Planned Indiana distillery hopes to showcase artisan spirit

WEST BADEN SPRINGS, Ind. (AP) - A few miles north of Haysville lays a homestead with acres upon acres of corn and wheat straddling the lines of Dubois and Martin counties. While that's not an unusual sight for southern Indiana, there's something special about this corn. It won't become turkey feed, help power your vehicle or end up on your dinner plate, but it may just end up in your glass.

This corn will become bourbon and vodka, crafted in West Baden Springs by Spirits of French Lick, an offshoot of John and Kim Doty's French Lick Winery.

The idea to build a distillery next door to the winery sparked after the Artisan Distiller's Permit was passed by the Indiana Legislature in 2013, opening the way for wineries and breweries to add spirit distilling to their permit.

When the Dotys bought the 43,000-square-foot winery in 2008, they left almost 18,000 square feet of space untouched with the hopes they might be able to expand.

"We did things a little different with the winery because we started very small, with small equipment and upgraded as we went," John Doty said. "With the distillery, we've sized everything at maximum capacity."

That includes two massive grain silos, five 1,200-gallon fermenters, and two 3,200-gallon copper stills which will produce about six barrels a week at 53 gallons apiece - and that's just at "half-steam," according to master distiller Alan Bishop.

"We should be able to double that when we're fully operational," Bishop said.

Bishop, a native of the Washington County town of Pekin, has been distilling for more than a decade, commercially and home moonshining with his father, Dale Bishop. He brings the experience of two years as a distiller with Copper & Kings, a well-known name in the Louisville brandy scene, as well as a background in plant breeding and organic farming.

"Our motto is to respect the grain, so our process is a little different than most Kentucky bourbons," Bishop said. "We're trying to focus more on what the grain brings flavor-wise and to hold on and retain that rather than blow it off or lose it during aging, so we're trying to balance barrel and raw flavor."

Bishop explained that grain used in distilling - much like that of grapes for wine or hops for beer - can take on unique characteristics and flavors of the area in which it was grown. Various varieties of grain also have different notes and flavors, making for an endless number of combinations in distilling.

"We really want to bring a focus to these things to hold on to flavors and intensify flavors to create a product that's entirely different than what's being presented anywhere in the United States," Bishop said. "This is us, this is our definition of who we are and what we believe an Indiana product should be."

While Spirits of French Lick will feature several mash bills for a variety of products, the flagship spirits will include a white bourbon featuring corn, oats, wheat and barley that are almost 100 percent locally sourced. The staff is also offering a vodka and an aquavit, a Scandinavian cousin to gin distilled with coriander and caraway.

Over the next few months, Bishop and his crew, including his father, will start to ramp up production in preparation for the distillery's grand opening Saturday, Oct. 15.

Bishop said he's still settling into the new equipment which was finished in March, and they're still awaiting the arrival of the second still. Once that still is installed, they'll go from half-steam to full steam ahead. While there are a few kinks to work out in the mash bills - they've completed only about 150 batches so far - he's excited to start churning out spirits he hopes will define Indiana artisan distilling.

On the marketing side, the Dotys are hopeful close ties with distributors will allow the door to open for their new products to easily enter the market. French Lick Winery is distributed in 950 stores.

"We'll be giving tours on Saturdays (starting Oct. 15) which include a spirits tasting, and we'll show you how our product goes from grain to bottle," John Doty said.

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Source: The Dubois County Herald, http://bit.ly/2bPnjMr

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Information from: The Herald, http://www.dcherald.com