"There are 8 million barrels aging in KY."
My son works at the newer Bardstown Bourbon Co. as their Creative Director. Bardstown Bourbon Co. was established in 2014 and they just finished their 100,000 barrel this week. They are going to be the largest bourbon distiller in the world.
We were visiting him in November and gave us a tour of the place, very interesting, we also went to a few of the other distilleries close by and Makers Mark was one. Their Master Distiller, Steve Nally used to be with Makers Mark. He is a hunter also.
When we were walking around Makers Mark I noticed that most of the trees trunks were black, along with some fencing. You could rub it off and I asked my son what that was from and he said it is a mold from the barrels of bourbon, but is not harmfull. Makers Mark rick houses are black so you don't see the mold but others you can see the mold forming usually starts at the bottom.
Their rick houses are five stories and I forget how many barrels, each barrel is 53 gallons and the barrels can only be used once for bourbon but can be sold and used for other whiskies. Also found out the first stage in making bourbon is beer, and then goes on to these massive stainless tanks that ferment the yeast. At one stage it looks like water and is 140 proof, guide asked us to put a finger in and taste it, no thanks.
