Wilderness Trail Scales Up to Meet Demand, While Remaining Sustainable

“We definitely weren’t thinking, ‘Hey, let’s start a distillery that’s going to become the fourteenth-largest bourbon producer in the world within just a few years,’” says Dr. Pat Heist, co-founder and chief scientific officer of craft whiskey producer Wilderness Trail Distillery. “It was probably a little more organic than that.”

Heist, who has a background in plant pathology and microbiology, and his longtime friend Shane Baker, an engineer, founded FermSolutions in 2006. The company supplies yeast strains and microbiological services to over 600 breweries, distilleries, hard seltzer producers, kombucha makers, and even fuel alcohol factories. Visiting thousands of different operations over the years gave them incredible knowledge about industry dos and don’ts. They figured running their own distillery might improve their know-how even more.

Hanging their shingle in Danville, Kentucky in 2013, building it from the ground up, Heist and Baker, who would serve as master distiller, were able to engineer it perfectly to what they felt were the ideal specifications and needs for distilling. Three Vendome copper stills offer a flexibility to produce different mash bills, while their new make goes into the barrel at lower-than-average entry proofs.

Most notably, and atypical from the large heritage Kentucky distillers, they would utilize a sweet mash (as opposed to sour mash), feeling it creates a more consistent spirit that’s less prone to microbial infections and has a softer mouthfeel and more grain-forward finish.

“We didn’t have a shaky startup like a lot of distilleries because we had that internal expertise,” recalls Heist, even if they started by producing just a single barrel per day.

Their science-minded fermentation knowledge allowed Wilderness Trail to scale up quickly. Today they’re grinding one million pounds of grain every five days and filling 220 barrels with whiskey daily.

Of course, you can’t scale up this quickly unless drinkers love what you’re producing. Indeed, right from the get-go, 2018, when their three core products—a Kentucky Straight Wheated Bourbon, High Rye Bourbon, and Rye Whiskey, all small batch and adhering to Bottled-in-Bond production standards—hit shelves, they were an instant hit amongst the cognoscenti and mainstream drinkers alike.

With scale likewise comes the need for sustainability standards and Wilderness Trail is also at the forefront of the industry. Their infusion mashing process not only maximizes flavor but uses as little energy as possible. The distillery is also one of the first to adapt a high-pressure ultrafiltration sub-system that cuts waste in half. They are able to cook and process grain at a lower temperature, using a fraction of the energy and water that other distilleries use.

These sustainability measures don’t just help the world, but save millions of dollars per year. Of course, it’s not just about savings with Wilderness Trail.

“We first and foremost want to make the best bottle of whiskey possible,” says Dr. Heist. “Everything else is the icing on the cake.”

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Sponsored by Wilderness Trail Distillery
Wilderness Trail® Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey, 50% alc./vol. (100 Proof). Distilled and Bottled by Wilderness Trail Distillery, Danville, KY. ©2023 Campari America, New York, NY. Drink Responsibly.