I feel sorry for people who don’t drink. When they wake
up in the morning, that is as good as they are going to feel all
day.” (Wild Turkey Billboard quote attributed to Frank Sinatra)
All bourbon is whiskey, but
not all whiskey is bourbon. Bourbon tastes stronger and sweeter with
corn being the predominant ingredient. Bourbon is America’s only
native spirit!
Trips need purpose …..at least for us…. however the purpose isn’t always evident when we
start out. Take for instance Kentucky and bourbon. The
first time we visited Lexington, Kentucky, we concentrated on horses. When I
think of Lexington, I think of horses. After all, we were staying at the Kentucky Horse
Park State Park and the Keene race track was just down the road. The area is surrounded by horse farms and we are the heart of blue grass
country. Dave however had another purpose in mind …
bourbon. Kentucky Bourbon to be exact.
So, he put up with my
horse fixation and I accompanied him to a bourbon distillery. This
trip we only made it to one distillery, Woodford Reserve, and I didn’t think
I’d like bourbon, so obtained the obligatory sample so Dave could have
more! I did, however, partake in the bourbon balls and found
sipping the bourbon left an interesting taste on my pallet. Maybe I
could get into this. Unfortunately we didn’t leave much time for
distilleries on this trip, so made a vow to come back …. With the purpose … to
complete the Bourbon Trail and then some!
WHY IS
KENTUCKY KNOWN FOR ITS BOURBON?
A short answer is …. if you wanted to open a distillery after prohibition, Kentucky
had the most abandoned distilleries and they were all set and ready to
go!
But why ……. did they have
these distilleries! There are many good reasons why
Kentucky is the place for bourbon distilleries and the variety
of reasons come together to create a unique blend of
tastes. Ninety-seven percent of all bourbon is still produced in
Kentucky …. and in order to be considered Kentucky Bourbon, it must be aged in
Kentucky for a year and a day.
FIRST …..
IT’S AN AMERICAN HISTORY STORY
This is my favorite part of
the bourbon story, it is an American story. In the mid 1700’s, this
area was the Kentucky Territory of Virginia and in 1792 Kentucky became a
commonwealth state along with Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.
In 1789, in order to
pay France and others for their help in the Revolutionary War, an excise tax on
domestically distilled spirits was passed. The Whiskey Tax had the most affect on the farmers who had small
family stills and did not operate year around. This resulted in the
Whiskey Rebellion and farmers moved as far west as they could to get away from
Government scrutiny.
Coupled with this, “Corn Patch and Cabin Rights” was
established in 1776 to encourage westward development. So, in 1792 after Kentucky became a commonwealth, new settlers were given free parcels of land if they built
a cabin and grew corn, the native crop. Barley and rye
were not common crops but corn was plentiful.
Settlers brought rye and
barley with them and planted corn for their free land as well as their
distilling skills. Corn became a main grain in whiskey softening up
the taste and the corn based whiskey was very popular.
Some farmers
used their entire corn crops to make corn whiskey finding they made
more money from the corn liquor than from the grain and it was cheaper to
transport liquid than the grains. As the liquor was used as currency early on.
So the manufacture of
Kentucky Bourbon is most definitely an American story.
SECOND …
THE KENTUCKY WEATHER
Conditions in Kentucky are
perfect for whiskey making. The state is situated right in the
center of the country with extreme cold in the winters and extreme heat in the
summers. This allows the whiskey to work in to and out of the
barrels imparting the flavor and color.
THIRD …
THE KENTUCKY WATER
Fresh springs, creeks and
lakes carry the pure limestone-filtered water that filters out the
iron. Kentucky water also contains calcium which is why the horse
industry thrives here. Horses eating the grass and drinking the
water obtain the calcium needed for strong ankles. However, that
doesn’t necessarily work on humans! So environmentally, Kentucky was
the ideal spot to distill and manufacture bourbon.
WHAT
MAKES KENTUCKY BOURBON SO SPECIAL?
CHARRED
WHITE OAK BARRELS
The interaction between the
charred barrels and the aging whiskey enhances the flavor and the longer the
time in the barrel, the deeper the color and richer the flavor as the whiskey
seeps into the barrel.
There are two theories as
to how this charring of the barrels took place to begin with.
Barrels were purchased from
dry goods stores and second-hand barrels were sterilized to eliminate any
previous flavors. The fire in the barrels brought out natural sugars
in the oak and a caramelized layer of natural sugars would set in where the
char ends and the wood begins. This is the “red line”.
Barrels were shipped down
the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers with the sun beating down heating up the
barrels. The expansion of liquor seeping into the wood passing
through the “red line” gave it the amber color and cooler nights forced the
whiskey out of the wood passing through the “red line” adding
flavor.
It could take up to six months to make the trip and the
taste of the whiskey changed dramatically from the start to the
finish. The barrels rounded off the rough edges and softened up the
white dog.
The other theory is that
Elijah Craig through his frugality used the charred barrels damaged by a barn
fire. He couldn't bear to toss them.
However it happened, the char created a wonderful taste and amber color of the bourbon whiskey.
COOPERS’ UNION – Barrels
only used once
To ensure the cooper’s
union had forever work a law that bourbon had to be stored in brand new charred
oak containers was passed. After prohibition the identity was
written on the barrel and enforced protecting the coopers’ union.
However reusing the
barrels would dilute the taste and color and reusing a barrel, even
following all the other rules of making bourbon, all is left is
whiskey. It would not be bourbon whiskey.
Today the used barrels are
sold to distilleries in Scotland and Ireland and breweries where there is a HUGH market for
these used bourbon barrels.
AGING
TIME
There are various opinions
from six years as a minimum with some bourbons to twenty years or
more. The recipe, barrel and aging provide the flavors depending on
the aging process, type of warehouse and location of the barrels inside the
warehouse. Barrel aging is responsible for 50% and 75% of the final
flavor of bourbon.
PROOF
Bourbon Whiskey cannot
store distillate at more than 125 proof. If it is distilled at a
higher proof, more filtered water needs to be added diluting the taste and
color. Evaporation takes 4% a year … angels share. Stored
at the higher floors where it is hot and dry the proof will rise from 125 to
145 proof after evaporation. If you put 160 proof whiskey in the
barrel it could rise up to 180 proof and then you’d have to add water to get it
down to 80-100 proof in the water watering down what you worked so
hard for. Bourbon cannot enter the barrel at anything more than 125
proof.
PROOF Originally
bourbon was sent to the taverns in barrels and some barkeeps watered down the
whiskey to make more money. To ensure the customer was getting what
he asked for a simple experiment would be run: Putting gunpowder on
the bar in a little pile and wet the powder with whiskey. Alcohol
burns just over 50% alcohol content so if you lit the match and put it to the
gunpowder and it burned yellow and fizzled out the whiskey was watered down. If
it burned blue and flashed, it was proof of how good the
whiskey was.
ALL BOURBON IS WHISKEY …
BUT NOT ALL WHISKEY IS BOURBON
The recipe must include:
The majority of grains must
be corn. Also includes rye, wheat, malted barley but 51% corn
Must be distilled under 160
proof
Must be stored in new
charred oak barrels
Nothing can be added to
bourbon except water
RACK
HOUSES
Bourbon is warehoused in
rack houses that are mostly tin-wrapped wooden structures facing north to south
for sun exposure. Traditional rack houses are five to nine stories. Some barrels stay in same place the whole time and pulled out in the same order as
placed. Some are rotated and some on an escalator. There are
various ways to obtain flavor and the method is up to the distiller.
THE
DISTILLERIES
WILD TURKEY
1525 Tyrone Road,
Lawrenceburg, KY (502) 839-2182
Master Distiller: Jimmy
Russell
(Day 1)
The Wild Turkey
Distillery, overlooking the Kentucky River, is located in
Lawrenburg, KY 23 miles west of Lexington. Wild Turkey Bourbon is
known by its signature Wild Turkey 101 and American Honey a smooth
liqueur of bourbon and honey.
Its history goes back to the Ripey
Brothers who represented Kentucky at the 1893 World’s
Fair. The distillery received its name in 1940 and Rare Breed, a
premium barrel-proof was introduced in 1991.
The Kentucky Spirit, 101 proof was released in 1995 and American Honey a blend of Kentucky Bourbon and American Honey was introduced in 2006. Associate Master distiller is Eddie Russell.
FOUR ROSES – A Love Story
1224 Bonds Mill Road,
Lawrenceburg, KY (502) 839-3436
Our next stop was Four
Roses located a few miles away from Wild Turkey Distillery. The
Distillery, built in 1910, is on the National Register of Historic
Places.
It has a unique Spanish Mission style architecture located
on the Salt River which is a limestone spring-fed river. They have
used the same grain source for 50 years. They have two mash bills
containing more rye than other bourbons, five proprietary yeast strains with
ten different bourbon recipes.
In the early 1800’s, Paul
Jones Jr sent a proposal of marriage to a southern belle. She
replied that if the answer was “yes”, she would wear a corsage of roses on her
gown at the upcoming ball. That evening she wore a corsage of four
red roses. He later named his bourbon “Four Roses” as a symbol of
his love for his lovely belle.
During prohibition he
purchased Frankfort Distilling Company, one of six distilleries granted
permission to operate through prohibition for medicinal purposes.
In
1943 Seagram purchased Frankfort Distilling Co. primarily to acquire Four Roses. It
was the top selling bourbon in 1930’s, 40s, 50’s but Seagram decided to
discontinue sale of Kentucky Straight Bourbon in the US so Four Roses moved to the
European and Asian markets.
It was purchased by Kurin, a Japanese
Beer company. There is a very large bourbon market in Japan and only
recently the Yellow Label, formerly sold only in Japan, is back in the US.
Single story rack warehouses is Four Roses' innovation, theoretically to let the bourbon age gently inside the
barrels in uniform fashion while remaining undisturbed throughout the years.
WOODFORD RESERVE
Versailles, KY
located in the heart of horse country outside Lexington is our final stop of the day, Woodford Reserve. The drive to get here is absolutely
beautiful. It is off Route 60 between Versailles and
I-64 with magnificent horse farms
and rolling green hills framed by beautiful fences. The
Woodford Thoroughbreds farm is so pastoral, you can’t help but relax
and feel the stress slough off you (or is that the bourbon tasting?).
Distilling began on the
site in 1780 with the distillery building erected in 1838. This is
the oldest of the nine bourbon distilleries in operation in Kentucky although
it has not been in continuous operation. It is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places and designated as a National Historic
Landmark.
Originally owned by the Oscar Pepper family, the
property was sold in 1878 to Leopold Labrot and James Graham who operated it
(except during prohibition) until 1941 when it was sold to Brown-Forman
Corporation. B-F operated it until 1968 and sold it in 1971 but
re-purchased it in 1993 reburbishing the buildings to bring it back to
operation. Woodford Reserve brand was introduced in 1996.
The rack houses are brick rather than
tin. They use a triple pot still unique in the
industry. They host events throughout the year and it’s a beautiful
spot to do it.
Our lunch today consisted
of bourbon shots with bourbon candy for dessert. Whatta life!
JIM BEAM AMERICAN OUTPOST,
Clermont, KY
(Day 2)
This distillery goes
waaaaay back to the early settlers carving out their futures in the westward
movement. Jacob Beam, in 1788, settled in Kentucky raising corn,
fruit, hogs and operated a grain mill. He began bourbon distilling
for his own use, as many of the early settlers did, and he sold his first
barrel in 1795 calling it “Old Jake Beam Sour
Mash”. David Beam takes over during the Industrial
Revolution increasing distilling capacity and selling bourbon beyond Washington
County.
In 1856 David M Beam moves the distillery to Nelson County
to be closer to the new railroad expansion and renamed the company D.M. Beam
& Company moving bourbon north and south. In 1864 James
Beauregard Beam … Jim Beam … rebuild the distillery after prohibition ended and
in 1946 his son “Jere” Beam heads up the business.
 |
| BOOKER NOE |
By this time Jim
Beam is global with cases bound for the American servicemen stationed
overseas. F. Booker Noe II, Jim Beam’s grandson, became Master
Distiller in 1960; the sixth Beam family member to head the
business. Today Frederick Booker Noe III, Jim Beam’s great-grandson,
heads up the Jim Beam distillery at Clermont.
In the tasting room we
sampled Jim Beam Black and Bakers an ultra-premium small batch bourbon.
BOURBON HERITAGE CENTER,
HEAVEN HILL DISTILLERY,
Bardstown, KY
Evans Williams &
Elijah Craig
We left Jim Beam and headed
down to Heaven Hills Distillery where Evans Williams is
distilled. The distiller here, Parker Beam, is a cousin to Frederick
Booker Noe III of Jim Beam. In 1996, a fire destroyed a total
of six rack houses and the distillery. Although the distillery is no
longer at this facility, they built a multi-million dollar facility on this
site. The visitor’s center is well worth the visit and the tasting
room is great!
EVAN WILLIAMS – A great US
History Story:
In 1783, Evan Williams
established the first commercial distillery in the present Commonwealth of
Kentucky located in Louisville. Located on the banks of the Ohio
River was near Fort Nelson for protection against Indian raids. The
shortage of money encouraged bartering with the whiskey and Evan Williams’
products were used as a standard of quality.
Reverend Eliah Craig is considered the father of bourbon. Legend has it, through his frugality and practical nature, he salvaged his barrels from a burning barn and used them to store whiskey.
These may have been the first "charred barrels" used in the process.
We walked through the museum exhibits and entered the tasting room starting with Evan Williams Single Barrel Bourbon.
MAKER’S MARK,
Loretto, KY
Our last distillery of the
day was MAKER’S MARK and it was the furthest out and the most beautiful
drive.
Our GPS took us through some of the most beautiful back
country of rolling hills, farms, tobacco fields and single lane
roads. The roads were well paved but not very wide d with blind
hills and blind corners. Fortunately we didn’t meet any cars on the
way.
Eventually we reached
Marker’s Mark and it really is in the country! We caught the
tail end of a tour.
Maker’s Mark has a great gift giving opportunity
for a bourbon lover. You can have your name on a barrel, follow it
(on-line) through the 6 year aging process and when it’s ready to be poured,
come to the distillery and buy your bottle and the label will be specially made
for you
If you don’t want to wait
six years, you can buy a bottle of Maker’s Mark and dip it in the red wax
yourself!
Our lunch today was bourbon
shots and bourbon chocolate for dessert!!!
BARDSTOWN, KY
(Next year's visit)
Moving on from Lexington,
KY we stayed in Bardstown, KY at My Old Kentucky Home State Park campground.
This is a small campground with 39 woods sites surrounded by a
golf course. There is a good buffer between the campsites and the golf
course and an ideal place for an evening walk after the golfers have left,
around the golf course on the golf cart paths. It is a beautiful
setting. And….thrills of thrills….Heaven Hills is within eyesight of
the campground, across the golf course. Last year we traveled from Lexington to visit Heaven Hills! Who knew!
This year we are looking for smaller distilleries and those we
missed the first time around in Lexington.
