Day #4: The Bourbon Trail

Bright and early on a Friday morning we were up and ready for the last push in

completing the Bourbon Trail. The weather was definitely not going to be our friend today. Early morning temps were hovering right above freezing with drizzling rain. We budgeted our last three stops to take approximately 5-6 hours to complete. The first stop would be the Four Roses Distillery. We got there before the doors opened and, similar to our early morning visit to

Wild Turkey, I was dancing outside the

visitor center because I had to pee. So here is a tip after encountering this problem twice, make sure you plan your coffee consumption and bathroom needs to when the visitor centers would be open. Luckily, we only had to wait about 10 minutes for the doors to open. I quickly made it to their lovely restroom facilities, which actually win my award for best bathroom on the Bourbon Trail. I took a picture to prove my case.

Perhaps this doesn't come as a surprise, but we were the only people there at 9am that morning. I'm guessing that bad weather in the middle of January doesn't scream bourbon tasting. The distillery wasn't open for tours while we visited (due to renovations) but the warehouse location did. Since we knew we wouldn't be able to make it to the warehouse for a tour, we opted for the abbreviated tasting at the distillery. To be honest, I didn't know much about Four Roses and kind of had an ambivalent attitude about the brand. Call me a snob or an ass but for some reason I didn't imagine this being as good as some other offerings. This could be influenced by an acquaintance who has felt the need to announce to us that he is drinking bourbon. On one occasion he proudly announced, "It's a Four Roses kind of night!" For reference he also confuses bourbon with Tennessee whiskey so I always get suspect when he likes something. But you know...to each their own, and after our tasting I will admit that any night could potentially be a Four Roses kind of night.

Like every other distillery, Four Roses does have some history. From the story of its founder and four rose symbol to the brand's prominent advertising in the backdrop of the Times Square V-J Day Kissing photo, Four Roses is a brand and distillery that is part of the American landscape. This is a history I can definitely

appreciate. The tasting experience

included a historical overview before the tasting began. Within the tasting room there are also antique bottles (including prescription whiskeys) and other historical mementos on display. It was a shortened experience that actually perked my interest to come back to the distillery after the renovation is complete.

The tasting itself was composed of the distillery's three offerings. Like Woodford Reserve, Four Roses included a visual guide to the tasting. The distillery has 10 different recipes for making bourbon (see right and for decoding go here). So how did the bourbons fare in our taste test?

Four Roses Bourbon

3.5/5

Smells florally and fruity. The taste is spikey with herbal goodness. It is light and has some fruity undertones. The shock is that there are 10 recipes mixed up in this. Generally pleasant.

Four Roses Small Batch

4/5

It has the smell of the woods. I goes down spicy warm with caramel. Definitely has the Kentucky Hug with some grandma softness. 4 recipes mixed up in it!

Four Roses Single Barrel

4.5/5

This mix was the OBSV. It smells like a floral vanilla cookie. Tastes like a sugar cookie with raisins. Just yes...yes. We gonna get a bottle of this.

Four Roses was an excellent abbreviated experience. Considering my butt-like attitude towards the brand prior, the visit to the distillery changed my mind and attitude. Whenever I manage to get back to Kentucky, I'll be sure to head back for a distillery tour and to visit the warehouse site to see their unique storage system, for which they only have barrels stacked six high.

After completing some shopping at the Four Roses gift shop, we hopped in the

Jeep for an hour long drive to Maker's Mark. We got their just in time, too. It was announced on their Facebook page that the distillery would be closing "around lunch" so that everyone could leave before the roads got dicey. Maker's sits in a rural area with winding roads along the countryside. The new visitor's center sits up on a hill with a bit of a walk to the original site. When we arrived, we quickly made our way through the drizzling rain to the new visitor's center. I immediately beelined

it to the restroom (once again) while

the man-half got us tour tickets for the

last tour. Outside of the restrooms are some amazing mosaic murals. The waiting room for the tour was quaint, but we didn't spend much time here or viewing some of the other historical offerings (which are apparently amazing if you have the time). Instead, the tour started with a briefing before we headed outside. It was cold and rainy outside but we quickly made our walk down the brick path to the distillery and warehouses.

The tour progresses through several buildings. First up is the grain processing, fermentation, and distillation. We immediately got a viewing of their pot stills while the tour guide coverage the nature of their mash bill. We quickly moved to the fermentation tank room where we proceeded to stick our fingers into different tanks to see how the brewer's beer tasted each day of the fermentation cycle. The man-half still enjoyed the tasting of the fermented goodness more than me, but I was definitely the bigger ham with taking photos next to the tanks. The second

stop was to see the die-cut label center (non-operational during our visit) before heading to one of the oldest rick house on the property. The label center, when in operation, is suppose to have some lady workers there running the machines and doing their thing. This tour element was unique as other facilities do not have the same handmade process still in place. Even

in the case of Bulleit, their "crooked" labels are no longer made or applied by hand. This is also the part where we got to know about the woman, Margie Samuels, that made Maker's Mark the iconic brand it is today. I would suggest that you visit to hear the history first hand instead of relying on

me to tell her story without the same

finesse as the tour guides. The rick

house was beautiful and dimly lit, which isn't great for photo taking. You can, however, see the warehouse in the background of the photo to the left. Following the rick house visit, the tour meandered through the bottling hall. Once again because of the weather, the bottling facility was not in operation. The workers were sent home for the day. Nevertheless, the bottling facility had some awesome advertisements on the back wall. Below are a few of my favorites that I was quick to snap photos of while there.

The bottling facility was the prelude to the crown jewel stop - the Maker's 46

rick house (and formally referred to as a cellar). Built into the side of a hill, the Maker's Mark 46 rick house opened up with a description of what makes the 46 unique. Namely, the barrels have French oak staves within the barrel itself for a delectable finish. Maker's describes the process a bit more here. The warehouse facility is adjacent to where the fully aged Maker's Mark is then transferred into the unique finishing facility. The limestone wall backdrop gives the rick house a distinctive beauty. Now for the

wealthy folks out there, there is one additional perk to seeing where 46

is made - the private select tasting

room. With the right combo of a liquor license and money, you could buy yourself a custom barrel of Maker's Mark (aka Private Select). The tasting room is equally as beautiful as the warehouse, and it has a view of the warehouse. So, I'll make a plug here - if you got a liquor license and some money, I'll volunteer to be a test taster for your selected barrel. I come with ample bourbon drinking experience and I'm fun. Like super fun. I will also pay my own way back to Kentucky just to help you out.

The Maker's Mark 46 rick house was the last of the tour before the tasting. Maker's Mark puts on a show in this respect with a grand total of five samplings. We were super stoked about this and the opportunity to sample offerings we never considered before since I'm not much for wheated bourbons. Below are the tasting notes from this experience.

Maker’s Mark

3.5/5

Good solid standby. It’s easy to drink. Wheat sweet with caramel and a decent but not memorable finish. Definitely a decent mixer. A good go-to cheap bottle.

Maker’s 46

4/5

This caused some debate in the household considering I like the private select much better than this. It has an oak spice caramel smell with a taste of hot ass intensity to match. It is definitely bold and will need to be in the mood for it. It is very complex and somewhat smooth.

Maker’s Cask Strength

3.5/5

It has a sweet nose that the taste doesn’t exactly match. It is just like the regular Maker’s but with a kick.

Maker's Private Select (Tasting Panel)

4.5/5

No clue how this is better than the 46. This is just like some candy. Sweet caramel coffee. It’s like the Werther’s your grandma never wanted to give you because she was keeping it warm in her pocket for later. Long and delicious finish.

Another unique element of the Maker's Mark tour is the post-taste walk through in another "rick house" (while eating bourbon balls) and getting to see a glass art instillation by Chiluly. I truly wish we had more time to explore the grounds to see the other installations, but they were closing and we had to get out. However, this didn't stop us from hand dipping our own bottles in the gift shop. I opted to dip a bottle of Maker's Select while the man-half bottled some moonshine for his pappy. I remembered one of my aunt's telling me about dipping her own bottle when she visited here, and I really wanted to do it for myself. Totally worth it.

And now for the grand finale...Heaven Hill Distillery! The last stop and stamp for our Bourbon Trail Passport would be complete! A thirty minute drive from Maker's Mark brings you to the outskirts of Bardstown, Kentucky - a true epicenter for bourbon lovers. Like Maker's Mark, this distillery was also planning to shut down mid-day. Upon arrival it was raining hard - like super

the connmaster. This, in turn, meant that we warehouse tours were suspended. However, tastings were still available in two forms - the basic and the Whiskey Connoisseur Experience. The basic tasting involved Larceny - so big ole' nope. The Whiskey Connoisseur Experience involved samples of highly allocated, rare, and expensive whiskeys - so big ole' yes.

While waiting for the experience to begin, we wandered the hall to soak in the displays including local history, exploring the connection of bourbon to rum, and learning more about the rise of bourbon in Kentucky. Heaven

Hill has connections to the Evan Williams Experience in downtown Louisville to the extent that we finally got to see a picture of the untamed Ohio River that explains why Evan Williams was wharf master. A 26 foot drop doesn't sound bad until you see pictures of the rapids.

The tasting itself was a slide-show guided adventure covering the history of the

distillery, such as explaining the distillery's survival, and an in-depth

coverage of the beverages sampled. Heaven Hill doesn't actually have a distillery on site, as it burned down some time ago. However, there are still plenty of warehouses and the distillery was able to survive in part through the help of other distillers. Our tasting guide was excellent and took the time to really get us to sniff, swish, and experience each whiskey. In fact, she was sooooo awesome we all got an extra shot because of all the birthday folks that were in the tasting. So the tasting notes for Heaven Hill Connoisseur are...

Henry McKenna Single Barrel

2/5

Smells like sweet corn and molasses/caramel. It has a spicy bite with lite fruit and clove. Way too hot to enjoy. With water it is still spicy but smoother.

William Heaven Hill 5th Edition

5/5

Smells like cinnamon, clove, and vanilla. It tastes like a butter scotch molasses – almost cookie like. So good. So damn good. Way out of my price range though, which is a bummer.

Elijah Craig Small Batch Barrel Proof

5/5

Smells like rum, banana, and molasses. AND IT TASTES LIKE IT! HOW IS THIS A BOURBON HOLY CRAP ON A CRACKER. Tastes like a rum but with bourbon flavor. Don’t put water in it. It makes it peppery.

Pikesville Rye

4/5

The experience alone made it worth it. Smells like a cookie (vanilla butterscotch?) with some nuttiness but it doesn’t taste like it. Made me cough…like hard. This could kill a virus. Very peppery to where your lips curl on first taste. Second taste was dry and spicy with warmness. Water calmed it down a lot. I enjoyed this very weird rye experience.

Heaven Hill was a great experience. I don't think we would have done it any other way - although a warehouse tour would have been cool, too. Shortly after some gift shop purchases we made our way to our hotel for the night. Everything was shut down the following day so we drove on back to Missouri before the next band of snow and ice would pummel the area. Our trip didn't exactly go as plan, and we did miss quite a bit that we wanted to see, but it was perfect nonetheless.