Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. Seagrams also produced a large amount of light whiskey at its Canadian distilleries with the Valleyfield Distillery in Quebec still producing large amounts of it for Diageo today. The Whiskeys - Willett Distillery - Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey. At the Lawrenceburg distillery (outside Cincinnati but on the border of Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana) they mostly produce the aged products - whiskies- though they also do some gin and neutral spirits. Hi, I'm Kelli Nakagama, the whiskey-obsessed travel fanatic behind Whiskied Wanderlust, a whiskey and travel site based in Chicago. They also make a ton of bourbon and neutral spirit used for vodka and gin. Small batches of 10+ year aged bourbon and rye still pop up from time to time, but the truth of the matter was that every 10+ year old MGP bourbon that is released today has already been purchased years ago. A recovering Federal government employee, he is happy to have finally found a career where it is acceptable to drink on the job. But it was the whiskey that was the most alluring product to come off the stills. In no time at all, it was selling like hotcakes all across the Midwest. He ended up selecting the 5th profile variety and the 7th profile variety as the ones that Seagrams would produce. And MGP added their own brands to the list in 2016. As the rest of the industry became more transparent over the last decade, MGP started to look more and more like Willy Wonka. Actually far from it. And while touring MGP Distillery I discovered some fascinating facts. Whether you select the original, 95-rated Remus Straight Bourbon Whiskey, the . It's about the same age as their standard rye, but with a different ratio of rye mashbills. Wherever on that savory, sweet, and spicy scale you want to be, Rossville has a bottle for it, Andrew said. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. Their standard barrel entry proof for whiskey is 120. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. I believe that this is not the case anymore. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. As a final step before posting your comment, enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below. Regardless of this setback, the most important pieces to the distilling operations at LDI remained behind in the form of personnel in critical positions. Check out the Whiskey Tribe to stay updated on all the official distillery events and news. Even though we werent far from the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, the maturation process is actually closer in comparison to Scotland. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. MGP or midwestern grain products has a distillery in Indiana Distillery is a mass producing whiskey distillery. So if something happens to one rick house, they dont lose an entire styles stock. The couple had previously rebuilt their home in Pearl River, Louisiana, following the devastation Hurricane Katrina left in 2005, and it took them a year to recover. While it has confidentiality agreements with its customers and does not disclose brand names, it is estimated that close to 130 different whiskey brands use MGP sourced whiskey. George Remus, the person, was a pharmacist turned attorney. We spent some time in the Rack House, where the identifiable scent of wood and whiskey fills the air. Plus theyre creating interesting limited releases that only adds to the fun of exploring MGP Distillerys whiskey. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". (You can use HTML tags like and to style your text. Here youll find travelogues, food guides, travel tips, and more all with a side of whisk(e)y. Whiskied Wanderlust is a whiskey and travel site based in Chicago. Just like that, the home of the Remus Bourbon and Rossville Union brands had a brand of its own. Metzes Select was a limited release (6,000 bottles) of 3 different bourbons of various ages and mashbills that was bottled at a rather mild 93 proof. In 2006, Templeton Rye began to sell a rye whiskey with the words Small Batch and Prohibition Era Recipe on the front of their bottle. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. View an alternate. Midwest Grain Products is the countrys main supplier of whiskey for brands that do not distill their own, of which there are many. Whats up with that limestone-filtered water? The scientists at Seagrams also implemented other practices across their brands that achieved more consistent and flavorful profiles such as using barrel entry proof of 120 for their whiskey (which both Four Roses and MGPI still utilize to this day) and building their warehouses either as single-story units or with the attributes of a single story unit, like the multi-story concrete floored warehouses at Lawrenceburg, IN. Barrel entry for every standard MGP mashbill is 120 proof, but the company recently began allowing custom barrel entry proofs for its contract clients; part of a slew of changes theyve made to compete with a growing number of contract distillers around the country. Our tour of MGP's massive operation included a bit of a history lesson on the town of Lawrenceburg, Indiana. The next letter indicates the mashbill that was used. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. "MGP" stands for "Midwest Grain Products," one of the largest distillery operations in the United States, located in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. Most guests can visit about three bourbon distilleries per day. Check out our daily deals and features. Curated by Rune Kielsgaard. Named Metzes Medley Indiana Straight Bourbon Whiskey, under 1000 bottles of 80 proof bourbon were blended by master distiller Greg Metze and were sold off with all proceeds going to the United Way. Lawrenceburg, Indianas location right on the Ohio River provides easy and cheap transportation channels to move products up and down the Mississippi River to the East Coast, it also sets above a massive underground limestone shelf that spans across much of the state of Kentucky and provides the water necessary to make a great whiskey. But ever since the switch to European sources was established, the consistency of the congener profile has allowed the rye whiskey coming out of Lawrenceburg to remain world class. 3. While Indianas neighbor directly to the south may get all of the American whiskey glory (ahem, Kentucky), the tiny town of Lawrenceburg has played an important role in American whiskey production for the past 200 years. In the same podcast, he also elaborated on the fact that the V yeast strain (internally known as Strain 133) is shared between Four Roses and MGPI to this day. The reception to this release was so positive that it spawned the release of 5 new whiskey products over the next 3 years. Head on over to Local Kitchens in Huntington Beach for a Lunar New Year Celebration and a FREE FOOD GIVEAWAY from the restaurant concept Great Taste Magazine | Orange County Restaurants and Pros, Condiments-Salsas, Jams, Preserves & Pickles, Orange County Restaurants Events Calendar, Best Orange County Restaurants for Happy Hour, Best Orange County Restaurants for Brunch, Great Taste Magazine 2016 May | June Issue. But with the large capacity of the bottling plant on site at the Indiana facility, Pernod Ricard switched bottling operations there until 2006 when they switched operations to Arkansas. Old Fourth Distillery was launched by five friends (two of whom are also brothers) in 2013 with the aid of a Kickstarter campaign. No ownership change is complete without a headache or two. I inquired if their others might be palletized and the person I spoke to was evasive enough about answering that we can assume some are. It is also used to cool their equipment. The company's facilities, including its massive Indiana distillery formerly owned by Seagram's and LDI, supplies much of the industry's sourced whiskey and vodka. I asked them how many mashbills they make in total. But teams were dispatched in the early 2010s to begin the search for suitable facilities to expand the limited storage space at the Lawrenceburg facility. Learn how your comment data is processed. Heres a closer look at MGPs whiskey brands. GNS usually utilizes the cheapest grain available on the market (which is almost always corn). Drew Beard is Assistant Editor and Social Media Manager for Drinkhacker. Its not open to the public, so very few people have seen inside. Rossville Union, MGPs rye brand, is named after the original Lawrenceburg distillery, Rossville Distillery. Something went wrong. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. So George Remus Straight Bourbon Whiskey is a mix of the 21 and 36 percent high rye bourbons, and Rossville Union is a blend of the 95 and 51 percent rye mashbills. The nose is full of clove, mint, and some dried fruits, while the palate shows more baking spice and brown sugar. For years it has focused on producing quality spirits for other brands and have enjoyed sitting just out of the glow of the intense spotlight that has been shining on the flourishing spirits industry in recent years. Its the first distillery tour Ive ever been on where I received an ID badge and hard hat, and we were instructed to keep our phones turned off in certain locations. It's more than 51% bourbon bottled at 44% ABV. Executive Leadership; Board of Directors; Our Alcohol Experts; . After some sporadic ownership changes in the early 2000s, the distillery was purchased by Midwest Grain Products (MGP) in 2011. They're moving systematically rather than hitting the whole country at once. It makes quality products that make brands money and consumers happy. Lets take a look at their similarities and differences in a broad scope: With all of this talk of rye, it is important to note that the most commonly used rye for whiskey products made at the Lawrenceburg, Indiana Distillery come from Germany while Polish, Swedish and Canadian rye are also used if it matches the profile that theyre looking for. They actually own two distilleries though we only hear about this one. This sturdy design was pursued due to its ability to age whiskey much more uniformly by discouraging heat collecting at the higher levels. The nose is decently complex for a vodka, with minimal medicinal notes giving way to subtle aromas of lemon peel and licorice. Atlanta's first legal distillery since 1906, Old Fourth . Its clearly an industrial site you wont find much in the way of landscaping but its also not as factory-like as I imagined. But with two satellite storage locations around 20-40 miles away from the main campus at MGPI, how will this different geography affect the final product? The high proof that Light Whiskey was being distilled at stripped away much of the body and character and left behind a very light tasting spirit. Their company owns Angel's Envy, Bulleit, High West, Redemption, and Whistlepig Whiskey, among other brands. MGP distillery. This invitation was clearly a rare opportunity to visit a 170-year-old distillery with a rich whiskey past, but with all of this secrecy, would we really get a feel for the inner workings of the place? The end result is a pretty nose with lots of pickle notes and a bold, spicy palate. Everyone we met with was incredibly forthcoming about the companys process. Go to Lawrenceburg, IN on Google maps. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. They are currently available in 14 states with hopes to eventually reach the entire United States. Posted by: MGP Distillery's whiskey is all non-chill filtered and barreled at 120 proof (but the resulting bottling proofs vary). Turns out, yes! Distillate made during MGPIs ownership still has not come of age yet, so its not going to be good as the well-aged products that have already been produced. Mashbill: 75% Corn 21% Rye, 4% Malted Barley. It was determined through much testing that a specific type of rye grown in Germany was producing the best mash for their yeast that would eventually lead to the best tasting distillate. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. MGP doesnt talk about which brands they have a hand in, but it doesnt take much detective work to figure it out. My true favorite from the tasting at MGP Distillery was the Remus Volstead Reserve. There are also slight differences in a barrel stored upright versus a barrel stored on its side. North American rye grain on the other hand tends to be dirtier and much more variable in their key components. Those two buildings are able to store 45,000 and 65,000 barrels respectively. Today MGP Distillery produces whiskey, vodka, gin, neutral grain spirits, and industrial alcohol. Operating in Atchison, Kansas, and Lawrenceburg, Indiana, MGP began as a humble grainbelt distillery in 1941 and has since grown into a leading supplier of premium distilled spirits, and specialty wheat proteins and starches. In 2014, 3 years after MGP first took over the operations of the Lawrenceburg plant, they bottled a limited release of their own bourbon for the first ever Lawrenceburg Whiskey City Festival. For everyone else, they had to settle for the young distillate that MGP had only recently started to produce. As a customer, you would want to know what you are buying, and sourced/MGP origin bourbons don't always make that clear on the label. Hi, I'm Kelli Nakagama, the whiskey-obsessed travel fanatic behind Whiskied Wanderlust, a whiskey and travel site based in Chicago. It is common now to find many brands out there like Tumblin Dice, Smooth Ambler, Barrell Craft Spirits and Backbone Bourbon Company releasing 4-5 year old aged distillate simply because there are no older stock available for purchase. MGP Ingredients Rossville Distillery in Lawrenceburg, Indiana has been making whiskey at the same location since 1847. MGP produces different mash bills and different types of whiskey, some exclusively for certain clients, other opting to blend their own combination. 1 Whiskey (One Eight Distilling), Wingharts Bourbon & Rye (PA Private Label Spirits). Bourbon: 51% corn, 45% wheat, 4% malted barley, S (Strain 1Y, primarily used in Light Whiskey production). With the technological advances of the 20th century being realized at everything from automobile manufacturing to computers, Seagrams found itself with the opportunity to lean out their production by becoming fully automated in 1998. It was hard to wrap my head around the numbers, which MGP wouldnt disclose, at every stage of the process. One of the biggest surprises I learned while touring MGP Distillery was about maturation. Simply put, whiskey distilled during LDIs ownership period is perceived as better because its older. When it comes to the vodka, theirs is made from wheat, when most of their clients' vodka is made from corn. September 1, 2014 MGP and LDI History Midwest Grain Products (MGP) is a grain and neutral spirit supplier based in Atchinson, KS. The Kentucky rickhouses lose more water, as opposed to the humid ones here. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. 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