Cypress is a semiaquatic wood that has been used in fermenting tanks for hundreds of years as it holds up well and does not impart a lot of taste to a liquid.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was used to fabricate fermenting vats before the new steel and coppervats could be easily or cost effectively bee made. Now the cypress vats have become more expensive and harder to maintain and clean so we are seeing a decline in their use. As the grain mash (now called beer) ferments. . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

. . . the beer goes from sweet to progressively more sour , hence the sour mash process using setback ,to start the next batch much like sourdough bread. After fermentation it is pumped to the beer well. . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

. . .and onto the beer tanks for injection into the column still. The column still sign shows a cutaway of the still.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Other Adventures:

Buffalo Trace Distillery

Woodford Reserve / Labrot & Graham Distillery

Maker's Mark Distillery

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and is the only distillery I know of who includes signage in Japanese among its other languages. This of course is probably due to its now Japanese ownership. One of the more inexplicable things ( to me) is that you cannot buy most of what they make in the US . They produce a low end export only yellow label ( 4 years old if memory serves ) which constitutes the bulk of production. They also produce a fairly decent single barrel bourbon which has rather limited distribution (had to grab mine at the distillery). One of the more interesting points of this rather small distillery is they run it 24 hours a day with batches seperated by about 3 1/2 hour intervals  for a continous run. Things start at the grain lab (Grain Lab Photo) where the incoming grain is analyzed ( visual inspection and a tasting glass full put in a microwave oven) then on through the mill  to the cookers (cookers photo)  where the grain mash is cooked and then pumped into the cypress fermenters ( Cypress Fermenter ) This is one of the few distilleries left that use cypress fermenters. Cypress ( Cypress log ) is a semiaquatic wood that has been used in fermenting tanks for hundreds of years as it holds up well and does not impart a lot of taste to a liquid. it was used to fabricate fermenting vats before the new steel and coppervats could be easily or cost effectively bee made. Now the cypress vats have become more expensive and harder to maintain and clean so we are seeing a decline in their use. As the grain mash ( now called beer)  ferments ( cypress fermenter 2&3) the beer goes from sweet to progressively more sour , hence the sour mash process using setback ,to start the next batch much like sourdough bread. After fermentation it is pumped to the beer well ( beer well) and onto the beer tanks for injection into the column still. The column still sign ( column still sign ) shows a cutaway of the still . Here ar a few more pictures of the still ( column still , column still close up, column still close up) This is all run from the computer station ( computer station ). After the intitial distillation the result are run into the high wine tank ( high wine tank) and the doubler ( or thumper as it is sometimes called ). The spirit safe or tail box (Spirit Safe 1) is used to check for both the white dog or raw spirit which comes off at about 140 proof or so. Actually not bad for something about 30 seconds old at the time ! Surprisingly drinkable. Across the road are a series of rackhouses that are used by Wild Turkey (Wild Turkey and Wild Turkey 2) which is actually some miles away . The whisky industry has taken to dispersing its stocks in different warehouse scattered across the countryside because of the risk of fire. It is a lot easier to replace a distillery than its stock of aged whiskey!