Bluegrass Soy Sauce Company
Bluegrass Soy Sauce Company is a small-batch soy sauce brewery located in Louisville, Ky., and as far as I know, it is the only one of its kind in the United States (by comparison, there are 1,500 to 2,000 such micro-breweries in Japan). The company uses non-GMO Kentucky-grown soy beans and pure limestone-filtered Kentucky spring water to make its sauce. Then, true to its bourbon country roots, it is brewed and aged in used bourbon barrels. The soy sauce has a smoky essence, underlined by a distinctly oaky, mild sweetness well-known to bourbon lovers; and just like many finely crafted bourbon whiskeys, each bottle is hand-labeled with the barrel and batch number. We tried it with a batch of homemade dim sum and the combination was terrific. The soy sauce really sparked the whole wheat steamed pork buns and pot stickers. We had a crowd for the dim sum party and everyone agreed the soy sauce was extraordinary. Bluegrass Soy Sauce is the brainchild of Matt Jaime, owner of Bourbon Barrel Foods, a company that produces a line of gourmet sauces and seasonings, including its Worcestershire sauce (made from spring water, sorghum, apple cider vinegar, soy sauce, tamarind and spices) that is vegetarian as it contains no anchovies, and a wonderful Bourbon Smoked Sea Salt. Jaime has been leading an effort to reintroduce sorghum, a staple in Kentucky and throughout the Midwest before World War II, and a better alternative to high-fructose corn syrup. If sales in bourbon whiskey ever slide dramatically, Kentucky could have a whole new industry to compensate for it with soy sauce. For more information, visit www.bluegrasssoysauce.com or www.bourbonbarrelfoods.com.
