Home, sweet home! Even if it DOES involve moving from the RV, cleaning it out, and making all of those little repairs, etc, before moving her out of our driveway.
We arrived home on Sunday, after taking a couple of extra days to stop in Frankfort KY to visit the local distilleries. 95% of the distilleries in the US are located within a small radius of Frankfort. Luke wrote up the following summary of our visits -
Our Bourbon
Tour:
After three
days of 500 mile plus driving, we decided we needed a break before getting home
and going to “work” putting the RV away and catching up on three months of
loose ends. So, we decided to visit bourbon distilleries near Frankfort
Kentucky, nearly on our route home. Surviving many miles of bone jarringly poor
interstates in Indiana, with renewed happiness over our new front springs, we arrived
at a nice quiet camp site in Frankfort.
An
interesting bit of historical overlay: In 1964, our Congress enacted a law that
defined the requirements for a product to be labeled “bourbon” must be made in
the USA (!) from at least 51% corn in the mash, (the balance of the ingredients typically being rye and malted
barley),
can’t be
distilled to greater than 165 proof, can’t be aged at greater than 125 proof,
must be aged at least 2 years in new, unused, charred white oak barrels (to be “straight
bourbon), etc. For a full discussion, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bourbon_whiskey
especially the “legal requirements”. I poked around at what motivated
this legislation, and found that is was associated with the foods labeling activities
in the ‘60’s. I wonder if the Bourbon Producer’s Lobby may have had something
to do with it-----
Buffalo
Trace:
This was
our first distillery. It is the oldest continually operating distillery in the
US. It dates back to 1777, with various owners, and skated through prohibition
by producing and selling medicinal spirits, one of only a few distillers
licensed to do that. It apparently had quite a following of sick people (whole
families, in fact!) and cooperative doctors tending their medicinal needs.
They
certainly came across as the most “traditional” in facility and process. They
have large, old (1880’s), haunted, multi-story ageing buildings, and
differentiate their products on where in their ageing warehouses they were
stored, and how they were “married” (blended). The storage location determines
the degree of seasonal and diurnal temperature swings, influencing the
absorption of the charred oak flavoring, etc. They use river water, and an
“Irish still” distillation process. We
did not see the distillation process, which was part of a “hard hat” tour.
We
did see the bottling operation of their premium product – unbelievably hand
labor intensive!
We
sampled their “standard” “Buffalo Trace” and found it rather aggressive ($36/
750 ml). Their “Eagle Rare” is aged 10 years, and smoother, but still a bit
aggressive ($61/ 750 ml, unless you want 17 year old, at $200/ 750 ml).
“Blanton’s” single barrel ranges from $61 to $120/ 750 ml. They also make “Bourbon
Cream” 30 proof, with real crème (refrigerate after opening) which I found
really yummy. This tour gave us our first introduction to Bourbon Balls ---
yummy, yummy, yummy!!!
They are
convinced the facility is haunted, with many “encounters”. Mr. Blanton was the
manager in the early 1900s, built a mansion on a hill overlooking the
distillery, and died there. He is said to still roam the halls of his house. We
took an evening ghost tour, but did not meet him. Bobbie has a couple of “maybe”
pictures on “film”. Ghost Hunters were invited in 1997, and did a segment on
“The Distillery of Spirits” which is on U-Tube (of course). Quite interesting ---http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xzv4pn_ghost-hunters-taps-vo-s07e23-distillery-of-spirits-dailymotion_tech
From Bobbie - the below 2 pictures got our ghost tour guides pretty excited. The first is the staircase in in the Blanton home. It was about 7 in the evening, no lights were on, I didn't use a flash. The staircase looked pretty unremarkable but I felt the need to take a picture. When I checked the picture, a light blur is on the right side of the stairway There was definitely NOT a spot like that when I looked at the stairs. The guide says that the stairway is often the site of full apparitions, also the beginnings of one, such as this, as they struggle to become a full apparition.
My second picture is one of 5 that I shot in total darkness in the cellar of the house. 5 pictures of the same area - 4 of them are totally black - this one has a distinct white burr on the left side. I had the "creepies" by the time I took this one.
Woodford
Reserve Distillery:
This
came across as a class act. Very nice modern visitor center, yet historic
facilities and traditional processes. They use well water, have only one
formulation and only two products. They differentiate on prolonging the
fermenting process. All the other producers run fermentation in very large
tanks for about 3 days, at which time the temperatures rise, the alcohol
content goes to about 17 proof, and the yeast dies.
Woodford cools their
fermentation tanks, and prolong the fermentation to 5 to 7 days, possibly
enhancing the flavor. They go through a triple distillation process, using
three pot stills in series.
A very unique process step is that for their
“Double Oak” product. They decant the
aged product into another new charred barrel and let it age for another 2
years.
We tried
their triple distilled Woodford Reserve ($49/750 ml) and found it OK, but a bit
bitey and aggressive. They we tried their “Double Oak” ($64/750 ml) and found
it quite good – smooth, sweet, as the taste host said – the nearest thing to a
“desert bourbon”. This was definitely the winner of all we tasted for me.
Four
Roses Distillery:
Very
much a factory atmosphere.
We saw the mash cooking, fermenting and distilling
equipment.
They use river water, spring fed. The operation was not working
because during the summer the river water is too low, they claim. The
distillate, known as “white dog” in the trade, is shipped by tanker trucks to
the aging facility. A claim to fame is that they have the only single story
aging warehouse in the industry with the benefit of more uniform aging
characteristics across all the barrels. They
have ten “recipes” that they “marry” (blend is a bad word) to produce their
various products.
Their
history is interesting. They were bought
by Seagram’s in the mid 50’s. At that time, bourbon was not defined, and could
be, and in their case, was, made of any “spirits, coloring, flavoring, etc, leading
to the Four Roses mediocre reputation that I remember. In the mid ‘90’s, they
were sold to a Japanese company, who now owns them. They make two, presumably
outstanding labels exclusively for their Japanese owners (“not suitable for the
American palate”).
We
thought their standard product, Four Roses Bourbon, was rather sharp. Their
“Small Batch” which is also aged longer was a bit more mellow. Their single barrel
was good – at least Bobbie thought so.
Wild
Turkey:
Wild
Turkey was bought by the Italian distiller, Campari in 2012 for $40 million.
Since then, they have virtually rebuilt the entire facility as far as we could
determine. Everything is modern, stainless steel, computer controlled, etc.
Despite that, Wild Turkey seem to have been left to do their thing. They may be
the largest Bourbon producer. Those fermenting barrels are huge -
They
differentiate themselves in that they have only one recipe, and distill only to
125 proof, whereas their competitors distill further to 165 proof, and then add
water to age in the barrel at 125 proof.
They generally age longer than some competitors. That one recipe is started with strains of the same yeast used for generations. They have yeast stored in 5 locations as a precaution in case something happens and they lose the distillery.
We tried
the Wild Turkey 81, and found it a bit bitey and sharp. Their Rare Breed, aged
longer, seemed milder and more palatable. Their American Honey, at 71 proof,
mixed with honey, was – yummy. Bobbie’s
old favorite, Wild Turkey 101, is still her favorite.
Wild Turkey also has turkey barrel "horses" for children (of all ages!)
After
being introduced to bourbon balls at several distilleries, we went to the
source, Rebecca Ruth Candy Factory for a tour.
The diminutive facility was basically a
residential house with a few add-ons. Founded in 1919 and family owned, it was
very old fashioned, totally hand-made operations, with antique equipment both
in use and on display, with an amazing variety of product available. If you want to order some really decadent candy, go to -
http://www.rebeccaruth.com/
Conclusions:
A few
days on a bourbon tour is a great way to learn more than you need to know about
bourbon. However, it provides an
interesting way to taste many varieties and determine your preference. Our
general conclusion, older, longer aged, is better. There are definite
differences in smoothness and taste depending on the recipe’s choice of yeast,
mixture of grains and aging process.
So - more than you may have ever wanted to know about bourbon. But we highly recommend touring a few of the distilleries if you are interested. It was a lot of fun!
More to do on the RV, then off she goes to the storage lot for about 3 weeks. Heather, Nikki, and I are going to have a girl's long weekend at Smith Mtn Lake, using the RV. Should be fun!
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