As I wrote this and several other reviews lately, I felt like I was using the experiences to preview our Kentucky trip coming up in October. Today I’m looking at another product from a distillery we are visiting…and which I’ve never purchased before now: Wilderness Trail Wheated Bourbon. Wilderness Trail’s distillery is located in Danville, Kentucky, kind of out in the middle of nowhere, but not that far from Lexington, Lawrenceburg, and other cities in the central part of the state. We’re heading through the city on our way to the Lexington area.
Wilderness Trail makes only 3 types of whiskey at this time: a wheated bourbon, a high-rye bourbon, and a rye whiskey. All three are designed as Bottled-In-Bond products, meaning they are distilled at a single distillery during a single distilling season, aged for a minimum of 4 years in bonded warehouses, and bottled at exactly 100 proof (50% ABV). This wheated bourbon uses a mash bill of 64% corn, 24% wheat, and 12% malted barley. They are also notable for using a “sweet mash” process rather than the typical sour mash…this means they don’t use back-set from a previous whiskey run when beginning a new batch. They believe this allows more control over the process, even if it does potentially sacrifice some consistency. One last thing of note, they do seem to non-chill filter all their whiskies, which provides a better mouthfeel and longer finish, even at relatively lower proof points.
This Wilderness Trail Wheated Bourbon was a medium amber color, almost coppery orange in the glass. I had swirled it around in the glass minutes before I started writing and it was still sticking to the sides, reluctant to allow legs to drip down the sides…non-chill filtering definitely increases viscosity, as well. Putting my nose into the glass, I got rich orchard fruit up front, with some honey and vanilla coming in behind. Taking a sip, I found it to be only moderately sweet up front, which was strange for a wheated bourbon in my experience. There was some pear and vanilla at the front, followed by oak and cinnamon spice in the mid-palate, and a long, long finish with more spice to it. Even holding the sip in the front of my mouth for an extended period didn’t reveal a huge amount of more sweetness…maybe a hint of orange in the mix, but that was about it.
Ultimately, this was not the bourbon I was expecting it to be…but I don’t find that to be a problem. I am a big fan of wheated bourbons and almost come into it with a high expectation of upfront and exaggerated sweetness. This didn’t have that, but rewarded in other ways, developing more baking spice notes and a nice peppery finish that isn’t so typical of wheated pours. At first, I was a little disappointed in the results, but after a few times sipping it, I started to become a big fan of the Wilderness Trail Wheated Bourbon because of what it actually ended up being: definitely wheated, but definitely not typical.
