When I joined a Stitzel-Weller Distillery tour last December, I was excited to sample elite bottles from luxe brands like Blade & Bow and I.W. Harper.
When we stepped inside a cold and dusty rickhouse, our knowledgeable guide (thanks, Pat) poured a sample of Bulleit Frontier Whiskey’s 10-year-old bourbon. I wasn't expecting to be blown away. Billed as a humble “frontier whiskey," the oak flavor coated my palate with a butter-smooth mouthfeel. I experienced the warm embrace of a Kentucky hug without the unpleasant alcohol burn. In that moment, the decade-old whiskey tasted exactly like how the surrounding rickhouse environment looked and smelled.
After I returned home to Savannah, I was eager to get a bottle from my local package store to see if the taste still had the same effect when miles away from the distillery grounds. From the first sniff and sip, I was transported back to that dusty wooden rickhouse.
According to Bulleit Frontier Whiskey’s master blender Andrew Mackay, this unique taste starts with the high rye mash bill (68 percent corn, 28 percent rye, 4 percent malted barley).
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“The yeast also contributes a great deal to our singular flavor profile,” says Mackay, who has spent the past 26 years blending whiskey—first in Canada and then Kentucky—for Diageo, which purchased Bulleit in 2000. “We keep a tight control on the product from the initial stages of distillation through the liquid’s maturation. The distinctive profile of Bulleit 10-Year Bourbon is designed to compliment the fruity notes with the rich matrix of maturity that comes through the aging process.”
To maintain the quality control over time, Mackay says the distillery always starts with a bourbon distillate that's designed to be fruit-forward, complimented by the high rye mash bill.
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“Careful control on the sourcing of our barrels, in addition to palletized warehousing, keep stratification to a minimum,” he says. “These practices, along with yearly sampling of our inventories, allow us to keep maturation consistent and guide our selections both now and ... for the future."
From Mackay’s perspective, one of the biggest misconceptions about Bulleit 10-Year Bourbon is that it's easy to age a liquid. In reality, he says the distillery dedicates a significant portion of its team to work on long-term forecasting.
“For a minimum of 10 years, these team members have to patiently wait for the bourbon to age into the final product, which is a difficult task to be sure,” he says.
At 91.2 percent ABV, the result is a bourbon that's easy to drink neat and makes me envision a bonfire under a starry sky. And with its wide availability at only $40 to $50 per bottle, it's a great 10-year-old option compared to now hard-to-find and, at times, overpriced peers like Eagle Rare, Henry McKenna, or Basil Hayden.
Some bourbon snobs may scoff, especially since the bourbon’s source is a secret. And although it's been nearly a decade since the bottle last won industry awards, I stand by my take: Bulleit 10-Year bourbon remains a reliable, solid bottle for the price. After all, Mackay says that fundamentally, the process to design, create, age and blend Bulleit 10-Year Bourbon has not changed much since the product was first introduced in 2013.
“We still have the same people guiding the ship who have led the brand through inevitable ebbs and flows with respect to distillates and maturates as prices fluctuate and things become more or less difficult to obtain,” he says.
If you plan to visit those dusty rickhouses for yourself, note that the Stitzel-Weller Distillery is located in Shively, KY. The tour looks back at the rich history of American whiskey and forward to continued innovations while taking visitors through an active barrel house, cooper shop, and micro still-house.
If you book the ticket to The Bulleit Distilling Co. Visitor Experience, however, you’ll be heading about an hour east to Shelbyville. Don’t make the mistake of one couple I met on the tour who showed up to the wrong place. While you won’t find rickhouses, you can learn about Bulleit. And, of course, you can still sip on plenty of well-aged frontier whiskey.
Related: Don't Listen to Whiskey Snobs. Here Are the Best Ways to Enjoy Bourbon
