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The Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame welcomed its 24th class of inductees, celebrating their lasting contributions to Kentucky’s Bourbon industry and its worldwide legacy. Founded in 2001 the event recognizes individuals who have made a transformational impact on Bourbon’s stature, growth and awareness. One of this year’s newest members actually includes two folks from two companies for their contributions to the spirits industry. The Co-Founders of Ferm Solutions and Wilderness Trail Distillery in Danville, Kentucky, President and CEO Shane Baker and Chief Scientific Officer E. Patrick Heist, Ph.D., were both inducted into the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame class of 2026.
Ferm Solutions is a leading research, product development, engineering, and technical service provider in the fuel and beverage alcohol industries. The company specializes in all aspects of product optimization and supply products and technical services that ensure customers meet their production requirements while maintaining their product quality and desired flavor profile. Not only do they provide products and services to the distilled spirits industry, but they are a customer with Wilderness Trail Distillery. What started as a craft distillery in downtown Danville has since grown to one of the largest distilleries in the U.S. The distillery was acquired in a blockbuster acquisition by Campari in 2022.
Related Story – Wilderness Trail Distillery Sells 70% Majority Stake to Campari Group for $420 Million
6 Questions with Ferm Solutions and Wilderness Trail Distillery Co-Founder Shane Baker
Before receiving his award, we had a chance to talk to Baker and get his response to the five questions below. Watch the video to hear his answers and get a feel for what makes Ferm Solutions and Wilderness Trail Distillery the great companies they are today.
- When did your bourbon journey begin?
- Who were the top 3 people that were most influential in your bourbon journey?
- Did you ever imagine you would one day be in the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame?
- Looking back at your career what would you say is your crowning achievement?
- If you could turn back the hands of time, who is the one person, dead or alive, you like to share a pour with?
- How do you like to drink your bourbon?
Watch Shane Baker’s Entire Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame Speech
Shane Baker was introduced by another Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame member Tom Blincoe of Buzich Construction.
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Who is Shane Baker?
Here is Shane Baker’s complete bio provided by the Kentucky Distillers’ Association.
Shane Baker, 55, Danville, Ky and E. Patrick Heist, Ph.D., 53, Danville, Ky. Shane Baker is the Co-Founder, President, and CEO of Ferm Solutions and Wilderness Trail Distillery. Born in November 1970 in Danville, Kentucky, he comes from a long family lineage in the distilling industry, dating back to the 1940s. His grandparents, Dorris and Hubert Ballard, met while working at the Kentucky River Distillery as teenagers, and Dorris later retired from the renowned Stitzel-Weller distillery after more than 50 years in the Bourbon industry. Shane’s father also worked in distilling at Canada Dry Distillery, which later became Old Fitzgerald Distillery.
Shane graduated with a Mechanical Engineering degree from the University of Kentucky and spent the early part of his career working for a variety of engineering and manufacturing companies. His journey into the bourbon industry began in 2006, when he co-founded Ferm Solutions – a consultancy that provides fermentation expertise, training, research, engineering and lab services to businesses and brands around the world – with his longtime friend and business partner, Dr. Pat Heist. Since the company’s inception, the duo’s combined expertise in engineering, microbiological research, plant pathology and fermentation has allowed them to help hundreds of the world’s most elite bourbon and spirits producers, and dozens more non-distillery businesses that use yeast production, optimize and improve their processes.
Having worked intimately with many of the top distilleries in Kentucky, Shane and Dr. Heist leveraged their expertise and learnings to create their own distillery, Wilderness Trail, in 2012. The fast-growing distillery quickly gained recognition for its unique approach of using modern science to optimize old-world distilling traditions. Wilderness Trail distinguishes itself by using proprietary yeast strains, unique mashbills and an infusion mashing process that preserves the integrity of grains, resulting in a smooth, flavorful distillate. Additionally, unlike most distilleries that use a sour mash process, Wilderness Trail uses sweet mash fermentation as its sole mashing technique.
With decades of experience in engineering, fermentation and distillation, Shane Baker has solidified himself as an innovative leader in the spirits industry. His expertise in process optimization, problem-solving and business management has driven the success of both Ferm Solutions and Wilderness Trail. His contributions continue to shape the future of bourbon production while preserving Kentucky’s rich distilling heritage.
Dr. Heist and Shane initially aged and bottled everything made by Wilderness Trail in Danville, Kentucky, using a 250-gallon Vendome Pot Hybrid Still. As the operation grew, it became necessary to add a 40-foot-tall, 18-inch diameter Vendome Column Still with a 250-gallon doubler. With the continued growth, they then added an additional 40-foot-tall, 36-inch diameter Vendome Column Still and a 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 running 24 hours a day. They can 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 bourbon and 100 proof for rye whiskey. The bourbons are aged to a minimum of 4 years, but they have since released 6- and 8-year age-stated bourbons.
In November of 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, given 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 earlier purchase of Grand Marnier.
Congratulations to Shane and his entire family on this wonderful accomplishment.
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