Wild Turkey

THUNDER, Lightning, and RAIN!  In our country, we have thunderstorms in the late afternoon and evenings after hot days, but here they come at anytime.  This morning we had a huge thunderstorm with lots and lots of rain.  It was so dark we turned on the lights in Auntie Violet. By lunchtime, the sun was out, so we decided to go ahead with our plan to visit one of Kentucky's Bourbon distilleries.  The Wild Turkey Distillery is about sixty miles from where we are in Radcliff.  During the drive, we again experienced more pouring rain, thunder and lightning. It was still raining when we got there.

We arrived in time for the last tour of the afternoon.  Our guide loaded us up into a bus and took us across the road and up the hill to the distillery --

The first thing we saw were these silos, loaded with corn, rye and malted barley.  The Wild Turkey formula calls for a majority of the mash to be made out of corn that is grown nearby.  They import rye from Canada and the barley comes from Montana or the Dakotas.  The barley is shipped to Minneapolis first where it is malted (moistened enough to sprout it, then air-dried, thereby activating the enzymes the grain that enable it to break down into sugars).

The first step in the process is to heat the grain and water together in the cookers --

The warm mash is then loaded into huge fermenter tanks along with yeast --

The mash ferments for three days --

 Looking down into one of the almost emptied tanks.  It will be steam-cleaned before being filled again --

 While we were watching, another tank began to be filled with warm mash --

The fermented liquid then goes to the still where the alcohol is distilled off.  The grain particles (slop) that are left behind are given to local farmers for their pigs and cattle (they have a waiting list of farmers...) --

The liquid is distilled a second time and then put into new charred oak barrels where it will stay for the next six to eighteen years.  Since we were on the last tour we didn't get a chance to watch the barrelling process as they were finished for the day.

We took the bus back to the Tasting Room where our guide poured us samples of the Wild Turkey products.  You could pick two of the seven to try.  One is a rye whiskey (where rye is the dominant grain instead of corn) while the others are variations of Bourbon with different ages blended and different proofs --

From there to the Gift Shop where, of course, all of their products are for sale.  Forry had a heck of a time trying to decide what he wanted...

The Wild Turkey grounds take up fifty-five acres next to the Kentucky River (where they get the limestone filtered water for their bourbon).  Much of the land is taken up by these huge bonded warehouses where the barrels are stored for five to eighteen years.  The windows are open during the hot Kentucky summers and the bourbon expands into the charred oak.  In the winter as it gets cold, the windows are closed and the bourbon contracts back.  This expansion and contracture in the barrels is what gives the Bourbon its characteristic color and flavor.