The building is red brick with white columns — an ode to Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s home near Charlottesville, Virginia.
Inside this gorgeous structure, on the grounds of the historic Stitzel-Weller distillery in Louisville, is the office of Tom Bulleit, founder of Bulleit Bourbon.
Like Jefferson, Bulleit has surrounded himself with books, presumably first editions from authors such as Mayo Angelou and John Steinbeck, the valued works locked safely in glass cases.
At Woodford Reserve in Versailles, one gets a sense of old Europe, the stone rickhouses at the state’s oldest distillery, with roots dating before the 1800s. Juxtapose Woodford’s history and immaculate grounds with the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience, a virtual tour into the past, a sensory pleasure that includes a lighted, multi-colored digital diagram presentation of the bourbon-making process.
Excuse my informal language, but that’s what makes the Kentucky Bourbon Trail so damned cool.
Eight distilleries, members of the Kentucky Distillers Association, formed the Kentucky Bourbon Trail in 1999. They all make bourbon, as do distilleries that aren’t part of the trail, such as Buffalo Trace in Frankfort and Barton 1792 in Bardstown. They all do it well, albeit with slight differences — whether that involves yeast, the grains, the aging process or barrel placement.
Maker’s Mark, for example, rotates its barrels in the rickhouses. Other distillers wouldn’t hear of it. But that’s part of what makes the tour unique. With eight distillers making basically — I said basically — the same product, the potential for repetition and monotony seems inevitable. But that doesn’t happen. Each tour is unique, entertaining in its own way, replete with smart tour guides to help as through a complex, celebrated and sometimes notorious history of this close-knit community.
It’s a history, a legacy we can smell — an unforgettable bouquet of bourbon — as much as 40 percent of the aging whiskey escaping from each barrel — the angel’s share, which I found most pronounced at Stitzel-Weller.
The trail website advises three days for the full tour, but I think that’s a tight timeline. The distilleries generally open around 9 or 10 and close at 4 or 5 in the afternoon, with some starting the last tour at 3 p.m. It’s an easy drive, but it does take time. One trip to Maker’s Mark in Loretto proves that. We live in North Carolina so, naturally, we started in Lexington at Town Branch, the easternmost stop on the trail. In all, the tour took parts of five days — five glorious days.
Day 1
Town Branch
Technically, it was our first day on the tour, but we drove some 400 miles to get here, and we barely slipped in to catch the last tour of the day. We picked up our passports and happily learned that our tour would not only include whiskey but beer, as well.
Whoop-dee-do!
Alltech’s Lexington Brewing and Distilling Company, which makes Town Branch bourbon, also — as its name implies — makes beer. Really, really great beer. The brewery ages some of its beer in used bourbon barrels, and that type of sharing results in a slight yet unmistakable taste of bourbon at the finish. The stout, aged with coffee, was rich and malty.
Breakfast anyone?
The bourbon, Town Branch is, in my mind, simple yet interestingly smooth. It’s too good to mix, but, well, why would you? Save a tasting chip for a bluegrass sundown, a coffee-infused liquor. Yes, these people do like their coffee. The distillery/brewery is in downtown Lexington, a college town, so it’s a great place to keep the party going — or to get it started.
Day 2
Woodford Reserve
We stayed overnight in Lexington and — before driving to Louisville to hook up with my wife’s family and friends for Casabourblanca — headed about 20 minutes up the road to Woodford Reserve, in my opinion the prettiest distillery on the tour. It’s a national historic landmark and also the official bourbon of the Kentucky Derby. No surprise, since the distinctive black-railed fences and immaculate horse barns so predominant in this part of the country surround it.
Elijah Pepper had something going on here, for sure.
The visitors’ center is modern and welcoming, a minimalist design outlined in stone and leather, a setting juxtaposed with the old-world stone distillery and rickhouses.
The tour involves a bus, and it takes a couple of hours, but it’s necessary for such a beautiful distillery, which, like some of the others, includes the original home of ubiquitous taxman, who was housed on the property. The distillery built him a house — honestly more like a room — so he could kinda keep an eye on things. These little houses, for the most part, came without, uh, facilities. As our guide said, “They said we had to give them a house … no one ever said anything about a bathroom.”
The tasting included Woodford Reserve and the Woodford Reserve Double-Oaked, which is twice barreled to create a complex, spicy, fruity whiskey. Woodford has a rye, which, we were told, is in short supply and thus unavailable for tasting. So, I bought a bottle — 90 proof and 53 percent rye. Taste bourbon with your nose first, your mouth open slightly. (I learned this on the tour). The rye is pronounced, but I get a hint of honey. Take that first Kentucky chew and taste the spice, add water and get some apple, a hint of pepper. Ahhh … East we go.
Evan Williams Bourbon Experience
In Louisville we stayed at the Marriott East, the city’s only bourbon-themed hotel, according to the trail website. The bar has more than 200 varieties of bourbon, says the hotel site, and, of course, I stopped for a taste. I can’t remember what I had, but, hey, it’s bourbon.
The Evan Williams Bourbon Experience is downtown and part of an “artisanal” distillery. In other words, not a lot of is happening here, in terms of making bourbon. On Louisville’s famed Whiskey Row, it’s pricier than the other distilleries, but the tour was informative and entertaining, largely because of an immersive interactive media display that puts visitors on the riverbank with Williams, in a dark, “old-style saloon.” The tasting samples are hidden under the wooden bar, which is quite the nice surprise. The experience offers a fine lesson in bourbon — and American history — and the information regarding medicinal use during Prohibition was fascinating stuff. The whiskey, simply put, is good Kentucky bourbon, best served with water or on the rocks. Honestly, I would mix it. The really good stuff comes later, at parent distiller Heaven Hill. But, hey, we have a party to attend.
Day 3
Bulleit
My head ached, but only slightly, a dull fading pain that would pass before lunchtime. I immediately felt better when we entered Stitzel-Weller, the makers of Bulleit Bourbon. A sharp, unexpected turn makes this distillery a bit difficult to get to, and maybe the security people sense this. They couldn’t have been more pleasant, welcoming. Maybe they just drank free bourbon, but they provided a great introduction to the historic distillery, where Pappy Van Winkle once made Old Fitzgerald.
They don’t make bourbon here, and the distillery has a convoluted and complicated history — reportedly, Four Roses makes Bulleit. For now. Bulleit’s parent company, Diageo, broke ground last year on a $115 million distillery in Shelbyville, which is dry. I expect that to change.
We learned about a cooperage — they used to make barrels here — and once introduced into a white-oak barrel the bourbon is “married” to it. If something goes wrong with a barrel the bourbon is poured into a stainless steel container — where it stops aging —while the barrel is repaired before the whiskey is re-introduced to the same barrel to continue its work.
So it’s mostly a history tour, though some bourbon is stored on site. Our tour guide, Sylvia, was knowledgeable and funny, and the tasting including the bourbon, a small-batch rye and a 10-year limited release, which is 68 percent corn. Vanilla is pronounced, and an initial hit of spice fades into a rich, sweet finish. A drop of water or an ice cube softens this whiskey, which isn’t for beginners. Bulleit is known as “frontier whiskey,” as Tom wanted to create a product reminiscent of the early days of the Old West, which used to be somewhere in Kentucky.
We headed to Bardstown— the Most Beautiful Small Town in America — for the next leg; we tried to visit Jim Beam but found it closed for “unexpected maintenance.” We headed to Heaven Hill but got there too late for the tour, so we checked out the interactive history display that reinforced what we learned at Evan Williams the previous day. After dinner at the historic Talbott Tavern — Washington rallied the troops here — we checked into a hotel, dipped into the Town Branch and looked forward to the next day.
Day 4
Heaven Hill, Bourbon Heritage Center
The secret here: Get the bourbon connoisseurs’ tasting. First, we found ourselves in a small group, so it’s a more personal experience. You also get to taste some really great bourbon. I mean, really, really great bourbon.
I admit I was somewhat dubious. Heaven Hill makes a lot of bourbons, and rum and vodka … It bills itself as “America’s largest independent, family-owned and operated producer and marketer of distilled spirits” and the nation’s “seventh-largest supplier of distilled spirits.” It makes Evan Williams, Elijah Craig and Larceny, among others. The visitors’ center welcomes people with walls of history, a veritable Smithsonian-type experience. We had a lot to do, so we eschewed a tour and went for the tasting.
It was special — Larceny; Heaven Hill Select Stock, 124-proof bourbon finish in cognac barrels; William Heavenhill small batch; and Elijah Craig, 23-year-old single barrel. This stuff, ain’t cheap — the 23-year retails for $289, the Larceny at $40 or so. The others fall somewhere in between. Our tour guide, uh, whiskey pourer, wasn’t stingy. This tasting costs a bit more, but …. Just pay for it!
Jim Beam
We returned to Jim Beam, “The World’s No. 1 Bourbon” — which offers self-guided tours — for free. It’s a nice little walk, which ends at the tasting room. Convenient.
The downside is you get just two tastes, so take a partner who doesn’t mind sipping after you, or vice versa. I tried Knob Creek Rye and Booker’s — named after former master distiller Booker Noe. My wife opted for Basil Hayden’s and Baker’s. They’re both part of the small-batch collection, and they’re all pretty damned good. Booker’s can reach 120-proof — no gauging here. A drop of water helps, as does the tasty barbecue they serve in the nearby smokehouse. Fred Noe, Booker’s son and current master distiller, oversees the pit, or so they say. No matter, the brisket —tender and smoky — certainly hit the spot, which by now was well oiled with bourbon. Watch the whiskey-filled tankers roll through the property as you eat, and get a photo with Booker — a likeness, anyway — before heading out to, uh, Maker’s maybe?
Maker’s Mark
Time goes quickly along the trail, and we did some backtracking. Maker’s, in Loretto, is about 35 miles from Clermont and Beam, on a twisty two-lane road. “Swishy,” my son calls such backwoods mountain trails. But it’s worth it.
We got there just in time — see a pattern here — and the visitors’ center was already crammed with thirsty people. The distillery plans a new tourism center, which is reason for a return trip, don’t you think? The grounds are — for lack of a better and more masculine word — lovely. One feels as if he’s sipping bourbon in the wilderness, far from the frenetic pace of cities such as Louisville and Lexington. Well, that’s mostly because he’s pretty far from anything. Cell service is spotty, as is the on-site Wi-Fi.
But who cares?
The tasting included Maker’s White — basically straight, unaged corn liquor — Maker’s; Maker’s 46, aged in special barrels and named for the recipe; and Cask Strength, straight-from-the-barrel smooth, albeit 113.3 proof, which my bottle says. It’s pleasant to the nose — pure vanilla and caramel, pure Maker’s. It’s sweet on the palate — mostly because of the wheat — before ascending toward a spicy, peppery chew. The heat dissipates nicely, returning to the sweet beginning.
Day 5
Buffalo Trace
New day, new bourbons. Buffalo Trace isn’t on the trail, but we stayed for a night in Frankfort and, we figured, what the heck. The distillery dates to the 1850s but Buffalo Trace to just 1999, the website says. We didn’t take a tour, but it’s an inviting scene — gritty yet beautiful, in an accidental sort of way.
It’s Buffalo Trace that now owns the legendary Pappy Van Winkle brand. We learned about halfway through the trail that tastings go down better after a tour, but a tour isn’t always a prerequisite to drinking great bourbon. The gift shop doesn’t carry Pappy, of course, but I liked Eagle Rare, a 10-year-old bourbon with creamy notes on the nose and a relatively soft finish, with just a hint of spice. We kind of went off course here and bought a bottle of Bourbon Cream, a creamy — duh — liquor that partners well with root beer. Pair it with a bourbon ball, a piece of chocolate heaven offered with every tasting on the trail … or off it.
Four Roses
A few months back I bought a bottle of Four Roses Small Batch. My wife gave me a funny look. “Four Roses? Is that good?” I gave her an even-funnier look: “You’re kidding, right? This stuff is amazing.”
To be fair, that wasn’t always the case. It was good stuff, way back in the day, but then Seagram bought it, and it got pretty bad. That’s a tough reputation to shake, but the bourbon underwent a rebirth in Asia, particularly Japan, and — after a 40-year hiatus — made its way back home. Four Roses sells a yellow label, which is a mixer, but the small batch and single barrel are some of the best bourbons out there.
Four Roses distills and bottles on separate sites, and we did neither tour, but the historic distillery — done in Spanish-mission style — offers a welcome contrast to the other distilleries, which go from modern to industrial to Prohibition-era to Appalachia chic. Again, we eschewed the tour for a private tasting, which included the Yellow Label, the Small Batch and a wonderful Single Barrel — it’s silky, clean and never hurts.
Wild Turkey
We met master distiller Jimmy Russell the previous Saturday at Casabourblanca — the world’s best party — which I wrote about earlier. I recognized Russell from “Bourbontucky,” an excellent documentary about, well, bourbon and Kentucky.
My wife introduced herself, and Jimmy asked her age, to which he responded that he started making Wild Turkey about 11 years before she was born, and he’s been there since 1954.
Amazing guy, amazing bourbon. Evel Knievel, the stories go, carried it in a walking stick and downed a shot before jumps. Hunter S. Thompson, a Louisville native, loved the stuff. So do I — whether it’s Rare Breed, Kentucky Spirit or good ol’ 101. The distiller makes a version of its honey bourbon that’s laced with ghost pepper. Quite nice.
Wild Turkey encompasses hundreds of acres in Lawrenceburg, and the tour includes the usual stuff — fermenting, distilling, bottling … aging. But this never gets old, although our tour guide, Jonathan, pointed to a barrel in the riskhouse that’s 17. Wild Turkey makes a rye, Russell’s Reserve, and the single-barrel Kentucky Spirit is top notch. I especially enjoy Rare Breed, 112-proof straight from the barrel — warm yet smooth, spicy yet interestingly sweet. I picked up a bottle of Russell’s Reserve Small Batch Single Barrel, personally selected for the Bourbon Affair, a weeklong series of events about all things bourbon — Barrel 503, Rickhouse T, Sixth floor. Bet it’s great, when I get around to tasting it. For now, I’m happy to sit here and stare at the bottle.
johntrump 