Jack: 0:11

Hello everyone, and welcome to the Bells of Bourbon, the podcast. My name is Jack, and I'm the Bluegrass Bourbon Guy. If this is your first time listening, this podcast series will focus on the women in the bourbon industry, and have the same format as my other podcast. I want you to feel like you're sitting in the living room with us, sipping on a bourbon, and listening to the conversation. So, come on into the living room, find a comfy chair, and have a pour. That is, unless you're driving, then hands on the wheel, eyes forward, and focus. Today the living room is located at the Michter's Distillery on New Millennium Road in Louisville, Kentucky. And I'm so happy to welcome to the living room, our bell number two, Andrea Wilson. She is the Master of Maturation and the Chief Operating Officer of Michter's Distillery. Andrea, thank you so much and welcome to the Bells of Bourbon

Andrea Wilsdon: 0:55

podcast. Yeah, this is super fun. I'm happy to be here today and chat. In the living room, where we're comfy, having whiskey. There

Jack: 1:04

you go, there you go. So let's start with being, where

Andrea Wilsdon: 1:07

are you from originally? Uh, I'm born and raised here in Kentucky. I was, uh, I was born in Louisville, uh, St. Anthony's Hospital, which is no longer there. And, um, Yeah, so, lived here my whole life, uh, and I love it very much.

Jack: 1:24

So, everybody always wants to know when you're from Kentucky, where'd you go to high school?

Andrea Wilsdon: 1:29

Yeah, I went to Mercy Academy. So, um, my, my dad was a DeSales grad. I went to Mercy, my brothers went to Trinity. All, my mom, my grandma, everybody went to Mercy. My cousins Uh, we're all around it different, uh, so obviously by now you're probably figuring out Catholic family. Absolutely.

Jack: 1:50

So you went to UofL. Yes, I did. And that's where you got your Master's of Chemical Engineering, right? Yes. Now, when you got that degree, was that your thought to get into the bourbon industry

Andrea Wilsdon: 1:59

then? It was. Um, so I, I was heavily influenced, uh, My family, when I was growing up, um, my grandfather was a moonshiner here in Kentucky. Long time ago. He, he had to give up moonshining to marry my grandmother. But, you know, he, uh, he did that for a long time. And my great uncle, um, worked for Seagram Corporation, so I had influences from both of them and my grandfather though would, he was responsible for taking us on outings as children, you know, taking us fishing and all good fishing trips ended with a trip to the distillery and In those days, it was very different. He knew everybody in all the distilleries, and he would, you know, there were no cell phones, but he would make arrangements ahead of time to say, hey, I'm going to stop by, and he would stop by, and we'd get to taste the mash, and we thought it was all very fascinating, and, um, And so, you know, I, I grew up in a home where we were encouraged to be creative, make things. I had every chemistry set and, uh, you know, erector set and easy bake oven and anything you could think of. I was always making things. And so I think I, I knew pretty early in life that I wanted to be creative. probably what I may not have known the term, but I wanted to be in manufacturing. I wanted to make things. Um, and so as I grew up, uh, my family always did like beer and wine, nothing commercial, but we'd make it for holidays, give it to friends, you know, those kinds of things. And, um, I just was always fascinated by it. Well, when I went to think about, you know, what I want to do with my life. There really wasn't curriculums, like we were talking before we got started here, that you have an executive bourbon steward, uh, certification. We didn't have those opportunities. And, uh, there wasn't like a school. Now you have all these amazing opportunities if people want to get into the bourbon industry, to actually go to school, get a degree, get a certificate. Um, you know, even just take classes, you know, to learn in certain areas if you want to, just to, you know, increase your knowledge and skill set in a particular specific area of expertise. But I didn't have those opportunities, so, um, a friend of the family suggested maybe I consider chemical engineering because, uh, distillation falls under the purview of chemical engineering. And so, uh, I chose that discipline. I went to the University of Louisville Speed School, um, had a great, um, just great education there. I couldn't say enough about it because they really, I felt like looking back now, what they really taught me was the fundamentals and that's very important and that will stay with me for my entire life. And, um, it's a very, very important part of the process. And so, um, and then went on to, uh, get my master's in chemical engineering, graduated, thought I would go right into the bourbon industry because who doesn't. Right. And, um, unfortunately at that time it was the nineties and, The bourbon industry was not booming like it is today, right? You know American whiskey is booming all over the world. You can't people can't get enough bourbon and rye whiskey and But it wasn't a boom time and you couple that with it's a very People have a lot of longevity in in the bourbon business, so they come in It's, it's very familial in, in a lot of ways. A lot of family works in the industry. And you stay in it for a lifetime. You make a career of it. People, it's not, it's not unheard of in our industry to have people working 30, 40 years in this industry. And, um, it's very unique that way. And so, uh, Industry's not booming. People aren't turning over their jobs, you know. There's not a lot of attrition and people leaving roles. So, uh, that did not equal an opportunity for me in the industry. So, I, uh, obviously had to work. So, I went and found an opportunity with a global consulting firm where I was a project engineer for a long time. And, you know, at the time I would say I probably wasn't, you know, thinking that that was the job that I wanted to be in, but now I look back and it actually was one of the most beneficial parts of

Jack: 7:11

my career. It sounds like you gave that, gave you that foundation into marketing and the big picture of how to, how to do these type of, you know, getting the product out on, you know, away from. From factory from just still or whatever.

Andrea Wilsdon: 7:25

Well, and I wouldn't say I focus as much on marketing, but just more manufacturing itself. Okay. Learning how different products are made, learning the culture of different manufacturing environments, learning business acumen, learning how to communicate, you know, with a group of peers, but maybe with other people who are, you know, at different tiers in an organization. Um, learning, you know, sort of the details that matter for each, uh, you know, you could go to two of the same, Companies manufacturing the exact same thing but they each do it differently and what makes their product different than the other and what's their Competitive edge and you know those kinds of things all of that is fascinating to me. Yeah, and I had many many people Influencing my career. I mean so many that I can't even possibly You know, thank them all, but so many people touched my life and shaped me to be who I am today. And, so it was a tremendous time in my life. I always tell people I did everything from cookies to oil because that's what I did. I was able to go into all kinds of different manufacturing sectors and that was really exciting for me. Like, it was really, really interesting and exciting and, There's a little bit of travel involved and you know, I mean you can imagine this is your this is like, you know I'm young it's exciting, you know, it's just a lot going on. So I did that for a while and Then one day Diageo called me You know, if people don't know Diageo, they usually know the brands, you know, they know Major brands, you know, they make bullet They make Johnny Walker Scotch, you know, Smirnoff Vodka, Captain Morgan Rum, you know, lots. Usually by now somebody's like, oh yeah, I know. Right, yeah. You know, but they have amazing brands. And, um, went to work for them, doing some work on contracts. Started that in, in 2003. And then they offered me a position full time. Well. It was like the dream. The dream was happening. You know, and I was really sad at that time because my grandfather had passed away at that point. And I was like, oh, but, you know, I wanted to tell him so bad. And in my own way, I did. But, you know, it was, uh, I just felt like, you know, I had hit, uh, I was in the gold rush. You know, I was like, this is fantastic. So, um, went to work for them. I'm in. Ultimately. What was amazing is that I was now being influenced by so many people who had worked for Seabroom because at that time there was still a lot of, um, if people don't know, Diageo, uh, came about as the result of a merger of multiple entities and some of the people who Seabroom were part of, uh, that merger and so. There were many Seagram or ex Seagram people that worked for Diageo and they, they influenced me in many different ways. People with 30 and 40 years of experience sharing with me things and knowledge that they had gained over their career. That was, I couldn't possibly replace that, you know, kind of, um, experience. Yeah, that's, that's incredible. Yeah. Yeah. Everybody is. It was a wonderful time. I made it my business to learn everything I possibly could. Even if it wasn't my job, you know, I would offer a helping hand to somebody just for the sole purpose of trying to learn. Sure. I, uh, slowly but surely, you know, I took on different positions within the company, all within the whiskey side, I always stayed on the whiskey side. And then, um, ultimately ended up running their North American distillery, distilling and maturing business. So That's

Jack: 11:45

impressive. I read that and I was like,

Andrea Wilsdon: 11:47

wow. Wow. Yeah. You know, I mean, it was a lot, but I loved it. I, I, you know, that the old saying about, you know You never work a day if you love what you do, you know. Right, I was just thinking that. It, it, it's so true. I mean, I, I just really, um, worked hard and tried to learn as much as I could. And, um, ultimately, I left Diageo in, uh, 2014. Um, I was I was very intrigued by the quality philosophies of Michter's. I used to watch Michter's as part of the competitive set for Bullitt. And, um, I thought it was a great brand. It's a great family. I've known the family for a long time through, uh, the Kentucky Distillers Association, which brings a lot of the member companies, uh, in this business together. And so they were always very kind, very interesting people. And I thought, wow, what they're doing is so impressive. To build a brand, uh, is, is a very impressive thing, but to resurrect an old brand from nothing is, it's phenomenal. Absolutely. And, uh, if people don't know the story of Michter's, Michter's started in 1753 in Shaferstown, Pennsylvania. Um, it was started by a gentleman, John Shank, he later sold to Abraham Bomberger, closed during U. S. Prohibition. reopened in 1934, and then it was picked up by a gentleman, Lou Foreman, who renamed the brand after his two boys, Michael and Peter, and it was the merger of their two names that made the name Mictors. So Mictors carried on until 1989, and sadly it closed, and that was seemingly the end of Mictors. I mean, it literally closed its doors, that was it. And, The family, uh, that owns Victor's today were privately held. We don't have any external investors. They acquired the abandoned trademark in the nineties and they had nothing. I mean, they paid 245 and filed a trademark application to acquire this abandoned trademark. Wow. Now they didn't get a distillery, no barrels, nothing. So they've had to do all of this and build it from the ground up. And the first strategic decision was to relocate the brand to Kentucky. So, um, that's what created, um, you know, the opportunity for this to continue to build and grow here in Kentucky. We've been through three phases of operation. The first phase. Literally buying old barrels and bottling. You know, we wanted a flavor and style that we would be proud to sell as Michters. And so the family, they always talk about literally, they went around to distilleries and tasted through old barrels to find stuff that they enjoyed. Started bottling, but obviously if you're gonna sell whiskey, you gotta start making whiskey. And they didn't have the financial resources to build a big distillery at that time. So they went to a great distillery. Kentucky Distillery had forged an agreement for them to distill, um, whiskey for us. And, you know, our ownership always says it was like a chef using someone else's kitchen, because there were literally mictures days, you know. And, um, but what was really special about that time was because every distillate sample for every run was retained, Such that when we got to the full scale build out of our facility where we're sitting today in the living room Yeah Is, uh, here, is, you know, we, we, uh, we built this, this facility was actually an old GM auto parts facility. And we acquired it in 2012, and we began retrofitting it with all of our processes at that time. Started installation of the stills, got those up and running, and then it was August of 2015 when we were getting You know, the dialed in, uh, distillate off the stills. So, we're very proud of, you know, how we've been able to work through all of that, but those samples that we had, the goal was to make the whiskey as good, if not better than what we were producing in phase two. Sure. So, those distillate samples were a key to helping us do that. But, yeah, so, you know, you think about all of this, and the reason why I'm telling this story is to help people understand Like how impressive this journey is. So for me, if somebody came today and said, you know, Oh, Jack, guess what? You know, I'm going to do a bourbon distillery. I want to be on the podcast. You'd be like, oh, another, another bourbon, you know, another, there's, they're coming all the time, more and more of them, more and more people want to get in, in the business, in the enthusiasm and the excitement of this very special spirit. Um, but back in the 90s, it wasn't that way.

Jack: 17:15

Yeah, I remember back in the 90s, a lot of distillers were trying gimmicks to sell their, their whiskey, the canters and. You know, all those kind of things, which, you know, if you have'em now, they might be worth something because there's very few around Yeah. But yeah. Uh, but that's, that's your journey just, just blows me away. Yeah. I mean, it's fascinating to see what you've done, where you've been and how everything has shaped you, you know? Yeah. To where you are. Um, uh. I mean, what are some of the challenges you've faced along the way? Because I know that, you know, it's not easy, other than just, just trying to absorb as much information as you can.

Andrea Wilsdon: 17:53

Yeah, I mean, I think that, um, I don't know. I mean, challenge is a strong word for me. I'm probably one of my, uh, own worst enemies, you know, when it comes to, because I put a tremendous amount of pressure on myself. Uh, I am a very driven personality type. I want to do things. I want to be successful. If there's a will, there's a way. And I'm gonna, I'm gonna make a way. You'll find it. Yeah. I'm not a no person. I'm a, you know, I want to, I want to make it happen. And even if I'm told no, I will keep coming at it to try to figure out how to make it a yes. You know, and I'm just, um, I, I kind of have no fear when it comes to that. Um, and so, but with all of that comes a great deal of pressure on myself to be successful. And, but even more so, it's, I want others to be successful. Like, I, I'm less, I get, I want, I work so hard to try to, because part of my responsibility also now in my career is to build the next generation of talent. Like it's very important to me, not only for succession planning for Mictors, but also for the future of the bourbon industry, because I've sat on the Kentucky Distillers Association board now for many, many years. And it's very important to me that, You know, we're also cultivating the talent for the future so that Kentucky Bourbon can continue on for many, many, many years beyond me, you know, and beyond the rest of us who are working so hard in this industry. So, um, I think there's a, you know, and I don't like to fail. But I've had to come to terms over many years to try to make myself understand that in failure you learn. You always learn. And no matter what, even if it's not what you wanted to learn, you still learn something. And, um, but that's, you know, nobody wants to fail. There's nobody walking around going, Oh, gee, I woke up today. I want to fail at life. You know, it's like nobody does that, you know, but it's just If, for me, those are probably some of the challenges, and some of them may be self inflicted because I put so much pressure on myself to make sure, you know, our team is successful, make sure that everybody has what they need, you know, somebody else is, you know, Can write something and I've got to rewrite it 25 times because I, you know, I want it to be perfect and I want it to, you know, it's just, there's a high standard of excellence that I think I hold myself to and that, um, I'm very proud of it, but it can, it can also put a lot of pressure on me.

Jack: 20:49

Well, that high standard is evident in the products that you put out. I mean, they're, they're great. Thank you for saying that. I've, you know, I've, it's been a while since I had tried mixtures and I had Monday night. I'm watching. I went to dinner. I said, I'm going to have the sour mash and I'm going to have the, uh, the, uh, small batch. Okay. And they were both delicious. Thank you very much. Yeah. So I'm, I mean, I am a huge fan.

Andrea Wilsdon: 21:11

We, we have an amazing team of individuals here. I mean, it really, I think one of the things about McDurr's that makes me very, very happy is the fact that it's such a collaborative environment. Like. Yeah. Where, you know, I came from, and it's not a bad thing, but in my journey of career, I've certainly seen a lot of companies who have their silos. You know, I work in this area. I work in marketing. You know, I work in sales. I work in engineering. I work in product development. I work in, and, You see, oftentimes, communication breakdown, you know, between those different segments of an organization. And I think coming here, it's so collaborative. Like, everybody's working together. We, we did, you know, one minute, we're, you know, Distilling, making the product, one minute we're maturing, next minute we're talking about innovations, next minute we're talking about marketing, next minute we're, you know, dealing with a project and engineering something, next minute, you know, it's just, you're, you're all in and, and I think that's tremendously valuable for this team because you're 360 degrees of how a business operates and runs. Everything from when the first grain comes in all the way through to final product and out to market and then, you know, the interaction with distribution and you know, we all have responsibility here in And we're all in. And, and that's part of the passion behind McDurf's, and I think that, uh, the team here is one thing that the family has done, which I find incredible, is they have surrounded themselves by team members who, everybody brings something to the table. And. You know, whether it's experience or knowledge, uh, you know, through other means. You're, you're coming to an environment where we're not always going to agree, but we will align to what's best for the company. And the common thread that we all work by is we come here every day Working to try to make the best American whiskey we can. And, whether we are or not, I know there's a whole bunch of people out there who are going to judge that. But, that's what we're trying to do, and if you're trying to do it, every day, You're probably going to have, you know, a better chance of, of someday being successful if you're always working towards the same common goal and being afforded the opportunity with a privately held business to, to do some of the things that we know are the little things that we can do to make a difference in our product and make our product stand out. Um, that's the beauty of Kentucky Bourbon is not everybody's doing it the same way. And, and I love that, you know, and I love the fact that we have our six production techniques that make us different. And I love the fact that we're the most admired whiskey in the world right now, which is a, it's a tremendous honor for our team. It's a tremendous honor for our master distiller, Dan McKee. It's a tremendous honor for the family, for myself. Um, But it's also a category changing moment. I mean, American whiskey has not always been highly regarded globally. There was a long time I would travel globally and you'd say, Do you have any American whiskey? And they would be like, Oh, well, we have Jack Daniels. And there's some other dusty bottle down there, you know, on the bottom shelf. It wasn't even a top shelf product. And, uh, now To see American whiskey not only booming in the United States, but booming globally is, it's an amazing time. And for an American whiskey to take the top spot for most admired whiskey in the world. That is a suggestion to me that American Whiskey now is on par with the finest Scotches, Cognacs, Irish Whiskeys in the world. And that is an amazing time for the American Whiskey category overall. It

Jack: 25:43

is, it is. So, you have a title of Master of Maturation. That's right. Explain to me what that is and what that

Andrea Wilsdon: 25:51

involves. So, um, a lot of times you'll hear people talk about, distilling. And they want to talk about the recipe, the grains you're using, uh, the yeast, you know, the, the stills, all very important things. And there's a million details that you have to look after on the distilling side of the business. But the final ingredient to making Kentucky bourbon and Kentucky rye is the barrel. And, um, Barrels, you know, are often the overlooked portion. They have an incredible role to play, but they're not really discussed as much. And when the ownership said, you know, I feel like we need to have, you know, we have our master distiller, but we also need to have a master maturation. That was not a common term in the United States. No, it's not something that, you know, so they named me master of maturation to look after the whole aging side of the business because that's where I've spent my time in my career. That's what I enjoy. I love wood. I love, uh, learning, you know, I have a chemistry background. I love the chemistry, the reactions, all the things that go on. Um, To really take that clear spirit and convert it to what we know and love as, you know, Michter's bourbon, Michter's rye, or any of these other whiskeys in our portfolio. That's a pretty amazing transformation. And, so

Jack: 27:35

And it's difficult, too. And people

Andrea Wilsdon: 27:36

don't realize how difficult it is. So, you know, the role itself looks after everything from, You know, the barrel specifications, the barrel procurement. You know the heat cycling the entry proof or the barrel entry proof Into the barrel the heat cycling of the barrels which we do in the wintertime We heat up our warehouses and naturally cool them down to kind of increase the interaction between the wood and the whiskey I look after all of the temperature measurements all of the sampling all of the preparation for you know aging life cycle and monitoring, uh, building warehouses, innovations, working with our master distiller to choose, uh, products and readiness for release. Um, you know, the, the team members, training, development, um, accuracy of our cooperages, quality. I mean, it's, it's a, it's a large portion of the business. Um, but. What is so profound to me, it's the recognition that you have to have both. You need a master distiller and you need a master maturation to really kind of pull everything together. Um, Dan and I, we don't do anything by ourselves. Again, you know, we have an amazing team of individuals who help us because Really, it's, at the end of the day, details matter and decisions matter. It does.

Jack: 29:14

I, you know, during my training, we had the opportunity to taste a single distillate with three different barrels, all at the same time, charred at the same time, barrels charred, stored at the same time, touching each other. And the only thing that was different was the wood in the barrel, and even bourbon was completely different. And so I know that's gotta be a huge challenge for you, is to make sure you get the wood that's consistent, right? So that you get the same contrast, the same flavors, and the same, you know, consistency out of the wood itself. And I thought, you know, that's one of the things I thought was the most fascinating, was, I never hear people talk about it, as you said. The barrel, and this kind of stuff, everybody says, oh, it's just a barrel. No, it's not. Do you actually choose the wood yourself?

Andrea Wilsdon: 29:56

So, uh, yes and no. I mean, we have specifications, but I'm not going out, I'm not logging the wood. I've been out with the loggers, you know, to understand how it's done. Um, but here's what I would say, is that, And it's the first thing when you talk about, you know, oak, um, the law requires new charred oak, but it doesn't tell you what kind of oak. So a lot of people, you know, American white oak by far and wide is chosen, is the choice for Kentucky bourbon and Kentucky rye, but it's not the only oak that is used. Um, there are over 500 species of oak in the world, and only about 16 of them are used for spirits right now. Um, so there's massive opportunity in the oak space, I guess is what I'm saying, but the, um, American white oak is, is particularly valued for a few different reasons. One is because when you cut down a white oak tree, when it dies, it creates tyloses, which are bubble like structures in the cell walls that actually make the wood watertight, which is important. Um, it's also full of extractives, which is what you were talking about that will ultimately influence the flavor profile of that whiskey. but it also can hold its tensile strength when the wood is bent, you know, into the shape of a barrel. So it, you know, there are other reasons too, but those are some of the main reasons why American White Oak is chosen. But then, you know, it comes to, now what do you do? Well, you have a choice. When you cut down a white oak tree, it's over 60 percent of its weight in water. So you now have to decide, do you want your wood to go to the kiln and you get a barrel made or do you want to naturally season and air dry that wood outside for many months like winemakers do? Um, and that's not only going to naturally dry the wood, but it's also going to chemically and microbiologically change the wood. essentially getting rid of things you don't want and exposing things you do want in the wood, which is what we do. So we choose to naturally season and air dry all of our wood for at least 18 months, sometimes up to five years, depending on the product we're doing. Wow. Then you've got that done. Now the Cootbridge is able to make your barrel. They form the barrel, And then for us, we choose to toast the wood before we char it. So, toasting being the art of slow heating the wood, so literally what they do is they make a little white oak fire, they'll put the barrel over it just like a cylinder, no heads in the barrel, just, heat radiates. It never touches, the flame does not touch the wood. It's just radiating heat. And then they'll use probes or heat guns to monitor the interior temperature of the wood. And the reason why that's important is because different temperatures for different amounts of time, in this toast process will allow you to break down different extractives. Then, then when you think about that whiskey moving in and out of the capillaries of the wood during aging, it's going to pull those extractives from the wood. I always tell people it's a bit of an art project. So there's a tremendous amount of science, but at the end of the day, if you think about if anybody's ever tasted a white dog, You know, the characteristics of our white dog, for example, are it has some beautiful graininess, some sweetness, some fruit, some floral, some oiliness. Well, now, what do we want to do with that? That's the question you're asking. So, do you want it to have some caramel? Do you want it to have some vanilla? Do you want it to lift up your fruit character? Maybe a little more bolder fruit? Do you want a little spice? Do you want some smokiness? Do you want some chocolate? Do you want some espresso character? All of those things I'm mentioning, and dozens more, are all extractives that you can pull from the wood, but they come by breaking them down at different temperatures and different amounts of time. So that's what the toasting process is all about, is to get access to those flavors that then come from the natural wood to influence your spirit. So, now you've got a char. So toasting's done, now you've got a char. But you've got to have the right balance between toast and char. Because if you don't, you can literally burn up all the good work you just did trying to spend hours getting your barrel toasted. Whereas charring only takes seconds. You know, and you pick the char level that you feel matches to what you've done with your toasting. And now you're ready to enter the spirit. But I've walked you through all of that because those are the things that Mictors does. They're not necessarily what everyone does. And, but that's also part of the accuracy of what we're doing and the precision. So we want to create barrels that will produce consistent repeatable liquid for us. If we aren't working with Cooperages who are able to give us those products consistently and repeatedly. That's very problematic because we won't know that for many years down the road when it's too late, and it's too late at that point so The relationship between our cooperages and the distiller is one that is of incredible importance There's a very intimate relationship To make sure that we're always Quality is paramount between the two parties, because one does not exist without the other, you know, and so, um, it's, it's very, very important to us, and we work really hard, uh, with our cooperages, keeping our standards, checking our barrels, if things don't meet spec, they go back, you know, things happen, mistakes happen, stuff happens, um, but that's the, that's the kind of relationship that we have, and then, you know, Once we've got, you know, the spirit now, you know, a lot of people don't realize, but the laws changed for entry proof of spirit in 1962. Used to be the maximum entry proof was 110 into a barrel. Today it's 125. Um, So we do conform to the old standard in that we enter into wood at 103 proof, which means we're going to be about 75 percent whiskey in the barrel, about 25 percent water. Now that water is a powerful hydrolyzer. Everybody will know if you put sugar in water, it dissolves easily. So you think about all these wood sugars and all these compounds that you're trying to extract. Many of them are more soluble in water than they are alcohol. Now, you need the alcohol because some things, you can't do it without the alcohol, you know. So, uh, you need your alcohol to help you convert to specific acids and different things that are going to be very important to the aging as well. But, water really does help break down a lot of the, uh, very astringent compounds. Thanks. Thanks. And it really does give you a smoother, richer, sweeter drinking experience as well. Um, especially when it comes to the bourbon. So that's one of the signatures of Michter's. We, we go in at 103 proof. We come out somewhere 110 to 112 sort of on the average. We have outliers lower and higher, but generally between 110 and 112. And then we don't have to add as much water at bottling. So, um, you get more of the, the whiskey that took years to develop in the barrel. So that's kind of the, the wood side, um, for mixtures, but all of that, comes into play and what I also look after with the team is also all the way through to bottling. So once we're ready to dump the barrel, then we will custom chill filter it. So We will choose all the different variables and customize the filtration process for every single type of expression that we make here. Nothing is ever filtered the same way, and we don't use any charcoal filtration. The idea for us is to accentuate every whisky's best characteristics by, um, customizing the chill filtration process. So I look after that and then on through to bottling and final production. So that's kind of the whole back end of the process. That's

Jack: 39:14

fascinating. I just got a big education. I know the listeners that are here this morning. Because that's very fascinating to hear. I mean, that's not an easy job that you have to do that kind of stuff, but, I mean, that's, but that's who you are. Yeah. And, and, and I appreciate that because I, you know, I see the passion as you're sitting here talking about this. Your, your face lights up and you're excited about that, so it's very, it's very cool to see that. So, so, so what are you most, most, uh, proud of throughout your career so far?

Andrea Wilsdon: 39:42

Um, I mean, gosh. I'm proud of a lot of things. I mean, I think, um, just you know, first and foremost, I mean, I'm proud of the career that I've had. Um, you know, it

Jack: 40:06

sounds exciting.

Andrea Wilsdon: 40:08

I'm proud of everything that I've learned. I'm proud of what I've been able to be a part of. And, you know, I'm proud of what I've achieved, you know, being recognized by the Kentucky Distillers Association as the first woman to chair. an incredibly old trade organization, um, as well as being, um, you know, inducted into the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame. I'm proud of all of those things. I think though, you know, some of my most proud moments have happened here at McDers. Um, you know, being a part of The Toasted series, Michter's Toasted Bourbon and Toasted Barrel Strength Rye and Toasted Sour Mash. I mean, that really created a category of toasted products. We were the first company to do a toasted American whiskey product where we make the base product. So like in the case of bourbon, we make bourbon, age it five to seven years, and then take it out of its, original barrels and put it back into toasted only barrels for a finishing process. We were the first ones to release a toasted product and so I'm very proud of the toasted series of products. I'm very proud to have the opportunity to work on, you know, amazing luxury products like the Celebration. Which is a blend of bourbon and rye all over the ages of 10 and over the age of 30 years old. But it's an incredible artistic process to blend that. People think, oh well, you know, how hard could it be? Just pick some barrels and they're all good. And you put them together and it's going to be even better. It doesn't work like that. The chemistries of whiskey are very, um, cantankerous, if you will. They don't always like to play together, and, uh, it's very difficult to get these blends to work, and to have the opportunity to work on such a significant blend, uh, is a real honor. And, you know, I always have to remind myself, like, even in the case of the last Celebration release in, February of 23. We bottled it in 22, but the packaging, we did a packaging redesign and it didn't come in until a little bit later. But when we released it in February of 23, there were 328 bottles. And so, you know, if somebody wants to do math, you know, there's about 25 ounces in a 750 ml bottle. Well, so, you know, that right there tells you not very many people in the world are ever going to be able to taste Celebration. It's, it's, it's an exquisite product, but it's also very rare. Like that blend, we'll do Celebration the product again, but we can't do that particular blend again. And so, you know, to know that you're working with whiskeys that, really old. In some cases, very old. Um, and, and to be able to work with something that beautiful is, uh, it's really an honor and it's, it's very impressive to work with the team on it. It's very fun. Um, but I'm also proud of, I mean, I drink our, our regular bourbon every day and, you know, I'm, Um, I'm just, I continue to be, um, just so proud of how every bottle of our whiskey that we purchase, and I've been doing this with Michter's now for 10 years, it's very consistent. Like, I, I really feel like so much of our team operates just like a chef. They taste things. They're always managing to spec to ensure that, you know, it's like running a Michelin star restaurant, you know, it better be spot on every single time. And I'm just so proud of, of the team here and, you know, whatever I can contribute and can continue to contribute, contribute in my career is, is what I'm proud to do and it's an honor to do it.

Jack: 44:39

Absolutely. Well, it's been absolutely fascinating to hear your story, but I do always ask my guests. What is in your glass today?

Andrea Wilsdon: 44:46

Oh, well, our glass is the Michter's Barrel Strength Rye Whiskey. So, our rye is a Kentucky style rye. Um, which means we're going to stay closer to 51% Rye, uh, grain, and then we supplement with corn and malted barley. So I always say it's like great baking spice traveling down a little caramel river because it's got nice sweetness and nice spice. So it's, uh, it's super fun. Pop this open here. And we'll just have a little cheers. But it's a, it's a very nice, super smooth, um, easy to drink rye whiskey. Our rye is, uh, really highly regarded all over the world. So, cheers to you. That's got a really nice nose to it.

Jack: 45:51

I can smell, I can smell the barrel there, a little bit. That is good. That's the first time I've had this, that is really good. Yeah. It sits real high up in my palate. Mhmm. For me, there's not much of a long, it's just a very short finish.

Andrea Wilsdon: 46:17

And this is, uh, 110. 6 proof. But it doesn't drink like 110 proof. No, no, no. You don't feel like

Jack: 46:24

your hair is on fire. I would not have guessed it was 110.

Andrea Wilsdon: 46:29

It's nice and smooth and delicious, but good spice, good balance of sweetness, very, um, delicious product.

Jack: 46:37

You, you described it perfectly. The balance is what amazes me, because usually, you know, some of the rinds of that taste, it's one or the other, but this has got a full, full mouthfeel, and it's really, really Gosh, there's so much going on here.

Andrea Wilsdon: 46:52

Yeah, this is a fun one like to do with fruit. Like if you have some raisins or dried cherries or, you know, I don't know. Some people like to do those things. I enjoy kind of playing

Jack: 47:03

around. When I do my tastings, I try to do I'll do the dried cherry, I'll do a nut, and then I'll do caramel. Oh, yeah. And all three of those, it just makes it what it'll pull out, so I can't wait to try that with this. Yeah.

Andrea Wilsdon: 47:15

Uh, raisin's a good one with this, because I get a lot of, when I was a kid, my grandmother used to make, uh, rum raisin ice cream, so, and my favorite part was like when it would melt in your, in your little bowl, and I would, you know. Eat it like soup. That was my favorite thing. I mean, I loved, so I'm a big fan of the raisin and it, I get this big raisin note with our, with our

47:38

barrel

Jack: 47:38

string fry. Yeah. Well, listen, Andrew, thank you so much for being on the podcast today. This has been a joy to sit and learn. And, and, and, you know, my, my goal is to, you know, have you tell your story and it's like, your story is a huge story. It's big and it's great, you know, and I hope that, that other women that are listening to podcasts are inspired by what you've done. And know that, hey, I can do this, too. And so, uh, it's, again, thank you so much for, uh, for being on the podcast today. And I know your time's valuable, so I, yeah, I appreciate

Andrea Wilsdon: 48:11

that. Well, I appreciate you having me. And I appreciate people that tune in and listen. You know, this is, this is what I do. You know, it's a real passion. You know, part of the, the reason that I do it, and you know, I, I, we're super passionate about this, but it's because we know the whiskey that we make is going to touch people in different ways. You know, people drink whiskey for all different reasons, for celebrations, um, you know, to births of child, weddings, you know, friends getting together, you know, from college, whatever it is. But the whiskey needs to be good because you're going to share that moment and it's going to create a memorable moment. And the stories that, you know, I've heard throughout my career are just things that are so impactful when people come up and they tell you. You know, my first mictures was, and let me tell you about my experience and you're like, wow, you know, and so, you know, it's something really special and we don't take it for granted and we want it to be good and it's an honor and a pleasure to do it. I, um, you know, I always tell people, it's like, find what you're really good at, because that will, everything else will solve, solve itself. Absolutely. I'm very passionate about making whiskey. Yes,

Jack: 49:34

you are. You are. Yeah. Well, folks, as we approach Derby, Oaks, and Thunder Over Lowell, you might be looking for an event for your family and friends, and obviously, Mictas would be a great bourbon to have at that event. So, you might want to have somebody to do a guided bourbon tasting for you. And if that's the case, I'm your guy. Please check out my website at www. thebluegrassbourbonguy. com or at the Bluegrass Bourbon Guy on Facebook. I'm booking up, so don't wait and let's get something on the calendar soon. So that's going to wrap the things up for us today and I hope you will join me on another podcast for the Bells of Bourbon, the podcast. I'm Jack, the Bluegrass Bourbon Guy. And as you enjoy bourbon, always remember, please sip sensibly and drink responsibly. Thanks for listening, and have a great day.