Sipping bourbon at six months old: Kentucky master distiller on changing tastes

How did you get into the bourbon business? “Our family is from a small town in central Kentucky [in the United States, with a population] of 10,000 people. Most of our bourbons are from that area so I grew up around bourbon, listening to Dad and his friends talk about it, but I didn’t really think I was going to work there. My plan was to get a college education and move away to have my own business. But I went to Wild Turkey for a summer job in my last year of college and never left. It was home for me.”

When did you first try bourbon? “They rub bourbon on your gums when you’re teething as a baby, and my Dad says my first taste was at six months. As I got older, my grandmother would make me hot toddies, with bourbon and honey and sugar. I did the same with my two boys at around 10 or 12 years old. You let them taste it because, for a young kid, it’s not good. I was never a beer drinker because when I grew up it was just bourbon in my house, and iced tea.”

What do you like about bourbon? “I love the vanilla caramel that you get, the spiciness, the character of it. I drink a lot of water when I drink bourbon. My parents drink a lot of tea but I drink mainly water and Pepsi. Now I try not to drink Pepsi [laughs].”

Did your father tell you much about his job? “I went out with him [to his work] as a younger kid. Then when I got into my teens, I played sports in school and didn’t think much about it. When I was 21, I saw him make yeast and I was shocked at how much knowledge he had. He was a high school graduate and he knew as much as a chemical engineer, and about wood and how it grows and changes the flavours of your whiskey.”

Your grandfather worked at Wild Turkey, too? “He was more involved in maintenance, taking care of the equipment. He had the knowledge but he was never called the master distiller. My great-grandfather worked at a distillery called Old Joe, which is now Four Roses. So there are four generations of us who have been in the business.”

Describe your journey to becoming a master distiller. “I started out as the bottom man at the plant, rolling barrels, stacking cases, painting buildings. I did that for about five or six years and then Dad brought me into the distillery. He taught me yeast making, making the mashes, the fermentation. And then about 12 years later I took over the maturation, or the ageing of the whiskey, and picking out the barrels to make each one of our products. This is my favourite part.”