Behind the Pour: Jodie Filiatreau
Crafting bourbon with passion, precision, and a legacy of hard work
Commissioned photography by Brittany GreesonJodie Filiatreau, an artisanal distiller, starts his shift early each morning, arriving by half past six to the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience in Louisville, Kentucky.
There, on Louisville's famed Whiskey Row, Filiatreau and his colleagues dedicate their days to the labour-intensive work of crafting small-batch bourbon. "It's truly a handcrafted product, and there are a lot of moving parts to tend to in the mornings," Filiatreau explains. "We get there early to get the fermenters pumping and connected to the still. We're also steaming out the mash cooker downstairs, to get things ready to go for the day."
Going strong after more than four decades in the industry, Filiatreau is still devoted to, in his words, the "work and magic" of bourbon-making.
A career and a calling
A native of Bardstown, Kentucky — the Bourbon Capital of the World, according to locals — Filiatreau's first foray into the industry came when he was just a 20-year-old in need of a job.
In 1981, armed with youthful ambition and a family history in the business — his father had worked at Jim Beam for 40 years — Filiatreau headed to the nearby Heaven Hill distillery and landed a position bottling bourbon on an assembly line.
From that beginning, Filiatreau did a little bit of everything — working as a label machine operator, forklift driver and truck loader — before becoming a barrel roller in Heaven Hill's Bardstown warehouse, a job he held for 28 years. In that role, he helped move and position recently filled bourbon barrels onto racks so that they could be properly stored and aged. "It's hard work that you're doing in the hot and cold, every day," he says, recalling the years he spent rolling and stacking the heavy barrels in specialised storage buildings known as rickhouses.
Hard work comes naturally to Filiatreau; he says he models his intense work ethic on that of his father, who, along with working full-time at Jim Beam, also managed the family farm.
Although Filiatreau hasn't rolled a barrel since joining the Bourbon Experience team in 2013, those ingrained skills are regularly put to good use. Each year, Filiatreau coaches the Evan Williams barrel rolling team in the World Championship Bourbon Barrel Relay, a key event in the annual Kentucky Bourbon Festival™ held in Bardstown. Among area distillers, winning the first-place prize for rolling the most 500-pound barrels comes with a coveted year's worth of bragging rights.
Perfecting the craft
In his years working at Heaven Hill, which owns the Evan Williams label, Filiatreau learnt best practices from Parker Beam, the longtime master distiller. He was also mentored by Charlie Downs, the first artisanal distiller at Evan Williams, who retired in 2017. "Parker Beam always said, 'You like what you like.' So, this job is mostly about learning by doing and knowing what you like," Filiatreau says.
During the distillation process, he is attuned to typical bourbon notes, such as vanilla and caramel. In practice, however, Filiatreau spends more time trying to discern any "off notes" — flavour profiles that aren't intended — that emerge during production.
Case in point: When experimenting with the distillation of a high-wheat bourbon at 95 proof, which he felt was "a little light," Filiatreau made some tweaks to raise the alcohol concentration — or proof — to 105, achieving the taste he was aiming for.
"When it comes to distilling, every step is important,” he says. “You have to use quality grain. The fermentation has to go just right. The ageing in the warehouse needs to go according to plan. If one part of the process goes wrong, then you're not going to have a good end product.”
The artisan at work
As the artisanal distiller at Evan Williams, Filiatreau leads production of one-barrel-per-day speciality batch bourbon. The small-batch distillation process is part science and part art — with all of it visible to guests through large-scale glass windows at Evan Williams's downtown Louisville site.
Filiatreau has helped lead the team in producing roughly two dozen different mash bills, the unique blends of grains — such as corn, rye, wheat, or barley — that define every whiskey. "Because we make only one barrel a day, it's a little easier to experiment with mash bills here," Filiatreau says, pointing out that larger operations don't have the same flexibility to experiment. "It's been a challenge, but also a lot of fun, to get to distill on a craft scale."
Filiatreau's years of hands-on distilling have fine-tuned his tasting abilities far beyond what they were when he enjoyed his first drink of bourbon — served as the base for a Sprite highball — as a young man. Now, he prefers his bourbon straight, or occasionally paired with a cigar.
A bourbon ambassador
Filiatreau cherishes the fact that his job keeps him learning every day, thanks to the intricacies of getting a barrel's distillation just right. His work also allows him to interact in meaningful ways with visitors on site.
Along with overseeing daily bourbon production in Louisville, Filiatreau also leads VIP tastings and tours, including a day-long, small group "boot camp" where guests get to work side-by-side with him through the entire distilling process, from grain to barrel.
Serving as a Kentucky ambassador in this way is a source of genuine pride for the Bluegrass State native. "Here I am from Bardstown, not that big of a place, getting to talk with people from all across the world who share a common love of bourbon," says Filiatreau, who was blown away the first time someone asked him to autograph a bottle. "The opportunity to interact with visitors and see their smiles when we talk about our products is something that is just really special and never gets old."
Having made his career in one of the signature industries of the state, Filiatreau feels both humbled and lucky to witness how visitors increasingly appreciate the craft that goes into every bourbon bottle.
"These days, so many people come here researched and ready to embrace the entire world of bourbon," he says. "They have all their stops on the Bourbon Trail™ mapped out, and they're excited about spending days exploring this culture we have here. It's a lot of fun to see, and that enthusiasm is infectious."
As Filiatreau knows, there's an energy that comes with crafting something that people love. And you don't let that slip away once you've found it.
“I'm having so much fun,” he says, his early morning start times notwithstanding. “I'm planning to keep going here as long as I can.”
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The Spirit of Kentucky
Experience bourbon bliss in the Bluegrass State, where a visit to a distillery is just the beginning of the adventure. Taste your way along the Bourbon Trail™ or celebrate centuries of rich bourbon heritage at events like the annual Kentucky Bourbon Festival™. Whether it's culture, music, good food, or good spirits, you can find it in Kentucky.
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