FOG’S ROAD TRIP –THE BOURBON TRAIL

If you can do it for wine, why not for bourbon? 

Map of the Bourbon Trail

Kentucky’s Bourbon Trail is a pilgrimage of sorts to six of the state’s premier distilleries of ‘Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey”.    Kentucky distillers had legislation passed to define and protect their product. 

Once there were thousands of bourbon distilleries, and today there are many less and most of the more famous ones are located in Kentucky’s horse country area around Frankfort, Lexington and Louisville.  The area’s limestone filtered water has the crucial ingredient for making good bourbon, iron-free water. 

The Bourbon Trail entails traveling from one distiller to another, through beautiful horse farms, passing nice little towns and bucolic landscapes.  A tour of the facility and sampling of the product is offered at each distillery.  You may take any road you want, drive, walk, bike, etc; just as long as you make it to all six. 



The 2012 Bourbon Trail T Shirt

MR. FOG made it to three of the six distilleries on the Bourbon Trail.  When he visits all six and gets his passport stamped to prove it, he gets a T-shirt.

 It was a very nice experience, but the sampling was a little rushed at all the distilleries visited.  After spending so much time in the making the bourbon, one would think that the distellers would want you to spend a bit more time to savor the results of their labor and prove that their bourbon is the best. 

 



Scottish Type Distiller


 

Woodford Reserve is perhaps the cradle of Bourbon, made in small batches, from water that has seeped through limestone which removes the iron, and aged in barrels stored in stone or clay walled warehouses, dating back to the early 1800s.  This distillery is likely the oldest in the state.   Here the tour was perhaps the best, but the serving of the product did not do it justice.  It was the end of day and perhaps the staff was eager to go home.  We got one sample in a keepsake plastic shot glass without any explanation on which Woodford Reserve Bourbon we were sampling.   This distillery charged $7 for the tour.  The rest were free of charge.

  

 Woodford Reserve bourbon is pricey since it is made in small batches and FOG’s palate can’t appreciate the extras that go into this bourbon.  Perhaps yours can, and Woodford’s extra efforts are worth the price to you.  


 

At Four Roses, tight on time, FOG skipped the tour and went straight for the sampling.  Four Roses had a new bartender and she did a very heavy pour.  After three good shots, FOG felt the bourbon.  Four Roses makes three bourbons and the small batch 90 proof was FOG’s favorite.  Four Roses, was a bourbon he had not had before may take the place of Jim Beam in the FOG liquor cabinet. 

Four Roses Bourbon Aging Barrel Is Now a Swing

 

Wild Turkey is big mass production place, has many different types presumably to capture different market segments.  Also Wild Turkey is now a subsidiary of the Italian company that makes Cinzano. 

Here FOG did the tour, sampled three of the bourbons and rode the wild turkey.  Again the sampling was a bit rushed.  Just have your snort of bourbon and leave, they all seemed to say without actually saying it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mr. FOG Doing Some Wild Turkey Riding

Some bourbon facts:

Bourbon is named after a place in Kentucky.  I would have thought France.

Bourbon can be made anywhere, but can’t be called Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey, unless it meets specific requirements. 

Kentucky  straight bourbon whiskey, can only have water, corn, barley, rye or wheat as a flavoring grain, and yeast.  Absolutely no other flavorings, i.e. additional sweeteners are permitted such as those used in Jack Daniels Tennessee sour mash whiskeys.

To be a Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey, it has to be aged at least 4 years and usually bourbons are aged longer, to 6 or 8 years .

In an aging warehouse, usually the barrels in the middle of the building having less temperature extremes,  produce the better bourbons. 

A variety of factors such as the mix of grains used, the alcohol content of the distilled fluid, strain of yeast used, the charring of the barrels, ect determine the taste of each individual distilleries’ bourbons. 

Bourbons from different casks are mixed in the bottling process or the bottling can be from single cask.   Woodford and Wild Turkey now are producing a bourbon that is double barreled.  Aged once in an charred barrel and aged again in another charred barrel for an even more “oak” taste.

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How About Some Rum??

Although tempted by the bourbons, Mr. FOG, perhaps given his Caribbean roots, still favors aged rums called Anejo for sipping.   As with bourbon there are many different types of aged rums.  Bacardi Anejo  is perhaps the most famous/popular, but the anejo made by Ron Abuelo ,  a Panamanian rum disteller, is a good compromise balancing flavor and cost.  As with bourbons, anejos are aged at least 4 to 6 years and beauty is the eye or palate, of the beholder.

FOG'S ROAD TRIP --WHOLE LOTTA SHAKIN’ GOING ON

Civil War Cadets Assembling at Mt. Pleasant Shakertown

This stop on FOG's road trip was at the Shaker Village in Mount Pleasant, Kentucky. 

Unfortunately there is not a lot of "shaking" going on these days since the Kentucky Shakers are extinct.  The pictures are of a preserved Shaker village in Kentucky during a recent Civil war re-enactment with crafts demonstrations and people in period costumes.  The cadets are from West Virginia and spent the night in tents, much as troops may have done 150 years ago.

Due to rainy weather, Mr. FOG missed the Mt. Pleasant Shaker town Civil War re-enactments, but he went the following day and the Civil War people were still around and in costume. He is glad he waited, the better weather made for better pictures.

FOG visits his sister a couple of times a year and stays about a week or so.  Usually he is rushed getting there and back.This time it was about the journey and he made a road trip out of the visit, stopping at various locations along the way.It was a fun way to get to Chicago and back.  Adopting a  hobo/vagabond mindset, caused FOG’s blood pressure to go down throughout the road trip.

Early morning around the campfire

 

Home now, Mr. FOG was again remiss in keeping you informed about his road trip adventures as they happened.  So just pretend he is still on the road trip and writing this daily and dutifully every night.  Sorry Ellen and Jim that I did not call you while I was in Chicago.

 

 

An earlier Blog covered FOG’s visit to Cumberland Gap National Historic Park.  The next major point of interest, still in Kentucky, is Mt. Pleasant, a restored Shaker village, not far from Lexington. 

You may want to listen to Jerry Lee’s famous song, WHOLE LOTTA SHAKIN’ GOING ON to make up for the lack of Shakers. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yRdDnrB5kM

Jerry Lee and the Shakers could not be further apart.  “Shaking” for Lee and others of that era, and perhaps you are one, was something like “don’t come a knockin if the van is rockin”.  The Shakers on the other hand were a celibate religious group and shaking was a religious experience when they felt the presence of the supreme being, and they shook.

Inside a Shaker Workshop

 

Unfortunately a religion based on celibacy may be like a house built on sand, and will not last.  Catholics do have some things right. 

If celibate, where do new baby Shakers come from?  Well it used to be the orphanages, but modern orphanages do not give children to the Shakers.    Also the Shaker  monastic lifestyle of hard work and celibacy does not compete well with today’s lifestyle. 

Girls in Period Costume

The Shakers once had many such villages as the one at Mt. Pleasant Kentucky, and now have only two or three surviving members in one last surviving settlement in Bethel, Maine.  Brothers lived together and Sisters lived together.  Even during church services they sat apart.  Perhaps celibacy did help the Shakers in their religious development and arts and crafts for which they are famous.  However, dependent on orphans for new members, the Shakers, absent a miracle, are extinct.  Thankfully, Mt. Pleasant and other Shaker villages still are preserved to help show us the Shaker way of life even after they are gone.

http://www.shakervillageky.org/

 

FOG’S ROAD TRIP

Painting of Daniel Boone Leading Settlers to New Lands

With only boring radiation cancer news, Mr. FOG decided to share his road trip on the BLOG.  Look for our big fall wedding issue as we cover Anna and Dan’s October nuptials.

 Mario is doing fine, going to radiation therapy every week day, for a total of 35 treatments.  He is about half-way through them.  It is a quick stop in on his way to work.  The radiologist radiates the leg and he is on his way.  This treatment in conjunction with the chemotherapy is being done to increase his odds that the cancer does not return.  While the chemo therapy worked very well , getting rid of every visible sign of the tumor, smaller microscopic cancer cells could still be, or perhaps more accurately, probably still are present.  The external radiation of the area where the tumor grew should kill these cells.  At first the side effects, where not noticeable, but irritation of the skin and a weakening of the leg are beginning to develop, as the radiation kills both good and bad cells in the area.

The big question is when or if, nerve function will return to the leg.  Mario walks with a pronounced limp, due to a loss of sensation on the sole of his foot, since the tibial nerve was severely damaged by the tumor.  Not until the cancer treatments stop, will we know if the body will be able to repair itself and function return to the leg.  Mr. FOG is both happy and grateful  for what God, science, the doctors, luck, and the strength of family and friends has given us.  He is hopeful that Mario will recover full function of the leg in the months to come

Cumberland Gap National Historic Park

Vista of the Cumberalnd Gap

Mr. FOG is taking the back roads of Tennessee and Kentucky to visit his sister in Chicago (Orland Park).  The first stop on the road trip was the Cumberland Gap, where the states of Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee meet.  It was at this junction that the early settlers crossed to open the rich farming lands west of the Appalachians.   

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cumberland_Gap

While others may disagree, this park is perhaps not the most memorable of our nation’s parks.  While certainly historically significant, it lacks the wonder of parks having a dramatic geological feature, e.g. the Grand Canyon and some historical sites are harder present (“interpret”) .   How does one show the hope,  fear, and other emotions of the early pioneers finally going through the gap to settle new lands? 

A remote mountain top settlement of the early 20^th Century was preserved and made for a nice little tour.  Below are some pics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The School House