Where's Weaver

Thursday, September 29, 2011

BOURBON TAIL…PART 2

Monday, September 26 - Our third stop was Maker's Mark Distillery. This distillery, in its storybook setting outside the charming town of Loretto, is the nation's oldest working distillery on its original site and has been designated a National Historic Landmark. This is the only distillery that opened its factory doors to a beginning to end tour of the distilling process.

Notice the cool design in the shutters on the buildings.

Here is a picture of what is to be believed as America's oldest remaining "retail whisky store." This is called a Quart House. This is where the distillery used to sell bourbon to the surrounding neighbors around 1889. It could be considered the first "drive through." People would pull up their wagon next to the house, get their barrel filled up, pay a quarter and be on their way.

We started our tour inside the original home. When the house was build in 1911, it served as a boarding house for distillery workers and visiting businessmen. In 1934, when Prohibition ended and the Beams began rebuilding, the house was renovated and moved to keep a watchful eye on operations.

It was interesting to find out how the Maker's Mark's trademark wax sealed bottle came about. Well here is the story…

Wax was on everything…LOL

This distillery is much smaller than the two previous distilleries we toured. We began our tour in the area where the wheat, corn, and barley are ground and mixed. Mountain spring water is then added along with yeast and the fermenting process begins. The fermentation is a three step process. We were encouraged to dip our fingers into the vats to taste the changes taking place in the process.

Stage 1…lots of mash on top. The yeast is starting to work.

Stage 2…look at those bubbles. The call this beer.

Stage 3…we could smell the CO₂big time and feel the heat!

This is the stage that we tasted the mash…SOUR!!!

We again visited the rick houses where the finished Bourbon is aged for an average of 6-8 years. They determine when the Bourbon is ready to bottle by taste rather than simply age, as the other distilleries do.

Maker's Mark Bourbon is different from their second brand, Maker's Mark 46, in that additional charred oak staves are added into the barrel at the end of the aging process for an additional 46 days for additional flavor and color.

A real treat of this tour was to see the bottling process. They do everything by hand, including dipping every bottle in their signature red wax. They bottle about 30 bottles per minute with the final process before boxing is the hand dipping of the neck of the bottle in red wax. This is their trademark and a unique process to Maker's Mark.

Sterilizing the bottles and then filling them up for our enjoyment.

These gals hand dip 23 bottles each a minute. Because of the repetitive nature of all the jobs on the assembly line, they all rotate every 30 minutes.

Boxing it up.

We again enjoyed the tasting room where we not only sampled the traditional two different Bourbons but also tasted “white dog” the clear bourbon liquid before it is aged in the oak barrels. It is the charred oak barrels that gives the Bourbon is caramel color and distinctive flavor. We were also served a piece of Bourbon chocolate, a tasty treat to end our day of touring.

BACK AT THE CAMPGROUND: At the end of each day, Grandpa drives around the campground in one of several ways. This is the way we like the best. He just has the biggest time.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see ya'll back real soon. Have a great day!

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

AMERICA'S OFFICIAL NATIVE SPIRIT

Monday, September 26 – We set off today to do the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.

Kentucky Bourbon is America's only native spirit. To be called a bourbon the spirit must contain at least 51% corn, be aged in NEW charred oak barrels, be distilled to no more than 160 proof, and be placed in the barrel at no more than 125 proof. It must be made in the United States, but not necessarily Kentucky. Did you know that 95% of all bourbon is made in this small area, about a 75 mile area around Louisville?

Why Kentucky? Kentucky spring water, purified as it flows over limestone rock formations, is perfect for Bourbon distilling because it is free of minerals that affect taste. This iron-free limestone water is part of what makes Kentucky Bourbon world-renowned. The other reason why it is so good…the weather, especially the amount of humidity.

There is so much bourbon coming out of Kentucky right now, that the number of barrels storing the stuff--4.7 million to be exact--surpasses the states population of 4.3 million people.

There are six distilleries that make-up the Trail. If you visit all six and get your passbook stamped at each stop, you earn a free Bourbon Trail T-Shirt. Since you get several tastes at each stop, each tour takes anywhere from 60-90 minutes, and the distilleries are spread out miles apart, it is recommended to try not to make all six stops in one afternoon.

We started out at the closest distillery to Louisville and our campground, the Jim Beam Distillery…Come as a Friend, Leave as Family.

The statue of master distiller, Booker Noe, with his dog Dot.

Just 20 miles south of Louisville, Jim Beam is the #1 selling Bourbon in the world and the largest bourbon distillery in the world. The distillery employs more than 300 people. We first toured the historic T. Jeremiah Beam home.

The smallest working still in the world is located here. It is solid bronze and was handmade in 1959 for the World's Fair. It's licensed and registered with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms and is just like the three story still the family uses to make Jim Beam bourbon.

The real thing.

The Beams would keep bourbon on site, and people would bring their own containers to buy it. The container was weighed after it was filled to determine the cost (50¢ per quart, 75¢ per quart for aged bourbon).

One of the interesting tidbits we learned on this first tour is the “black tree event.” During the aging process, while aging in the oak barrels, about 3-4% of the bourbon evaporates off into the air. This vapor then settles on surrounding building, bushes, and trees where a mold forms turning black.

It doesn't harm the trees or buildings but it gave away the distillery location to federal agents during Prohibition. This black mold is easily observed on the rick houses (the warehouses where the bourbon is aged) and the surrounding trees.

We walked through one rick houses. More than 60,000 barrels of bourbon are aged in the 27 rick houses on the distillery grounds. Approximately 90 million bottles of spirits are bottled here annually and shipped to more than 200 countries worldwide. Jim Beam rotates their barrels, and uses barrels from different zones to create certain brands.

Another interesting side note: The portion of Bourbon that evaporates off is known as “the Angel's Share.” Cute!

There was a truck just pulling out for a delivery.

Of course, there is the Bourbon tasting at the conclusion of the tour.

We didn't sample the ordinary stuff; they gave us top shelf brands. We got to try a Knob Creek single barrel (which was super smooth) and Basil Hayden Small Batch (which was also fantastic)

Very interesting at 9:30 in the morning....LOL.

Our second stop on the tour was Evan Williams Bourbon, Heaven Hill Distillery.

Located in historic Bardstown, KY, is America's largest independent family-owned and operated producer of Bourbon. Heaven Hill has grown to be the second largest holder of bourbon Whiskey in the work with approximately 19% of the world's inventory of aging American Whiskey. We were welcomed at the modern Bourbon Heritage Center where we began our tour.

The Bourbon Heritage Center is a museum-like visitor center detailing bourbon and how it is made.

There were displays that allowed you to smell moonshine, bourbon that had been aged for 7 years, and bourbon that had been aged for 12 years. Pretty cool.

We walked through a working rick house, where we observed 1000's of oak filled aging Bourbon worth millions of dollars. It's amazing to see the money tied up in these rick houses for anywhere from 2 – 10 years or more while aging. Some Bourbon is even aged for more than 20 years. We saw a barrel date 1971, the year the rick house was built. Now that's going to be some expensive Bourbon when it is bottled.

Catch the Serial No. It is equal to the number of barrels made since Heaven Hill began.

More tasting….you bet! They have a unique barrel-shaped tasting room.They were already for us.

Again….no bottom-shelf bourbon for this tasting.

We thoroughly enjoyed both of these tours. We HIGHLY recommend them to all.

We actually visited a third distillery, but we will keep that for Part 2.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see ya'll back real soon. Have a great day!

Monday, September 26, 2011

AND THEY'RE OFF!

Saturday, September 24 – Howl at the Moon.......that's a piano bar on 4^th Street Live in downtown Louisville. Our daughter, Carrie, was in Louisville a month or so ago and while her gang was at the bar enjoying the dueling pianos she won a party for 100 of her friends at the bar. It expires at the end of September and since she couldn't use it, she gave it to us. Two instead of a hundred....hmmm. Not sure weather this was a good deal or not for Howl at the Moon?

Suppose they would have preferred 100 drinking twenty-somethings than two sipping seniors....Ha! Ha! Regardless, we received free admittance ($10), four drinks ($1.00 each), half price off future drinks (don't drink and drive), and a free buffet ....not availably tonight...:=( We had a great time enjoying the dueling piano players and people watching.

Of course there was the customary bridal shower girls enjoying toasting the future bride, birthday parties, and groups of people, young & old, having a good time.

This area of downtown, 4th Street Live, was a special treat.

Nice to see people strolling downtown, enjoying the bars, restaurants, and music venues.

This picture was taken early in the day.

They had a dress code and a 21+ age requirement too! Sorry, no shorts, sleeveless shirts on men, excessively torn clothing, exposed undergarments on men, full sweat suits, sagging pants or shorts; excessively long shirts or backpacks. The rag tag group has to stay home! The place was packed with neatly dressed young people....and quite a few of us in the “experience” age category. A nice evening downtown!

We even were treated to a couple taking a carriage ride.

Sunday, September 25 – While talking to our daughter, Carrie, this morning about her visit to Churchill Downs a month or so ago, she mentioned that she didn't pay for a tour and simply walked in the horse track during an off-track betting day. That's what we had in mind. A 30 minute tour was $10 and all we really wanted was to see the track and take a couple pictures.

So we checked the internet and there was off-track betting at Churchill Downs this afternoon. Horse racing in Kentucky is rich in history, dating back to 1789 when the first race course was laid out in Lexington. However, it was almost 100 years later, in 1875, that Churchill Downs officially opened and began its tradition as "Home of the Kentucky Derby."

HUGE building.

We headed to the track, paid a $1 admissions fee and walked freely all over the race track grand stands. So those of you looking for a bargain, check out Churchill Downs when they are having off-track racing or better yet, a live race.

Entrance

Amazing the number of people attending the off-track betting. If you are not familiar with off-track betting, you watch on TV and, of course, bet on races at other race tracks. There were 100's and maybe a coupe thousand people placing bets and watching the results on TV.