Behind the whiskey / FILM 15 / 36 SECONDS
The Cornbread Test
Sometimes the first tasting happens in the oven.
By Old Treasure · September 7, 2026
From our recorded conversations at Whiskey Thief.
BEHIND THE CONVERSATION
Sometimes the first tasting happens in the oven.
Before trying a corn in the still, Lisa has tried it as cornbread. Baking offered a way to explore what heat would do to its flavor, and to decide whether there was something she wanted to pursue.
She remembers one beautiful Oaxacan Green corn grown in Pennsylvania that tasted grassy to her as bread. She couldn’t get the result she wanted. The color caught her eye; the flavor made the decision.
Read the full film transcript
I always bake. I started doing this when I was distilling for Steve Beam. Make it into either Kentucky fried cornbread or you make it into baked cornbread. You have kind of an idea what's going to happen with the heat. Yeah, with the corn. A grower in Pennsylvania had this gorgeous green. It wasn't truly from Oaxaca, but it was called Oaxacan Green. Emerald— like little emeralds on the ears. Just beautiful. And I baked it and it tasted like I was chewing grass clippings. I wanted to make whiskey out of that corn so badly because it was so beautiful. Just couldn't make it work.
Story adapted from the accompanying filmed conversation. Guest makers describe their own experiences and methods; these are not production specifications for Old Treasure.
