There’s a lot that’s unexpected in our story. But when you put it all together, it starts to make a lot of sense. From where it all began in founder Matt Jamie’s basement to where the brand has grown today, it’s been one amazing journey.
Like all good ideas,
it started over some beer
and oysters.
Inspired by the craft food movement that was starting to take off, founder and owner Matt Jamie told his buddy that he wanted to micro-brew soy sauce. Mostly because no one else in the US was doing it.
He had a chef’s background and classical French training, but Matt knew nothing about soy sauce. Or food manufacturing. Or running a business. But he didn’t let any of that stop him. When his kids were asleep he’d spend all his spare time researching soy sauce. He downloaded a business plan, and started talking to any expert he could. People said that it would never work, but when he tasted the first batch in his basement, he knew he’d struck gold.
Early on, Matt noticed parallels between brewing soy sauce &
distilling bourbon.
Not only in process—the aging process, the use of limestone-filtered water—but in history and heritage. Japan perfected soy sauce. Kentucky pioneered bourbon. It only made sense that Matt was doing this here in Kentucky.
And everything came full circle with the bourbon barrel. Mark Bittman, a New York Times reporter who’d written about soy sauce, told Matt he needed to age the soy sauce in bourbon barrels. "It completes your story," he said. He was right.
The business grew, and Matt keeps innovating.
Matt went from spending all his time making soy sauce in his basement to having 25 employees and a 30,000-square-foot facility in the historic Butchertown neighborhood of Louisville. To fund the business while the sauce aged, Matt developed new products.
He started smoking sea salt with bourbon barrel staves, then expanded to pepper, paprika, and more Kentucky-inspired creations.
Just like Bourbon has grown far beyond Kentucky, Matt is on a mission to educate the world about soy sauce. He was the first person micro-brewing soy sauce outside Japan. Now people from all over the world have started to reach out for advice. Bourbon Barrel Foods is still driven by the things that drove Matt in the early days. Keeping it simple, taking the time to make it right. Respect for the tradition. And a restless drive to keep innovating and exploring.
