On the Bourbon Trail

We started out the morning again with eyes bigger than our heads. After having a taste of that great Kentucky Bourbon we wanted more. Today we planned to visit the remaining 5 distilleries on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail thus securing us a free t-shirt. Since all the tours but one are free and involve a tasting, we were pretty sure we would have a day full of fun. Our plans were somewhat dampened when we woke in the morning and peered out the window to see about 2 inches of snow on the ground and more still coming down. Now to us northerners this doesn't sound like much, but to the these country folk it seemed like the world was coming to an end. After brushing off the car and getting on our way we quickly realized that no one was driving above 25 mph. A quick turn of the dial and our radio informed us that all the schools were closed in the area and there was accidents on almost every highway. We couldn't believe it. The roads weren't great but there was no reason to be creeping along and definitely no reason to close the schools. After we got on the main highway traffic picked up and we made great time over to Lexington to start off our tours. We rode down some back roads arriving at Woodford Reserve in time to make the mornings first tour. The estate was plowed and the walkways salted but when we reached to open the door it wouldn't budge. We walked around for a bit, trying to find another entrance, then decided to call the place

to ask them what we were doing wrong. Before the phone could even ring we were transfered to an automated message saying that they would be closed for the day due to inclimate weather. Appalled we decided to call other distilleries in the area to see if any were open. We snagged a picture of the place for memories then left heading to our next destination, Wild Turkey.

Now, since we couldn't complete the entire tour and thus unable to get a free t-shirt, the appeal of the doing the entire trail diminished. Katie still wanted to visit Wild Turkey in order to pick up some of their honey liquor that we had tried at Scott and Sarah's a few nights before. We were the only ones at the place for the 10 a.m. tour and thus got a very personal and intimate tour with our guide. Sadly for us, Wild Turkey is in the midst of expanding their operation by twice its size resulting in their distillery not being part of the tour. We spent a half hour in the cold store house while our guide schooled us on the finer points of the aging process. After our tasting and an hour and a half had gone by, our guide recommended we head down to Four Roses Distillery and take their tour, which he said was great. At Four Roses we were again the only ones there and got a nice personal tour around the grounds. While talking with our guide about the weather and expressing our disappointment about Woodford Reserve being closed, he shared with us an interesting bit of information. Now, in order to get the t-shirt for the Bourbon Trail you have to obtain a stamp from each distillery on you passport. This is why we felt our chances were over for completing the trail once we found out Woodford was closed; no stamp, no t-shirt. Our guide shared with us that stamps are not completely necessary. He told us that even if you send in a picture of the distillery, they will count it as a stamp since some places close early or aren't always open. We thought back and the only picture that we had taken the whole day was the one at the Woodford Estate! Taking this as some sort of omen we were again invigorated and felt like we could complete the entire trail. The day before at Maker's Mark, a fellow tourist told us that Jim Beam was not conducting tours currently but would give you a stamp for just showing up. This meant that the only other place we had to visit was Heaven Hill Distillery. Our guide at Wild Turkey had mentioned that Heaven Hill might be closed due to the weather. After a few short phone calls and getting vague messages we were pretty sure that they were closed, which indeed they were. We quickly took a couple pictures to prove our case,

then went to Jim Beam to receive a stamp thus completing the

Bourbon Trail. South on 65 toward Nashville is Lincoln's Birthplace. Katie, not sharing in my love of history, finds these sights boring and a waste of time. However, with the extra time we saved from not being able to do 3 of the 5 tours we had planned for the day, she had no room to object. We headed off the highway and visited Lincoln's birthplace, a small log cabin encased in a huge pillared stone structure atop 56 steps representing each year of the president's life. After watching an informational video about Abe's life in Kentucky, we headed back down to Nashville to stay again with Scott and Sarah. After dinner we cracked open my beer for the first time and I was pleased to see that no one had to spit it out on the first sip. Overall it was pretty good. The Robust Coffee Porter has an extremely strong coffee taste with chocolate on the front and a bitter chocolatey finish. Not too shabby for my first stab at brewing beer.