Ti potrebbe interessare anche…
i whiskey michter's
Michter's history
Founded in 1753 by Swiss Mennonite farmer John Shenk with the intention of producing rye whisky, Michter's distillery was originally located in Pennsylvania. In the 1950s the then owner, Lou Forman, created the current name Michter's from the contraction of the names of his two sons - Michael and Peter, but after some time the distillery ceased operations. It was in 1990 that Joseph J. Magliocco, along with his two brothers and historic consultant Dick Newman, decided to take on the challenge of acquiring and reopening the distillery, moving production to Louisville, Kentucky, in the heart of the American Bourbon industry.
In addition to the main distillery in Louisville's Shively district, Michter's operations now take place at two other sites in Kentucky. In Springfield, Michter's grows grain on a 205-acre (about 82 ha) property, while in downtown Louisville, in the historic Fort Nelson Building, it has a second distillery.
the production method
The grains are all of North American origin and belong to the 'A' category, the highest quality and least GMO contamination that can be found on the US market. After the stages of malting, grain milling and mashing to extract the sugars, fermentation takes place, which lasts from 3 to 5 days and is activated by no less than 7 different yeasts. A 10/20% of sour mash is retained each time for the next fermentation.
The musts then go through first distillation, which takes place in a 14-metre copper column, and then the second, which takes place in the iconic Double Retort Pot Still found on the labels of every Micther's bottle.
The ageing stage is one of the central elements of Michter's production philosophy. Its main distinguishing feature is in fact to cask the whiskey at 103 proof - i.e. 51.5 proof instead of the canonical 62.5 proof. The lower alcohol content means that the liquid enters the cask with a high percentage of water resulting in greater evaporation - and therefore loss of whiskey. This aspect, in addition to the use of fine casks and more storage space, is one of the costly elements of the process, but it is also the one that allows the liquid to blend best throughout the ageing process. The wood in the casks, sourced from the white oak forests of Kentucky and Tennessee, matures 18 months in the open air, is toasted for a long time and finally, as is often the case in the USA, charred.
Production is currently in the hands of Master Distiller Dan Mc Kee and Master of Maturation Andrea Wilson - the first woman to be inducted into the Kentucky Hall of Fame.
At Michter's, the memory of Willie Pratt, who worked in the industry for over 40 years and died in 2021, lives on. Willie was nicknamed Dr. No by the sales department, due to his tendency to categorically reject bottlings of whiskey that were not sufficiently mature.
The bourbon in fact usually ages for at least 4 years, and many producers bottle immediately after the fourth year, while Michter's waits at least 6 years.
Before bottling, a cold filtration is carried out, specific and different for each whiskey in the range.