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Hard liquor, hard times

by Justin Gilliland
Ross Caldwell loads a barrel onto a forklift to move it to a shipping container at Three Boys Farm Distillery where it will age. State regulations prevent Ross from storing barrels in either of the two buildings on his land that could serve as rickhouses because they are too close to each other, so he purchased a shipping container in which to age his whiskey.

The whiskey industry in the United States includes 249 distilleries. Kentucky holds 20 of them, and those 20 create 95 percent of the world’s bourbon supply.

More than half of America’s distilleries have two or fewer employees, but only two of Kentucky’s distilleries are that small. One of them is Three Boys Farm Distillery, operated by Ross Caldwell.

Ross moved to Kentucky from Colorado in 2011 specifically to start his distillery. He considered the startup cost an investment that would be worth it in the long run. He named his distillery Three Boys after his triplets, Patrick, Andrew and Ethan, 11. He saw the business as a way to support his family.

He hoped to create and sell bourbon.

But Ross encountered problems, which persisted as he sought to obtain a license for his distillery and to promote it. Despite those problems, Ross stayed optimistic as he sought to become a part of the bourbon tradition of Franklin County, home to Buffalo Trace, one of the stops on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.

Among the difficulties in getting a license was a requirement preventing him from storing filled barrels in buildings closer together than 200 feet. He has set up a temporary storage system on his 122-acre farm to meet that regulation.

Another setback came when he discovered that complex state rules prevented him from putting up signs near the bottom of interstate off-ramps near his farm to attract customers to his fledgling distillery.

But after four years of work, Ross expects his persistence to pay off.

“I love distilling,” he said. “But I’m still getting past some of these regulations. A lot of new distillers are having these problems all over the country.”

And he continues to produce small batches of rye and bourbon, barreling and aging them for future sale. And he is even setting up a gift shop at the farm, located in southwest Franklin County.

If Ross Caldwell has anything to say about it, the Three Boys Farm Distillery is here to stay.

Ross checks the color of the rum he makes alongside whiskey as a way to make money while the bourbon ages. Rum does not have to be aged as long, or at all, and Ross, a Louisiana native, can sell it easily in New Orleans. "Nobody wants rum up here, but it's all I've got right now," he says.
Ross (right) smokes a cigar in the backyard of The Meeting House while he visits with Gary Burke, who owns the bed and breakfast with his wife, Rose. Ross meets with the Burkes often to bring them his whiskey and talk about issues they face together as small business owners in Frankfort.
Soaking small wooden barrels in water causes the wood to expand and prevents leaks when they are filled with whiskey. Ross uses the small barrels because the whiskey ages faster in them. Since he has been in business only four years, Ross cannot sell aged whiskey yet.
After a day of cooking mash, Ross washes whiskey off his hands. Ross runs the distillery alone and does almost all the work himself, including grinding the corn, sealing the cookers, monitoring temperatures, and filling and moving the barrels. Kentucky laws restricting growth of his business frustrate him. "It's for Kentucky. It's not like I'm trying to fire up a nuclear power plant; I just want to make bourbon."
Ross smokes a cigar in his Three Boys Farm Distillery as he waits for the mash to heat. He moved to Kentucky in 2011 to get into the bourbon business but is facing issues with state laws that prevent his business from growing and competing with bigger and older distilleries on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. "We're not big, but we're the biggest craft distillery in the state," Ross says.
With a background in construction, Ross is building his own gift shop for the distillery because he doesn't trust another company to build to his expectations. On this day, Ross ponders his schedule for the afternoon and decides to go for a motorcycle ride along country roads instead of pouring concrete for the shop.