Day #2: The Bourbon Trail

After a quiet evening the day before, we woke up ready to take on the bourbon tours on Wednesday (Day #2 of our trip). This is also about the time we discovered the "dusting" of snow that was expected on Friday would actually turn into a humdinger of a winter storm. No longer would we have the relaxing Friday and Saturday I was planning to see extra distillery locations. Instead, it seemed like we would have to plan for early closures because of snow and ice. Gross. But whatever! I wasn't going to let some weather a few days off ruin the first full day of the Bourbon Trail!

There were officially three stops for Day#2 on the trail - Angel's Envy, Evan Williams Experience, and Bulleit. We would visit these locations in that exact order. All of these locations (in addition to the Jim Beam Urban Stillhouse) are located in the downtown or greater Louisville area. I choose to start our trail experience here for a couple of reasons. 1) The Jim Beam Urban Stillhouse was open until 9pm, which allowed us something to do our first night in town. 2) Louisville was the closest starting point from our home base in SW Missouri. 3) Angel's Envy is one of the only tours that states a requirement for a reservation for a tour in advance. So, I wanted to get the "reservation required" distillery experience completed at the beginning rather than waiting until the end of the trip. I kinda sort of have an issue with being places on time. While I usually manage to be somewhere when I need to be, I do slide in at the last minute. So, I always plan accordingly.

Stop #1 for the day was at Angel's Envy. We woke up early enough to have extra time on our hands and nothing in particular to do. We opted to walk to Angel's Envy from our hotel rather than take the shuttle. Caddy-corner to the distillery was the Louisville Slugger Field. I'm not sure if the doors were suppose to be open that morning but we did creep in to check out the inside. Neither one of us are baseball fans, but it was interesting to see the inside of the stadium and see some of the history of the team. We also walked around the outside to see the actual field. It is quaint and adorable.

After thoroughly wasting some time checking out the field, we then crossed the

street to a very swanky and very empty Angel's Envy. We were told the night before that we would be spoiled by the tour at Angel's Envy. This young fella was right. There are a few things that made this experience particularly unique. First off, the boxed water. Don't ask me why I'm getting excited about boxed water, but I am and was super stoked about it. I'm mean honestly here...just look at how awesome this is. Most of our other tours offered water but none gave out bottles or, in this case, a box of water. I half expected it to taste like milk or that strange orange-aid or purple-aid drank back from snack time in middle school. It, however, did not. It tasted like water.

A second awesome reason why the tour spoiled us - we were the only ones there! Turns out that I hedged my bets correctly that tours would be nearly empty. In this case, it was essentially a private tour. Our tour began briefly in the welcome center before we entered an elevator to head up a few floors. Once walking out of the elevator, we came to a large room where the magic happens.

And here comes the part on why this is perhaps the Angel's Envy tour is a unique

and special experience...there is more than just bourbon samples and chocolate given out on the tour. I don't think I was expecting the opportunity on any tour to simply taste anything from production. I love to sample and taste food. I generally just want to know what something tastes like if I've never had it before. Back in Hawaii, I did manage to answer my curiosities about what coffee and chocolate tastes like during various phases of the production cycle. So what was the first thing to "sample" at Angel's Envy besides boxed water? Distiller's beer. That sweet concoction of corn, yeast and whatever other ingredients the mash bill calls for (like rye, malted barley, or wheat). At Angel's Envy, we got to sample a day 5 of 7 sample. It was like a soupy beer mash. I think the man-half enjoyed it more than me. What I ended up liking was the sweet clear holiness know as moonshine.

Out of all the distillery tours we took on this trip, Angel's Envy put the beauty of the distillation on full display. Front and center you can see the column still on

display with that lovely clear white lightning floating out for us all to see. Indeed, once you get to hear about the distillation process, you get to sample it fresh off the line! To the right of that glorious encased moonshine fountain is a yellow lever that will spout some moonshine into a glass. Now you won't get to drink it straight out of the glass, but you get to lick some of it off your finger. I will say this is some of the cleanest (legal) moonshine I've ever drank. It was sweet, smooth, and didn't leave a funky aftertaste or burn. If I could, I would buy this and drink it on occasion. I'm not a clear liquor fan, but Angel's Envy has some good stuff here.

The next stop of the tour didn't involve sampling. It focused on the barreling and finish of their products. We didn't know much about Angel's Envy prior to the tour. Apparently, they've got two basic "finishes" once the bourbon has aged in the barrels - port and rum. The additional steps of allowing the bourbon sit around awhile longer in rum or port barrels adds additional flavor (and perhaps complexity) to the end product. I love rum and port wine so both of these options seem like a win to me. One tastes like the Caribbean and the other a liquified grape. In either case, I'll take it and drink it up with please.

Another step of the finishing process involves the actual bottling. We spent about 30 seconds in this room and I managed to snap this picture. Hopefully these line workers don't hate bourbon. I've heard that workers in some industry factors grow to hate or dislike the product they make. For example, the Gibson guitar factory workers probably get tired of seeing guitars (at least this is what I was told on our Memphis factory tour a few years ago).

The conclusion of the tour ended where it ought to - with the tasting. I will say that, in hindsight, this tasting was a pleasant surprise and disappointment all at the same time. The surprise was that there was a clear effort to get you to taste and experience their bourbon to it's full potential. You smells and then tasted it neat and on the rocks. I think water may have been available but I don't remember tasting it with water. Each step helped to open up the flavor profile and complexity of the experience. Another positive was that they are the only stop on the Bourbon Trail that offers just plain chocolate. It was an orange chocolate (yum!) that complemented the Angel's Envy port finished bourbon. And this is where the disappointment sets in...there was only one bourbon or whisky to taste as part of the tour. We would enter the "bar" area of the facility and purchased a shot the rum-finished rye whiskey, which we would subsequently buy in the gift shop. All-in-all it was a unique and definitive experience. I was also good distillery tour opener for our trail.

So how did the bourbon fare in the rankings and reviews? Well, here you go!

Angel’s Envy Port Finish

4.5/5

Smells and tastes sweet like caramel, vanilla, and very. Very smooth. Better on ice than neat.

Angel’s Envy Rye Rum Finish

5/5

Smells like rum – banana, molasses, cinnamon. Tastes like a peppery banana rum. Sold!

After finishing up in the gift shop at Angel's Envy, we hoofed it down the street to the Evan Williams Experience. It was a straight shot down the road and took about 10-15 minutes of walking to get there. Along the way, we did get to see the renovation construction for Whiskey Row, which is set to become a bourbon tourism destination. There is no doubt that downtown Louisville will be changing between the construction on Whiskey Row and the development of the convention center. Some folks might not realize that downtown Louisville has a rich history with whiskey. Whiskey row is not just the name for a new tourism district, but it is a historical district where whiskey firms set-up their business (and not the entire operation now) given it's proximity to the Ohio River. Evan Williams, in fact, is one guy who got established in the area. He was a man of many talents.

Out of all of the basic tours we took while on the Bourbon Trail, the Evan Williams experience was definitely the most Disney-like and historically informative. The outside of the experience facility was a throw-back, and sits across from the the historical market you see above. (There are actually many historical markers along the walk if you are curious about

the Whiskey Row history.)

The lobby is also just as swanky as the outside. The same giant bourbon flowing glass you see from the outside is adorning the inside. It sits next to the tour counter where, if like us, you will swiftly be swept into an adjacent room for a short video introduction about Evan Williams - the man & the brand. I wasn't expecting much after the first video. I figured it would be a standard tour explaining the basics of making bourbon. However, right after the initial video we were swept into Disney-like magic.

The picture to the right isn't the best, but it is the second "video" room you will enter. It was similar to the staged rooms of a museum or, as I would suggest, a staging room for a Disney ride. This room continued to explain a bit more history about Evan Williams the man and how he functioned as Louisville's first wharf master.

Next stop after the wharf-master experience video room is the standard bourbon tour explanation for how bourbon or whisky is distilled. This was probably one of the best explanations of the process. I liked it because it took you step-by-step and highlighted each step of the process. The video screens at the bottom were also

entertaining and informative. It is also in this room where you get to see the craft distillation operations.

Once done in the distillation room, we moved on up to the second floor to talk more history. As you can see from the picture, we were once again on a private tour this entire time. This portion of the tour gave a throw-back to the history of Whiskey Row and Evan Williams. The store front on the right is also where the Evan Williams Experience conducts some of its tour tastings. It has an old frontier bar feel and your beverages will be served up via a hidden pop up console in the table. (For reference, there is also a secondary tasting rooms with an amazing 60s vibes a bit further up the hallway.)

The tasting portion of the Evan Williams Experience involved the sampling of four different beverages. So how did Evan Williams offerings perform in our taste test?

Evan Williams Black Label

2/5

Smells like honey but it is hot. Too hot. Can’t even enjoy the sweetness if there is any.

Evan Williams Single Barrel

3.5/5

Smells sweet and goes down mellow. Very light and creamy. Toffee and caramel chocolate.

Evan Williams Master Blend

3/5

Smells like cedar and vanilla flowers. Like it straight and it is made lighter with ice.

Evan Williams Red Label (12 year)

3/5

Oaky and peppery. Also pick up some sweet caramel nuts. Nice body. It’s okay. Not worth the $130 price tag.

All-in-all Evan Williams bourbons weren't exactly our style. I am not a fan of Larceny...like at all. So I knew that coming into the Evan Williams' tour I would likely not enjoy their bourbons that much. However, the tour was definitely one of the best given the historical background of the tour.

In departing Evan Williams, it was time to return to our vehicle (that we left

parked at the hotel) and make our way to the Bulleit site. Bulleit is located at the Stitzel-Weller Distillery, which is on the south side of the Louisville area. We got a

bit lost trying to find the exact entry to the distillery but you can't miss the warehouses from the main road. Upon pulling up to the facility, you will come to stop to meet some of the finest workers the distillery has ever employed. They will then point you in the direction of the visitor center. The front entrance to the center was closed during our visit and so we entered through the gift shop.

This place has some history, evident by the Old Fitzgerald stack you see on the

property. The distillery was the stomping ground of some of the notorious master distillers (and their families) - like Van Winkle, Weller, and Stitzel. The Bulleit family came to purchase and distilling on the property in the 1990s. The bourbon industry tanked in the 1970s and 1980s. By the 1990s, property and equipment was relatively easy to come by. Thus, Bulleit was born. Our tour covered a lot of this history, gave us an overview of the distilling process, a glimpse of the micro/experimental distilling efforts, and a walk in one of the warehouses.

Perhaps my favorite part was seeing the cooperage. I don't know what it is about the creation and maintenance of the barrels, but I like it (as evident by goofy grin

on my face). Most of the distilleries on the tour don't make their barrels anymore.

Instead, the Independent Stave Co. makes it for them. While I can understanding the dynamics of this arrangement, there is also a part of the distillery history that becomes lost (at least to me). Coopers were probably got into some of the best shenanigans and were likely to know what's what. Seems like my kind of people.

Once we finished up at the cooperage, it was time for the taste test. We had hung out in the gift shop for about 20 minutes prior to the beginning of our tour and

had checked out some of the more unique offerings from the distillery (like this $2,000 Orphan Barrel Collection --- never gonna get it but whatevs). The one we were most curious to taste ended up being one of our favorite tastings of the day - Blade and Bow. So, how good was it? Our rankings (as tasted in order) for Bulleit are:

Bulleit Rye (Green Label)

3/5

Spicey, honey, cinnamon. Got a minty thing going on with it. I feel it in my chest. Kinda of heavy and dry. Not bad.

Bulleit Bourbon (Orange Label)

3/5

Like an old medicine bottle…because why not? Caramel oak nose with fruit. Definitely a pepper bite. Tart like a lemon or orange with toffee sweetness.

Bulleit 10 year (White Label)

3.5/5

Smooth. Smells and tastes like honey vanilla with fruit. It’s like a Werther’s Original candy.

Blade & Bow

5/5

This bourbon has a backstory—love it. Solera process like my favorite rum. It has a toast and toffee smell. It goes down warm like a buttery vanilla. This is good. Like real good. Wonder if the taste will hold over time.

The Bulleit tour was the last for the day. It was late afternoon and we had not ate much that day. We opted to skip any other adventures in the Louisville and find something to eat as we made our way over to Frankfort for the night. This is also about the time we had confirmation that a looming Friday snow and ice storm was going to be much worse than originally thought. On Tuesday it was reported that there would be light snow, but by Wednesday there were multiple reports of

heavier ice and snow expectations (I'm mean seriously...look at this local weather screenshot). As such, my "winter preparation" vacation skills came in handy. I spent much of Wednesday late evening plotting how to get four distillery tours completed over a 6 hours time span on Thursday, and squeeze in the last three stops of the trail on Friday before everything would likely start shutting down. The new game plan would be the following:

Thursday - Wild Turkey, Woodford Reserve, Town Branch, and Buffalo Trace.

Friday - Four Roses Distillery, Makers Mark, and Heaven Hill

We would likely not make it to the Four Roses Warehouse or Jim Beam Distillery, but we would complete the trail. That was our main goal. We could always go back and see more later.