Shane Baker
“The Fermentation and Distillation Expert”
Shane Baker is the Co-Founder, President & CEO of Ferm Solutions and Wilderness Trail distillery as well as the Master Distiller for Wilderness Trail.
Shane is the son of James and Linda Baker, he was born November 1970 in Danville Kentucky.
Shane has a long lineage in the distilling industry in Kentucky starting in the 1940’s when Dorris Ballard his grandmother met Hubert Ballard his grandfather at the Kentucky River Distillery at the young ages of 14 and 16. Doris retired from the famed Stitzel-Weller distillery after more than 50 years in the bourbon industry.
Shane’s father worked at Canada Dry Distillery which later became the Old Fitzgerald Distillery at Camp Nelson Kentucky. The rick houses there today are the famous Camp Nelson Wild Turkey rick houses.
Shane and Dr. Pat Heist were friends for many years and were in a rock band together in the late ’90’s. Shane founded Ferm Solutions along with business partner Dr. Heist in December 2006 in Danville Kentucky. Ferm Solutions offers numerous services and products to brewers and distillers including research, engineering, product development, technical services including process optimization for both fuel and beverage alcohol industries. They work with around 200 distilleries around the world. They also offer lab services focusing on fermentation including microbiological testing for yeast health, bacterial analysis, pH and yeast and bacteria molecular identification amongst others. In addition, they also provide training for the entire process of distillation and offer consulting services.
In February 2013 Shane once again with partner Dr. Heist founded Wilderness Trail distillery which has become one of the fastest growing bourbon distilleries in the world. Wilderness Trail distillery produces numerous bourbons including both high rye and wheated bourbons and rye whiskey using their own proprietary yeast strains. They use an infusion mashing process that is proprietary to Wilderness Trail where they are able to use the ideal temperatures to gelatinize starches and not degrade the quality of grain resulting in a soft and flavorful distillate.
Wilderness Trail uses a sweet mash process instead of the usual sour mash that most distilleries use. Wilderness Trail claims to be the first to solely use sweet mashing in Kentucky and they believe that by not acidifying the mash provides a flavor forward product with a softer finish.
They distill, age and bottle everything in Danville Kentucky with a 250-gallon Vendome Pot Hybrid Still originally and as they grew added a 40 foot tall, 18 inch diameter Vendome column still with a 250 gallon doubler. With the continued growth, they added an additional 40 foot tall, 36 inch diameter Vendome column still and 500 gallon doubler allowing them to have flexible systems ranging from smaller scale production to large scale production with up to 216 barrels per day ran 24 hours a day. They currently fill a 20,000+ barrel warehouse in about 100 days.
Wilderness Trail uses Independent Stave Company barrels with a #4 char, barreled at 110 proof for bourbons and 100 proof for rye whiskey. Their rick houses are onsite and age to a minimum of 4 years, but have since released 6 and 8 year age stated bourbons.
Shane is an accomplished engineer, entrepreneur and leader with 30 years of managing, engineering, problem solving and process optimization of fermentation and distillation including fuel and industrial production and distilled spirits, wine and beer.
In early November 2022, Campari Group based in Milan Italy, owners of the Wild Turkey distillery, agreed to purchase a 70% share of the Wilderness Trail Distillery for $420 million, with a distillery valuation of $600 million, with an option to purchase the remaining 30% in 2031 for $180 million. At the time this was the second largest purchase by the Campari Group, second only to their purchase of Grand Marnier. The deal is expected to close by the end of 2022.
Contributed By Daniel Snyder, Whiskey Founders Committee Chair, Champaign, Illinois
Wilderness Trail Regular Releases
Wilderness Trail Small Batch Bottled in Bond Wheated Bourbon, Bottled in Bond High Rye Bourbon, 6 year Bottled in Bond which is available in both a Wheated and a High Rye Bourbon, and Small Batch Bottled in Bond Rye.
Wilderness Trail Family Reserve And Limited Releases
Wilderness Trail Family Reserve Single Barrel Wheated Bourbon, Family Reserve Single Barrel High Rye Bourbon, 8 Year Bottled in Bond High Rye Bourbon and Settlers Select Single Barrel Rye.