From 120-proof white dog hooch to the most award-winning bourbon on the planet. Master Distiller Harlen Wheatley is a total hottie who knows how to pour a fabulous bourbon or two.He's the sixth master distiller to take the helm of Buffalo Trace Distillery since the Civil War, and he'll be here in Paducah for the Carson Center's Saturday, October 18 Distiller's Dinner! Get your tickets now — they're going fast!
Bourbon is in Wheatley's blood, so to speak. His family has been in the distillery business for three generations. Wheatley was working a fermenter when he was just 10 — skills he's already passed on to his own young sons. His grandfather even did a little prison time for bootleggin' back in the day.
But these days, everything's all on the up and up, with Wheatley overseeing the quality and consistency of Buffalo Trace spirits — more than 4.5 million cases a year.
Beautiful Buffalo Trace Distillery is spread among 110 acres in Frankfort, Ky., right down the street from where Kentucky's laws are made.
Coincidentally, Buffalo Traces happens to be the longest continuously running distillery in the country — one of four open even during prohibition for, a-hem, medicinal purposes. And you know how folks are with their long lingering illnesses….
Here's a behind-the-scenes look at how all the magic happens at Buffalo Trace, thanks to our very own tour guide, the master distiller, himself:
Step 1. Truck after truck arrives bearing corn, barley, rye and a little wheat. The distillery goes through 8,000 acres of corn alone in any given run. The exact proportions of each grain? They ain't telling. It's a trade secret.
Step 2. Wheatley and his team do all sorts of measuring and testing before accepting the grain and using it in their milling and mashing processes.
Step 3. Kentucky is world-famous for bourbon whiskeys due in large part to its abundance of limestone enriched water. Buffalo Trace uses that water in the mashing process, transforming the corn, rye and malted barley into a sweet mash, which is transferred into one of 12 92,000-gallon fermenter tanks. The team adds yeast and a small amount of previously distilled mash. It hangs out from three to five days doing its natural fermentation thing.
Step 4. Then comes the distillation process — yep, right through good ol' stills that produce the straight-on raw spirit some call "white dog." While many mountain folk would be content to stop right here, Wheatley is just getting started. This is where he begins his sipping steps, taking a swig here and there as the spirit moves through its final phases.
Step 5. The white dog is stored in barrels made from "center ring" wood from trees typically 80 to 90 years old, and then aged in the nation's first climate-controlled warehouse designed for aging whiskey. Buffalo Trace is so picky about its barrel quality that it has the highest barrel rejection rate of any distillery.
Step 6. Wheatley and team pick only the best of the best to move on to the bottling process. Buffalo Trace's proprietary bottles are then carefully filled, corked, sealed and packed by some very lovely people, like this woman, whipping up a bottle of Blanton's Single Barrel bourbon.
Step 7: Voilá! The bourbon is now ready to pour. It's complimentary after every Buffalo Trace tour, offered year round. Carey's tour, by the way, rocks!Don't miss out on the fun! Order your Distiller's Dinner tickets by calling 443.9932, x240!
