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.