The Bourbon Scociety at Four Roses
Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 8:09 pmToday The Bourbon Society had an event at Four Roses. It started about a month ago when I asked Jim Rutledge to give the Society a tour and to discuss the different yeast strains and their flavors. Well Jim agreed to do this for us and arranged for us to to tour the distillery and to taste aged whiskey from both mash bills and all five yeast strains. Unfortunately I recieved a call from Al Young on Tuesday and Jim's sister in law had died and he would not be able to give us this tour, but if we still wanted to do it, he would give us a tour. I ofcourse agreed to continue the event with Al instead of Jim. I do consider Al a very knowledgable person and a very able substitute for Jim in such circumstances. It turned out to be a great day.
Before I start here with a description of the day, I should note that there were many things Al told us today that were proprietery and he did not want mentioned on the internet, so I will respect his wishes and not go into great detail of some parts of the day.
It started with us watching the video and Al giving us the normal information they give at the beginning of the tours I have had there before. We had several people back out of the tour at the last minute so there were not as many of us as we had originally planned, but that was a lucky event for a couple of people who came for the tour from Lawrenceburg, Indiana, who we invited along for the tour. There ended up with 7 people in the tour instead of the 12 to 15 that had originally planned to come. Al started out by answering alot of questions at the beginning of the tour that might not have been asked by a less enthusiastic group of bourbon fans.
We left the tourist center and went to the grain recieving area where Al discussed the grain and where it comes from and the qualities they look for in grain to make their bourbon. Pretty standard so far, but always interesting. We then went into the distillery and started with the yeast tub. Since yeast was the focus of the day Al discussed the yeast in some detail and told us which strain it was and what characteristics it was expected to give to the mash. We then went into the fermenting rooms and there were actually two different recipes in the fermenting process, so we had a chance to compare the different flavors the yeast gave on the beer level. We headed on to the stills and tasted white dog from the beer still and the doubler. Very nice, but what struck me is that it was indeed totally different from the last time I was there when the white dog had a very strong licorice flavor. This was very spicey with a hint of fruit. I have more incentive to visit the distillery more often to see if I can taste the white dog from the still for all ten recipes!
We next left the distillery and went to the tasting lab. Al had aged samples of all ten whiskeys waiting for us and charts telling us what they look for in each recipe as far as flavor is concerned. He then let us pour from some sample bottles labeled by recipe code. The differences were amazing! There was one recipe, which I would buy straight any day of the week. Gary would love it because he also likes a very fruity whiskey and this was full of ripe berries and pears with just enough caramel to compliment and not over power the other flavors. I consider this whiskey as living proof that older is not always better because these sample were all only about 5 or 6 years old. There were other samples that also impressed me as excellent bourbon on their own and I do hope Four Roses does come out with some different types of single barrel to showcase these excellent whiskeys.
We then were allowed to pour samples from finished products - Yellow Label, Single Barrel, Small Batch, Black Label and Platinum, and challenged to look for the flavors we just tasted in these products. It was a fun challenge that all took up with gusto and pleasure. All this time Al was being very open and telling us many things that we would never hear elsewhere, educating us on the value of yeast in the process of making bourbon. It was a great day.Hopefully Gayle and Brenda have some photographs that do not include any sensitive information in them that they can share here.
I think this was an excellent day and I only regret that Jim Rutledge could not make it to give us the tour. I mostly regret the circumstances that caused Jim to miss the tour and I do send condolences to to him, his wife and her family for the loss. I hope to do something like this again with the Society and hopefully we will get Jim's perspective on the matters of yeast and its contribution to bourbon.
Before I start here with a description of the day, I should note that there were many things Al told us today that were proprietery and he did not want mentioned on the internet, so I will respect his wishes and not go into great detail of some parts of the day.
It started with us watching the video and Al giving us the normal information they give at the beginning of the tours I have had there before. We had several people back out of the tour at the last minute so there were not as many of us as we had originally planned, but that was a lucky event for a couple of people who came for the tour from Lawrenceburg, Indiana, who we invited along for the tour. There ended up with 7 people in the tour instead of the 12 to 15 that had originally planned to come. Al started out by answering alot of questions at the beginning of the tour that might not have been asked by a less enthusiastic group of bourbon fans.
We left the tourist center and went to the grain recieving area where Al discussed the grain and where it comes from and the qualities they look for in grain to make their bourbon. Pretty standard so far, but always interesting. We then went into the distillery and started with the yeast tub. Since yeast was the focus of the day Al discussed the yeast in some detail and told us which strain it was and what characteristics it was expected to give to the mash. We then went into the fermenting rooms and there were actually two different recipes in the fermenting process, so we had a chance to compare the different flavors the yeast gave on the beer level. We headed on to the stills and tasted white dog from the beer still and the doubler. Very nice, but what struck me is that it was indeed totally different from the last time I was there when the white dog had a very strong licorice flavor. This was very spicey with a hint of fruit. I have more incentive to visit the distillery more often to see if I can taste the white dog from the still for all ten recipes!
We next left the distillery and went to the tasting lab. Al had aged samples of all ten whiskeys waiting for us and charts telling us what they look for in each recipe as far as flavor is concerned. He then let us pour from some sample bottles labeled by recipe code. The differences were amazing! There was one recipe, which I would buy straight any day of the week. Gary would love it because he also likes a very fruity whiskey and this was full of ripe berries and pears with just enough caramel to compliment and not over power the other flavors. I consider this whiskey as living proof that older is not always better because these sample were all only about 5 or 6 years old. There were other samples that also impressed me as excellent bourbon on their own and I do hope Four Roses does come out with some different types of single barrel to showcase these excellent whiskeys.
We then were allowed to pour samples from finished products - Yellow Label, Single Barrel, Small Batch, Black Label and Platinum, and challenged to look for the flavors we just tasted in these products. It was a fun challenge that all took up with gusto and pleasure. All this time Al was being very open and telling us many things that we would never hear elsewhere, educating us on the value of yeast in the process of making bourbon. It was a great day.Hopefully Gayle and Brenda have some photographs that do not include any sensitive information in them that they can share here.
I think this was an excellent day and I only regret that Jim Rutledge could not make it to give us the tour. I mostly regret the circumstances that caused Jim to miss the tour and I do send condolences to to him, his wife and her family for the loss. I hope to do something like this again with the Society and hopefully we will get Jim's perspective on the matters of yeast and its contribution to bourbon.
. Al Young is a gentleman and a Bourbon scholar, I could talk with him all day. The opportunity to taste the difference the yeast makes was a real eye opener.