For this article, I sat down with Gary Hinegardner, owner of Wood Hat Spirits, to ask him some questions, hear his thoughts on the heart of Wood Hat, and provide tasting notes on some very unique bourbon.
Tucked in the rolling farmland of New Florence, Missouri is Wood Hat Spirits – a distillery with a unique name and a pioneering spirit. Founded in 2013, Wood Hat isn’t any old craft distillery. With a background in agronomy and biology, Gary’s focus has long been on how to improve the taste of whiskey in the way that makes the most sense – through the ingredients. Specifically, the heart of the whiskey – the corn.
Gary has long been a believer that the corn used by almost every distillery, #2 yellow dent corn (field corn), is a huge detriment to the flavor of the whiskey. That corn variety is used for livestock feed and wouldn’t be put in food because it doesn’t taste great, but it is used in most bourbon.
“If we wouldn’t eat it, why would we drink it?,” is the question Gary asked himself before opening Wood Hat. That question led him towards creating a distillery centered on trying something different.
“If you’re going to make apple pie, you first think about the kind of apples you’re making it with, Gary said. “When people talk about wine, the first variable discussed is the grapes. Why is that different with bourbon? The moonshiners didn’t even make whiskey with the corn they fed their livestock, but that’s what we’re doing now. It makes absolutely no sense and I wish more people would think about it.”
Gary has grown 128 unique varieties of corn in the same year, with 60 of those being blue corn. He owns the genetics to that corn, meaning he owns the sole right to grow DNA sequences of corn that no one else can grow. Wood Hat works with a genetics company to grow new varieties of corn, never before seen. His bourbons are made with corn varieties from different sources: personally selected heirloom varieties; newly created; or from the grain bank where they had been sitting for many decades. Gary puts his money where his mouth is when it comes to pursuing the best corn for whiskey-making.
Q and A with Gary Hinegardner, Founder and CEO, Wood Hat Spirits
What caused you to want to get into the spirits industry?
“I was working for the Independent Stave Company (ISC) and was seeing all this wood going all over the world while drinking spirits and thinking ‘why don’t we make this in Missouri?’ We have all the resources but nobody’s doing it. And then I looked at the corn grain that whiskey was made with and I realized that the corn people eat isn’t the corn they make whiskey with. They make whiskey with feed corn. So, I decided to step in and start making whiskey myself out of the resources we have here: Missouri wood oak barrels and corn that actually tastes good.”
What was your first job in the industry?
“ISC is the largest cooperage in the world and is based in Missouri. I managed the waste products from making white oak barrels. I saw these barrels and wood shipped all over the rest of the world, then bottles of spirits shipped back to consumers in MO.
Who has influenced you most in your career?
“I wouldn’t point to one particular person – I’d say there were a lot of people who shared their wisdom with me throughout my time in agriculture: from a Peace Corps Volunteer in India, to an extension agronomist, to running a farmers’ cooperative, to Independent Stave Company. I have always made a point of reaching out to the veterans of an industry I was new to. There were always people willing to help me along and show me what I needed to know. One thing I was taught early on was to always have something put away for a rainy day because, sooner or later, it rains on everyone. That little piece of advice has saved me a lot over the years”.
What is the story behind the wood hats?
“I’ve been a woodturner for 50 years. I’ve always loved working with wood and appreciate the character of it. One of my favorite things is to get a quality piece of wood under the light and just see the beauty in it. So, one day I was at an international woodturning symposium in California and I saw a guy wearing a wood hat. I thought ‘holy shit, I need to know how to do that!,’ so I ran him down and asked him to teach me how he did it. He said no, that it took him 15 years to learn how to do it and it was his thing. But I stayed in touch with him and we became friends. Eventually he taught me how to turn hats – his name is Johannes Michelsen. Now turning hats is a part of my story, too. So, when it came time for me to pick a name for the distillery, I thought it would be a great fit.”
What’s your favorite pour right now?
“Our orange flint corn bourbon, or WHO-8. We sold out recently and man, it’s good. We won’t have more for three years and I’m gonna miss it.”
What’s next for Wood Hat Spirits?
“We’re going to continue to release whiskeys with new corn varieties. We’re also going to sell corn to other distilleries. This is a big one for us – other distilleries are seeing the positive effect our corn varieties have on the taste of the whiskey and so want to follow our lead. We own the genetics of most of our corn varieties, so we’re growing it, then selling it to them. That’s one I’m really excited about because as craft distilleries we need to stand out, and you don’t stand out by doing what all the big guys are doing. Craft distillers owe it to the industry to be innovative.”
Wood Hat WHO-8 Wheated Bourbon
50% ABV, 100 Proof
SRP $91.54 (750ML bottle)
Nose: Rich and full. Caramel, butterscotch, something akin to melted brown sugar, some light notes of milk chocolate, red fruit, vanilla cream. Almost no ethanol present despite being 100 proof. Well rounded and diverse.
Palate: Beautifully viscous texture. Less sugary sweet and more rich. I taste dark chocolate up front. The burn melds perfectly, not too hot, but enhancing the other flavors. Chocolate and baking spices merge into chocolate chip cookies. I also think of chocolate cake. This is really good!
Finish: Really coats the mouth leading to a long and rich finish. Darker notes continue. Dark chocolate cake is the primary image that comes to mind.
Wood Hat Bloody Butcher Bourbon
60.8% ABV, 121.6 Proof
SRP $99.78 (750ml bottle)
Nose: Strong and forward. Dark fruit, dark chocolate, baking spices, ethanol is present. Punches pretty hard. After letting it sit, licorice emerges, plus some underlying caramel.
Palate: Red hots. Cinamon. Wow is that hot! Enough kick that I’m overwhelmed by it initially (not that that says much…). Letting it sit cools it off. Strong caramel note. Licorice continues on from the nose. Baking spices. Baked goods (specifically muffins). I also think of pancakes and syrup. Letting it sit really transitioned it from hot and aggressive to something smoother and more refined.
Finish: Baking spices continue. Sweet and syrupy. Heat is definitely a defining characteristic of this one – in a good way.
Wood Hat Rubenesque Bourbon
50% ABV, 100 Proof
SRP $54.45 (750ml bottle)
Nose: Much more gentle than the Bloody Butcher. Notes such as confectionary sugar, apples, saltwater taffy emerge. No note of ethanol present. A note that makes me think of cherry cordials (delicious!). Graham crackers. Oak peeks out every now and then. The classics of caramel and vanilla emerge. After letting it sit, banana makes a surprise appearance.
Palate: A classic bourbon palate. Viscous texture that coats the mouth and tongue well. Some rich caramel and vanilla. A taste of cola emerges – really tasty. This palate isn’t as diverse as the previous two, but nails the classic notes well – a traditional palate that delivers. Could sip on this one all day.
Finish: A slight twinge of oak emerges but mostly the prevailing notes of caramel and vanilla roll on for a good long while. Finish is quite satisfying.
This is my second time in as many months getting the opportunity to explore a regional craft whiskey option. I have to say that the craft scene has a bright future if this is the level of product it’s creating. Gary’s main belief, and what he based his whole distillery around, is that there are better corn varieties to make whiskey out of than the Dent #2 (field corn) being used by all the big guys. I was hesitant to buy in at first, but he converted me with these bottles. It’s obviously not that the other distilleries are creating bad stuff, but more so that for the age on these bottles, the whiskey is a much higher level than anticipated. The WHO-8 especially impressed me – the viscosity was on a level that other more aged bourbons don’t reach. I’m excited to see Wood Hat’s corn varieties make their way into other distilleries and for the impact to grow – I think there’s something good here.
Learn more: woodhatspirits.com
