A visit to the Jim Beam distillery
October 07, 2008
In September I visited the Jim Beam and Maker's Mark distilleries as part of the Kentucky Bourbon Festival. For all the distilleries I've been to in 10 different countries, I'd never seen a bourbon distillery.
The Claremont Jim Beam distillery is a huge facility, and one of two where the product is distilled. They receive tons of grain daily, and distill whiskey 24 hours a day, 6 days each week. The annual output is around 6 million cases of bourbon each year. (I believe they also distill the small batch bourbon collection here- Booker's, Baker's, Knob Creek, and Basil Hayden.) Beam uses 70 warehouses to store their 1.7-1.8 million barrels of bourbon that are aging.
Beam is made from corn, rye, and barley. Interestingly, we get GMO corn in the US bourbon, but they distill, age, and bottle non-GMO spirit separately for export to Europe where they have restrictions against GMO products. (I definitely want to learn more about this so if anyone has a non-hysterical GMO book/video they can recommend let me know.)
The bourbon is first column distilled in the "beer still" that's about six stories high. It is then distilled a second time in the "doubler" which they say looks like a pot still but is continuous. (We didn't see it.)
The barrel warehouses are not only enormous, they're very tall- nine stories, with each story holding three tiers of barrels. At the top of the warehouse where it's hot, the barrels gain proof over time as more water evaporates out of the barrel (through the wood) than spirit. At the bottom of the warehouse, the whiskey loses proof as more alcohol evaporates than water.
When selecting barrels to use for Beam, they take barrels from each level of the warehouse to make up the final blend. For the Booker's bottling, which is cask-strength and unfiltered, they only take barrels from one middle floor.
After aging, the barrels are emptied, diluted, and bottled. You can find more pictures on my Flickr page here. In tomorrow's post, I'll talk about the bottling facility- with videos!
I find it very interesting that it's cost effective to go through whatever rigmarole in necessary to keep the GMO and non-GMO separate.
Posted by: Stevi Deter | October 07, 2008 at 10:44 PM
Thanks for the GMO update. Its not so much that I am convinced that GMO corn is bad for your health when distilled, it's just that any mono crop using chemical fertilizers is just bad farming. And of course Montasanto has terrible ethics (suing farmers whose crops have been cross pollinated by their GMO corn). I hate giving them money. Its just lame that Americas native spirit is made with petroleum. Agave farmers and the wine industry seem to be very concerned with how they farm. Why is the bourbon industry content to use the cheapest cattle feed corn on the market?
Posted by: Erik Adkins | October 08, 2008 at 12:36 PM
thank you so much for this wonderful article, I will not be drinking knob creek anymore after finding out they use genetically modified corn.
Posted by: Solicit Employmen | July 16, 2013 at 08:02 PM
GMO's have been proven to be bad for the body its sad how most people blow it off and think you are crazy. If you do find an article that says GMO's are not harmful its usually from or funded by the "GMO" industry out to kill everyone. The major makers of non-GMO bourbon are:
Buffalo Trace, Four Roses, Michners, & Wild Turkey which I purchase regularly. I know there are alot of small craft brewers that are non-GMO as well but you would most likely need to be local to them to be able to purchase. Can find these on the American Distilling Institute website and search organic bourbon.
Cheers!
Posted by: Bobby Grey | March 04, 2018 at 11:43 AM
Pity that GM corn syrup or GM corn or wheat is used…It just shows you how Monsanto ..has perverted great bourbon…unfortunately that GM corn syrup is now used in most sweeteners in cakes and most US food…It’s no surprise that the American population has become overweight and in some cases massively so since the introduction of GM food.One day they will realise how they have destroyed great Bourbon and a population of great people.
No GM in Europe or the UK….take note.
Best thing America can do is ban GM crops….I used to love Little Jim Beam..Now I only drink Bourbon made with Non Gm crops…
Posted by: David | October 04, 2022 at 05:35 PM