Day #3: The Bourbon Trail

Our day #3 of the Bourbon Trail was a serious mission to be completed. The night before we saw all of projections for how bad the weather could possibly get on Friday (Day #4) of the trip. So, we adjusted plans accordingly. The initial goal for our lovely Thursday on the trail involved stops at Woodford Reserve, Town Branch, and Buffalo Trace. (Buffalo Trace is not officially a part of the Bourbon Trail, but we included it on our trip for reasons I'll tell you about later.) Due to weather, we opted to squeeze in an early morning visit to Wild Turkey so we would only have three remaining stops on Friday morning before bad weather rolled in.

Thursday was an overcast day with light rain. It was perfect bourbon drinkin' weather even at 9am, which is when we got to tour the Wild Turkey distillery. The drive to Wild Turkey was really pretty. There was some serious horse country between Frankfort and the visitor center. You officially will recognize that you are there when you come up to this sign greeting you to their "house."

We actually got to Wild Turkey before the visitor center opened for the day. Yes, it was that early in the morning. However, this gave us a moment to check out the vista in the rain before we hung out with a bus driver to stay warm. (I will say that this was also the longest 15 minutes of my life having to wait for a restroom, too. Coffee + more coffee + 25 minute drive = a lady who has to pee really bad.) Luckily the conversation and views kept me distracted long enough.

Once the visitor center opened up, I hastily made my way to the restroom and we signed up for our tour. Once again, we ended up getting a private tour (haha!) with none other than Bo Garrett as our tour guide. Here we are cheesin' it hard with him at the end of the tour. He was an excellent tour guide and apparently does this gig on the side when he's in town. No promises that he could or would be your future tour guide. (It's like the equivalent of getting Freddie Johnson while touring at Buffalo Trace I suppose or maybe even harder than that.) Anyways...so the tour begins with us hopping back on the distillery tour bus (the same one we took shelter in from the rain) and hauls us up to the distillation building. On the outside of this building is that beautiful turkey painted on the side wall. In this building is where the magic happens.

Walking into the building you will get a view of the grain processing operations on the grounds. The silos hold some of the magic ingredients that will later be brewed. The morning we visited the doors mill were open and we got to get a glimpse of the production process that is typically off limits (safety first!) and very noisy. In the picture to the right you see those open doors in the yellow-beige section of the building. The tour will enter the door to the very far left.

The tour follows a similar path of the other distillery tours we had been on up until this point. They take you through the process of how the grains are processed, brewed (fermented), distilled, and then barreled. The brewing process was massive in comparison to some of the others we saw. This isn't to say that

other distillers don't engage in production of this scale, but we didn't get to see it. We also got to see the brewers mix being dumped into one of the fermenters, which have 30,000 gallon capacity. Now I'm not really into the smells of the fermenting rooms, but I will say that this place did smell pretty good. I'm honestly more into the smells of the warehouses and used barrels.

Three other highlights of the tour are the view of the column still, a view of the control room, and a photo opportunity in the fermenting room. The column still was a sight (see right). If I remember correctly, it is around a 50 ft tall still or the equivalent of a 4 - 5 story building (assuming 10 feet per floor). It was huge. The still sat behind the master control room where some folks were monitoring the production activities. As seen in the lower right picture, the windows behind them are the view of

the column still, and the window in front of them are of the fermenters.

I'm not sure I possess the type of skills necessary to engage in this kind of work, but somebody has to do it. Upon leaving the viewing area of the still, we then got a photo op in the fermenting room. It was beautiful! And I think we looked pretty good.

On our way out of the building we also got a glimpse of the sensory lab, otherwise known as the tasting room for the experts. Apparently they were set-up for a tasting that day. I wish we could have joined them, but this would have involved an invitation and some tasting skills that go above and beyond. However, I will say that my tasting skills are developing, and I am always down for a tasting. So if someone would eventually like to invite me to one of these expert tastings, I will gladly accept the invitation.

Once we finished up in big fermenting and distillation building, we hopped back

on the tour bus and drove across the property to this old rick house, which if my memory serves me correctly is the oldest one on the property. Along the way you get to see some of the newer warehouses, the pipe system, and more views of the property. We got to learn a bit more about the history of Wild Turkey. Inside the rick house it was cold and smelled delicious. Like other rick houses, it contained barrels, but I also got to enjoy a view of the building looking up while standing on the elevator. The other fun view in the rick house was of the Matthew McConaughey signed barrel (with Jimmy and Eddie Russell signature, too). Apparently this guy managed to get an invite to the tasting room as he is now the Creative Director for the brand. I'm not gonna lie here, his quote "just keep living'" became our de facto giggle motto for the rest of the trip. Anytime we felt tired we'd chant "just keep livin' - l.i.v.i.n." I'd like to imagine McConaughey was driving a Lincoln and drumming on the steering wheel as he said this.

Once on the bus we drove back over to the chic visitors center for the tasting. Now, there was suppose to be a ticket we held on to that would get us to the tasting. However, I lost ours somewhere in the depths of my bag and wouldn't discover it until several days later when we were back in Missouri and unpacking. Luckily for us, we were the only people there on a tour and so it was hard to deny our tasting. (Side note: Don't lose your tasting tickets! It could be a disaster waiting to happen.) The tasting is situated in the shadow of an old copper column still and consists of four samples. We ended up sampling five because we're awesome like that. Namely, we already knew that Wild Turkey Honey was not our thing. How did we know that? Because my old man loves that stuff (and I'm assuming is a general Wild Turkey fan) and I remember tasting it several times and thinking it was cough syrup. So, we also got to sample the Honey Sting, which cut down the cough syrup sweetness. Below are the ratings for our sampled beverages.

Russell’s Reserve 10 year

3/5

It’s like cherry cola. Spicey. Some maple and some cinnamon. It’s alright.

Wild Turkey Rare Breed

4.5/5

My dad likes this and now I can appreciate why. It’s like a caramel pie. Smooth. Oakey. Yeah..it’s good.

Russell’s Reserve 6 year Rye

4.5/5

This is some serious candy corn smell. It’s also smooth and spicy like a cinnamon butter. I would totally drink this again.

Wild Turkey Honey

1/5

It’s a cough drop of sweet punishment. I would cook with this but this seems like a whiskey for non-whiskey drinkers. Gross. My dad also liked this one. He may get knocked for it later (and if you are reading this...I still think this is gross). Don’t get how he likes Rare Breed and then this.

Wild Turkey Sting

3/5

This is strangely good. That ghost pepper makes up for that nasty plain honey variety. I’m gonna get me a bottle of this for some summer drinkin. I could cook with this too. Like make some pulled taco meat with it.

We hauled ass to Woodford Reserve, our second stop of the day. Luckily we arrived within 15 minutes of the next tour starting. Compared to other distilleries Woodford had a major equestrian feel going on with a visitor center that reminded me of a country club. The waiting area was very comfortable, as Oscar can attest. (At least I hope this is Oscar. These Woodford cats are famous apparently.)

The tour begins with visitors hopping on a small tour bus that goes down the hill. I suppose they use to walk guests down the hill but the bus is a better option for managing us. The first building you walk into is the distillery. Originally constructed in 1840, this building is where fermentation and distillation take place.

Woodford uses wood fermenting tanks. We didn't get to see the fermentation in process due to maintenance. However, it was pretty cool to see the original site for distillation still being used. Cypress is the type of wood that is used to construct the fermenters (if you were curious) and, yes, they do replace planks at some point.

The next stop in the building is down some stairs to see the triple-pot distillation process. Like the fermenters, this area was also undergoing maintenance. In fact, one of the three pot stills was completely gone. Only two of the pot stills were there for the viewing. It was a bit disappointing to not see the operation underway, but I understand that equipment needs to undergo maintenance.

We left the distillery and walked next door to one of the warehouses. Woodford is unique in a number of respects for how they house their barrels. Namely, Woodford uses a climate control system with a heated pipe system in the warehouse. They state, "We also boast one of the only heat cycled barrelhouses in the world, ensuring every drop seeps into the charred and toasted white oak, giving Woodford Reserve its color and signature flavor." What this means for a winter-

time visitor is that the warehouse was unusually warm given how cold it was

outside. Cycling heat and cold allows for that sweet spirit to seep in and out

of the wood beyond the typical seasonal fluctuations. Before heading back up to the visitor center for the tasting, we also got to see the bottling center (adjacent to the warehouse). In here, you we also got to see a whiskey thief in use and smells fresh out the barrel bourbon.

Woodford's tasting took place in a room right off the waiting area in the visitor's

center. It was also one of the more engaging tastings as we were also given a tasting wheel to look at while we sampled our two beverages. This help tremendously as sometimes it was difficult to figure out what sorts of smells and tastes were possible out of a singular glass. This wheel, and the bourbon ball, made this a good tasting. And the tasting results were as follows:

Woodford Reserve Straight Bourbon

3.5/5

Smooth, crisp and fruity. It’s got this butternut thing going on. Pretty standard and delicious.

Woodford Reserve Double Oak

2/5

Way too harsh for my liking. It’s fruity and woodsy with some sweetness, but this would generally be a nope.

Town Branch was the third stop of the day. Once again we had to haul ass to get there. It was spaced about 30 minutes away from Woodford Reserve. We had booked just a bourbon tour but ended up getting a make-shift customized tasting since we missed our tour time. That means we missed some of the history of the distillery itself (shown in a video) but managed

to get more tasting than expected. Town Branch is one of the newest distilleries and the gift shop is reflective of the Irish roots

of its founder. It is also a distillery that also has a brewery on site and an Oprah endorsement. As you can see, Oprah was wowed with the Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale. It is also a "Genius Invention" to boot. If you want to get your hands on this Oprah endorsed beer, you may have to check to see if it is distributed in your state. We picked up a 6-pack at a local grocery store to enjoy once we got back home. (FYI...I imagined Oprah to be more of a wine or vodka drinker. This kinda changed my vision of her.)

The tasting and tour area of Town Branch was really pretty. These pot stills were the backdrop to the tasting. Other scenic elements included painted barrels and barrels with referenced sizes. I was entertained to learn about a "butt" load.

The sampling was...interesting. To be honest, Town Branch goods weren't

really our thing, but I have a deep appreciation for what the founder is trying to accomplish. For reference, my ratings of their spirits are as follows:

Town Branch Bourbon

2.5/5

Light and crisp but nothing super remarkable about it. Smells oaky and

has some sugar fruitiness. Slightly better than Evan Williams original.

Town Branch Rye

2/5

This is like super lite and it bites you in the mouth. Smells slightly floral and spicey and mostly just tastes like oak. Not really my thing. I like to taste and savor my whiskey and this won’t let me do it.

Town Branch Single Barrel

.5/5

Did this s**t just bite me? Too. Damn. Spicey. Too hot. Couldn’t enjoy it. No

complexity to it because of the burn.

Town Branch Dark Rum

3/5

A rougher version of Pilar dark rum. Smells like a good rum but it is rough around the edges to where it isn’t as smooth.

Pearse Lyons Reserve

1/5

This was more on the bourbon than the scotch scale. No peaty-ness but it was too bright. Too much tannic, too much sour. This may not be a fair shake down because Scotch is not the normal jam in our household.

Bluegrass Sundown

2.5/5

This was good when you mixed a bunch of stuff with it, but it ain’t that good alone. The utility of it would be with cooking or toppings. I dunno. I just prefer other cream or coffee styled goodness if I were to go this route. I rather just pair sweet stuff with my bourbon. Worth a taste if you've never had it.

On the flip side of this urban complex was the brewery. The man-half was definitely more interested in the beer than I would ever be. I'm not really a beer person. On the menu were several options. We tasted a few and here is my honest feedback on a few (compared with the man-half:

Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale

Nomad Rating - .5/5

Man-half Rating – 4/5

Nope. Just Nope. Tastes like piss. Man-half notes – “It was good. You can taste the bourbon in it.” This is a real complement FYI.

Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Stout

Nomad Rating - .5/5

Husband Rating 3.5/5

Again, it tastes like piss. Man-half notes – very coffee-ish but not as creamy as desired. It was flat.

Kentucky Vanilla Barrel Cream Ale

4/5

Surprisingly good. Like a cream soda beer. Will be trying this with a bacon and pancake dinner. No man-half notes needed here. He agrees. (Also, we bought a sixpack to take home. It did pair well with a bacon and pancake dinner. Highly recommend trying this combo if you ever have some.)

All-in-all the Town Branch experience was a great. The distilled spirits really weren't our thing but the beer was really, really good and totally worth it. They were some really nice people, too.

Once again we felt ourselves hauling ass to the fourth and final distillery of the day. We had signed up for two tours - 1) the Bourbon Pompeii tour and 2)the ghost tour. I had already visited Buffalo Trace back in 2015. I was in Frankfort, Kentucky to complete some research in the state archives. Since I was alone and had down-time in the late afternoons and evenings, I opted to visit the distillery

for some fun. Buffalo Trace is where I can I can claim I re-acquianted myself with bourbon and fell in love with it all over again. This time I was set on bringing the man-half with me for a visit. I'd been bragging about this place for almost three years and how amazing it was - he did get to experience the magic via tasting and would finally get to be there for hisself.

The visitor center and property was the same as I remembers but different. The place has been experiencing growth in the past few years. For example, we waited for our tour to start upstairs in the visitor center next to the whiskey vault. If you want to feel tormented, this is the place for you. Within sight are some of the rarest offerings the distillery has to offer, but you can't get your hands on any of this deliciousness. In my case, I would love to have a bottle of Elmer T. Lee. However, if wasn't within my reach...well it was but I technically couldn't have it. Even the tasting area has a bottle hanging out. A peon like

me wouldn't be allowed another taste or to even take it home. Other historical varieties in the vault included some Pappy Van Winkles, E.H. Taylors, Sazerecs, Eagle Rares, and regular ole' Buffalo Trace. It was a sight to see and be envious of all at the same time. It is also a part of the historic Warehouse A on the property, which was built in 1881.

For the first tour, we signed up for the afternoon Bourbon Pompeii tour, which would be a tour on the history of the distillery under E.H. Taylor. This is a reservation only tour and started out in the visitor center. We then walked towards the western side of the complex towards the Kentucky River. Along the way we stopped to marvel at the production facility (such as the pipework) and eventually made our way to E.H. Taylor's house.

The site of Buffalo Trace is sort of...in reality...very tragic. Folks were once massacred here when it was initially part of a town. E.H. Taylor's house was set on a site some years later in an area that was not prone to flooding (quite as often as others) and housed himself, his wife (the true boss), and children. It was a standard but included a variety of historical

artifacts. Upstairs was particularly interesting as it housed a viewing of the experimental collection the distillery has been engaged in over the years. I almost died when I got to see experimental rums, wine-finished bourbons, and other inventions. It is like a part of me died of envy staring at bottles that I would never get to taste. I almost shed a tear just looking at the pictures of those bottles.

I could die.....I mean....the rum. And the bourbon!

The real point of the tour was to see the unearthed portions of the O.F.C. Distillery. Buffalo Trace happened upon this gem when renovating the building for an event and convention center. It turns out that the Old Fire Copper Distillery was just filled in with some odds and ends and covered up. It was never truly destroyed by the river, fires, or time.

On display on the entry floor to the area are a number of artifacts recovered including copper sheeting, glass, equipment, and old bricks. It took me awhile to conclude the finger print on the brick existing on the one right in front of the sign.

Down on the bottom floor, we got to see some of the original walls, the drop tub, views of the Kentucky River, and learn more about the process of renovating the area and recovering a piece of the distillery's history. If you were curious, the area will later be used as an event center and visitors to the facility will have the opportunity to view the remnants of the O.F.C. Distillery.

Once the tour ended, we opted for a quick stroll around the property. Stops included visits to the new Thunder the Buffalo monument, a stop by the 6 millionth barrel, the cooperage, and a quick view of the Blanton bottling facility. Ahhh....I love this place!

We had a couple of hours in between our tours for the day. We took this time to

finally get a solid meal (thanks Qdoba for the delicious nachos) and take a

quick napping break at the hotel. Once we were fed and rested, it was time to head back to Buffalo Trace for the Ghost Tour. I had already done this tour back in 2015, but I wanted the man-half to be able to see the Blanton house (since we like the Col. Blanton Single Barrel) and experience the ridiculous awesomeness of the tour itself. The tour started out on the first floor of the visitor center and we were quickly swept away to Albert Blanton's house. I was hoping that maybe this time around I would "experience" something supernatural. I'd like to believe (since it would make a good

story) that I saw a dog running around

on the first floor of the house. I mean

something did move while we were sitting and listening about the paranormal activity that supposedly happens in the house. So, could it be that this picture has a ghostly dog butt in the far right of the picture (see picture to the right)? Our tour guide said no, but I'm going to say yes. Why? Well I like dogs. Blanton had a dog. Therefore, I'm going to tell myself that there is a ghostly dog butt.

Our second ghostly spot was

warehouse C. I don't want to spoil anything said on the tour...so all I'm gonna say is that the tour may be worth the stop in this historic and most photograph rick house on the property. It was cold, beautiful, and smelled delicious. The tour would then end with a brief overview of the ghostly-ness that occurs within the visitor center itself, which is one of the oldest buildings on the property.

All Buffalo Trace tours end with a tasting, which occurs on the second floor of the visitor center. We had already had all of the deliciousness they had to offer, but we figured we go through the tasting all over again, because why not? In reflection, here is how we ranked the goodness during the tour:

Buffalo Trace

3/5

It’s still pretty good.

Eagle Rare

3.5/5

Yep, still good.

Buffalo Trace White Dog

2/5

Hot. Hot as hell after that Angel’s Envy goodness.

Wheatley Vodka

.5/5

A for effort

Not a vodka drinker. Not even sure what to say here.

Buffalo Trace Bourbon Cream

5/5

Best bourbon cream drink out there. Nothing beats how good this is. Has all your breakfast and desert needs covered.

Buffalo Trace was an excellent distillery to end on for the day. It wasn't a part of the official Bourbon Trail, but it was a definitive reason for us visiting Kentucky on this trip. We slept hard this night with sweet dreams of bourbon in our heads. The next morning would be another marathon of distillation fun before the snow and ice storm hit the area.