Oh, hey there.
I didn't see you.
Just kidding.
A little cheesy I know,
but it is Wisconsin
after all. And I apologize.
I will leave the good jokes
to our current hosts.
Happy anniversary.
Discover Wisconsin.
35 years.
Today on Discover Wisconsin.
We are traveling along
the Bourbon Trail.
Join me as I visit
four Wisconsin's
best craft distilleries
in search of what makes
Wisconsin Bourbons
so special.
Hello and welcome
to Discover Wisconsin.
(Music)
Central Standard
Distillery was once
a scrappy upstart
but is now thriving
in the heart of Milwaukee.
The distillery's craft house
and kitchen
is the perfect place.
Hey Eric!
Andrea. What's up?
Hi how are you? I'm good.
What are you doing here?
Just having lunch.
I live right near here.
What are you doing?
I'm filming for Discover
Wisconsin. You are?
Yeah. Oh, hi everyone.
Just don't
look in the camera.
I got to get back
to filming,
but enjoy your salad, enjoy
your drink, and we'll
catch up later.
The distillery's craft house
and kitchen
is the perfect place
to gather
for a delicious house
cocktail.
A bite to eat off
their extensive menu
or even some great
looking merch.
Today
I got the chance to sit down
and talk with- Eric.
Can you go finish
your lunch?
Okay.
Let's just move downstairs
to the Founders Room
to talk with the
founders themselves.
Pat and Evan.
How did Central Standard
come to be?
We would get together.
We had normal adult day jobs
and really wanted
to start a side business.
We thought
it'd be a lot of fun.
We love Milwaukee
and this part of Wisconsin.
And so we would get together
over bourbon and rye whiskey
that we would pick up,
like on our travels.
We got together one night.
We're like, hey, this
this is what brings us
together.
We're actually really
passionate about spirits.
So let's start a distillery.
I think the first question
was, do you know
how to make booze?
We know how to drink it.
Yeah. So?
So we had a pretty big hole
in the business plan
we started.
That was in
we opened in 2014.
Was there a moment
in the process
where you thought, oh,
we are doing this now.
Yeah I think for
once we got the doors open
and people started
coming through and
tasting our spirits.
That was like, oh
yeah, we're really
doing this right?
But we just kept going
and the community
supported us
and we've gotten
a ton better.
We won a lot of awards
for what we're doing now.
It's our full time
job now where it was a part
time job before.
So once we got that going,
I think we really
stepped into it there.
Well I understand
you have another space
where you do a lot
of your distilling, so.
Yeah. Tell me about that.
So that's where we make
a lot of our large
scale production
and where a lot of our
innovation happens.
Packaging. That's where
we do all the bottling and labeling.
(Music)
All right.
We made it to the
production distillery.
And here is Pat and now Jim.
Jim, how did you get
roped into all this?
Similarly to how Pat,
and Evan
started the business,
I think I've known them
for a little while
over my days.
Two great
guys
that have started
a great place and hopefully
I can make it just
a little bit better.
So we're always pushing
our distillers and our guys
to have fun with things,
and we've tried to
come up with some new
and innovative products
like our Pour Ready
that's coming now.
So we're trying to
push the envelope
a little bit of what
we can do here, and
some of it works.
Some of it doesn't.
We've had to spit
a few things out
every now and then, but
other than that,
it's been pretty good.
Not too many. Right.
Well, it is a Friday,
and I think it's time for me
to have a drink.
And I hear your bartender
is going to teach me
how to make a cocktail.
Yeah.
Jake's going to teach you
how to make something.
Something great
for the weekend.
All right, I'm here with
Jake, manager at
Central Standard. Jake,
thank you so much
for having me. Absolutely.
Thank you for stopping in.
Well, you're
the expert here.
I feel like
we should make a
cocktail, right?
Can you teach me
how to make a cocktail.
Yeah, absolutely.
Sticking with our
Wisconsin roots,
we will be doing
a Wisconsin old fashioned.
(Music)
Cheers.
Thank you.
That's very good.
(Music)
I wish I could stay longer.
I'll just have to make time
to come back when
the weather's nice.
I mean, just
look at that view.
Hey Discover Wisconsin
it's your old friend
Linda Kaari Predovsky,
wishing you
an amazing, incredible happy
35th year anniversary.
I can't believe it.
Where does the time go?
What an honor and privilege
it has been to work with
you across the years.
Happy anniversary.
Welcome back to
Wisconsin's Bourbon Trail.
The next stop for us
today is Ledgerock
Distillery in Fond du Lac.
This family farm is located
along the
Niagara Escarpment,
which gives this
distillery its name
and plenty of pure
limestone filtered
water to work with.
I got the chance to sit down
with Jay and Heidi Retzer
and talk with them
about beginning their
journey as a craft
distillery.
This place is really cool
and I'm excited to talk
all things bourbon with you.
But first,
how did you
get the inspiration
for opening up and
running your own distillery?
I stumbled into this craft
distilling world
that was already
evolving in Wisconsin
and found out that
they were,
in a lot of cases,
using locally sourced
grains from local farmers.
We are small farmers
and so we had the
exact ingredients needed
to make a lot of the spirits
that are being made.
A lot of bourbons are made
with corn, rye, and barley.
We don't typically go
rye on the farm here,
but we grow soft,
red winter wheat.
And so that soft red winter
wheat gives it a
almost an earthiness
to the whiskey.
And we like that.
We feel
we can actually release
our whiskeys
just a little bit earlier
because of that
wheat being in there.
Were you prepared for
how much work it would be
to run your own distillery?
I think so.
Oh it isn't that hard
actually.
Yeah, I sometimes
worry about what
I'm doing to my family
because it is it's a family
run business right so,
all of us are up here
working.
But, you know you go
into something
like this, it's not it's
not a background
that we came from.
And so there was a
there was a little bit
of added stress, just trying
to figure all of that out.
I'm just really proud
of the fact that
this is,
we're working together
very well.
If you knew my family,
you would never think
I would be a distiller
because this just
wouldn't be something
they would think
about doing and,
very straight laced.
But anyway.
Right before my dad died.
I don't know why
he called me and told me
he was proud of me.
He knew that
this was his dream
and he was supporting him.
He's very proud of you.
That's so sweet.
Sorry.
No, that's so great.
What do you think
he would say about
this moment right now
and where you're at
with the distillery?
He'd be good with it.
Even my mother in law
comes up and helps
with the vendor fairs
with carting the vendors.
And truthfully,
all of our help
is really family.
Well, and your son Bryce
is, he's a hard worker.
Yeah.
So do you think he's
going to stay with
this for a while?
It seems like he's
very passionate.
Yeah,
he basically is our well,
he's our head distiller
and our only distiller.
We're a
pretty small operation so.
From doing the mashing
to the fermenting to
running the stills,
he's got that down pat.
That's that's his
that's his strength.
But I have total
confidence in him.
He's he's always been
a really good equipment
operator on the farm
and that's translated
to the distillery also.
Bryce took some time
out of his busy day
as a distiller to show me
behind the scenes of how
Ledgerock makes its
array of spirits.
All bourbons begin
with heating a mixture
of grains and water,
like a big batch
of the funkiest oatmeal
I've ever smelled.
This is called the mash.
Once the bourbon mash
is ready, it's moved
to the fermenter
is to start getting boozy.
This is where yeast is added
or pitched into the mixture,
which will begin
to eat the sugars
and produce a simple natural
alcohol called ethanol.
From there,
the liquid is strained out
and sent to the stills
to go through a process
where it's heated again
and the resulting
vapors are collected
as it recondenses
into a purified distillate.
This process is done
until the desired
proof is reached
when it is finally
transferred into barrels
for aging to begin.
Simple, right?
Thanks to the Retzers
I'm leaving Ledgerock
with a better understanding
of the basics of distilling.
Turning a farm into a
distillery is some true
Wisconsin innovation
at work.
Be sure to check out
the Cabin podcast,
the official podcast
of Discover Wisconsin.
Stay tuned
because coming up
next, we're headed
to the Henry Farmstead.
That's home to
J. Henry and Sons award
winning bourbons.
Welcome back to
Discover Wisconsin.
This is Wisconsin's
Bourbon Trail.
The Henry family
farm in Dane, Wisconsin,
has been in operation
since 1946.
I arrived at the
Henry family farm
to meet with Joe Z Henry.
Explain to me what J.
Henry and Sons is all about.
This is my family's third
generation seed farm.
My grandpa
bought this place in 1946.
We still raise
about 1500 acres
of seed corn today.
We started
making our own whiskey
using heirloom grains
that we grow right
here on our farm.
So this is our W
three, three, five A.
Not an extremely sexy name,
but it is a
seed corn varietal.
So this was developed
in 1939 and then raised
by my grandfather
on our property
from the mid-forties
until the mid seventies.
And when we started
this project,
we wanted to use something
that my grandfather
had grown on our property
that had some of
the idea of terroir
that you apply with wine,
and it really just means
kind of from the land.
So we're trying to capture
the entire flavor
of our land, our region,
and give that to you
in a bottle of whiskey.
And you're teaching
a lot of people that you
can make amazing bourbon
right here in Wisconsin.
Yeah, definitely.
All right.
Well,
I'm ready to do some work,
so I know you have
some blending
that we're going to do.
Yeah,
and that's in the Rickhouse.
Yep, that's
in the Rickhouse.
All right, let's go.
Sounds good.
So each one of these is
a different barrel sample
that we've pulled.
They're all kind
of different ages,
so maybe like 4 to
7 years old.
We're going to try
a couple of them,
write some notes down,
do our sensory analysis,
find some similarities, pick
some stuff that you like,
and then we're going
to make a little prototype.
It's pretty nice.
I think you did a
really good job.
Thank you.
So I'm glad you're able
to kind of
pick some of those
sweeter barrels,
some of those more intense
barrels, maybe some stuff
that might not be
good on its own,
but it all
kind of works together.
So cheers.
Congratulations on
your first J. Henry blend.
Now it's time to head
back to the farmhouse
and meet the parents,
Liz and Joe.
If I understand correctly,
you were the first place
in Wisconsin that did tours.
The first place that did
bourbon specific tours.
Because the first question
that many people had was
they didn't think
you could make bourbon
outside of Kentucky.
So we really felt
it was a valuable thing
to share
that what we're doing is
value added agriculture,
but it's also a passion work
both for him and our sons.
We've been very fortunate
because we've had a lot
of opportunities
to work with chefs
and restaurants,
bars and bartenders.
Some of the most fun
we've had is doing
outstanding in
the field dinners or
just doing Saturdays
and celebrating
people's birthdays
or promotions or
retirements as well.
Yeah, well, I'm ready
to taste this award
winning whiskey. Great.
Yeah, I am to.
Should we do it? Yes.
All right, let's
bring Joe Junior
back in here.
So I'm going to talk
about our
annual Limited Edition
Anniversary Blend release.
And I think it's
the best product
that we make, mostly
because I made it.
A little biased.
And what we do with
this is kind of a unique
blending process
where we blend
everything together and then
let it kind of rest
before bottling.
So that allows everything
to marry a little bit more
and give the product
a little bit more
depth and complexity.
So it's like the
best of the best.
Oh yeah, that's
really good.
Okay, so this is
our small batch blend.
It's a blend of about
20 barrels.
The trick is and Joe
and Liz are very good at it,
blending the barrels
that complement each other.
It's really
a universal bourbon.
It's
wonderful for cocktails.
Yeah. Wow.
That's delicious.
Game over.
You guys can go home.
We'll just drink now.
All right. Who knew?
The truly perfect blend
turned out to be the Henry
family themselves.
I can't wait to taste
the next J.
Henry release for myself.
Hello, friends.
I'm Connie Heeg,
former executive
director of the Eagle River
Chamber of Commerce.
Congratulations on 35 years.
I clearly remember
when Dick started
the program back in 1987.
Congratulations again.
And hopefully
the next 35 years go
as well as the first did.
Thanks for joining us on
Wisconsin's Bourbon Trail.
Tucked in the
vineyards of Cambridge.
Our last stop
today is at Dancing
Goat Distillery.
I got to meet with Dancing
Goat's founder Nick
in his tasting room
to get the scoop
on what he's all about.
All right, Nick,
thank you so much
for having me.
Thanks for coming on.
It's great to have you.
Yeah, well,
you have this gorgeous
space here,
very popular distillery.
How has Dancing Goat
evolved over the years?
We started off
really centered here
in the tasting room.
We became a little bigger
than we were able
to provide service
and we really need to
focus on.
We're a real factory.
We're looking to sell
whiskey all over the world.
And that's really
what we really want
to focus on.
And I think
the most important
difference for me is
that we've switched
to a model that focuses on
consumer education.
We want to connect
with consumers,
want to teach them
about their palates,
want to teach them
about our spirits,
want to teach them
about the phenomenal
terroir of Wisconsin
and what it does
for spirits here.
And it's not about buying
my whiskey all the time,
or our gin all the time,
or our rum all the time.
It's about knowing
why you like what you do
and taking the lessons
you learned here
into the world
so you can buy
more intelligently
and you can make
your own drinks.
So should we go learn
about the whiskey?
Let's go
learn about the whiskey.
All right, let's do it.
Nick really takes care to
make sure
visitors understand
the distilling process
and is even introducing
a gin academy
where visitors can distill
a batch of
gin for themselves.
But today we're
talking about bourbon.
Nick has assembled
an impressive
collection of bottles
in what he calls
his spirits vault,
and he agreed to
teach me a few things about
how to taste bourbons
like a pro.
This room is really cool.
Can you walk me through,
like, a mini
tasting session?
I'd love to.
Bourbon is is very specific
criteria in how it's made.
It's always made
in a brand new barrel.
And so the oak
is really present
and there always has corn
in it at a high percentage.
The first things you look
for is oak, vanilla
and caramel, those notes
are the most predominant
in all bourbons.
And so that's a great place
to start looking.
The other thing to keep
in mind
when you're tasting alcohol
is that alcohol
often interferes
with our sinuses
that are, you know,
creating the signals
that give us the illusion
of smelling things.
And so one thing
that you can do is
if things are escaping
you or alluding you
is you can put a couple
of drops of water
in there, often it
will open it up.
And so that instead of
smelling alcohol,
the alcohol stable
as a liquid
and you're smelling
the other stuff that's splashing around.
So those are great what
I call training bills.
So in this one.
Little vanilla.
Little vanilla. Perfect.
I'm so good at this.
Or I just heard you
talk about vanilla
being in this one.
But it is in there.
You know.
And I do smell it yea.
All bourbons should have it
otherwise it's a
bad bourbon. All right.
So these bourbons,
sometimes you get
a little solvent
note off the top.
And that's usually the mark
of a very well aged bourbon.
Yeah.
I really liked that bourbon
and that was great.
Our stocks in
this are very young.
This is our,
these bottles are
prototype barrels.
And that's the fun thing
about whiskeys.
Every barrel's unique
and every barrel's interesting.
Speaking of barrels,
what's your favorite
part of the job?
And I know you have
a little surprise for us.
I do.
So we got permission
to let you guys into
the Rickhouse.
So this is an actual
physical Rickhouse,
which is IP that's patented
by a company
out of Kentucky.
The main thing
to realize about
this is not
actually building,
it's a rack.
And that allows the terroir,
the elements
to really affect
the product that
we have inside of here.
So we're really looking for
is a building that
creates microclimates
in terms of humidity
and temperature.
The other thing is
it's built to ventilate,
it's built to respirate
in one direction.
And so we're looking for is
is variance and consistent
aging over time.
And so this is where
the aging process happens.
So how important is that?
The aging process
is the most important thing,
that's what turns
whiskey into into gold,
metaphorically but
literally.
That's where all
the color comes from
and pretty
much all the flavor.
And then how do you know
when a barrel is ready?
How do you know that
it's aged enough?
That one's ready.
So it starts like
leaking a little bit.
When you what
you start seeing
is when you're looking
for a good balance
between tannin and ethanol.
And so we're
really looking for
is we're trying to
lose the blue quality
or the quality of greyness.
We want to have
a good enough color
where it can be
substantial in a glass.
Yeah.
I think all that's left
is seeing your Dancing
Goat dance moves.
I mean. Yeah.
If the dance floor
is ready for me.
Yeah.
I'm ready for the dance floor.
Dancing Goat!
Dancing Goat! Dancing Goat!
Dancing Goat!
Alright, until next time.
Thanks guys.
Dancing Goat! Dancing Goat! Dancing Goat!
Dancing Goat! Dancing Goat!
Dancing Goat! Dancing Goat! Dancing Goat!
Dancing Goat! Dancing Goat! Dancing Goat! Dancing Goat!