The Bourbon Trail

 "Why?" I ask myself that question as I huddle under the covers at 3am in the morning. It is 52° inside the camper, I have two blankets on with just my head exposed above the covers. I do not want to get up, but get up I must. The "why" question is not the one most of you are probably thinking of, which is, "why are we cold camping in northern Kentucky when it is only 26° out?". A logical question, but we enjoy winter camping, in fact, our thermostat is only set to 56° at night and 60° during the day. 

We enjoy the cold, enjoy the fact that there are not a lot of tourists around while we continue Kentucky's infamous Bourbon Trail. The "why" I am referring to "Why do we always run out of propane at 3am in the morning?". We actually probably ran out at 2am, but it took until now for my senses to realize it. 

I begrudgingly get out of bed and get dressed. Dakota of course sees this and wants to go outside. We both go out, her to do her business, me to turn the valves on the propane tanks getting a fresh supply to feed our heater. We are both done at the same time and head back into the camper and under the covers. 

This is year two of our Bourbon Trail adventure. There are several maps detailing the number of distilleries in the state, but this one is pretty decent. So far, in the past two years we have hit 14 of the 44 listed (Numbers 2,7,8,10,13,14,17,18,23,27,30,42,43,44 (bolded ones were this week)) 

Even in the off season, it is amazing how popular these tours are. Some we had to set months in advance waiting for the tour schedule to open up and get online right away to book one. Others, you could book the day of. 

Bourbon is actually pretty straight forward, mix corn, rye and barley, heat it, add yeast, let it ferment, distill it, barrel it and bottle it. But everyone tries to differentiate themselves by tweaking the recipe just a little bit. The percentages of each grain may vary, the water they use, the yeast, the distillation process, the barrels they use, how they store them. Each saying the way they do it makes their bourbon better than everyone else's. 

100% of bourbon's color and much of the flavor comes from the barrels. Some use a char level 3, some a 4, some toast their barrels, some use a climate controlled rickhouse, some rotate their barrels, others sit in the same spot for years. Some are bottled after 4 years, some as long as 20 or more. The sweet spot seems to be that 6–10-year mark keeping it tasty yet affordable. The cheapest bottle we have bought so far was $19.99, the most expensive for us, topped out at $100, but there are bottles out there that get up into the thousands.

The chart below shows various woods used and the color by time in the barrel. 

While a lot of the tours a similar, we do still find them interesting. Buffalo Trace is steeped with history going back into the 1700's while Bardstown Bourbon Co is less than 10 years old with state-of-the-art equipment. Bardstown fermenters were stainless steel with cooling pipes throughout while others use the same wooden fermenters that they have used for over 100 years. 

We find the stills themselves very interesting. Those of you familiar with Willett will recognize this second still as their famous bottle is shaped after it. 

Of course there are the tastings. Two days in a row our tours started at 9am, nothing like drinking bourbon at 9am to get the old circulation going!

The rickhouses where they store the barrels are typically not climate controlled, at least not in Kentucky. The varying temperatures and humidity levels draw the bourbon into and out of the barrel wood throughout the year giving it color and taste. Some areas within the rickhouses historically produce the best tasting bourbons and are used for single barrel releases, while most other barrels are blended together in batches to produce a more consistent overall flavor profile. 

If you have a spare $20,000 or so you can buy one of these barrels which will give you anywhere from 160-180 bottles. The labeling on the barrels may vary from place to place for many are common. This one below for example was put in the barrel on July 31, 2019 (19G31)

Another thing that was cool about Bardstown Bourbon Co. was that they let us get a taste directly from a barrel. A first for us!

Our favorite continues to be Buffalo Trace, not only for their history, but we also like their bourbons the best. They are sweet, smooth and to our liking. We stood in line one morning in 10° weather waiting for them to open. Scoring a couple bottles of Blanton's, E.H. Taylor and a bottle of a wheated Single Oak Project! Exciting, right?!?! 

But alas, we had to cut our bourbon tour short canceling our last four tours. I am not sure if you heard, there is a system moving through the central part of the country. I jest of course as that is about the only thing they are talking about on the news. Well, we were right in the middle of it, so we decided to head south a couple hours and at least get out of the worst of it. 

The biggest bummer of having to do this was that we had to cancel two visits we had later this week as well. One with friends and former neighbors Jim and Brenda who now live outside Hillsboro and a visit with fellow blogger Granny Sue, who many of you know. We were going to be passing somewhat close to her house and had arranged to meet up. Hopefully it works out next time. 

Fuel prices have been all over the board. Back home when we left, diesel was $3.19. One the road, we have seen as low as $2.78 and as high as $4.59. I think the highest we have paid is $3.49.

In the meantime, we are hunkered down outside of London Kentucky. It is still snowing, but I think we are south of the heaviest band. At least I hope we are!