In the Finger Lakes area of western New York, people go on wine tours. In the heart of Kentucky, people travel the Bourbon Trail. We knew we wanted to travel through Kentucky and Tennessee as we made our way to Georgia this year and Amy’s newly discovered taste for bourbon made visiting the bourbon capitol of the world a must.
What is Bourbon
Bourbon is the native spirit of the United States. Like scotch must be made in Scotland to be called scotch, bourbon must be made in the United States. That is one of the 5 rules that must be followed to be considered bourbon. The mash bill (recipe of grains) must be at least 51% corn in order to be considered bourbon (Note: itmust also stay below 80% or it becomes corn whiskey). The bourbon must be aged at least 2 years in a brand new oak barrel that has been charred. The bourbon cannot go into the barrel at greater than 125 proof and must be bottled at 80 proof or higher. The only thing that can be added to the bourbon in order to reach a desired proof is water. Even though bourbon must be made in the United States, 95% of all bourbon in the world is made in Kentucky.
We learned some interesting facts and trivia while on the various tours. One tour guide mentioned that the population of Kentucky is about 4.5 million people but at any given time, there are more than 7 million barrels of bourbon being aged in warehouses around Kentucky. Almost all the big name bourbon distillers are now owned by foreign companies. A Japanese company owns Jim Beam and Maker’s Mark; a different Japanese company owns Four Roses. Woodford Reserve is still owned by an American company, the same company that owns the Jack Daniel’s brand. The only major bourbon producing company that is still family owned and operated is Heaven Hills.
The Tours
We went on several tours while we were staying in Bardstown, KY, which considered the Bourbon Capitol of the world. Heaven Hills is located in town, Jim Beam is about 15 miles north of town and Maker’s Mark is about the same distance to the south. We took our first tour on the afternoon we moved into the campground. We went to the Heaven Hills Bourbon Heritage Center. This tour was relatively short compared to ones we would take later in the week but it did include a rickhouse. The aroma inside of a rickhouse is heavenly. The odor is from the evaporating bourbon and is called the angel’s share. Barrels near the top of a rickhouse, where temperatures get the warmest, can lose as much as 50% or more of their volume to evaporation. If you ever get the opportunity to go inside rickhouse where bourbon is being aged, you should do it.
On our first full day of touring, we drove south to Maker’s Mark distillery. If you are not into bourbon, going on the bourbon trail may still be worth your time. The countryside is gorgeous and the history of the industry is interesting as well, especially how the older distilleries survived prohibition. The campus of Maker’s Mark is quite literally in the middle of nowhere. All roads leading to it are small county roads through rolling hills of the Kentucky countryside. Maker’s Mark distills a single mash recipe from which they create their various products. Many are familiar with Maker’s 46 which is created by taking Maker’s Mark and aging it in a new barrel that has 10 staves of seared french oak inserted into the barrel. Maker’s Mark tested several levels of searing of the french oak and settled on the sear that was labelled “46” and that is where the name, Maker’s 46, comes from. Maker’s Mark offers a signature select series to licensed distributors and sellers where they can come and select a mix of french oak staves to formulate their own signature barrel of Maker’s Mark.
After leaving Maker’s Mark, we saw a sign for cooperage tours at the Independent Stave Company and thought that would be fun, so we detoured from our original plan to see barrels being made. Unfortunately, the tours were all booked up and we did not get to take the tour. Back to plan A and a return to Bardstown for a tour of Bardstown Bourbon Company. They are a relatively young company that has created the first Napa Valley-like experience on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. The tour was interesting to compare and contrast a modern facility to some of the older places on the trail. The unique experience for this tour was syphoning or “whiskey thieving” bourbon directly from the barrel and into a glass for tasting. Because we were the only ones on our tour, Dan got to remove the bung plug from the barrel and Amy got the pleasure of pounding in a new one.
Our second full day of bourbon tours took us towards Lexington with our first stop at Four Roses. This was another beautiful location. One thing that separated this tour from the others is that we got to keep the tumbler we used for our tastings. Given the cost of some of these tours, you’d think more places would do this! We left Four Roses and drove to Woodford Reserve. As beautiful as the drives to other distilleries were, the drive into Woodford Reserve wins the prize for the most beautiful. The approach to the distillery involves several miles through horse country where the roads are lined with fields surrounded by white fences. Our tour guide at Woodford Reserve told us that 109 of the 145 derby winners were born within 20 miles of the distillery. When we finished up at Woodford Reserve, we decided we had enough time to squeeze in a tour at Wild Turkey before heading back to Bardstown. The tasting room at Wild Turkey had the best view as it sits high above the Kentucky River.
By the beginning of the third full day on the trail, we were beginning to think we’ve had enough. Our plans for the day were to head toward Louisville and tour Jim Beam on the way there. Given the size of Jim Beam, the largest world wide distributor of bourbon, we decided to follow through with our plans and take the tour. This was a nice tour but did not include the all important stop in a rickhouse so no angel’s share this time. There is a lot of history behind Jim Beam and the Beam family and the campus was very nice. It is clear that the formation of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail in 1999 has had an impact on the visitor’s centers and tours at the distilleries. A unique experience on this tour was the opportunity to take your own bottle through the bottling process and personalize the wax seal and label. We got to taste the bourbon straight out of the barrel before deciding the buy the single barrel personalized bottle. The bourbon was pretty good and the experience of walking the bottle through the process was enough to convince us to buy.
At the tasting for Jim Beam, we got to choose what we wanted for our third taste. During the tour the tour guide described the process of making their Devil’s Cut brand. They put wood chips into a mostly emptied barrel and shake it like a can of paint to force more of the bourbon out of the wood. This sounded interesting to Dan so he tried it as his final tasting and liked it enough to get a bottle. For the most part, the pricing of Jim Beam was lower than most of the other brands we toured. This might be due to the scale at which Jim Beam operates. They produce far more bourbon than anyone else and are second only to Jack Daniels in total whiskey production in the US.
That was fascinating, even for a non-drinker. “Amy’s bottle” was a cool adventure, well documented by Dan’s movie skills.