Many of Wisconsin’s iconic campground bars are going to be serving a new spirit this summer: “Gravedigger Whiskey,” according to a press release.
J. Henry & Sons Bourbon has partnered with Gilbert Brown, the legendary Green Bay football player, to produce the special spirit, which will initially be available at a dozen Wisconsin campground bars by Memorial Day, with more campgrounds to follow in the coming weeks.
“We can’t wait to start serving ‘Gravedigger Bourbon,’” said Joe Henry, who produces the distinctive whiskey using the same heirloom variety of red corn that his paternal grandparents, Jerry and Helen, grew on their Dane County farm 80 years ago.
“We’re going to crush the bourbon industry,” said Brown, who gained fame as the “Grave Digger” during the height of his football career in the 1990s and early 2000s, when he logged 292 tackles —186 solo — and seven sacks. Brown was widely known for his celebratory dances after each tackle in which he would pretend to dig a grave, hence the nickname “Grave Digger.”
Since retiring from professional football, Brown has used his fame to raise money through the Gilbert Brown Foundation to support more than 150 children needing financial assistance for surgeries and other challenging circumstances. He anticipates that Gravedigger Bourbon will be another tool he can use to raise funds for his nonprofit.
“A portion of the whiskey sales will go to the foundation and campgrounds will use it to fundraise,” Brown said, adding, “I feel really good about this partnership with J. Henry & Sons Bourbon, particularly since it’s a family-run distillery that makes its bourbon using an original variety of corn that has not been genetically modified.”
Joe Henry’s parents, Joe and Liz Henry, started their distilling operations in 2009 using the same heirloom breed of red corn that his grandparents grew eight decades ago. They obtained the seeds for their corn from the seed bank at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, which developed the distinctive variety of red corn in 1939, calling it W355A.
While heirloom corn breeds were popular for decades, many farmers eventually switched to genetically modified varieties to maximize their yields — and profits. As a result, W335A disappeared from farms in Wisconsin and across the country until the Henry family found another use for the corn when they began their distilling operations.
“We’re the only people in the world using that variety of red corn,” Liz Henry Liz. “It really lends a unique flavor profile to the bourbon.”
Gravedigger Bourbon will be available in the bars of the following Wisconsin campgrounds over Memorial Day weekend, with more campgrounds to follow in the coming weeks:
— Buffalo Lake Camping Resort in Montello
— Bullheads Bar & Grill at River’s Edge Campground in Mosinee
— Champions Riverside Resort in Galesville
— Double Barrel Bar at Holiday Lodge Resort in Tomah
— Duck Creek Campground in Pardeeville
— Fox Hill RV Resort & Campground in Baraboo
— Great River Harbor Campground & Marina in Alma
— Lake George Campsite in Rhinelander
— O’Neil Creek Campground in Chippewa Falls
— Sky High Camping Resort in Portage
