In the itty bitty town of Danville, KY, Wilderness Trail Distillery is cranking out some delicious bourbon.
Wilderness Trail was founded only a few years ago by Shane Baker and Pat Heist, a mechanical engineer and microbiologist, respectively. Prior to the distillery, the two utilized their Ferm Solutions company to master over 450 strains of yeast. Their science smarts also led them to create their own sweet mash, instead of the industry standard sour mash. This essentially creates softer, more grain forward products, which is perfect for a company that is so focused on using only locally grown corn, wheat, and barley.
On top of their special yeast strains, the Wilderness Trail team is only releasing bottled-in-bond products. To be named bottled-in-bond, a whiskey needs to be produced from one distillery in one season, aged for at least four years in a federally bonded warehouse, and bottled at exactly 100 proof. A BIB title is difficult for any distillery to pull off, especially a small craft distillery. Yet, they’ve still managed to release a bottled-in-bond 8 year bourbon, 6 year bourbon, wheated bourbon, rye, and of course the Wilderness Trail High Rye Bourbon. More specifically, the Wilderness Trail Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey Small Batch Bottled-in-Bond High Rye Bourbon. (When it comes to names, these guys want you to know exactly what you’re getting).
Our bottle of Wilderness Trail High Rye Bourbon comes from batch number 15A01, which is 100 proof and aged between 5 and 6 years. The distillery claims that the small batch itself contains a maximum of 18 barrels per batch – another rather impressive stat for a small distillery. The mashbill is a mixture of 64% corn, 24% rye, and 12% malted barley, which absolutely shines through in the flavor.
Wilderness Trail High Rye Bourbon’s nose begins with a fruity combination of apples and peaches, along with a few undertones of brown sugar and honey. The first sip packs a sweet and peppery punch that tastes a little like rye bread and cherry. Warming baking spices (thanks to the high rye) like clove, cinnamon, and nutmeg mellow things out before ending with a subtle wood and leather aftertaste. It’s a surprisingly complex bourbon that manages to showcase all three of its grains.
Young distilleries so often rush a product to market to cope with the financial strain of whiskey distilling. Yet, all of that time and patience really paid off for Wilderness Trail. This bourbon was a shockingly great purchase that we can’t recommend enough. When it comes to Wilderness Trail High Rye Bourbon, the distillery certainly isn’t doing any kind of wandering through the wilderness. These guys know exactly where they are and what they’re doing.
STATS: Wilderness Trail High Rye Bourbon
- Price for us: $41 for 750mL
- Proof: 100
- Aged: 5 – 6 years
- Distillery: Wilderness Trail
- Recommendation: Neat
