Everyone wants to know a little bit about how the 6-year-old tastes. Well, your tasting notes would be different from your friend’s and so forth. Let’s just say that the extra two years in the barrel has elevated an already remarkable Bourbon to an even higher level.
This Single Barrel release from Wilderness Trail is made from a mash bill of 64% corn, 24% wheat and 12% malted barley, aged in toasted and charred barrels. It's also bottled in bond, meaning that, as laid out in the Bottled-in-Bond Act of 1897, it must be aged between five and six years and bottled by us under the supervision of the U.S. Government at 100 proof. This is one of the highest ratios of wheat used in a Bourbon made in Kentucky. We entered the cooper select, toasted and #4 char barrel at 110 proof after coming off the still around 137 proof. We then age our Bourbon in our two -story Rickhouse A, moving floors each year of maturation.
Wilderness Trail Bottled in Bond Small Batch Bourbon marks the third whiskey release for the Danville, KY based distillery. This small batch bourbon release uses rye instead of wheat as the secondary grain -- 64% corn, 24% rye, 12% malted barley. The corn and rye are grown by a local farm and the grain bill uses a sweet mash rather than a sour mash like many bourbons use. Each batch is made from 10-12 barrels. Bottled without chill-filtration at 100 proof.
Our Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskeys are offered as a Cask Strength release. We have the lowest entry proof we know of in Kentucky. We barrel at 100 proof to highlight the balance of the grains and alternate solubility expression from the barrel. 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 for our Rye Whiskey and age until maturity in our barrelhouse. We age our Rye Whiskeys on the upper floors of our Rickhouses A & B, arguably one reason for their vibrant expression at 3 + years. We plan to age our Ryes as long as our Bourbons — in the 6-8 year age range — but we do plan to introduce some 3 and 4 year old Rye Whiskeys as Cask Strength releases. We just keep finding wonderful honey-barrels with great expressions that need to be explored.