Kentucky Bourbon Trail

 On our drive home to Texas we have always seen the signs off the highway for Bourbon Distilleries through Kentucky. We stopped last year at Jim Beam with Richard's parents and learned about the Passport. The Kentucky Bourbon Trail Passport gives you a free t-shirt when you get stamps from all 7 distilleries. We knew we wanted to go back and just never made time to go, until now. Richard had two weekdays off and the weather was going to be great so we took off early last Thursday morning.
First on our list was the Woodford Reserve just outside of Lexington.

Surveying the Beautiful property before the tour started.

 Paige took this picture with my phone.

 We ended up liking this facility the best and would recommend this reserve if you are ever in the area! They make a small batch and it was so nice to see actual process. In the fermentation room and one tank was being steam cleaned. Notice the old rock walls and the real wooden tanks.

 "Paige, look right here" so she waved back at me. It smelled very interesting in here. Cooked corn and rye fermenting with yeast for at least 7 days. 

 Their three step distilling process with original copper pot stills from Scotland.

 Inside their rack house where the barrel age. It smelled so wonderful in here. The walls of this building are 2 feet thick and the racks are not connected to the walls in case of an earthquake. They steam heat the building and put the barrels through more temperature cycles than other distilleries. So the bourbon goes in and out of the barrel to gain more flavor.

We got to see the bottling from 5-8 year old barrels and then went back up to the gift shop for a tasting. Whoa! that will wake you up at 11 am! And warm you up! Paige very much enjoyed the chocolate bourbon balls. 

 Then it was off the Wild Turkey.

Their actual production buildings were much larger and industrial looking so we just stopped by the visitor center and got our stamp. They are doing some construction so maybe we will stop back by in a year or so. Paige really liked this guy! 

 Last on the agenda for that day was Four Roses. Tours are generally from 10 to 4 so its hard to make it to very many distilleries in one day, especially by the time you drive and spend over an hour in each tour.

Four Roses has changed owners a lot and a now Japanese company owns them. It has only recently been available to purchase in the US. Paige did not make it through this tour.

We headed to Bardstown for food and a place to spent the night. We made it in time to get to Heaven Hill Distilleries before they closed and got our stamp. We missed the tour, but we didn't mind because we heard it wasn't worth the time. In this cute little town we found Mammy's Kitchen, too bad it was after we already ate.

Paige and Daddy had a little fun while I was in the shower.

She loved it! That was a pretty small bed for all 3 of us.

First on the list for day 2 was Jim Beam. This building is the new visitors center, made to look like it has been there forever.

 They have the largest operation but they have done a very good job at keeping the visitor entertained. On the tour they took us through a small version of the production process to explain the steps. I got to fill a barrel. 

 Then we got to see the bottling for their Knob Creek version which is a small batch. This went very slow so we could see each step.

We got to peek in to the large and all stainless steel fermentation and distilling buildings. They were very loud. The process goes much faster and on a much larger scale to keep up with demand. This is the J line of the bottling for Jim Beam's Red Stag Bourbon infused with Black Cherry flavor, our new favorite! The bottles are a blur because they were whizzing by so fast.

 It was so interesting to see how quick and accurate the process was; at least 100 bottles a minute. They even clean the bottles with bourbon.

Off to the tasting, They allowed us to pick our favorite two to try, but they wouldn't give Paige and choices, darn.

 After lunch we made our way down to Maker's Mark.

 

Paige enjoyed playing in the leaves since most of the tour was outside. This facility is small also and very well kept. The original owner's wife was in charge of the image and marketing. So she kept it very neat. They were getting ready for Christmas decorations.

 Their bottling line with real people dipping the bottles in red wax. By the way, the wax serves no purpose except to look pretty, his wife's idea.

 Thought this was cute!

 Paige got a label of her own.

The newest distillery is Town Branch in the downtown area of Lexington. It just opened in October and I wasn't aware it was on the passport until we already left Lexington. So we rushed back to get that stamp before we finished our trip. This company makes Kentucky Ale also.

Her Vanna White impression.

In the heart of Horse country.

This facility has a fancier image and fits more of the downtown district. They also store the barrels off site.

We are not avid bourbon drinkers but this was such a great experience even if you don't taste anything. It was so incredible to learn about something that is made only in the US (by law bourbon can only be made in the US). And it is only worth making it in this area because of how the limestone affects the water. It has such a rich history that goes back over 200 years, even through prohibition when it was used to fill 'precriptions'.
I feel like I could make bourbon in my sleep now. Apparently Richard thought the same thing because he informed me that you can brew/cook anything you want, like beer, for personal use. But you can not legally distill any type of spirit, like moonshine, without filling out a bunch of forms and paying a bunch of taxes. Thank goodness he looked it up before he tried it!
One place told us you (the consumer) pay about 60 cents on the dollar in tax for bourbon.