Jim Beam Bourbon Plant
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Jim Beam Bourbon Plant

 Jim Beam Bourbon Plant Largest In The World

by Scott A. Sumner

Thunder Bay Business

When you sit down for a relaxing drink sometimes you might wonder  how is this product made. I got an upclose and personal understanding  of this from Bernie Lubbers, a Whiskey Professor at the world leader  in Bourbon sales, Jim Beam located in Louisville Kentucky.

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    Whisky can be made anywhere in the world from  any combination of  grains produced up to any proof and bottled to any proof. Bourbon on  the other hand must be made in the US from a specific grain mill  with at least 51 % corn which is the native crop of the US.  It can’t 
be distilled at more than 160 proof to keep flavours in, where whiskey can go to 190 proof. Whiskey has to be aged in a container.  Bourbon has to be aged in a brand new container every single time  which must be charred on the inside.  It can’t be stored at over 120  proof and you cant add anything to bourbon except water  to get the  proof level down.
    “ If it is Kentucky Straight Bourbon it is a least two years old  and there are no additives. 96% of the Bourbon made in the world is made within 100 miles of where we are standing. Jim Beam  is the No 1  brand by far as we sell about 4 million cases a year in the world 
with our nearest competitor,  Wild Turkey selling 1 million cases. We  are part of Fortune Brands which owns Lowen Faucet’s, Titleist,  Pinnacle, and Scotty Cameron Golf etc.” said Bernie Lubbers.

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    Jacob Beam stated in the bourbon business in 1795 and his son  David  made into a viable company. After prohibition the family went  into business with some Chicago people. Now  Jim Beam accounts for  60% of Fortune Brands sales- a top 300 company in the US. This is the 
biggest bourbon distillery in the world with about 400 employees.   “ I enjoy drinking bourbon. It is part of our culture here in  Kentucky. When I was a baby my momma would put some bourbon on our  lips when we were teething and now there there is medicine which I  bet has alcohol in it. You drink growing up and I made Mint Julips for my family during the Derby and  would pass them around in our  silver Julip mug which I cary around most places I go around the  country. I make a pretty good Mint Julip. It is a very southern  drink. It is a very bourbon drink. The gentleman who made the derby  what it is today,  took the Kentucky Derby from just a horse race and  made it into a week long celebration. He made it fashionable with the  pageantry and the Mint Julip.” said Lubbers. “ A Mint Julip is  basically bourbon and water with a simple syrup with sugars and  water. Most bourbons are 80 to 100 proof. My life is a paid vacation.  Call me a workaholic not an alcoholic. I cover the Eastern US from  New York to Florida and 5 or 6 night per week I am out enjoying  bourbon. I keep the bourbon in all the bars we got to.”
     “ The process of distilling can be easy. There are rednecks  doing it in their back yards all over Kentucky but to do it well and  have experience at it is a different thing. The grains are  corn, rye  and malt. We grind up the grains and it goes into in our recipe. They  go into a big cooker, a big vat with water and set back or sour mash  for consistency. You also use some of the last batch to get it going.  The water goes in the set back. We bring it over to a big fermentor,  one of 19 here with a capacity of over 45,000 gallons each. Then we  put the yeast in from our family which is unique. The yeast strain is  very important. The yeast feeds on those sugars, smile Lubbers. “  Yeast produces two things carbon dioxide and alcohol. It come off at 
5 to 6 % alcohol like a beer. After three days of fermenting we take  it grains and all to a big still. We pump 199 gallons a minute into  the still. You dial it up to a certain temperature. Alcohol 
evaporates at lower than water  does at 212 degrees. The alcohol goes  over with cold water tubes. The first distillations come off very  clear. The grains that don’t make it over is our sour mash. We sell  the grains to farmers. The water is used for set back. The first  distillation comes out at about 120 proof. A lot of flavours are  there. We distill it again called a double like a big washing  machine. It comes off very clean at 135 proof. Then we have to age it  in a brand new charred oak container barrel. We can only put it in at  125 proof by adding water,” expained Lubbers. “  It then goes in the  barrel and is put up in the warehouse to age. We can  have it  up  there for up to 9 years. There are all the same quality but age and  proof is the big difference.  With more time the rough edges are  smoothed out and the maples and character from the wood comes out.”

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   “  We are in the middle of the country with great water and lime  stone that filters the water. The bourbon interacts with the wood. It  is a very simple, easy approach and it works. There are 10 distillery  in Kentucky. If it says bourbon on it  it is good, smiles Lubbers. “   We pull out the barrels,  and put in a breather tube which allows the  Bourbon to drain into a trough with screens and then a cold filter to  remove the fine charr. It is at 121 to 125 proof now. What you are  drinking is full of aroma. We put 2 gallons of water in each barrel.  A 4 year bourbon from 1 barrel would  make 25 cases which sells for   $10 to $12,000. We dump about 700 barrels a day to go to the bottling  plant. What ages bourbon is the barrel based on the temperature which  changes. This is where you get all your flavour and colour.”
   Thanks very much to Bernie for insights into making great Bourbon!




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