As many who read the blog, or follow me on Facebook, know our whole family was doing Whole30. I can’t say enough good things about Whole30. I want to thank my niece and her husband for introducing it to all of us. I was a 63 year old junk food junkie. I loved my Dr. Pepper and Mountain Dew. I also have a sweet tooth that goes all the way to my Big toe. No more. I learned a lot and lost a lot of weight. I will now work hard to keep it off!
I am back to eating and drinking some of the things I enjoy and working hard to staying on the straight and narrow to be healthy (everything in moderation). I AM NOT giving up my bourbon and will continue to enjoy it.
Last week, on Day 31, I sat down after dinner in my favorite chair with a rocks glass and a little Blanton’s Single Barrel Bourbon. Wow, it felt so good to relax with a wonderful bourbon after a day of work. One of the simple pleasures in life.
As I sat there I thought of the cowboys depicted in the movies riding into town after a long day on the trail. They would belly up to the bar and ask for, “A whiskey or a bourbon, bar keep.” When you don’t do something every day it makes it special. My first bourbon drink post-Whole30 was special. Reflecting back on many life, family, friends, and experiences.
We spent the weekend on a short vacation in Virginia and I’ve returned with more exciting and fun places to recommend to all of you my faithful readers.
Football season ended with Sunday night’s exciting Super Bowl. So, now we turn to spring baseball, and, welll, just spring. I’ve talked about the Bourbon Trail before, but with spring upon us I wanted to talk about it more! There is no better time to visit Kentucky than spring, although fall is pretty spectacular as well.
The Bourbon Trail, which officially began in 1999, announced this past week that together the Kentucky Bourbon Trail and Craft Bourbon Trail saw over 1,000,000 visitors last year. That is an impressive number and shows the interest and growth in bourbon and whiskey. There are two unique trails, the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, and the Craft Bourbon Trail. There is also a third experience, the Urban Bourbon Trail, which is a tour through Louisville’s bourbon bars (but all bars in Kentucky serve bourbon).
The Bourbon Trail is many of the larger distilleries and in a fairly concentrated section of the state. These are the big boys but that doesn’t mean you don’t get a very informative and personalized tour.
Town Branch’s distillery
Because they have the bigger budgets their visitor centers are like visiting a museum and candy store with their gift shops. At Jim Beam Lynn got to fill a barrel before it was sent to the warehouse.
Jim Beam’s visitor’s center
Then we got to bottle our own bottle of Knob Creek. We tasted right out of the cypress wood fermenting tanks at Four Roses. Woodford Reserve does 3 different tours. They have their general tour, a historic tour, and the one we took which is called “Corn to Cork.”
On our tour at Woodford Reserve
The Corn to Cork tour is an educational experience that takes you from where the corn is unloaded into the storage facility to the corking of the bottles. We learned a lot, had a great time, and even got to taste out of a barrel.
Front porch at Woodford Reserve – doesn’t it look inviting!?
Maker’s Mark lets you dip a bottle in the red wax for you to take with you. At Maker’s Mark it’s an interesting story, I don’t want to spoil, about why they painted the buildings black.
Maker’s Mark’s tasting room
The Craft Bourbon Trail includes: Barrel House, Corsair Artisan Distillery, Hartfield & Co., Limestone Branch, MB Roland, New Riff, Peerless Distilling Company, the Old Pogue Distillery, Wilderness Trail, and Willet Distillery. These are your smaller distilleries and give you a close up look at the guys making small batch, craft spirits. The craft distilleries are spread throughout the state. This tour is a real challenge to complete in one trip to Kentucky. We did not complete it but look forward to going back this year and completing it. We did make it to Old Pogue, Willet, and Barrel House. They are all so different, and so interesting. One of our favorites was Old Pogue where it was just the 2 of us. We also got a personal tour of the family’s Antebellum home overlooking the Ohio River. Willet is also one you do not want to miss. Their pot still is famous because their Pot Still Reserve Bourbon is in a bottle the shape of their still.
There are other outstanding distilleries not on the official bourbon trails but a must on your trip. Those include Old Barton and Buffalo Trace. Anyone who knows their bourbon knows Buffalo Trace has a lot of brands. Just a few of their brands are Buffalo Trace, Blanton’s, Eagle Rare, E.H. Taylor, Sazerac Rye, George T. Stagg, Stagg Jr., W.L. Weller, and one other brand might have heard of — Pappy Van Winkle.
As you can see there are a lot of stops you can make on the Bourbon trail and I haven’t even mentioned other things to do while you are there. There is always horse racing at Churchill Downs in Louisville, or Keeneland in Lexington.
Or for something different plan a picnic and go to Steeplechase Racing or Polo. These events are always fun, exciting, and feature the food and drink of the region. Churchill Downs makes a mean Mint Julep in the spring. There is always a tour of a horse farm around the Lexington area.
Visiting Calumet Farm while doing the Bourbon Trail. They have produced the most Triple Crown winners in horse racing history!
When in Louisville any sports fan is going to want to tour the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory. The Louisville and Lexington visitors websites have a ton of great information on them about the area and other things to do besides sip bourbon!
So where do you stay? The bourbon trail is very spread out, so you have to decide where you want to start and end if you’re trying to see a lot of distilleries. We stayed at the Seelbach Hilton in Louisville. A grand of Hotel with a great history. The Brown Hotel in Louisville is also a great place to stay. The Brown Hotel is home to the original Kentucky Hot Brown (another blog to come – I’m a big fan). In Harrodsburg, the Beaumont Inn has been highly recommended by friends. But Lexington, Frankfurt, Bardstown all have wonderful places to stay. In Bardstown you must stop in the Talbott Tavern for a bite to eat. It is the oldest western stagecoach stop in America having been built in 1779.
I could go on and on about bourbon, horses, and Kentucky. Leave a comment with some of your favorite stops along the bourbon trail if you’ve been before!
The first thing you notice about the Willet Pot Still Reserve Bourbon is the bottle. It is a beautiful, elegant bottle with a very long neck and wood topped cork. The bottle shape is made to look like a copper pot still. There is a gold wax seal medallion on the front. Willett Pot Still Reserve Bourbon appears a copper brown which makes it look even more like a Pot Still. The distillery first offered this bourbon and bottle in 2008.
We visited Willett Distillery when we did the Bourbon Trail a few years ago. It is small distillery viewed against the big distilleries but a wonderful size for a craft distillery.
I highly recommend you make a stop by Willet on your tour of the Bluegrass. They produce over a dozen bourbons and a few ryes. They are also known for Willett, Noah’s Mill, Rowan’s Creek, Johnny Drum, and Old Bardstown, Kentucky Vintage, and Pure Kentucky.
Looks similar to their bottle shape, doesn’t it!?
They offer tours daily and the $12 charge includes a tour, tasting, and a Willett Glencarin tasting glass to take with you. (Well, we didn’t get glasses back when we toured, so now I want to go back!)
Lynn in front of one of their fermentation tanks
There isn’t much info on their website as to the mashbill or makeup of their bourbon. Based on the government regulations for a bourbon there is obviously at least 51% corn. I am guess for the Willett Pot Still Reserve it’s a little higher. The bourbon is very floral on the nose. It gives you citrus on the palate with a strong flavor of honey. The finish is very herbal and smooth.
Barrels at Willett’s Distillery
This is a very well made bourbon from a family with a great reputation for small batch bourbons.
You are going to want this top-class bourbon on your bar for the bottle, but more importantly the liquid gold inside. The bourbon has a delightful finish that come up remarkably sweet and smooth. This is a great sipping bourbon.
Aged: 4 years Proof: 94 proof Color: Copper Brown Aroma: Vanilla, Citrus, Caramelized Sugar Taste: Caramel, Spice, Herbs, Honey Price: $43.99 for 750mL at Hi-Time Wine Cellars
$85.99 for 1.75L at Hi-Time Wine Cellars
Bourbon Bill 