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| Master distiller Alan Bishop has plenty of facts, figures and history to share during tours at Spirits of French Lick distillery. Tours are offered on Saturdays by appointment at the distillery in West Baden Springs. |
You’ll get an education about gin and rum and bourbon. But you’ll also get a tutorial in history. And science. And agriculture.
It’s every bit as educational as sitting through a lesson in
school — only this lecture hall comes with five tastings of liquor at the end.
If you’re visiting French Lick Resort on a weekend sometime this summer, carve
out some time to go through the craft distillery tour offered at Spirits of French Lick which is just a short drive (or a hearty walk) from both of our resort
hotels. The hour-long tours are offered on Saturdays, and guests should contact the distillery in advance to make arrangements.
If you’ve been on a distillery tour before, this is a whole
other experience. While distilleries like those in Southern Bourbon Country are
most tourist facilities on massive campuses, Spirits of French Lick embraces
its modest quarters in an old Kimball Piano Factory that shares space with the
French Lick Winery. And of course, that inspires one of the dozens of factoids
you’ll learn on the tour from Alan Bishop, the master distiller.
“Everybody and their brother bought pianos here back in the
day,” even famous musicians who traveled to West Baden solely to pick out their
own instruments. “Springsteen, Tori Amos, Jerry Lee Lewis came here. To me,
that’s kind of neat,” Bishop says.
And that’s another major difference on this tour. Most other
distilleries have tour guides showing you the way. And here, you get the master
distiller himself. The guy who personally produces about 60,000 gallons of
spirits every year with 11 different liquors currently being produced in the
Sprits of French Lick line. The guy whose family has been involved in
distilling on both sides of the Ohio River — once illegally and now legally — for
generations.
On his tours, Bishop will fill you in about how our area is
an unsung hot spot for distilling — “Southern Indiana has just as long a
history of distilling as Kentucky ever had; we just didn’t have the publicist
they had after Prohibition,” he says. You’ll also get a peek at some of the grain
handling equipment, which most small distilleries don’t have.
And you’re sure to hear that motto that Alan adopted for the
Spirits of French Lick, when he came here to start the operation three years
ago. “Respect the grain.” Alan abides by it, so much so that he bred a specific
type of corn for use in the spirits, which is grown locally.
“They make Kentucky bourbon mostly out of Indiana corn. Why would we grow the corn and ship it in if we can make some of it ourselves?”
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| You'll see the entire life cycle of a bottle of liquor, from the grain handling to the stills to the barrels. |
You’ll also get a steady diet of numbers and history as it relates to distilling. For instance, the very first distiller in southern Indiana started producing in 1806 in Washington County (the one next door to French Lick, where Alan grew up himself), and that by the late 1800s/early 1900s there were 155 distilleries in this region that was known as the Black Forest of southern Indiana.
Today, now that new legislation in Indiana has allowed for a
revival of the distilling craft, Spirits of French Lick is one of 38 craft
distilleries in the state. It’s also the largest pot still distillery. That’s part of
the tour education, too — the difference between distilling with pot stills
versus column stills, which most of the larger distilleries use.
You’ll also be introduced to Alan’s “girls,” as he assigns
names to these 1,200-gallon pot stills where the spirits are produced. (Sophia?
She’s the one who produces the liquors that need some finesse, like brandys and
botanicals.) Apple brandy is coming this fall and high rye bourbon will be
rolled out next year in their ever-growing line. And soon, every Spirits of
French Lick bottle will have a historical label highlighting the personalities
and places from the distilling heyday of yesteryear. Their rum label, for
example, already bears the name and image of Stampers Creek, which is the
township on the eastern edge of this county which used to contain nine
distilleries.
And Alan has plenty of stories to tell about his signature
Lee W. Sinclair 4 Grain Bourbon, named for the man who used to own West Baden
Springs Hotel.
“Lee Sinclair being from
Washington County where I’m from, that’s pretty special for me to be able to
build his heritage and legacy back up,” says Alan, adding that Mr. Sinclair
actually has the very first bottle of the bourbon ever produced in his mausoleum.
“The Lee W. Sinclair is my go-to, and it’s a nice soft, kind of sweeter style
bourbon. I usually like my neat, but it makes a really good Old Fashioned. It
pulls out the angostura bitters quite a bit on the back end and gives a really
nice contrast.”
Sip some of the Sinclair for yourself at the end of your
tour, when you can try any four of their spirits in the tasting room. (Actually
five, as they’ll throw in a vodka tasting for free.) Raise a glass to home
grown and produced spirits—along with all the science and history you’ll pick
up along the way on the Spirits of French Lick tours.