Our Process
Local Spirits
Founder Kenneth “Doc” and wife Sherri Howard had dabbled in winemaking and beer-making over the years and became no strangers to the fermentation process. When he retired from his engineering job in 2015, he decided to extensively research the process and began to tinker with a distillery. He also did his market research, discovering that people of drinking age were moving away from vodkas and toward whiskeys. Then in 2012, the state of Ohio passed a law allowing craft distilleries to serve and sell their products. The timing could not have been better.
Today the Perry, Ohio, family-run distillery has won medals in international spirits competitions and is a renowned maker of fine whiskeys and rum. Available by the bottle, the varieties include Doc’s Favorite Whiskey, Tribute Whiskey–Bourbon Style, Kilted Whiskey—Scotch Style, Hot Poker Whiskey, Corn Whiskey, Maple Whiskey, Golden Rum, Spiced Rum and Tribute 40 Whiskey–Bourbon Style.
01. Mashing
Mashing consists of mixing cooked grain with malted barley and warm water. The amylase in the malted barley converts the starch in the other grains into sugars. After several hours the mixture is converted into a turbid, sugar-rich liquid known as mash.
02. Fermentation
The mash or wort is transferred to a fermentation vessel, usually closed in Scotland and open in the United States. These vessels may be made of wood or stainless steel. Yeast is added to begin fermentation, in which the single-celled yeast organisms convert the sugars in the mash or wort to alcohol. The yeast may be added in the form of new, never-used yeast cells (the sweet mash process) or in the form of a portion of a previous batch of fermentation (the sour mash process.) After three or four days, the end product of fermentation is a liquid containing about 10% alcohol known as distiller’s beer in the United States or wash in Scotland.
03. Filtering
Filtering removes particles from the mash before it is pumped into the still. These particles could get scorched during the heating used in distillation and put unpleasant flavors into the whiskey. Once filtered the liquid is now called ‘wash’ or ‘distiller’s beer’.
04. Distillation
The wash is heated so that most of the alcohol (which boils at 172°F [78°C]) is transformed into vapor but most of the water (which boils at 212°F [100°C]) is not. This vapor is transferred back into liquid alcohol in a water-cooled condenser and collected. The temperature of distillation and other factors determine the proportions of water, alcohol, and flavors (called congeners) in the final product. If the final product has too many congeners of the wrong kind it will taste bad. Distillers remove bad-tasting congeners (usually aldehydes, acids, esters, and higher alcohols) by making ‘cuts’ in various ways.
05. Ageing
White oak is used because it is one of the few woods that can hold a liquid without leaking but which also allows the whiskey to move back and forth within the pores of the wood, which helps to add flavor and color. The aging process is a complex one, still not fully understood, but at least three factors are involved. First, the original mixture of water, alcohol, and congeners react with each other over time. Second, these ingredients react with oxygen in the outside air in oxidation reactions. Third, the whiskey absorbs substances from the wood as it moves within it. (Charring the wood makes these substances more soluble in water.) All these factors change the flavor of the whiskey.
