect on flavors.
- Steven Granger Discuss how sourcing grains from different parts of the world makes a difference in the finished product.