Whiskey Chasers

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• History of distillery
• The name
  • Four gate is a term for a 4 slat fence, used on horse farms around Kentucky
• Owners
  • Bill Straub and Bob D’Antoni Started Four Gate in 2019
• Kelvin Cooperage Version
  • 11 year old Straight Rye
  • Partners with Kelvin Cooperage
    • This part bothered me
      • They also partnered with well-regarded whiskey writers and personalities in Louisville to help select the exclusive blend to be finished in the ex-sherry rum casks.
• Sources
  • https://fourgatewhiskey.com/the-name/ 
  • https://seelbachs.com/collections/four-gate-whiskey-co 
  • https://modernthirst.com/ 
  • https://www.bourbonbanter.com/four-gate-whiskey-company-launches-small-batch-bourbon-brand/ 

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• History of distillery
  • Opened in 2015 in the upstairs of big wood pizza in Nashville Indiana
  • 2107 began construction  on current distillery CAMPUS
    • 325 acres with a touring and tasting room and restaurant 
    • 2018 sweet mash distillery officially opens
    • The property has a live music stage, hosts festivals, food trucks and a bar, all called “Hard truth on the Rocks”
  • Hard Truth Distilling Co. is part of the BWQOHT, Inc. family of brands, which also includes Big Woods Restaurants and Quaff ON! Brewing Co.
• Brewers start
  • Tim O’bryan  started brewing beer, the family really liked it
  • His father in law, Jeff McCabe, and Ed ryan went in as partner and they opened a brew pub
    • Big Woods Brewing opens in 2009 
  • 2012 opens Quaff ON! Brewing corp..  It was an old bowling alley
  • Jim Dunbar joins as a fourth partner
• Hard truth starts
  • 2015 they start distilling upstairs at big woods
  • When it took off at the restaurant they decided we arent going slow like they did for the brewery
    • The brewery changed locations and grew slowly.  They would max out capacity and then keep moving up.  This was slow moving
    • For distilling they bought the distillery land and planned to grow into it
  • 2017 brought in Bryan Smith as 5th partner, and the master distiller.
• Hard truth campus
  • 2018 campus opens. It's a disneyland for adults
  • You can take ATV Tours of the campus
• 2020 challenge 
  • 2020 pushed back the plans, but they leaned into the challenge and released new products and added new locations
• Sour mash vs sweet mash
  • Very basically, Sour mash, think sour bread.  You use mash from the previous set to “start” your next set.
  • Sweet Mash has no starter.  Every batch is its own batch, with nothing added to adjust the PH (which is the purpose of the starter in sour mash)
  • Sweet mash is harder but more controllable because you start fresh every time, but you run the risk of bacteria.
  • Sour mash is easier and safer, because it corrects the PH to help drive out bacteria.
• Sources
  • https://hardtruth.com/our-story/ 
  • https://www.abvnetwork.com/whiskey-corner/2019/2/25/whats-the-deal-with-sour-mash-vs-sweet-mash 
  • https://alchemistcabinet.wordpress.com/2019/02/01/sweet-mash-vs-sour-mash/ 
  • https://www.jconline.com/story/life/2022/03/18/hard-truth-distillery-gin-vodka-rum-whiskey/7047278001/ 

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• VERY OPEN about their source
  • Owned by O.Z Tyler and Latitude beverage
  • Produced by O.Z. Tyler
    • O.Z Tyler changed its name to Green river Distillery in 2020
  • Nowhere on their site do they claim to be anything other than a green river product.  
  • This was the first rye out of Green River
  • Green river was purchased by bardstown distilling in 2022
• History of green river
  •  founded in 1885 by John W. McCulloch
  • It was the first in owensboro
    • And the 10th distillery in Kentucky
  • Like so many of these brands it passed through many hands and fell and rised in prominence throughout.
• Jacob Call is the master distiller, a 7th generation distiller.
• When they brought back the green river brand they talked with Rob McCulloch, great grandson of John, to make sure they got the story straight 
  • Its worth mentioning that “the story” is he sold whiskey and was a great marketer, thats it.  There are little to no details on the original green river distillery other than a few awards it won and its slogan “Whiskey without regrets”
• Latitude beverage
  • Got its start in Wine.  Shifting the cost structure to provide high quality wines by skipping out on buying vineyards… so sourcing wine.
    • It might be more complicated than that so don't rip them to hard for it
  • They own a few other spirits brands
    • North Cross Irish Whiskey, Copper and Cask, Zarpado Tequila
• The juice
  • This sour mash Rye whiskey is made from 95% rye and 5% malted barley. It's distilled in copper stills then matured in 53-gallon, charred American oak barrels for between three and four years. Like all of our small batch whiskeys, Wheel Horse Rye is bottled at 101 proof and is non-chill filtered.
• Sources
  • https://www.latitudebeverage.com/ 
  • https://kybourbontrail.com/a-legacy-revived-green-river-distilling-co-releases-green-river-bourbon/#:~:text=in%20September%202020.-,Green%20River%20Distilling%20Co.,of%20the%20finest%20in%20Kentucky. 
  • https://greenriverwhiskey.com/ 
  • https://wheelhorsewhiskey.com/ 

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• History of distillery
  • 1890’s in scotts level, distillery owned by L. winand and bro. Produced pikeville whiskey. Pikeville was the next town over, not sure why they didnt name it scotts level rye.
    • He owned it up to prohibition, and there is an elementary school and a tea kwan do facility named after him there.  His story ends hrer
  • 1936, Andrew W Merle acquires the brand and the recipe
    • Andrew was not a distiller, but a business man who now owned a well known brand. But he found a distiller and sarted producing Pikesville Maryland Rye
    • He formed “standard distillers Products” (SDP), which was also associated with….. The most corporate nonsense name ever seen….”The Corporation Trust Corporation” (CTC)
    • CTC owned Monumental distilling, which was where pikesville was made, in Lansdowne, Maryland.
  • Majestic distilling corporation
    • In 1942, there was some accident at the distillery, the details and little known, but there was an explosion and smoke stacks fell.  pretty much right after this happened, Monumental distilling no longer existed, and it became majestic distilling. Owned by Zellic Cohen.
    • It continued to be the distillery so whatever damage happened it was repairable.  And there are a few pictures that seem to be relatively minor in damage.
  • 1972
    • Majestic may be owned by Cohen, but the Merle family still owns pikesville brand.
    • 1972 is the last year they distill anything, and the branding changes to Maryland-STYLE Rye
    • Preculation is out on where they got the juice.  Pikesville is the last maryland distiller at this time, so whatever the juice, its not coming from maryland. Most likely its pennsylvania  
      • Could be publicker, AKA continental distillers
        • The were the original distillers of rittenhouse, so its possible its them and that would be the conection to heaven hill later (spoiler)
      • Michters also could have produced it.
  • 1982
    • Andrew Merle Jr. sells pikesville to Heaven hill.  Sales were low, and cost was high. It was time to get out.
  • Note on monumental
    • Monumental is still around today as a brewery. It was located near baltimore and has become a destination brewery to visit.
• Maryland style rye?
  • Maryland style has a lot of corn. Usually 60-70% rye, 20-30% corn, the rest malted barley 
• Sources
  • http://www.ellenjaye.com/majestic.htm 
  • https://www.baltimoreorless.com/2011/01/pikesville-maryland-rye/ 
  • https://marylandspirits.org/what-is-maryland-rye/ 
  • https://distiller.com/articles/rye-whiskey-styles 

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Rye 101

• Made with at least 51% rye in the mash bill.
• Aged in charred new oak barrels.
• Distilled to a maximum of 160 proof (80% ABV)
• Barreled at a maximum of 125 proof (62.5% ABV)
• Bottled at a minimum of 80 proof (40% ABV) and a maximum of 150 proof (75% ABV)

Rye was the prominent whiskey of the americas at its founding.  George washington had 5 stills and could produce 11K Gallons of Rye per year.

Pennsylvania scots irish began distilling rye because of how well it grew in the area, and they wanted a dark spirit like their irish whisky at home.  Though it doesnt taste the same, it has the whiskey feel that made it work for them.

In 1810, KY produced 2.2 million gallons, PA proceed almost 7 million gallons.  One county in PA in early 1800’s could give a barrel a whiskey to every other person in the US at the time.

Rye is not an easy spirit to make, so when prohibition came there was a sharp decline, since the bootleggers made corn whiskey due to its ease. 

The stills were three chamber stills, this is a big reason it was hard for bootleggers, not as mobile and big.  Leopold Bros from denver has a three chamber bottled in bond.  He also uses an heirloom grain style called Abruzzi.  This has a lower starch content, meaning they need to use more rye than modern strains, making it more flavorful.

Empire Rye

• 75% new york grown rye (Any type or combination of types
• Distilled no higher than 160 proof
• Max barreling of 115 proof
• Min 2 years aging in chared new american oak
• 100% produced in a single New York state distillery
  • You can have multiple empire ryes blended together to make blended empire rye

Heirloom ryes tend to be lower in starches and harder to grow with lower yields (We have the yields we have today because of breeding tactics to increase yields and flavors

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• History of distillery-option 1
  • Paul Jones Jr starts the brand in 1888, but was producing back into the 1860’s
    • Loose story of it was started by a love story and marriage proposal
    • End of story
• History of distillery option 2
  • Rufus M Rose starts the brand in 1888
    • He was a druggist from Connecticut, but moved to Georgia
    • Fought in the Civil war as a confederate
      • Was a foot soldier, but was quickly switched to a medical unit, and after an injury was honorably discharged, but continued to work for the confederacy creating medicines until the end of the war
    • After the war, moved to atlanda and founded  R. M. Rose Co. Distillery, also known as the Mountain Spring Distillery.  
    • Created the four roses brand in 1888, named after him, his brother Origen, and their 2 sons
• History after the origin
  • Bought the Frankfort Distillery company in 1922, allowing them to produce medicinal whiskey through prohibition
  • Seagrams bought them in 1943
    • Discontinued the brand in the US in the 50’s, but it was sold overseas in japan and europe and was well liked
    • They did bring the name back and made cheap blended whiskey under the name
  • 2002 purchased by Kirin Brewing co., and renames four roses Distillery
• The juice
  • Mash bill
    • Mashbill B
      • 60% corn, 35% Rye, 5% Barley
    • Mashbill E
      • 75% Corn, 20% Rye, 5% barley
  • Yeast Strains
    • V-Delicate fruit
    • K- Slight spice
    • O- Rich fruit
    • Q- Floral essence
    • F- Herbal Notes
  • Every bottle will have a four letter code
    • First letter says its made by them
    • Second letter is which mashbill is used
    • Third letter is the type of whiskey (S for straight whiskey as an example)
    • Fourth letter for the Yeast Strain

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• History of distillery
  • Sourcing for a long time
  • 2015 broke ground on their own distillery, opened in 2018
  • 2021 Lux Row was bought by MGP
    • No mixing of MGP and LuxCo product, luxco is still distilled in KY
    • MGP bought it for the distribution network.
      • This is why we now have George remus available, as well as rossville.  MGP Products that now have a distribution network
• The juice
  • 4 grain double single barrel
    • Combines a single barrel of Rye bourbon and single barrel wheated bourbon
    • Is this still a single barrel? 

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For the full Blog post on Joseph A Magnus, go Here!

Title: Unveiling the Legacy: Joseph A. Magnus Distillery's Historic Resurgence and Modern Brilliance

Introduction:
Step into the past with us as we unveil the remarkable history of the Joseph A. Magnus Distillery. From its roots in Cincinnati to a contemporary revival, this episode delves into a story of resilience, innovation, and the unwavering commitment to preserving a legacy.

Segment 1: Early Triumphs in Cincinnati
Explore the early years of Joseph A. Magnus, a resilient entrepreneur who, by the age of 26, built a liquor empire in Cincinnati. With a keen marketing sense, Magnus introduced the Murray Hill Club whiskey brand, emphasizing unparalleled flavor, bouquet, mellowness, and purity.

Segment 2: Prohibition Era and Legacy
In 1918, anticipating Prohibition, Joseph A. Magnus ceased whiskey sales. Retiring to Oden, Michigan, he left a lasting impact, donating land to Petoskey that now houses Magnus Park. The legacy endured through challenging times.

Segment 3: Rediscovering a Lost Legacy
Fast forward to 2014, a great-grandson stumbles upon an unopened bottle of Murray Hill Club whiskey. Fueled by a passion to recreate this lost treasure, the family collaborates with industry experts to extract and analyze the whiskey. The journey culminates in the recreation of a 12-year-old bourbon, employing a triple cask finishing process with Oloroso Sherry, Pedro Ximénez, and Cognac casks.

Segment 4: The Resurgence - Washington DC Era
In 2015, Jos. A. Magnus Co. is reborn in Washington DC, not merely resurrecting but enhancing the legacy through modern techniques while respecting tradition. The commitment to quality and innovation led to the 2020 move to Holland, MI, reconnecting with historical roots.

Segment 5: Coppercraft Connection
Contrary to common assumptions, Joseph A. Magnus was not sold. The Windcrest Group, the investment company behind Magnus, acquired Coppercraft Distillery in 2016. Leveraging the facility for Magnus, they stay true to their commitment to legacy and craftsmanship.

Segment 6: Carrying the Torch
Today, Joseph A. Magnus Distillery continues to honor its Gilded Age roots. While Joseph Magnus himself may not have distilled whiskey, the commitment to excellence, creativity, and storytelling endures. The recreated Murray Hill Club whiskey stands as a testament to the intersection of history and innovation.

Conclusion:
This captivating journey through time showcases the enduring spirit of craftsmanship and tradition at the Joseph A. Magnus Distillery. From the marketing brilliance of Joseph Magnus in the Gilded Age to the dedication of his descendants in recreating and enhancing the legacy, every sip is a taste of history and innovation.

Outro:
Thank you for joining us on this historical exploration of the Joseph A. Magnus Distillery. For more captivating tales behind your favorite spirits, connect with us on social media, and stay tuned for future episodes. Until next time, raise your glass to the past, present, and future of distillation! Cheers!

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To see our blog post about the Michters distillery click here!

• History of distillery
  • Founded by John Shenk, a swiss Mennonite farmer in Schaefferstown, PA in 1753
    • Called the Shenk Distillery
  • Mostly a rye product
  • Legend is that washington purchased the rye for his men during their winter at Valley Forge
  • "the whiskey that warmed the American Revolution."
  • Mid 1800’s purchased by Abraham Bomberger 
    • Now the Bomberger Distillery
  • Hard times during prohibition had the shut the doors, but did return after
  • Changed hands many times, but in 1950’s, Lou Forman was one owner, and created the Michters brand
    • Named by combining the names of his 2 sons, Micheal and Peter
  • 1989 is the end of the brand.  Owners go bankrupt and abandon the distillery
  • 1990’s the name is back!
    • Joseph J Magliocco and Dick Newman Buy the trademark to continue the legacy
      • Dick Newman 
        • Purple heart in the Marine Corp
        • Ran old Granddad, Old Crow, and Old Taylor for National distillers
        • Became CEO of Austin Nichols, distiller of Wild Turkey
      • Joseph J Magliocco
        • Went to Yale and Harvard Law
        • He drank a lot in school
      • They opened up shop in KY, and have 3 locations, a farm, the main distillery, and then a public distillery
• Barrel process
  • Dried 18-48 months before use
  • Barrels are toasted first, before any kind of charing
  • This draws out the sugars and creates the red line
  • After charing, the whiskey will seep through the char to the redline where the flavors are
  • 
    
• The juice
  • Enters the barrel at 103 proof instead of standard 125 proof
    • This results in fewer bottles, but they believe better flavor
  • The warehouse is heatcycled
    • This creates more expand and contract through the same season
    • Costly because it creates more angel share
  • Chill filtered
    • They say instead of carbon filtering which removes flavors
    • Process is different for each expression

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