Woodford Reserve

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Woodford Reserve is a bourbon whiskey produced in Versailles , Kentucky . Woodford Reserve is part of the Brown-Forman group , which also owns Jack Daniel’s , the largest bourbon distillery in the world. A small part of the whiskey is made in the Woodford Reserve Distillery , which has been developed as a visitor center , about 8 miles from the city of Versailles , Kentucky, and a large part in an unnamed distillery, probably the much larger Early Times Distillery by Brown -Forman in nearby Shively , Kentucky.

history

A distillery at this location has existed since 1812. Elijah Pepper opened a distillery here where he produced Old Pepper Whiskey. The master distiller James C. Crow , who revolutionized American whiskey production, worked in the distillery . Crow was the first who relied less on tradition and the knowledge of the master distiller, but consistently applied scientific methods and was able to produce a high quality whiskey reliably and reproducibly. Labrot & Graham bought the plant in 1878, and in 1940 it went to the Brown-Forman beverage company. After a bourbon crisis in the USA in the 1970s, Brown-Forman sold the distillery in the 1970s, only to buy it again in 1992 after the market had picked up again since the late 1980s and to restore it for 14 million US dollars.

The birthplace of the Woodford Reserve Bourbon is Brown-Forman's Early Times Distillery . Brown-Forman bought the Labrot & Graham distillery in 1992 and started operations there in 1996. Since the whiskey produced there was to mature for six years, Brown-Forman was looking for a product that could be sold in the Labrot & Graham Distillery from 1996 to 2002 . The Brown-Forman group began to select the best barrels of the Old Forester whiskey, to store them at Labrot & Graham and to sell them under the new brand Woodford Reserve . Woodford is alluding to the county in which the distillery is located, Reserve should sound noble. The label was so successful that the whiskey distilled at Labrot & Graham was sold under the same brand when it got out of the barrels.

In 1995 the Woodford Reserve Distillery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places under NRHP No. 95001272, since 2000 it has been a National Historic Landmark . Brown-Forman markets the distillery as a visitor destination: 55,000 people visited the complex in 2005.

Manufacturing

Woodford Reserve is a bourbon whiskey , the production of which is essentially the same as other bourbons. However, the whiskey is distilled three times in contrast to the double distillation common in the industry and Woodford Reserve is one of only a few bourbons that comes from pot stills .

Like almost all bourbons, Woodford Reserve is made from corn, rye, barley malt and spring water, and like all Kentucky bourbons, the water comes from limestone soils. As with all bourbons, traditional yeast fermentation (fermentation) takes place for five to seven days using the sour mash method. The triple distillation in pot stills made of copper is unusual for bourbon. The alcohol content is adjusted to 55% by volume by mixing with distilled water. Now the bourbon can be filled into barrels. As a rule, a bourbon is aged for at least four years. At Woodford Reserve, master distiller Chris Morris decides on the length of barrel aging and the exact time of bottling.

Each individual bottle is labeled with a batch number and a bottle number. Woodford Reserve has an alcohol content of 43.2% vol.

Reviews and awards

2005: Wins double gold medal at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. Since then, the brand has received gold (2006–2007; 2011–2012) and silver (2008; 2010) medals at this annual event.

Woodford Reserve Master's Collection

In 2005 the first bottles of the Woodford Reserve Master's Collection, a premium series, were produced. Since then, a limited collection has been offered annually at selected locations.

year designation Proof Alcohol content in%
2005 Four Grain Batch # 1 92.4 46.2
2006 Four grain batch # 2 92.4 46.2
2007 Sonoma Cutrer Finish 86.4 43.2
2008 Sweet Mash 1838 86.4 43.2
2009 Seasoned oak finish 100.4 50.2
2010 Maple Wood Finish 94 47.2
2011 Aged Cask Rye 92.4 46.2
2011 New Cask Rye 92.4 46.2
2012 Four Wood 94.4 47.2

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Chuck Cowdery : Diageo's New Distillery to Bear Bulleit Name , The Chuck Cowdery Blog, August 21, 2014
  2. ↑ a b c d e Garrett Peck: The Prohibition Hangover: Alcohol in America from Demon Rum to Cult Cabernet Rutgers University Press, 2009 ISBN 0813548497 p. 63
  3. ↑ CK Cowdery: Bourbon, Straight - The Uncut and Unfiltered Story of American Whiskey. Made and Bottled in Kentucky, Chicago, Illinois 2004, ISBN 0-9758703-0-0 . P. 71
  4. ↑ NRHP Reference #: 95001272 - search archives National Register Information System. National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  5. ↑ Pot Stills Versus Column Stills , The Chuck Cowdery Blog: American Whiskey & Other Stuff , February 26, 2008, Accessed March 3, 2011
  6. ↑ Proof66.com's Summary Page for Woodford Reserve . Retrieved October 17, 2012.

Coordinates: 38 ° 6 ′ 46 "  N , 84 ° 48 ′ 43"  W.