A nap. We've collected all the ingredients to make our own mash.
Oh, damn, That looks good.
That's copper there. So we can go back in time and recreate this first sour mash
whiskey. You know, I mean, tickle.
I mean, I really think this is exactly what they was making.
Sour mash whiskey back in the 1800s.
I'm trying to be as traditional as I can for the type of steel they was using and
producing this alcohol.
To the more traditional way that Catherine and Carpenter would have produced the sour
mash whiskey and the distillers before her.
A perfect cop of steel just like this.
Very simple. You got a pot and a cap and a condenser and a wooden barrel.
You know, she was falling moonshiners.
And you know what?
She was making this a long time before Dr.
Crowe. I mean, if we want that taste profile to be 1800s, we got to make it just like it
was in the 1800.
I mean, this is it right here.
I like the way they did the cape right here.
And they put those rivets.
They put rivets all the way on.
It's like three rivets on each strip.
You know, there's still looks, period.
Correct.
All we got to do is mash in.
I can't wait to taste this stuff.
You know, Tim, that's always my favorite part.
So get over here next to this creek.
Me and Tickle will hit it down to the creek.
The mash in, just like the old moonshiners would have.
I'm really excited to get started on this run.
You got to get this set back down.
Boy, I tell you, that's just heavy.
That's heavy in the water.
A whole lot heavier in the water.
Yeah, it's got more in it. And I mean, hopefully this whiskey turns out good.
And then I want to take it back to David Glenn's Creek distillery and get his stamp of
approval. Do you think you know the first steps in mashing in.
We got to use that Kentucky limestone water.
The hurling coin that we got.
I want to mix that in there.
It didn't really look like that.
And when we ground it up.
Well, you know, the color on the coin is just on the outside.
Yeah. Know. Now you can see everything that was inside.
I mean.
Look at that. Now, I'll put a little bit of that in there.
All right. But I also want to add some rye.
I think the rye needs to put a little bit of spice in it to it.
You know, just think about it. When Katherine Carpenter, when she was farming and
the other guys before her, they was probably just getting whatever they could and put it
in there. And I mean, that's the moonshiners way, You know, on Monday you may get corn and
on Tuesday you may get rye.
But in this time we're going to use a little bit of rye.
That actually gives you that crisp flavor when that whiskey comes out of that steel.
All you need next is setback.
We got to get that setback in there.
You know, I decided to go with Kathryn's 50% more setback because, you know that's going
to carry more flavor.
Oh, that's the flavor from the other previous run that you added to it.
Let's go ahead and put that in there.
And you just.
Want to put all this in there.
50% set back in there.
She was following the recipe that been generations before her.
So they was more concentrating on what it tastes like to think about.
That's like flavor. That's almost like chocolate milk adding in that.
Tickle. You know, when Crow was more concentrated on the yield than it was the
flavor.
He's more about how much product can I get out and it still be sour mash whiskey.
I think we'll just leave this open.
You know. You know, I'm sure.
That's what Catherine Carpenter did.
Sure. Well, ain't nothing to it now but to let this thing work off.
Come back in a few days.
What do you think? There? Let's see what we got.
Oh, yeah.
Hey, we come back in a few days, we'll look at the mash.
It tastes good. It looks like it's ready to run.
Yeah, we didn't went down low there.
That's good. You get some water?
Yeah. Fill the condenser up here.
Yeah.
And I'm going to start putting the mash in here.
Yeah. Reagan, this is Katherine Carpenter.
Did it to get that thing sealed up.
Boy, it's gonna take a whole lot more, then.
All right, I'm.
Gonna dip the mash into the steel.
We're going to fire this thing up.
We're going to recreate the first sour mash whiskey.
Let's get some steam, boss.
Tickle. Gotta stir it up.
Some man is getting hot over here.
Right in that. In that condenser there.
She's steaming Good. Yeah.
About that time.
That's what I'm talking about. This, like, puts us back in the woods, man.
It blows that thing off.
Tim, We ought to take off running.
Yeah, If it comes off here, we're in trouble.
Let me tickle, you know?
It's been a long time since me and you been out of the woods doing this.
Just like Catherine Carpenter would have done it.
But it's also just like we would have done it back in the day.
200 or some years.
We still doing it the same way.
Doing it the same way.
The same way.
You know, make it pretty thick.
Yeah, we do not.
I'm gonna go back and I'm going to push it in a little bit deeper there, tickle.
And then you come back and come back on top of it.
All right.
Eight panels.
Eight panels on there?
Yeah.
What do we call that? A eight panel.
Copper. Steel.
I'm going to call it money is what?
I'm going to call it money.
Chick fil it right there.
Come in. Right there.
Oh yea. Yea yea yea yea, yea.
It's alcohol right there. It's getting hot.
Yea it's getting hot.
Yea, that's coming on. All right, well let's steal it.
Howard built looks good.
It's holding.
Tight. It is. I ain't seeing no leaks in it.
I like it. It's sealed up.
Good.
Oo oo oo oo.
She's hot. She's hot.
Ought to be coming out, chick.
Yeah. It's filling that coal up now.
There you.
Go. Look at yonder.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I got that goal.
Yeah, it's probably about, what, 80 proof, maybe?
I bet 80 proof or so, something like that.
Yeah, I reckon that's what they'd be running back in Catherine Carpenter's day, wouldn't
it. Thanks.
So we made that.
Look at that.
Ooh. Let's see what.
It tastes like. Yeah.
Yeah.
Heirloom corn, right.
What does it taste like, though?
Good and cold and it's almost like sweet corn liquor.
We're tasting this owl mask whiskey.
And, you know, right off I'm picking up some of the setbacks from the previous run that we
got. I'm picking up some of that hurling corn and really that spicy rye is coming
right up front. You know what?
Tickle? I sure am glad that we went with the 50% setback in that because Kathleen
Carpenter, when she was making it, she was after the flavor.
And I.
Think if we don't want to put like 10% like James Crow did, we wouldn't have the flavor
that we.
Might have got a little bit more yield out of it.
But you wouldn't have that flavor.
And have the quality of it.
Faced with the very first sour mash whiskey tasted like.
Don't know why anybody would ever change the thing.
Nana We finished this run and got this sour mash whiskey.
There's one last thing I'd like to do.
Do you see what I got Playing.
Playing, going on. I need to take this sour mash whiskey that we made, and I want to put
it in a wood container because I want to store it just like they did in the 1800s.
They was not using glass back then.
Think about it. If you carried this on a wagon, you'd get broke before you got there.
So I have like a small experimental burro.
Grain.
And it's just enough for us to pick up, you know, the notes.
And I want to get that little color tint to it, but I don't want to change the flavor.
You wouldn't think that that little barrel would hold both of those jars.
That's all right. That's all right.
That's all we got right now.
Nana, we got the sour mash whiskey in the borough.
I just want to give it a few days, let it sit and then come back and see the effects of
it. Does it change it? Color?
Trust me. Chosen to open his doors up a light.
We're checking. Let's see if this barrel here is giving a sour mash whiskey.
Any color?
Yeah, it's just gonna get a little from the oak, huh?
Let's see what happens.
I'm seeing a little bit of color there.
There's a little bit of color.
And they stored it in in wooden casks and containers and barrels.
By the time they got to where it needed to be, they had a little bit of color to it.
We got the color that we looking for.
I think we have just matched the exact same color, maybe a couple of months old of it
being transported through the woods back in the 1800s.
I mean, this thing looks perfect.
We got to take it back to David Glenn's Creek distillery and let him try it.
Another trip to Kentucky.
Hey, David. Yeah, we've been busy.
We brought you some.
I see that. Yeah.
Looks good. Looks good.
Do I get.
To try some?
Well, that's. That's the big reason we're back.
Give us your opinion of it.
Is this something that they made back in the 1800s?
That was good. Yeah.
We didn't age it very much.
It's not in the charborough.
Nothing like that.
There. Well, I hope he likes it.
What do you think? I mean.
I get a nice wave of sweet on the front of that one and all the vanillas and caramels
and stuff on the back, just like a sour mash to be.
I'm so happy the way this turned out because we made something really special and so
creative that no one else has ever tasted before.
I think you got it. And I sure want to keep this.
Yeah, you can have it. We're going to make plenty more.
It's really exciting to make the first sour mash whiskey, you know, and connect it with
the distillers and the distilleries of the past.