Louisville

The Bourbon Trail: Our First 2 Days

~ Bill Thornley ~ 1 Comment

Lynn and I just got back from a fun weekend on the Bourbon Trail and I’m going to spend the next couple weeks sharing all our tips and suggestions from the trip. We had a great time! But hit a big snag – the weather.

The Bourbon Trail in January would normally not be a huge challenge. We flew into Nashville because we needed to tour Corsair and MB Roland to complete our Craft Bourbon Trail passport to get our Julep Cups. When we arrived in Nashville it was in the 60’s and people were walking around in T Shirts. But that didn’t last long. When we got up the next morning it was starting to snow (the news predicted 6 inches so everything was closing) as we headed to MB Roland. Lynn got on the phone knowing they may not open. MB Rolland was not opening but Corsair said to come on over to Bowling Green!

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Corsair Distillery was named for the privateer or pirate Corsairs. They are a smaller private distillery that does things in a different way.   They make a lot innovative and adventurous spirits, they experiment with new methods, ingredients, and are privateers. With the weather the way it was we got a private tour and met Aaron Marcum, the Head Distiller.

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They were bottling while we were there. We got to ask Aaron a lot of questions and after the tour Steve the Assistant Distiller did our tasting. There are so many different spirits to choose your 7 tastings from you will be there quite a while.

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**That is my first tip on planning your Bourbon Trail trip. Leave time in your schedule to linger at your tastings, ask questions, take pictures, and shop. You will immediately notice how friendly everyone is and how many times you end up in great conversations with the employees.

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We bought a bottle of Ryemageddon and finished up at Corsair. And, luckily, the Kentucky Bourbon Trail folks still gave us our Julep Cups even though we didn’t make it to MB Roland!

We then scraped some ice off the car headed toward Heaven Hill, Maker’s Mark or Wild Turkey. It was a trek from where we were, especially considering the weather, and we knew they might be closed. As we got closer we realized EVERYONE was probably closed. We drove to Wild Turkey as they had nothing posted on Facebook only to arrive to be the only ones there.

We took one last stab and went to Bluegrass Distillery since it was in Lexington and not on a country road. They were open and were gracious enough to give us a tour before they left for the day. They are very small which makes for an intimate tour.

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The next morning we awoke to another 3 inches of snow on the car. We checked the Bourbon Trail online and Town Branch was open.

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We had been there before but wanted to see it again. They have a beautiful facility. And despite the weather there was a big crowd. We did some tasting and bought a few bottles. Lynn loved the “Bluegrass Sundown.” It is a dark roasted coffee infused with Kentucky bourbon and sugar. We also bought a bottle off their Town Branch Bourbon with the Christmas labeling. We will hold on to it and to serve next Christmas.

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From Town Branch it was a short 5 minutes to  Barrel House Distilling Co. It’s one of the founding members of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail Craft Tour and features many unique products to sample.

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Barrel House, true to its name, is housed in the former barreling house of the James E. Pepper distilling complex, a bourbon distillery which operated from 1879-1958. They also have a new bar with a fireplace in it – a very inviting environment on a cold day.

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Up next – Day 3 in Louisville, which could be more than 1 blog in itself. The restoration of Whiskey Row in Louisville has been a true renaissance.

Surprise! We’re on the Bourbon Trail!

~ Bill Thornley ~ 1 Comment

Well, I didn’t tell you ahead of time because time got away from me, but I’m telling you now – Lynn and I are on the Bourbon Trail right now. We flew into Nashville yesterday and today are making our way through Lexington and on to Louisville, where we’ll stay the night. Our agenda is loose but here’s a quick rundown of what we’re planning to do:

-Had dinner at Martin’s BBQ last night then went to Tin Roof for live music
-Tastings at Corsair and MB Roland
-Visit Wild Turkey and Maker’s Mark, potentially Heaven Hill too
-Staying at the historic Seelbach Hotel in Louisville
-Potentially visit Evan Williams
-Drinks at Silver Dollar

Follow along on Instagram (@bourbonwbt) for updates throughout our trip!

You can read about my first trip to the Bourbon Trail here!

Kentucky Bourbon Trail Sees 1 Million Visitors

~ Bill Thornley ~ Leave a comment

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 official Kentucky Bourbon Trail is made up of the following distilleries: Angels Envy, Bulleit, Evan Williams Bourbon Experience, Four Roses, Heaven Hill (Bourbon Heritage Center), Jim Beam, Maker’s Mark, Town Branch, Wild Turkey, and Woodford Reserve. By visiting these distilleries and having your passport stamped you earn a gift. In the past it has been a branded t0shirt though I understand that may be changing.

 

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.

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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.

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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.”

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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.

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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.

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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.

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At the Garden & Gun event at Keeneland

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.

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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!

Release of Woodford’s 2016 Kentucky Derby Bottle

~ Bill Thornley ~ 7 Comments

We are just a month and a half away from the most exciting 2 minutes in sports. Have you started planning your Kentucky Derby gathering? Whether it’s you and your best friends in the den, or a backyard full of people, what bourbon will you serve on Derby Day? As an avid horse racing fan, this is my favorite time of year. Its spring, horse racing’s Triple Crown is around the corner, and it’s time to enjoy a little bourbon on the patio.

I will cover a lot of related subjects the next 2 months and today I am excited to share the special edition 2016 Kentucky Derby Bottle that Woodford Reserve released just a few days ago.

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I believe this is the 6th one of these they have done since becoming the “official bourbon” of the Kentucky Derby. The bottle always has new art, is colorful, and brings the race right to your bar. What better way to jazz up the big day! This is a perfect bourbon for a Mint Julep during the Kentucky Derby.  This year’s bottle does not disappoint. You can read more about the bottle’s artwork in the press release Woodford sent out.

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Woodford’s press release says the bottle will be out in March. It’s usually available at your better liquor stores, BevMo and Total Wine.  The best part of the Woodford bottle is what is inside the bottle. Woodford reserve is a fantastic Bourbon and, as I said in my post about Bourbon Country, a great tour.

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I was actually asked yesterday what bourbon I serve on Derby Day. There are a lot of good choices and I just think you have to start with Woodford. I love to have bottles on the bar with a horse racing theme. The next that comes to mind for me is Blanton’s. It’s another great Bourbon in an equally impressive package. Blanton’s was the first to market and sell single barrel bourbon. The unique bottle that looks like cut glass is topped by a cork with a brass horse and rider on it. Even more unique, there are 8 different positions of the horse and rider from standing to a full gallop. At the base of each horse’s back foot is a letter that corresponds to the gait you see. The 8 letters spell out Blanton’s.

Lexington is another horse racing themed Bourbon and named after the famous horse Lexington. Not quite the quality of Blanton’s or Woodford but a very reasonable price point. Other horse-themed bourbons are Chestnut Farms and Calumet. Calumet is named for the famous farm which bred several Triple Crown winners, including Citation and Whirlaway.

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Whatever you pour, remember that bourbon is the essential ingredient in a Mint Julep. Make sure your guests enjoy the best.

Bourbon Review: Rebel Yell

~ Bill Thornley ~ Leave a comment

I recall Rebel Yell from when I was living in the Louisville, Kentucky area and you could only buy it south of the Mason Dixon Line. The “Rebel Yell” brand was created for Stitzel-Weller by Charles Farnsley (a former Mayor of Louisville) around the 100th anniversary of the original Weller company, with the idea to distill it in limited batches for exclusive distribution in the Southern United States

The brand name Rebel Yell is currently owned and marketed by Luxco, and the bourbon itself is distilled and bottled under contract by Heaven Hill at its Bernheim distillery in Louisville, Kentucky.

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I bought my bottle at Trader Joe’s where you can currently get a 750 ML bottle for $9.99. You read that right – less than $10 before tax. This is a brand that 30 years ago was aged 6 years and was 90 proof. It was a very good bourbon back then. But now it’s $9.99 and really only a good choice for using as a mixer. I hate to see a good bourbon mixed with anything other than a little ice if necessary. If you are looking for an economical bourbon to use for mixed drinks this will work nicely.

The bourbon starts off with a strong alcohol taste but mellows to caramel, oak, and vanilla. I am not tasting much char at all. It has its nice flavors but they are just not developed to their fullest potential.

As I have said before I am a sucker for good packaging. I have always liked their name, type style, label graphics and bottle. They have changed from the original bottle but the new bottle is a nice shape, very heavy glass with a die cut label.

Age: Not available
Proof: 80
Color: Cinnamon
Aroma: Raisins, caramel
Taste: Alcohol, vanilla,
Price: $9.99 at Trader Joe’s

Visiting the Bourbon Trail

~ Bill Thornley ~ 5 Comments

A great adventure for spring is hitting the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.  Lynn and I did the Bourbon Trail in the Fall a few years ago. Kentucky is a big state and you can’t cover it all in a day, or even two. Before hitting the road, you definitely want to have a plan of attack to see the distilleries you want to tour.

But first, if you are going to earn the official Bourbon Trail t-shirt or Julep Cup, you need to decide which trail you will follow. “Which trail?” you say. Yes! There are 3 trails: The Bourbon Trail (mostly the big distilleries you’ve heard of), the Craft Bourbon Tour (smaller distilleries) and the Urban Bourbon Trail (Louisville’s distilleries). All 3 are unique and offer different experiences, and can also be mixed and matched together.

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Lynn and I drove to Kentucky after visiting our daughter in Richmond, Virginia – so that kind of determined where we began. If flying in, your could start in Lexington and end in Louisville, or vice versa.

We started at “Old Pogue” without reservations. It was during sequestration and while we had planned to drive the Blue Ridge Parkway through Shenandoah National Park, we were shut out, so we went on to Maysville, Kentucky. We showed up at Old Pogue for the first tour of the day. We knocked on the door and when John Pogue opened the door we said we were there for the first tour. John said, “I didn’t know I had a tour this morning,” and we said, “You do now.” It was just the 3 of us.   What a great way to start the week.

Old Pogue is a great little Craft Distillery. Founded in 1876, it closed after prohibition and was re-opened by 5th and 6th generation Pogues. They even bought back the old antebellum home of the family which sits next to small distillery.

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We then continued on to Town Branch

And then it was on to the rest of the distilleries on the Bourbon Trail passport. Although they are big they are all different. Lynn had read about the “Corn to Cork” tour at Woodford Reserve. It was a great education and they do very small groups. Its more expensive and you have to book in advance but well worth it. We sampled some bourbon right out of the barrel at Woodford Reserve. Lynn also got to fill a barrel at Jim Beam, and while there also filled her own bottle of Knob Creek. Along the Bourbon Trail, we also visited Wild Turkey, Four Roses, and Evan Williams.

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Filling a barrel Jim Beam
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Woodford Reserve
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Woodford Reserve

The Craft Tour gives you the chance to see things even more up close and have a more intimate experience. We haven’t completed that passport yet, but did a lot of it. I will write about the Old Pogue experience later. It deserves a whole blog.Willett Distillery was another great experience and well worth the stop.Limestone Branch also offered another unique experience.

We also visited many others that technically aren’t part of the branded “Bourbon Trail.”  Makers Mark is another incredible experience and tucked into this beautiful valley. Another “must see” is Buffalo Trace – purveyors of Pappy Van Winkle, E.H. Taylor, Blanton’s, Stagg, and a number of other great bourbons.

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Blanton’s bottles
Where’s the Pappy?

The Urban Bourbon Trail is a bar hopping experience that allows you to experience all that great bourbon you have been tasting and reading about all week. When you combine that with the food in Louisville it’s an evening you will not forget.

We ended our trip in Louisvile, and stayed the night at the Seelbach Hotel, a great old historic hotel. While we were in Louisville, we stopped by the Brown Hotel for a Hot Brown – a must do in Louisville!

Feel free to leave a comment below if you’re planning your Bourbon Trail visit and are looking for additional suggestions on your trip!

Bourbon Review: Evan Williams Single Barrel 2005 Vintage

~ Bill Thornley ~ Leave a comment

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As you will learn from reading my blog, I am a big fan of Evan Williams bourbons. Evan Williams makes very good bourbon at a great value. The bottle I’m reviewing today, Single Barrel 2005 Vintage, was put in oak in 2005 and the label even tells you the exact dates it was barreled and bottled.  The Single Barrel Vintage is personally selected by their Master Distiller for this bottling.

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It was ranked #2 in the Fall 2015 Whisky Advocate’s Buyer’s Guide:

#2 – Evan Williams Single Barrel 2005 Vintage (barrel #292), 43.3%, $29
Complex fruit (clementine, pineapple, golden raisin) balanced nicely with honey, vanilla custard, and dusty corn, along with a sprinkling of cinnamon and nutmeg. An extremely versatile whiskey with its medium weight, easy to embrace personality, and subtle charms. Perennially one of the best values in whiskey.—John Hansell
Advanced Whisky Advocate magazine rating: 93

This bourbon has a spicy vanilla smell, is a little smokey, and I think strong caramel. Everybody smells different things in the same sample. To me it smells sweet and inviting. The first sips will give you the same impression. It goes down with a strong caramel taste and glides down very smoothly. It has a strong finish that should please most bourbon drinkers.  This is the type of bourbon you could drink any night and also dress up for a special occasion.

Aged: 9 years
Proof: 86.6
Color: Medium Cherry
Price Point: $27-29
Whiskey Advocate Rating: 93

If you want to find out even more about Evan Williams they now have their “Evan Williams Bourbon Experience” in downtown Louisville — I highly recommend it!