DISTILLERY
making him an obvious choice to helm the new Bulleit plant. After donning our safety vests, we begin our trek of the premises. Dwayne wants to know what I want to know. “Everything,” I tell him. Everything typically accounts for a lot, so perhaps it’s best if we start at the beginning. Bulleit is a relatively new bourbon brand started in 1987 by Tom Bulleit who is the great-great-grandson of one Augustus Bulleit who distilled whiskey in the 1830s. Interestingly, Augustus Bulleit’s whiskey would be considered an American rye whiskey today, not a bourbon. Still, the distilling heritage was there, and Seagram’s bought the brand in 1997 making good work of production and distribution. Of course, the heir to the Seagram’s throne fell far from his father’s business savvy tree and even- tually Pernod Ricard and Diageo were feasting on the desiccated corpse of the world’s former distilled spirits heavy- weight. Diageo gobbled up Bulleit in the process and has in turn given resources and marketing power to put Bulleit rmly into the global whiskey spotlight. For the longest time, however, Bulleit was made only through contract at the Four Roses Distillery. Things are starting to change with the advent of this new brick and mortar plant. Corn, rye and barley Today’s Bulleit Bourbon is considered a ‘high rye’ bourbon, meaning it has a rye content between 20-40%, in this case 28%. Compared to many categor- ically similar bourbons, Bulleit is a little drier on the palate, but still has ample sweetness and body from the 68% corn in the mash bill. It’s a very nice bourbon on its own though many a coifed and mustachioed mixologist uses it in their modern cocktail serves as well. As such, Bulleit has an enviable foothold in both the on and off trade. It all starts with the grain. The distillery sits on a magni cent 300 acres of farmland in the heart of Kentucky. This gives easy access to corn, the quintessential (and legally essential) ingredient in bourbon production. The 300 acres allows the company to grow some of its own non- GMO, yellow dent corn and the rest is purchased from farms in surrounding Shelby County. Several times a week trucks pull through the security check point onto a large truck scale. The plant receives
forthcoming with information, but under- standably he wouldn’t divulge everything to me. He mentions that Bulleit does two mash bills on site and uses ve differ- ent yeast strains. When I probe further about the speci cs of those mash bills, he just silently smiles. The mash bills are blended together post-maturation so that they add up to the 68% corn, 28% rye, and 4% malted barley recipe that the bourbon is known for. Cooking and mashing Up and down several ights of steps and we’re led into the mash room. Bulleit has two mash cookers each with a capacity of 10,000 gallons. These babies operate at atmospheric pressure during the cooking process. They are essentially run side by side, with one
a total of about 13,000 bushels (330 MT) of grain per week. As grain is being off-loaded it is monitored by various cameras and probes to ensure quality. Samples are quickly taken to the QC lab to assess the grain for bushel weight, moisture, cracked kernels, foreign material, damaged corns, and odour. Grains are augured into the silos, two for corn, and one each for rye and malted barley. The silos hold 3,300 bushels each. The augur design has a dust collection system in place, and the collected dust is sent to a local farmer. Grain is ground right before mashing through a large dust-tight hammer mill. To ensure that it is getting the proper grist consistency, Bulleit does a grist analysis once a week. Throughout the tour Dwayne is very
october 2019 I BREWER AND DISTILLER INTERNATIONAL ● 51
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