The average bourbon lover may not consider the science involved in producing their drink of choice, but for the distiller, there is nothing more important. Perfecting the mash bill—bourbon industry-speak for the combination of grains cooked and fermented to create the spirit—is of utmost importance. The slightest variation in ingredients, temperature or timing can change the taste of the product.
Kentucky distillers have been perfecting the flavor of bourbon for generations, handing down recipes and techniques. Two Kentucky entrepreneurs challenged those traditions, incorporated biology and engineering processes, and produced the award-winning Wilderness Trail Bourbon.
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Shane Baker and Dr. Pat Heist certainly didn’t think bourbon-making was their future when they played in a rock band after graduating from college in the 1990s. The two University of Kentucky alums were busy starting families and building their careers. Baker was an engineer, and Heist was pursuing his doctorate in plant pathology.
Eventually, they came to the conclusion that they probably were not going to be able to earn a living with the band.
“We realized we needed another game plan,” Baker said. “We talked about strategy and looked at our backgrounds. We’re both from Kentucky; we know a lot about whiskey. And we drink a lot of it. It just seemed like something very natural for us to get into.”
But, as Heist puts it, “We didn’t go to school to open a distillery.”
They didn’t jump right into making bourbon; rather, they became authorities in distilling.
“A distillery takes a lot of capital, which we didn’t have,” Baker said. “We knew we had to use our brains versus our bank accounts.”
In 2006, Baker and Heist created Ferm Solutions, a Danville company that offers lab services focusing on the fermentation of alcohol for the spirits and fuel industries. The company creates and sells yeast, enzymes, antibacterial products and nutrient supplements, and trains and provides consultation for distillers all over the world. When master distillers have a problem, they call Baker and Heist.
Heist said that, with their years of experience, they can identify troubles such as starch conversion, bacterial contamination or poor grain quality.
“I’ve personally been in a thousand or more distilleries helping identify problems,” he said. “We never get invited over when everything is going fine.”
As Ferm Solutions prospered, the partners realized they had become known in the industry as the science guys of bourbon.
“We’re not technically allowed to name the distilleries we have worked with, but I can say, when you walk into a liquor store, you don’t have to walk very far to see who we have worked with,” Heist said.
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Baker and Heist started thinking about opening a small distillery as part of Ferm Solutions. Having a distillery on site would enable them to use it in demonstrations when educating people who visited the lab.
In 2012, Wilderness Trail Distillery was born. The bourbon industry was already in Baker’s blood. His grandparents met at the Kentucky River Distillery as teenagers in the 1940s, and his grandmother went on to work in the industry for more than 50 years.
“I wouldn’t be here today, physically, if it wasn’t for Kentucky bourbon,” Baker said. “It ties back to some strong roots that today I respect a lot more.”
While sifting through some old family paperwork, Baker came across details about the distillery where his grandmother had worked. The information described a product made from sweet mash and another made from the more traditional sour mash, with two separate fermentation plants. This intrigued the business partners, and they began to research why sweet-mash distilleries no longer existed. They quickly realized this could be the key to creating Wilderness Trail Bourbon.
“We looked at each other and knew we could do it,” Baker said. “Through that scientific foundation, we had strong confidence. We knew that, if anybody could do this, we could. We went into it 100 percent.”
Wilderness Trail’s flagship wheated bourbon, made with the distillery’s unique sweet-mash process, was released in 2018. Quickly joining the lineup was the small-batch high-rye bourbon and rye whiskey.
The distillery sits on 168 acres of rolling farmland just a few miles from downtown Danville. The countryside is dotted with 11 rickhouses of various sizes, where 225,000 barrels slowly age. Each day, about 215 charred oak barrels are filled and added to the warehouses, where they will experience Kentucky’s four seasons for a minimum of four years before they are bottled.
The partners didn’t settle for making just a good product; they knew they had to honor Kentucky, too. The distillery’s name is a tribute to the path that pioneers used to cross into Kentucky 250 years ago, a trail that they believe went through their property. They also strive to preserve Kentucky’s natural resources for future generations.
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With sustainability as a goal, Baker and Heist have looked at every process to operate the distillery and, by incorporating their backgrounds in engineering and science, tried to improve those processes. They have found ways to save on electricity, gas and water.
“Our No. 1 rule is to make the best dang bourbon possible,” Heist said. “But over here to the side, we’ve got all these other ways we can be better, and we can be an influence on other distilleries. In the long run, we’ve saved the nation millions and millions of dollars just by helping other people to use some of these same strategies.”
The partners support local farmers by sourcing ingredients grown in the state. They know that Kentucky rye, corn, wheat and, of course, our Commonwealth’s limestone-infused water from natural springs are the ingredients of a fine bourbon.
As Wilderness Trail increased production, the need for these ingredients escalated. Heist recalled that, early on, the distillery ground 800 pounds of grain on days it produced bourbon. Today, it grinds a million pounds every five days. This is just one example of how demand for ingredients has grown exponentially, and it is not only the farmers who benefit. The growth of Wilderness Trail has had a ripple effect on the surrounding area, bringing with it infrastructure improvements and the opening of new hotels, restaurants and other businesses in Danville and Boyle County.
Wilderness Trail’s explosive growth allowed it to be the first distillery on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail Craft Tour to become a member of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. After just 10 years in business, it is the 14th-largest distillery in the country.
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As Baker and Heist looked to the future, they began to consider their ages and the direction in which they want their company to go.
“Once we stopped and raised our heads out of the trenches of the day-to-day, we realized how big of a brand and how big of a company we had built,” Baker said. “It was outgrowing us.”
In late 2022, they made a deal with Campari Group, an Italian company specializing in premium spirits. Campari, which also owns Wild Turkey Distillery, purchased a 70 percent share of Wilderness Trail Distillery with the option of purchasing the remaining share in 2031.
Baker said Campari has the same values and family-oriented culture as the Wilderness Trail team, but the older company possesses years of experience in worldwide distribution, which will enable Wilderness Trail to grow into an iconic global brand.
“Both Pat and I come from very humble and modest backgrounds and never expected to be where we are,” Baker said. “But we always dreamed that by working hard and doing the right things, we would end up somewhere and be OK.”