Wilderness Trail Distillery will release its first bourbon on April 28 at the distillery's Taste of Danville event. Located in Danville about 40 miles southwest of Lexington, the burgeoning distillery has previously released other spirits, including its award-winning Blue Heron Vodka, Harvest Rum and Rye Whiskey.
Wilderness Trail Master Distiller and Co-Founder Shane Baker told Bourbon & Barns last year that the distillery wanted to wait to release their bourbon in order to introduce a mature product to the market. You can read more of that interview at https://bit.ly/2JE8YPB.
The bourbon is bottled-in-bond, single barrel selection at 100 proof, said Baker, who described the bourbon as having a mellow nose with sweet fruity oak, caramels twisted with creamy vanilla nut and a touch of chocolate.
On Valentine's Day, Wilderness Trail invited a few lucky couples to try to the product. You can see what they thought in a fun video at https://bit.ly/2qnIc4Y.
The distillery plans to have 1,000 bottles in the gift shop with distribution of them at 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m. There is a limit of two bottles per person at $48 a bottle plus tax. There will be a limited number of free samples available to the first few hundred visitors.
For more information, check out the Wilderness Trail website at www.wildernesstraildistillery.com.
Press Release
DANVILLE, KY — Wilderness Trail Distillery’s first Bourbon release set for April 28th at the 2nd annual Taste of Danville will be a day of celebrating with food, music and tastes of its Bottled in Bond, Single Barrel Kentucky Straight wheated Bourbon.
The spring release is the first of three limited releases this year, as the majority of the barrels continue to age toward 6 years before regular releases are available. Limited first edition box sets of the first release have been reserved by Family Reserve members who signed up when the distillery began barreling Bourbon over four years ago.
“We are excited to share our first mature Bourbons with our ambassadors who have been waiting patiently all these years and standing beside us. That’s what makes this a true Family Reserve release. It is a major milestone for us toward our journey of aging to six to eight years,” says Shane Baker, who is the Danville distillery’s co-owner with Pat Heist.
The gift shop will be stocked with a limited number of bottles available to the general public. Tickets will be passed out to those in line to be redeemed at 10 a.m., 12 p.m. or 2 p.m. Ticket holders are eligible to purchase up to two bottles. The tickets allow our guests to enjoy the tasty creations of our 19 food vendors and music by bands instead of spending their time waiting in line. They may even choose to stop by our face painting booth at this family-friendly event.
Our first few hundred guests receive tastes of our Bourbon. About the taste, Baker says, “Our first Bourbon release is a traditional mature Kentucky Bourbon whiskey you would have found decades ago. It is a Bottled in Bond, Single Barrel. It is aged over four years and bottled at 100 proof. They have the taste and nose of an older Bourbon — mellow nose with sweet fruity oak, caramels twisted with creamy vanilla nut and a touch of chocolate. Enjoying it neat, it finishes silky smooth and long and proofing down on the rocks brings out more expressions of smoother aromatics and a creamier mouthfeel finish.”
Guests will be treated to music by The Local Honeys and Joslyn & The Sweet Compression, both based in Lexington. The Local Honeys will perform 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. with a mix of hard driving fiddle based traditional and original tunes. Joslyn & The Sweet Compression take the stage 1 to 4 p.m. with a hook-filled mix of funk and soul.
While listening to musical performances, enjoy culinary creations created by: Biscuits BBQ, Bluegrass & Buttercream, Capt. Frank’s Hotdog Emporium, Caribbean Spice Food Truck, Chaplin River Catering, Dunn’s BBQ & Catering, Four Generations Ice Cream, Fox Run Beer Cheese, Fresh by Gene’s, Grace Café, Mallard’s, Pasture At Marksbury Farm, Plank on Main, Sandy’s Surprises, Southern Style Kettlecorn, Sweets by Cindy, The Caterer, The Hub Coffee House & Café, and Triple J&C BBQ.