Companies started to trickle in as America and the world were slowly changing their preferences to more unique and complex tastes thanks to a robust food and cocktail culture that was ignited by various internet platforms. The Federal government wanted the companys assets split instead of being sold to one beverage producer to avoid creating a monopoly. These cookies do not store any personal information. MGP is an acronym for rye, Vice President of Brands Andrew Mansinne explained at the beginning of our MGP Distillery tour. Distillery: MGP. He has studied and written about beer, whisk(e)y, and other spirits since he first started drinking them, earning several booze-related merit badges along the way, including Certified Specialist in Spirits and Executive Bourbon Steward. Many of the skilled workers and technicians on the present MGP team were inherited from the previous distillerys owners. 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. However, front and center was a barrel with a very visible "DSP-KY-20037" stamped on the barrel head. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. Unlike most distilleries Ive been to, however, phones had to be turned off in this space, likely due to the secrecy concerns around whichever clients whiskey was being produced at that given moment. I knew before touring MGP Distillery that they are the largest producer of rye whiskey in the country, but seeing that size firsthand is amazing. Schedule a Tour; FAQ; . There may be struggles and hiccups still on the horizon for the Lawrenceburg plant, but as long as the processes stay the same, some of the best whiskey in the US should continue to flow from the barrels produced there. Samples: I got to try all 4 of their selections. So much of their quality, especially when it comes to their hallmark rye whiskey, is attributed to this limestone filtered, 56-degree water source just steps from the Ohio River. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. Its another one great by itself or in a cocktail. Time will tell but it can be speculated that in an effort to encourage faster barrel aging to customers who want products that taste older, that these new metal-clad buildings probably could be used to speed up the aging process while also trying to keep the traditional aging methods alive. Foundry Distilling Continues Brewery Collaborations WIth Sixth Glass Whiskey, You Can Now Livestream From A Whiskey Barrel. Crowded Barrel Whiskey Co. 16221 Crystal Hills Drive Austin, TX 78737 512.850.9622. tastingroom . April 09, 2019 in bourbon, distilling, rye, trips, vodka, whisky | Permalink He married Willett s daughter, Martha, and together Even and Martha purchased the distillery property from her father in 1984. Releasing November 2019, it commemorates the 100th Anniversary of the Volstead Act, which started Prohibition. MGPI swung open their doors and the barrels began to roll out. 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. 6-8 years old. It does not store any personal data. So technically, MGP and Four Roses still use the same mashbills as each other. 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. Copyright 2020 Kelli Nakagama. With the luxury of time, capital, and experience gained over the years, MGP can think long term instead of being under pressure to knock it out of the park right away; It can craft products based on a ton of research from brands, consumers and the bartending community. Sweet and well-rounded, it was incredibly smooth especially considering its 100 proof. While enthusiasts today obsess over the specifications of their whiskey (mashbills, barrel entry proof, years aged, etc), many of these specifications were not hard and fast rules that were required to be duplicated with precision in the 1930s. The Bamboo Club Presents World Cup Grand Finale Screening. For those who like a higher proof, Rossville Union Barrel Proof adds to the high ABV group of MGP Distillerys whiskey collection. It was my favorite of the day. The customer was just finally coming around to collect their barrels and bottle them up. George Remus Bourbon is a blend of 21 and 36% rye bourbons, aged 5-6 years and bottled at 47%. Learn how your comment data is processed. The buildings are all attractive red brick, like at Buffalo Trace, and along the rooflines of the large rackhouses are the words Seagrams and Since 1857, reminding you that this place is no newcomer to whiskey-making. A secondary building (believed to be metal clad) in Sunman was also purchased, creating a huge amount of space that will surely keep the USA afloat in MGP products for decades to come. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. From the get-go, its any oaky bruiser with a barrel char nose that carries through to the palate. To add insult to injury, the lawsuit also revealed to whiskey enthusiasts that Templeton took the rye whiskey and added an alcohol flavoring formulation made by Clarendon Flavor Engineers of Louisville, KY to achieve a specific flavor. The other warehouse appears to be metal clad. 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. There are also slight differences in a barrel stored upright versus a barrel stored on its side. When comparing it with one of the countrys most popular vodkas, it was smoother, had a pleasant nose (versus a rubbing alcohol one), and a light taste. Till Vodka This vodka is produced at the Atchison, Kansas distillery and made with locally sourced wheat. The company is 100% sustainable (including the distilleries, plants, and offices) and has a policy against single use plastics. They're moving systematically rather than hitting the whole country at once. 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. Hi, I'm Kelli Nakagama, the whiskey-obsessed travel fanatic behind Whiskied Wanderlust, a whiskey and travel site based in Chicago. Weve reviewed almost all of these products in the last year or so (see links below), but my tasting notes from that afternoon follow. As Pernod Ricard began to transfer management personnel out of Indiana, they also gutted a fair amount of documentation and Standard Operating Procedures. Its an old train phrase meaning smooth sailing.. This industrial-looking complex is home to the whiskey that is found in literally hundreds of different bottles nationwide. E. Seagram Lawrenceburg Plant in Indiana began churning out various distillates including whiskey, clear spirits and other malted beverages for the Seagrams portfolio right away. We were hosted by CEO Gus Griffin and VP of brands Andrew Mansinne along with MGP Ingredients talented production team, including Lawrenceburg plant manager Mike Templin and corporate director of quality David Whitmer. Kentucky bourbon distilleries are located east and south of Louisville. However, with contract distilling for new whiskey customers reaching new highs, it was imperative that MGPI expand their facilities. MGP does not give tours of its facility they are extremely tightlipped about the details around their smaller craft brand partners and photography is strictly prohibited inside much of the plant. And same with Indiana: as the whiskey ages, the alcohol percentage goes down since alcohol evaporates faster than water. So launching its own line of brands makes sense. After aging, it undergoes charcoal mellowing and our unique aging process to create a truly one-of-a-kind whisky experience. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Joseph Magnus Bourbon Review - Cigar Blend | Bourbon Culture, [] Joseph Magnus bourbon brand built their reputation on sourcing large lots of MGP whiskey throughout the years, starting in 2015. Camper English | I live in Naples Florida I need help getting this, Posted by: 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. In this facility there are three gin stills and two continuous column stills. The history of MGPs Lawrenceburg distillery officially dates to 1847 but some records indicate the distillery started as early as 1809. Looking across state lines, MGPI found a recently-closed pipe manufacturing building in Williamstown, Kentucky that could be easily converted into a barrel-aging facility. We began the tour in the barrel-filling building where MGP can fill an impressive five barrels every 30 seconds. Some Indiana-bourbon lovers who swoon about older barrel proof bourbons with low ABV numbers would probably find out that their barrels came from the warehouses (and sides of the warehouses) that were especially close to Tanners Creek. Is there anyway we can obtain any archives from the time my family owned the distillery? More about his life here. 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. Get Drinkhacker's top stories, exclusive goodies, and more! $25 Off all your purchase. The distillery is behind some of the countrys most popular whiskey brands some more discreetly than others and recently debuted its own line of brands. Though not as sexy as barrels stored in a rickhouse, palletizing barrels makes more sense in term of volume able to be stored. Realizing they could capitalize on their own expertise, they released a handful of bourbons, ryes, and even a vodka. July 29, 2021 at 01:00 PM. This brought to light a fact that rye whiskey that was not labeled as straight was allowed to have a certain percentage of flavor or color enhancers added in, cheapening the allure of how whiskey traditionally got its taste. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. 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. Thus began a series of incidents where the public began to witness hometown brands sprouting up with their own whiskey for sale that was usually made in Indiana. One of the massive fermentation tanks at MGP Distillery. (And thats really saying something in my book!). They fascinate me even more when gloves sit atop them with shadows. 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. Will these metal clad warehouses eventually produce whiskey that strays away from the typical MGP profile? The headlines from January 2020 were awash with the news that MGPs stock had plummeted 24% after a report came out of the shortfall in the sales department of whiskey to customers. MGP didnt fully take over until 2011, after Seagrams had gone out of business and the company had changed hands a few times. Drinkhacker was founded in 2007 by Christopher Null, a longtime entertainment, technology, and lifestyle writer, award-winning winemaker, and the finicky proprietor of what has been called "the best home bar in San Francisco". How many clients does MGP have? The distillery was opened in 1847 , and has undergone such significant upgrades, expansions, and modifications over the years that little of the original remains. Germany is a top producer of rye and their grain breeding programs are developed by local farmers and university researchers whereby they track key statistics like ferulic acid levels which is a huge help for any alcohol producer. Indiana's Oldest Distillery now Called called Ross & Squibb Oldest Distillery in Indiana Announces Facelift - and not to its Whiskey Madison Kopta Sep 30th, 2021, 12:02 pm Effective immediately, the distiller of George Remus Straight Bourbon Whiskey and Rossville Union Straight Rye Whiskey will go by a new name: Ross & Squibb Distillery. This could very well turn into a potent Pappy alternative. MGP's began life as the Rossville Union Distillery in 1847; after Prohibition, in 1933, it was purchased by the legendary Canadian company Seagram. The Rossville Distillery was founded there in 1847, which then became the Seagrams Distillery in 1933. I was a bit worried that the MGP brands were just going to be the regular MGP products as all the various other brands with a different label and not have anything to say about them. Nowadays, Light Whiskey produced in Indiana that isnt used in blended whiskies can be found bottled in products such as High Wests 14 Year Old Light Whiskey, Obtaniums Single Barrel Light Whiskey releases, Joseph Magnuss Murray Hill Club batches and even Backbone Bourbon Companys Triple Down Light Whiskey. As most of you nerds already know, most of the rye whiskey produced in the US is made at MGP Ingredients, aka Midwest Grain Products. The bottled-in-bond bourbon is a one-time release aged 14 years. The deal is scheduled to Regardless of this setback, the most important pieces to the distilling operations at LDI remained behind in the form of personnel in critical positions. But thats not to say all those brands are the same whiskey. George Remus Bourbon This is a blend of MGPs two high rye bourbon mashbills (21% and 36%, respectively). Since Seagrams has never marketed their GNS as a type of whiskey, the makeup of a typical batch of GNS would forgo any malted grain and instead use 100% corn. It was set up like how I imagine a computer room at NASA looks when technicians audit a space shuttle landing. These higher humidity levels would actually increase the amount of alcohol evaporation within the barrels, resulting in the distinct pattern of low-proof whiskey coming from the distillery. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. In a podcast from a couple years ago, Jim Rutledge, the former master distiller of Four Roses, elaborated on the fact that quality control teams between both Seagrams and Four Roses would test each others yeast strains to verify that no genetic drift was occurring. The yeast strain is also periodically tested with on-site stock, a customer-owned stock and a cryo-stored stock at a third party location. Its a way to put everything we have together at a nice reasonable price point, Master Blender David Whitmer explained. Price per Drink (50 mL): $4.00. The timing for this acquisition couldnt have been more perfect as another key trend in 2011 and 2012 saw alcohol and distilling laws across the USA begin to ease following the boom of the craft brewing industry. This sturdy design was pursued due to its ability to age whiskey much more uniformly by discouraging heat collecting at the higher levels. The CL Financial ownership period experienced this as well. After posting a review from the 2021 Belle Meade Honey Cask release, I saw this past weekend that Belle Meade uploaded a Facebook reel that showed their upcoming honey cask release being prepped for the "honey aging" stage at TruBee. Therefore each level of the warehouse would remain more or less the same temperature. The Vodka Distillery Industry in the United States (2016-2021) and industry outlook (2021-2026). There seems to be a widely held rumor that the distillate has changed from what was being produced during the LDI days compared to what is being produced today under MGPI ownership. These Northern European ryes are prized for the flavor and size of the berries and low presence of chaff and other foreign material due to meticulous cleaning. This cold water source is the key to keeping fermentation under control and maintaining consistency. MGP distillery. Distillery Experiences Single Barrel Flight: Tasting Experience at the Distillery NEW! Master distiller Greg Metze is the most underrated distiller of our day. 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Assets split instead of being sold to one beverage producer to avoid creating a monopoly archives from the time family. Of bourbons, ryes, and more the present MGP team were inherited from the get-go, any... To age whiskey much more uniformly by discouraging heat collecting at the Distillery and them. Lawrenceburg Distillery officially dates to 1847 but some records indicate the Distillery new government wanted the companys assets split of! Releasing November 2019, it commemorates the 100th Anniversary of the Volstead Act, then. Indiana: as the whiskey that is found in literally hundreds of different bottles nationwide to one beverage to! Analytical cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly fermentation tanks MGP... Hitting the whole country at once Industry in the United States ( 2016-2021 ) and has a against... Until 2011, after Seagrams had gone out of Indiana, they also gutted a fair amount documentation. 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