Scientists turned distillers
Ferm Solutions helped build many distilleries and other fermentation businesses.1,2,4 The distillery opened in December 2013 as Wilderness Trace Distillery, Danville’s first legal distillery since Prohibition.
Wilderness Trail Distillery makes bourbon and rye whiskey in Danville, Kentucky, where Shane Baker and Pat Heist founded it in 2012.1,2,3 Both were fermentation experts who founded the consulting firm Ferm Solutions in 2006.1,2,4 Campari Group bought 70% of the distillery in 2022.5,6,7
In 2014 the distillery moved its small start-up operation from downtown Danville to the Willis Grimes farm off Lebanon Road, which Grimes began farming in 1855.10,11,12 In March 2016 a new distillery on the farm was to get a 40-foot column still, to raise output from one barrel of bourbon a day to about 12.8 In June 2017 a $9.91 million expansion aimed to raise yearly output from 6,000 barrels to about 36,000, for its own brands and contract distillation, making spirit for others.10
In 2020 it moved up from the Craft Tour to become the 18th official stop on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.1,6,11 By November 2021 it made 250 barrels of bourbon a day and was building 11 more barrel houses on 124 acres across the road.12
In 2021 its sales came from its own bourbon and rye brand and, for the rest, from bulk sales, storage fees and its visitor centre.2 It sold its bulk spirit unaged, as new make.2 On 31 October 2022 Campari Group agreed to buy 70% of the distillery, saying the deal would expand capacity for bourbons such as Campari’s own Whiskey Barons range.2,5 By 7 December 2022 Campari Group had completed the purchase, and it agreed to buy the remaining 30% through an option that can be used in 2031.5,6,7
The distillery mashes corn, wheat, malted barley and rye in different mixes, called mash bills.4,9,13 Its bourbons use 64% corn, 24% wheat or rye and 12% malted barley, and its rye uses 56% rye, 33% corn and 11% malted barley.4,9,13 Most bourbon distillers use sour mash, which adds backset, the spent mash from an earlier run, to acidify the new batch.4,13,14 Wilderness Trail ferments each batch of cooked grain with fresh yeast alone, called sweet mash, which is meant to give a softer, cleaner spirit.4,13,14 It has 3 copper stills: a hybrid pot-column still and 18-inch and 36-inch column stills.4,6 More than 100,000 barrels age in rickhouses, or barrel warehouses, across its 168-acre campus.1,6
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