Seven terms to know before your distillery tour

When the Kentucky Bourbon Festival, operated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, returns for its 31st year September 16–18 in Bardstown, representatives from nearly 50 distilleries will be on hand to entertain about 10,000 visitors. 

The festival’s popularity reflects a thirst for bourbon knowledge that sends enthusiasts and more than 1.5 million other visitors year-round to distillery tours across the commonwealth, according to Kentucky Distillers’ Association figures. 

“The distillery industry is extraordinary in that it values a thorough, authentic and innovative crafting process,” says Greg Ward, the training and development manager for Heaven Hill Kentucky Visitor Experiences. “Our world is now so advanced with goods and services that are created with a focus on speed and efficiency.” 

Founded in Kentucky by the Shapira family in 1935, Heaven Hill is the nation’s largest independent, family-owned and -led spirits producer and marketer. In 2004, the late Harry Shapira spearheaded the creation of one of the first visitor centers on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. Today, the state-of-the-art interactive and educational space at the Heaven Hill Bourbon Experience in Bardstown is staffed by specially trained Bourbon Hosts alongside their counterparts in Louisville at the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience. 

“It is important to Heaven Hill that Kentuckians, whiskey fanatics and newcomers alike are educated of why this industry is so special,” Ward says. 

With the help of those Bourbon Hosts and representatives from six other Kentucky distilleries, here are seven terms to know before your distillery tour: 

1. Fermentation 

Colin Blake, Director of Spirits Education, Moonshine University 

Fermentation is the part in the process where not only alcohol, but a variety of other flavor compounds are created. This is the point in the production process where yeast converts sugar into alcohol and a variety of different acids, esters and aldehydes. All of these help give whiskey its big, bold, diverse flavor profile. While not all the compounds created during fermentation are instantly desirable, during barrel aging they transform into rich, complex flavors which we know, love, like and look for when it comes to traditional flavor profiles in bourbons and whiskeys.

2. Mash bill 

Jay Erisman, Co-Founder, New Riff Distilling

The grains used to make whiskey are represented in the mash bill. A mash bill contains all the grains, and the percentages of those grains, for a given whiskey recipe. Bourbon requires at least 51% corn (typically it’s 70% or more) and the remainder of the mash bill is filled out with “small grains.” Small grains include rye or wheat, to add flavor to the whiskey; and malted barley to help convert the starches in the grains into sugar during the cooking process. A “high rye” mash bill contains a higher percentage (perhaps 20%-plus) of rye, for an especially spicy flavor.

3. Proof

Mike Wells, Head Distiller, Boone County Distilling Company

Proof is the measurement of alcohol exactly twice that of true alcohol by volume (ABV)—an 80-proof spirit is exactly 40% ABV. In the United States, proof became a standardized scale between zero and 200 with 50% ABV set as the baseline at 100 proof. This baseline is how we get the term “proof gallon,” 1 gallon of alcohol at 100 proof. Because proof gallons are the measurement by which we keep track of production, sales and taxes, proof has become the preferred method of conveying alcohol content as it gives consistency and coherence across the industry.

4. Still

Denny Potter, Master Distiller, Maker’s Mark Bourbon

Using evaporation and condensation, a still is the equipment that separates out solids and concentrate a liquid into a higher alcohol content. Because alcohol has a lower boiling point than water, when an alcohol solution is heated in a still, the evaporated alcohol vapors carry out the top and are directed through cooling tubes that condense those vapors back into liquid form.

A “pot still” makes this distillate in separate batches and is cleaned between each use. 

A “column still” is sometimes called a “continuous still” because the mash is continuously injected, meeting steam that separates the alcohol from other compounds as it rises up the column.

5. Try box 

Jodie Filiatreau, Artisanal Distiller, Heaven Hill 

The try box is true to its name, enabling the distiller to sample the new make whiskey before entering the whiskey safe. The try box is a copper and glass apparatus found at the base of the condenser line producing a fountain of new make whiskey fresh off the whiskey still. The new make passes through the parrot (a glass tube) accompanied by a hydrometer giving a visual of the product on its way to the hearts section of the whiskey safe. I’d like to think the “parrot” gets its name by sitting on the shoulder of the try box. 

6. Maturation 

Chris Morris, Master Distiller, Woodford Reserve Distillery 

Maturation is all about what happens in the barrel. From the minute the “new make”—or distillate—comes off the still and goes into the barrel to the time it comes out—that is the maturation period. At Woodford, we mature a little differently than others. We heat cycle our warehouses. In cold months, we pump up the heat and then let it cool down, which gives us a longer maturation cycle. It pushes the new make in and out of that wood, which picks up more sugars, more caramel flavors and all those beautiful notes that make bourbon delicious. 

7. Master distiller 

Freddie Noe, Master Distiller, Fred B. Noe Distillery at James B. Beam Distilling Co. 

Definitions of master distiller can vary, but it’s typically an on-site expert intimately involved in the day-to-day processes and development of liquids at a distillery. This skill often takes many years to learn and is sometimes passed down through generations, as is the case in my family. As the eighth generation master distiller of the Fred B. Noe distillery at James B. Beam Distilling Co., I play an active role in recipe creation, distilling and production of multiple bourbon brands such as Hardin’s Creek, Booker’s and Little Book. I have learned how seven generations before me mastered their craft, and I’ll harness 227 years of knowledge to push the Beam legacy forward.

1. Bourbon and branch – Bourbon with a splash of water
2. Kentucky Chew – Tasting the whiskey instead of shooting it
3. Kentucky Hug – The warm sensation in your upper chest after tasting
4. Finish – See “Kentucky Hug”
5. Nosing the whiskey – Holding up to your nose and breathing through your mouth
6. Neat – Bourbon with nothing added to it
7. On the rocks – Bourbon with ice
8. Unicorn bottles – Bottles that are extremely hard to find
9. Gold dust – The staff’s term for inexpensive bottles
10. Small batch – Bourbon that has been bottled from a small selection of barrels 
11. Single barrel – Bourbon that has been bottled from one single barrel 
12. Finished barrel – Bourbon that has aged in a second barrel after the initial aging
13. Rickhouse – An aging warehouse
14. Cooperage – A place that builds barrels 
15. New Make – Unaged spirit that comes off the still before it is placed in barrels to age