Last week I had the pleasure of going to Kentucky with my brother to visit our cousin who lives there. And to drink bourbon. I love bourbon and learning a ton more about the entire production process and all the different facets that go into it was just so much fun. I was told I needed to share this with the group, so here goes. We flew into Cincinnati on Wednesday, spent three full days around Louisville and Lexington and then back home on Sunday. Here are the highlights:
Day 1:
We started at Heaven Hill where we did a tasting experience but no tour. They make Elijah Craig and Old McKenna. They also make a limited edition small batch (only 35 barrels!) bourbon called William Heavenhill that we were able to taste. AND they had just put an allocation out for purchase. So I snatched one of those up! Apparently they're very hard to come by.
Then we went to the Four Roses aging and bottling facility and had a tasting there. It was good, pretty straightforward but nothing special to taste. They had, however, just put out some Private Selection Single Barrel just that morning that was only available there and in a very limited amount. So, I ended up with that too.
Not too far up the road we went to Jim Beam. I don't love JB products, they're too basic and overproduced for me. But we had heard they had a good tour so we thought we would try them out. Unfortunately, they didn't have any spots left on tours for the day and it's best to reserve online in advance (which we found out the hard way about several places. Oops!) It was a cool setting, though, and they had a fun craft bar and an excellent restaurant, so we ate and picked up a couple of special bottles you could only buy there. One was a Limited Release Knob Creek Quarter Oak that, once again, they had just put out that day.
Since we got a little late of a start and a lot of the distilleries close at 5, we headed into Louisville (which the locals pronounce "Lwllvll" without any vowels, interestingly...) and went to Michter's downtown with is open later. We had some samples there and also found a Single Barrel 10-Year that they usually don't have and is hard to find. My cousin wants us to come visit more because we're apparently good luck! We were 4/4 with special bottles on Day 1. There are a few other distilleries in Louisville that I would love to go back and check out eventually--smaller ones that we just couldn't get to.
Day 2:
We started at the Stitzel-Weller distillery just south of Louisville, an historic location where Muhammad Ali once trained at the onsite gym with the workers. It has a lot of history and used to make the big names back in the day but sold them off to other companies when times got tough. (Their first master distiller was none other than Pappy Van Winkle himself!) Currently it's home to Bulleit, IW Harper and Blade & Bow. The tour was fun, but we mostly learned the history of the site and then had a decent tasting. I bought a hat there but no booze since I can buy most of their stuff at home—-and often do!
Then we proceeded to Keeneland, a horse race track near Lexington. They only race in April and October, so we were there at the right time! It was only $5 to get in and they had good drinks there. We watched a couple of races and it was super fun. Keeneland is also the place where they film a lot of movies--like Seabiscuit and Secretariat.
From there we went to Woodford Reserve where we had reserved a tour, but danged if we didn't miss it by just a few minutes. They let us do a tasting, though, and I found 3 bottles that I can't get in Washington. Nothing too special, but unique enough to bring home (Straight Malt, Straight Wheat, and Three Grain.)
Day 2 was the only day I actually got drunk at all. Most of the tastings were just enough to taste but not enough to even get a buzz from. Drinking lots of water and eating car snacks between locations (most places were 20-30 minutes apart) kept me from having any issues. But mixed drinks at the track, extra bourbon at WR (some young ladies at our table HaTeD the bourbon so I didn't let it go to waste) and then more actual drinks at the WR bar put me over the edge. Thankfully, my brother had held back so he could drive and we were fine.
Day 3:
We started at Buffalo Trace. They open at 9 and have free tours that we had heard were good. Luckily we didn't make the first one and were put on the 9:15. Lucky because we ended up with Freddie as our tour guide. Freddie is an old guy whose dad and grandpa had spent there whole careers working at the distillery and had been good, personal friends with Colonel Taylor Jr. and Colonel Blanton, respectively. (Big names in the history of bourbon...) Freddie was super funny and told the best stories and is a living legend at the factory, which happens to be the oldest continuously operating, family-owned distillery in the U.S. We learned a lot about how they make things there and saw the Blantons hand-bottling facility. Finished with a tasting. BT makes a huge line of different bourbons including Buffalo Trace, W.L. Weller, Eagle Rare, E.H. Taylor, Blantons, George T. Stagg, Stagg Jr. and the holy grail: Pappy Van Winkles. Unfortunately we weren't lucky enough to score any of the really good stuff that they occasionally put out for sale there, but grabbed a bottle of Eagle Rare that was reasonably priced at about half of what I would pay at home.
After BT we stopped by the actual Four Roses Distillery. I thought we had booked a tour there, but it turned out to only be a tasting which we had done at the aging facility the day before, so we passed on it, watched an interesting video and picked up a couple of knick-knacks but no bottles.
Wild Turkey happened to be on the way to our next stop, so we stopped just to stamp our Bourbon Trail passports. However, they had some special bottles available AND Mr. Jimmy Russell, their master distiller that Russell's Reserve is named for just happened to be there meeting people and signing bottles, so I picked up a RR Single Barrel and had him sign it.
Interestingly, after all the places we had stopped, we still hadn't seen any actual PRODUCTION occurring on any tours. Thankfully, that was about to change...
On the way to our final scheduled tour we stopped at a little place that was tucked away along a river down in a valley. It was the old site of Old Crow from way back in the day and had been closed down for years. A few years ago, someone bought it and started Glenn's Creek. It's a very small operation using potstills instead of column stills and making their product all by hand. The tour was quick but showed us through their whole production process. We even got to pour some "mad dog" (white distillate fresh off the still) into a bourbon barrel and sign our names on the barrel. When that barrel is mature in a couple of years, we could theoretically go back and buy bottles of bourbon that we had helped make.
Half a mile up the street from there was the complete opposite kind of recent start-up. Castle and Key is on the historic site of the Old Taylor distillery founded by E.H. Taylor Sr in the late 1800's. He built a Scottish-inspired castle there and had lavish parties and made a lot of bourbon. It was closed up during Prohibition and then restarted by a big company (possibly international?) company that ran it for a long time but then abandoned it. A few years ago, some millionaire bought it and sunk tons of money into making it a working distillery once again. And it's amazing. The grounds are gorgeous, the tour took us through the entire production operation and finished with a tasting of the gin and vodka that they're currently selling while their bourbons age. It was truly one of the highlights of the trip and I hope to find Castle & Key bourbon eventually.
All together I ended up bringing home 14 bottles of bourbon, 3 bottles of bitters, several souvenir glasses and extra knowledge and appreciation of the only true American spirit.
Also, it was notable that almost every distillery had a veteran's discount. Most gave your tour/tasting for half-price or free and most also gave a discount in the store on anything other than liquor.
And Kentucky was BEAUTIFUL! Such a pretty state and not overly developed. Cute small towns with old houses, rolling fields with old stone walls and black fences. Lots of green and rivers. Oh, and gas was like $2.29 a gallon. All that AND bourbon?? Maybe a good place to move...