About
We have a pioneering spirit here at Wilderness Trail Distillery, just like the settlers who followed the path Daniel Boone blazed into Central Kentucky. In keeping with our location in the birthplace of Kentucky, we like blending old traditions with the science of making Bourbon and other fine spirits.
After years of working with distilleries around the world to provide advice and fermentation products, we launched our premium craft distillery in 2012 with a focus on making the highest quality Bourbon, Rye Whiskey, Vodka and Bourbon Barrel-Aged Rum. Our founders Shane Baker and Pat Heist are fermentation experts with more than 20 years of experience in the production of alcohol and some of the best brands on the market today. Our specialty is making unique spirits from locally-grown grains to ensure quality, and adding a healthy dose of science in the process. Come see what we mean by visiting Wilderness Trail Distillery.
Wilderness Trail Single Barrel Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey is offered as a Cask Strength release. Once our traditional sweet mash process is distilled in our column stills we enter the barrel at the lowest entry proof we know of in Kentucky. We barrel at 100 proof and 105 proof to highlight the balance of the distillate and alternate solubility expression we get from the barrel at a lower proof. We also barreled at a gradient of proofs between 100 and 120 proof for our first few years before settling into 100 and 105 proof. This is the reason you will find releases of our cask strength Rye varying in proof.
Our three-grain recipe is 56 percent rye, 33 percent corn and 11 percent malted barley. Our rye mash bill is one we created for a broader balance of flavor to offset the typical high ryes commonly found. We use Kentucky-grown Heritage rye from our local KY Proud farm. We enter the new, air-dried #4 char, 53-gallon barrels at 100 proof and 105 proof for our Rye Whiskey and age until maturity in our barrelhouse. We age our Rye Whiskeys on the upper floors of our rickhouses for a minimum of 4 years with regular expressions expected to be between 6 and 8 years of age.