American Whiskey

EXPLORE AMERICAN WHISKEY

World whiskey is in the ascendancy and from Sydney to Seattle new distilleries are springing up. But what about the old guard? Nowhere is the marriage between old and new happier than it is in Louisville, Kentucky. Dominic Roskrow reports.

When the Frazier Museum in downtown Louisville, Kentucky, unveiled its high tech interactive bourbon visitor experience last year, it marked the most dramatic volte-face since Saul had a bright light moment on the road to Damascus.

It says something when you produce some of the world’s finest whiskey but you’re better known for your fried chicken. Or when you have a dozen amazing bourbon distilleries but you’re overshadowed by one whiskey producer to the South in Tennessee.

That’s how it is in Kentucky though. Or was. Fly in- to the State’s biggest city a decade ago and you’d have been hard pressed to find any reference to bourbon or its producers. Bourbon wasn’t exactly a dirty word, but it was about as relevant to the people of Louisville as Aussie Rules is to the residents of Taipei. Or come to think of it, anyone outside Australia. You want bourbon, buddy? Bardstown’s that way…

A few years back bourbon was dead in the water, its sedate, traditional gentlemanly old ways in danger of being swept aside by hundreds of new upstart micro distilleries. Now though, Hollywood actor Matthew McConaughey and heavy rock giants Metallica have their own bourbon brands, and the spirit is as hip as any other drink on the planet.

WHAT HAPPENED?

Louisville - pronounced Lew-e-ville - is Kentucky’s main city, and it is the gateway to the South. Across the River Ohio is Illinois, but Louisville’s culture is distinctly Southern, from the accent to the music, and from the attitude to the culture. But it is also a hipster paradise, a college city with two respected college American Football teams, and it is liberal and Democrat in a State defined by its conservatism and Republicanism.

And it just didn’t do bourbon. Ten years ago you’d have struggled to find any reference to whiskey here, or to be able to source fine bourbon from a drinks menu dominated by international wines and the odd craft beer or two.

What a difference a decade makes. Louisville is a city transformed, and as it gears up to offer more than 5000 new hotel rooms and to turn its downtown district in to a whiskey lovers’ paradise, it is not only set to provide a launchpad

for bourbon to the rest of the world, but to offer fans of the spirit the perfect haven to indulge themselves in.

If you ever want a metaphor for the changing fortune of bourbon in general and American whiskey in general, it’s the State of Kentucky. It’s home to the likes of Jim Beam, Buffalo Trace, Woodford Reserve and Maker’s Mark. But the distilleries are scattered over the State, hidden away in beautiful glades and pretty countryside. The small town of Bardstown, with its quaint but old-fashioned bourbon museum and annual bourbon festival, has long laid claim to being bourbon’s spiritual home.

When craft distilling took a hold in the country, Kentucky’ distillers either took no notice or dismissed the upstarts out of hand. Louisville’s Whiskey Row, a stretch of preserved old buildings, had remained derelict, and a sad reminder of a long gone era.

NOT ANY MORE.

“A decade ago there was little interest in bourbon,” says Katie Kubitskey of the city’s tourist bureau Go To Louisville. “There was no urban bourbon trail and when it was set up, it had five members. Now it has 35 and we’re turning people away. Bourbon has become the beating heart of the city. And Whiskey Row has come alive. The Evan Williams Visitor Experience has opened there, Old Forester and Michter’s are making whiskey again, and new distilleries such as Peerless and Angel’s Envy have launched new whiskeys.”

Just down the road The Frazier History Museum it has become the jewel in the bourbon whiskey crown. It unveiled a visitor experience a year ago that is the centre point for all the State’s distilleries and Louisville’s urban experience. It is designed and built by the people who created the Guinness Experience in Dublin, and it uses new technology- effectively a giant touch screen interactive iPad - to link up the famous families of bourbon, and explain the spirit’s history in an immersible and interactive way.

“We intend to provide a one stop shop for whiskey tourists to the city,” says president and chief executive Penelope Peavler. “For the first time ever all the dots are being joined up and bourbon has a focal point where tourists can plan their bourbon experience both in the city and across the state. The new interactive experience allows for us to archive stories, and as visitors come they can add to the story. Eventually it will be an information point without equal.”

Most exciting of all for whiskey fans, though, is the way bourbon is evolving and is set to unleash new flavours and styles on the world of whisky. Bourbon is governed by rules even stricter than those for Scotch. But the two new kids on the block in Louisville are set to push out the envelope.

Angel’s Envy was set up by the late Lincoln Henderson, the former master distiller at Woodford Reserve, and his sons. With a third generation of Hendersons now on board, the distillery is now exporting fine spirits described as ‘bourbon finished in a port barrels’ and ‘rye finished in rum barrels.’ Not bourbon or rye, then, but great whiskeys nevertheless.

Round the corner from Whiskey Row is Kentucky Peerless, which is making bourbon - but not totally in a traditional way, and it is not scared of taking risks. Chairman and chief executive Corky Taylor proudly states that he is a fourth generation whiskey maker, pointing to his great great grandfather’s whiskey business, established in the late 19the century. That doesn’t mean he’s playing it safe though. Peerless makes its bourbon without using the traditional sour mash process, and it is casking its spirit at a lower strength than is normal for bourbon producers - in the mid 50s ABV rather than the traditional 62% plus. The finished product has just been released, but an excellent rye has been making waves for more than a year now.

“We think we are bringing fresh thinking to bourbon,” says Taylor. “There’s a lot of excitement here among our team. We think bourbon has a new and exciting story to tell.”

This is just the beginning of what promised to be an amazing time for American whiskey. And the good old boys and the new kids in town are doing it hand in hand. Bring it on!