Widow Jane Introduces Heirloom Bourbon Whiskey
21 Jan 2014 --- The following is a letter from Widow Jane founder Daniel Preston...
When Widow Jane decided to try its hand at crafting Bourbons, it started by identifying its goal:
Produce the finest Bourbons and whiskeys, sparing no expenses, cutting no corners, making no compromises, using no genetically modified corns, grains, yeasts, or enzymes.
I began carefully researching heirloom and ancient strains of corn. I love stories and history, and since this company started with researching genealogy and stories of my own ancestors, I related personally to a number of corn varietals that were developed and kept alive by passionate families, tribes, and individuals. For example, Bloody Butcher corn was bred by crossing Native American seeds with settlers’ white seeds around 1800, in the Appalachian mountains. Wapsie Valley, another hybrid of American Indian corn, got its start in the hands of dedicated farmers in Iowa. Along with other native and heirloom grains, these varietals have carried with them the hopes and hard work of their progenitors for generations.
While we started farm-to-table on the chocolate/rum side or our business, we were not corn or grain farmers to start in New York. We had a rough time getting going on our whiskey program, catching dismissive comments with everyone from farmers to whiskey industry insiders. From a farmer’s perspective the yield of these heirloom corns/grains were unknown to significantly lower than growing Monsanto varieties. In their minds they would be giving away money. Comments from many industry people were to the effect: you are wasting your money, too high a protein content, will get low yields, just use yellow, it’s cheap, etc…
It’s true that the economics of growing these ancient grains over modern GMO varieties are not immediately to our advantage; the yields on our crops are 1/10 to 1/4 that of GMO yellow varieties, thus costing proportionally that much more to grow. The protein contents are higher and starch significantly lower, driving the efficiency of converting corn to whiskey down and cost further up.
Despite these factors, we are extremely happy we strayed from popular opinion and went our own way.
Why? Because the results are spectacular.
We are distilling, in our opinion and in the opinion of those who have tasted, some of the finest American whiskeys ever produced.
American Whiskey: Bourbon & Rye have all of the subtleties and complexities of the finest wines. In wine terroir can be noted field by field; such is largely not the case for American Whiskey, where the mainstay ingredients are modern GMO corn, rye and barley, farmed on a mass agricultural scale hard to imagine and then centrally batched.
We are committed to changing this, beginning with what we call single expressions.
I am proud to share with you the fruits of our labor: New York State grown farm-to-bottle distillations of Bloody Butcher corn and Wapsie Valley corn.
I hope you will enjoy.
Sincerely,
Daniel Preston
Founder, Widow Jane & Cacao Prieto Distilleries
“I am excited to see history and terroir expressed in the heirloom bourbon whiskey releases from Widow Jane. By selecting single expressions of the individual heirloom grains, we can compare one varietal against another to see terroir expressed to the fullest extent, and appreciate the vast differences so expressed. It is a treat to taste these distinctive varietals displayed in bourbon whiskey.” - Dave Pickerell, Master Distiller
