Jackson Purchase Bourbon Bottle Release

The other day I was invited to the Jackson Purchase Distillery’s bottle release event at their downtown Louisville office. The Jackson Purchase Distillery is in Fulton County, Kentucky on the banks of the Mississippi River. It is named for the Jackson Purchase area of Kentucky. The Jackson Purchase was the extreme western part of the state that took place in 1818. The distillery makes contract whiskey for many customers, but have released their own brand of Bourbon called simply “Jackson Purchase Bourbon.” The Bourbon mash bill is 70% corn, 20% rye and 10% malted barley, placed in the barrel at a barrel entry proof of 120 proof, with a number 4 char barrel. It was aged for four years and bottled at a barrel proof of 117.8 proof. It is a very good Bourbon.

The event was for the press and we had the opportunity of meeting the owners and staff of the company. The staff includes some extremely talented people. Their Master Distiller is Craig Beam. They lured Craig out of retirement and he has placed his mark on their whiskey. His Assistant Distiller is Terry Ballard, who they lured away from the Willett Distillery in Bardstown, Kentucky. Lloyd Jones is the CEO and President of the distillery. Van Carlisle is the Chairman of the Board, David Salomon is the Chief Operating Officer and Jim Gladden is the Director of the company. They have gathered a very talented group of people to run their distillery.

The event started with a lunch and a tasting of the whiskey followed lunch. Craig Beam told the story of how he came out of distilling retirement by a telephone call. The owners of the distillery had contacted his trucking company to purchase grain and that led to a conversation with Craig. They had already hired Terry Ballard and Craig knew that they were serious about making good whiskey. To make a long story short, Craig agreed to take the job on a part-time basis to start (he was very busy with his trucking company and farm), but that has since been changed to a full time position.

The distillery uses local grains and their water source is a well at the distillery. Craig was impressed with the quality of the water, which is high in calcium, and that is necessary for making good whiskey. They also use 10% malted barley in their mash bill. This gives the whiskey a nutty note to the flavor of the Bourbon, that you don’t get with Bourbons that use less malted barley and enzymes.

The distillery has over 100,000 barrels in storage right now and has a combination of palletized warehouses and traditional rack houses. The climate of western Kentucky is slightly warmer than the rest of the state and that means they get longer heat cycles during the aging process. They believe that this makes their four year old Bourbon taste more like a six to eight year old Bourbon. I agree that this Bourbon does not taste like a four year old Bourbon, so they could be correct in their belief.

The event ended with a gift of a bottle of their Bourbon and some time to mingle with the staff. It was a very enjoyable event and we had a chance to taste a very good Bourbon. I will publish a review of the Bourbon shortly.