The non-GMO white corn, after being planted last summer, was monitored by Buffalo Trace master distiller Harlen Wheatley and his staff until that August, when the corn stalks were well over 12 feet tall. The corn was then harvested and dried. The corn was afterwards fermented and distilled at the end of this past May, resulting in what’s said to be 117 barrels of the Boone County White Corn variety now aging in warehouses for the next few years until they are ready to be bottled and released.
Now, should you think this was a one-off project, Buffalo Trace has just gone ahead and planted its second crop of non-GMO corn, a variety known as Japonica Striped Corn. It is:
[A] strain originally from Japan and dating back to the 1890s. This variety will have variegated leaves of green, white, yellow and pink stripes with dark purple tassels and burgundy kernels. Typically used as an ornamental corn, this variety will be a true experiment to see how it tastes once fermented and distilled next year! In addition to both the Boone County and Japonica Striped corn being from E. H. Taylor, Jr.’s era, both are dent corn varieties, which have a high starch content and are ideal for distilling, unlike traditional sweet corn one might see in the grocery store. Buffalo Trace uses a different variety of dent corn in the distillation of the rest of the bourbons in its portfolio.
Ongoing plans, in fact, call for planting “a different variety of corn each year at its farm, so each year in the future there will be a unique release.”
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