BARREL BENEFITS
Using California’s wine country as a model, Matt Jamie of Bourbon Barrel Foods seeks to create a lifestyle brand based on Kentucky’s bourbon heritage Written by Bridget Williams Photography by Andrew Kung
Timing and tenacity are two important factors Matt Jamie, founder of Bourbon Barrel Foods, cites in the enormous success of his gourmet food and lifestyle brand, headquartered in the Butchertown Market. A veteran of the food service industry at all levels – from dishwasher to chef – Jamie began mulling over ideas for a unique niche in the gourmet food market in the early 2000s. Honing in on artisan soy sauce, he undertook an arduous research and development process that drew parallels with the history and heritage of Kentucky’s bourbon distilling tradition, ultimately resulting in his frst bottle in 2007. Te recipe for soy sauce is deceptively simple – soy, wheat, salt, water and yeast – and what sets Jamie’s Bluegrass Soy Sauce apart are the quality of the ingredients and the aging process. He uses non-GMO soy beans from a Kentucky farmer who exports a good deal of his harvest to Japan; soft red winter wheat originates from the same farm that supplies the Maker’s Mark distillery; limestone fltered spring water is trucked in from Bardstown; and, pure ocean sea salt is harvested along the Pacifc coast. 106 slmag.net
Jamie refers to the repurposed bourbon barrels used for aging as the sixth ingredient. The soy sauce is aged for 12 months, a factor that places it among the super premium category in a peer ranking. Renewed interest in recent years regarding America’s native spirit proved to be quite a boon for the company. “Being a blonde-haired guy in Kentucky that makes soy sauce using bourbon barrels is good for generating buzz, but the quality of our products backs up the hype,” he remarked. Annual production is approximately 20,000 gallons. For perspective, Jamie points out that Kikkoman plants in the US cumulatively turn out 200,000 gallons per day. “Tey probably spill more in an afternoon than we make in a year,” he joked. During our recent visit, there were 125 barrels of soy sauce at various stages of the aging process; the cache represents America’s only micro-brewed soy sauce. Jamie’s magic touch even extends to the by-products of the soy making process: his spent smoked mash is highly sought after by local and regional chefs.
