The resulting bourbon was of such fine and rich quality that the intricate and important steps were immortalized in a set of brass keys. These five brass keys hung at the entrance of the Stitzel-Weller Distillery, perhaps as a promise to all who entered that a contract had been agreed to and would be honored without fail. These five keys are so emblematic of this promise that they came to represent the manifestation of quality, enjoyment, and hospitality.  

 Our great-grandfather, Pappy Van Winkle, outlined these five steps in a long-ago brochure espousing the value of their necessity. Perhaps he wrote it because, even then, it was difficult to comprehend the sheer simplicity of the secret to the good stuff, or maybe because he believed in them so righteously that putting it down to paper made this promise that much more committed.  

 The brochure is titled “The Secret of the Five Keys,” an intriguing title that could as well have been the title of an old-fashioned Nancy Drew or Sherlock Holmes novel - the ones with the yellow spine that now sit as relics on an old bookcase. Inside the pages, however, was no mystery, no convoluted plot of thrilling secrecy - but rather something else. Something even more intriguing today for its bold honesty and charmingly refreshing use of what will likely be deemed somewhat old-fashioned comparisons (“full-flavored Kentucky Burgoo Stew,” for example), to drive home this simple ideology.

“These five are the traditional steps in our old fashioned process,
invented out of trial and
error by our Kentucky forebears,
and faithfully followed by us for more than three generations.”

From the start it is clear that Pappy is outlining the steps to quality - not quantity. He is very steadfast in his commitment. There are no proverbial tricks up his sleeve. Simply put, he desires to make good bourbon the way it should be, for the sole purpose of enjoying it. That’s it! 

 This is the model we follow today: straightforward honesty, focus on quality, don’t overcomplicate, and slow down and enjoy the fruits of our labor! After all, bourbon takes a long time to make, so let’s slow down, savor it, and give it its due.  “The door knocker to our family distillery is fashioned of five brass keys. As symbols of Kentucky Hospitality, they represent not one but a five-fold welcome to our visitors and friends.”

As he proclaims in the brochure, with a welcome that feels like a friend taking your arm,
 “Come with me to our still house, and we will fit these keys to their five separate locks.”

1. Open Tub Mashing
  “We mash our grains in open tubs without pressure or haste to unlock the full rich flavor of nature’s wholesome grains.”

     While this process essentially forces a loss of volume, it increases overall flavor. A sacrifice of time and more product for the final result isn’t a sacrifice, though. It is such a necessary component for the quality and flavor of our bourbon that it is the very first key.   

 “We aim to save neither time nor grain in our mashing.”
“Our grains gently simmer at nature’s boiling point for three full hours. Like our full-flavored Kentucky Burgoo Stew,
we think our mashes ought to sit on the stove a spell to come out just right.”

 In short, potential shortcuts are ignored in favor of processes that will reveal the highest quality final product. It seems perhaps overly simplified to put it down to ingredients and time, but isn’t the simplest answer, oftentimes the right one. We don’t need to overcomplicate a system designed to perfection, and we certainly wouldn’t dare rush it. Shortcuts abound in life, but whether they are worth it wasn’t something Pappy was willing to consider. Doing things the right way, the way they are intended - focusing on high-quality ingredients - you know, those found in nature - and allowing time sweet time to do its job. That’s all the recipe you ever need!

  “In short, the whiskey as it finally reaches your glass is no richer than the mash it starts with. Our secret grain recipe plus our slow,
patient open-tub mashing provides a bourbon flavor so pleasingly distinctive that you’ll encounter it” only with ours. 

2. Stilling Back
  “We season our fermenters with a portion of the previous days run to maintain an unbroken chain of uniformity and flavor.” 

    When turning to a favored bottle, you want consistency. You are reaching for a glass of comfort that tastes like the feeling of settling into your favorite chair after a long day. It’s a ritual that is beloved for its sameness. Pappy understood that people want “the same round flavor and bouquet” and that “sure as a gun’s iron you want a whiskey that remains the same bottle after bottle, year after year.” This desired “same round flavor” is accomplished in a process known as stilling back, by “marrying each new distillation to the last in an age-old process” to procure “a uniformity of flavor in the same way one of our thoroughbreds sires another.” 
The pedigree yeast, whose recipe was perfected and left unchanged, has been inherited and passed down through three generations, whereby “the whiskey inherits its own pedigreed flavor from itself.”
Essentially, the practice of taking something old (or merely from yesterday’s batch) and making something new with it - by borrowing the flavor from the previous batch to begin a new one. There is something innately beautiful about this circle of life. This is the genesis of Pappy & Company’s desire to honor our heritage - by finding the beauty and value in what may be deemed old and repurposing it for modern enjoyment, by celebrating what came before in a way that upholds its distinction while layering on new opportunities for tradition. 

3. Slow Fermentation   
“We permit our fermenting tubs to ripen at the slow, natural sour-mash pace to develop the full flavor of authentic Kentucky bourbon at its old-fashioned best.” 

 Essentially, this step is just about allowing that one natural resource we never seem to have enough of in our lives to do its job. The only thing we can’t buy, the only thing we can’t force to wield under our will, the only thing we truly can’t (or more accurately, won’t) ignore - is time. This step requires patience. “We let Mother Nature take her own sweet time…bearing in mind that making any good thing takes patience and time.” 

 “Saving money interests a banker. Saving time is a matter for efficiency experts and airlines. But neither is the concern of an old-fashioned sour mash whiskey distiller.”Supposing here that the unspoken obvious nature of this statement is what should follow - or rather doesn’t matter to a particular whiskey distiller.  One who  maintains that their “sole objective is perfection of product, pure and simple.” One so committed to abiding by these steps, so dedicated to the fealty of following these steps that a bronze plaque has become the enduring symbol of this promise, as much as the enduring and familiar flavor of the final product. The simple promise that has stood the test of time needed to mature the flavor to perfection has kept this promise. 

 Slowing down is a necessary part of the process. Cutting corners was never an option. In fact, he famously eschewed the opportunity to work with pharmacists who could have introduced time-saving measures or synthetic alternatives. It was always about quality and allowing the time necessary to achieve that quality. 

 This level of dedication is much harder to find in today’s world, where fast fashion, fast food, and immediate responses are not only expected but also demanded. We’d rather slow down to make our collections the way they should be and turn down any opportunities that wouldn’t adhere to that ideal. More importantly, we'd rather craft things that are designed to be enjoyed.

4. Flavor-proof Distillation 
 “We gently distill, then redestill, at a flavor proof which permits the natural bourbon flavors to be carried over.” 
 Let's start with what distilling is. “The process of vaporizing the whiskey from the fermented mash, then condensing it back to liquid form.” Proof “is the alcoholic strength of the whiskey". So step four is responsible for the “down-to-earth distinction” of the bourbon, achieved by a process where the bourbon is “intentionally distilled at a flavor proof.” 
A complicated sounding process made is made simpler by Pappy’s comparisons to a “dairy separator so designed as to skim off only the richest cream,” or a “flour mill producing the nuttier, full-flavored whole wheat flavor,” or even a “sugar refinery producing the distinctive flavors of old fashioned brown sugar as compared to the denatured white stuff.”  
 Notice anything? It’s the finer flavor, the deeper, richer, more challenging flavor to reach deep within that is preferred, even over the faster or more obvious ones. Even if these flavors require dedication to a process that requires absolute commitment. 

5. Natural aging. 
 “We age our whiskey in airy open-rick warehouses where Time and Nature alone mellow it to oak-ripened excellence.” 
 “Our aging warehouses are constructed on the design of the only two distillers who make whiskey that’s fit to drink.” Now you are probably thinking the names that will come next will have the last name of Van Winkle, Stitzel, or Weller. You’d be wrong, for this step is so important and necessary that the only trusted experts are, in fact, “Mother Nature and Father Time.”  
This step is all about trusting that simple ingredients, once distilled and proofed through time-proven methods, are left to nature and time. It is the final step of a story set deep within the woods that has been beautifully told for generations. 
 However, there is a second level to this step. It isn’t just entrusting the ingredients to nature; it's the specific Kentucky climate that is responsible for the final touch. “Our timber warehouses are the airy, open rick type designed to capture the full advantage of our Kentucky climate, which, like our water, is unsurpassed in whiskey making.” 


Let's Summarize.
So, what do these keys have to do with hospitality, and how did they come to represent everything that Pappy Van Winkle and Pappy & Company stand for?  

 Read back through them. You will be struck by the regularity of terms such as slow, natural, tradition, nature, flavor, pedigree, heritage, and references to a “trusted old-fashioned process”.  

 So, “to summarize,” Pappy himself made the connection that the keys that unlock the secret behind the bourbon are the same keys that unlock the secret to hospitality. Just as it may have seemed impossible to believe that the unmistakable flavor of Pappy Van Winkle bourbon could be attributed to such simplicity as ingredients, time, and dedication, it may feel as unlikely that the secrets to hospitality are just as simple. Yet, they are. 

 Slow down, savor life, trust in heritage and tradition, and appreciate and heed customs, old-fashioned know-how, and sentiment. Don’t rush - that may be the hardest thing to do today, but perhaps that is why hospitality seems out of reach. To arrive at genuine hospitality, you may have to take the long, winding road - and enjoy the scenery. 

Hanging the keys on the door was as deliberate as the care taken in setting up the office to resemble a home. It was a daily reminder, a talisman - not that one was needed for those who worked there, so firm was the overall adherence to quality, but this emblem hung as a welcome to all who entered. The sacred ritual of making whiskey is as important as enjoying it. These rituals are to be heeded, kept, and maintained. Attention is paid to the things that may otherwise be deemed small and insignificant - upon further review, those are the things that hold the most meaning.

  The keys were a welcome sign. A symbol of southern hospitality. They represented what the Distillery and the man behind the door stood for. The promise of quality, attention to detail, dedication, and, of course, enjoyment that we still carry through today. It’s an intentionality, perhaps subtle, but always there. As simple as a formula allowed to sit and age, flavored by what came before. As simple as selecting a favorite recipe to share with family or a small bouquet of flowers in your grandmother’s favorite vase. Small moments that carry a big impact.