Woodford Reserve

Sometimes it’s good to stop for a moment amid the many bottles and drams we enjoy these days, to pause and retrospectively look back at when that moment finally came about. What got me on to this miraculous liquid that’s merely crafted from water, barley (or other grains) and yeast? How can it be that distilling this grain mash, putting it into a wooden barrel and storing for several years can yield different results each time? It blows my mind and yet keeps me wanting more. To explore new flavours and experience new sensations with each dram.

The first drop of whisky that passed my lips was on the same night I tried my first alcoholic beverage. I remember it vividly: sipping a bottle of Rolling Rock American lager, watching live performances of Metallica with friends. Then, someone popped out a bottle of The Famous Grouse. I’ll admit now, I could just about stomach the beer I was having that night, so you can imagine my reaction when we were all passed, in turn, a shot of Grouse into the bottle lid. Just the one was enough for me that night. I didn’t fare too well after.

A few years passed and I was still listening away to Metallica. I began to develop a strong preference for Jack Daniel’s or Jim Beam and cola with a wedge of lime and a lot of ice. At this stage I liked whisky flavoured drinks but not whisky itself. At family gatherings someone would always break out a bottle of Jameson or Powers Irish whiskey, which I’d happily mix with some ginger ale for a refreshing drink. So branching out ever so slightly here, and answering yes to the question: “Hamish you drink whisky, don’t you?” Oh how little I knew back then.

Fast forward a few years, when I was a little older and arguably a little wiser. I came across a video that would have such an impact on my relationship with whisky than I ever could have imagined. The BBC ran the six-part series Stephen Fry In America which followed the English actor, broadcaster and comedian as he travelled through all 50 of the US states driving a London taxi.

There was one episode that immersed me greatly. Travelling into Kentucky and met with an intense downpour of rain, Fry felt he needed some “internal central heating” and what better place to find this than the Woodford Reserve distillery near the town of Versailles. This three-minute scene was so profound to me that it sparked a curiosity toward whisky. We were shown some of the distillery grounds, given a lovely shot of the Cyprus wood fermentation vats before a quick look at one of the three pot stills situated at Woodford Reserve. A quick side note here, the stills look much as they do in any Scottish distillery, but with quite a dull finish to them. I found this to look quite unique.

The best part, however, was the commentary from Master Distiller Chris Morris. Coupled with some background piano music from a 1915’s American saloon, it really set the scene and I was hooked. They entered a large warehouse displaying racks of wooden barrels of whisky. It then cut to a distinctive Woodford Reserve bottle being filled straight from the cask. It was almost picturesque, what an experience. It just got even better when Chris spoke about the whisky in a language “familiar with a wine or whisky connoisseur”. The description was indeed like a poem as Fry exclaimed, and I was hanging on every word. Could whisky really contain all these flavours or was he talking absolute nonsense? Surely, he added vanilla, caramel and cinnamon flavours to the spirit when bottling? Yes, I was clueless, but I wanted to know more, and taste these flavours for myself. I had to get a bottle of Woodford, or anything remotely related. 

I touched on it briefly there, but Woodford Reserve is a Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey, owned by the Brown-Forman Corporation, who also own Old Forester Kentucky straight bourbon, Jack Daniel’s Tennessee whiskey and Scotch distilleries such as GlenDronach, BenRiach and Glenglassaugh.

The distillery was originally founded in 1812 by Elijah Pepper. Known at the time as the Oscar Pepper Distillery, it was under the watchful command of Scotsman James C. Crow. Inverness born Crow is somewhat loosely credited as the originator of the sour mash process. The Pepper family sold the property to Leopold Labrot and James Graham in 1878. The pair owned and operated the distillery until it was sold to the Brown-Forman in 1941. Brown-Forman continued operations until the late 1960s, before selling the property to a local farmer. Brown-Forman then re-purchased the property in 1993, launching the Woodford Reserve brand to the spirits market in 1996. It celebrated landmark sales in 2021, surpassing one million cases. 

On to the review!