The Fermentation Room

After the mash is cooked and cooled yeast is added and it pours into large fermentation tanks. This is no ordinary yeast; it is the one element that lives on in the Samuels family bourbon from before the time Bill Samuels Sr. burned the original family recipe. Bill Samuels Jr. says that the particular yeast strain dates back to some time around the Civil War. Back in those times many distillers fermented their bourbon outside and the natural elements of the area added flavors and aided the reaction of the yeast, which is creating distillers beer during this stage.