The Sun Shines Bright On My Old Kentucky Home

Kentucky, as a stop, was a late addition to our trip. At first we thought we had no need for a state that was divided during the civil war (40,000 confederate troops; 90,000 union), we were in search of the “real” south, those states who took a shoot first, ask questions later approach to succession. Then we remembered that 95% of the world’s bourbon is made in Kentucky. So off we went.

As we crossed over from Tennessee into KY something had noticeably changed. While the South as a whole has been aesthetically pleasing, Kentucky is gorgeous. Colorful forests lined the highway and small farms were tucked within the woods. The sky was Cookie Monster-blue and the sunset Bert and Ernie-orange. We headed to Bardstown, unofficially known as the bourbon capital of the world. Luckily for us My Old Kentucky Home state park was right in town. We pulled into the park and despite being surrounded by a golf course it was perfect - piles of free wood for burning, hot showers, wooded forests separating us from the club swinging good‘ol boys. We spent the evening leisurely cooking hot dogs, drinking beer and enjoying god’s gift to man, s’mores.

The next morning we headed off toward destiny. Jim Beam was our first stop. Jim Beam and their collection of small batch bourbons (knob creek etc) is where my experience is most confined in the realm of bourbon. A bourbon distillery looked a little different than I expected.
Smoke stacks (spewing steam – maybe steamstacks) towered above big metal wearhouses. It looked more like a factory that a distillery. However, as we toured the place we soon realized that the steam just came from heating up the corn used for distillation and the warehouses were filled with charred oak barrels of aging bourbon. The tour was self-guided, which ultimately meant that we breezed through it in order to get to the tasting at the end. We got to taste all of their small batch bourbons and they were all great – some smoky, some oaky, some sweet.

After a few drinks we were feeling pretty high class (usually the more I drink the classier I feel, but the less classy I get – quite the paradox) and so we headed over to Maker’s Mark, a gentlemen’s bourbon. They had clearly put some time and money into their tour operations. It was like being at Disneyland. Their visitor’s center was housed in the 1800s era house of the original distiller and it was set up with memorabilia from the family that originated Maker’s Mark. They even had digital pictures on the wall of the family that spoke, yes, they used digital rendering to have the framed pictures say humorous things. It was quite the show.
What makes Maker’s Mark special is that instead of using rye in its distilling, it uses red wheat grain. Supposedly, this makes for a smoother, cleaner taste. In fact, about 18 times during the guided tour, our tour guide would bug-out her cartoonish eyes and flutter her jazz hands back and forth all while saying “ssmmooottthhh bourbon whiskey.” This was Disneyland for adults and she was the ultimate caricature. She had well rehearsed jokes and smiled wide. Despite being a little condescending, the tour was actually pretty good and apparently they won first place in 2007 for having the best tour of any alcohol facility in the world.

As far as I’m concerned, Maker’s Mark is just okay, but I’d rather have one of Jim Beam’s small batch bourbons any day. That was it for our bourbon tour. Sadly, most of the other distilleries were closed on Mondays. Oh well, another time.

As for Kentucky, I think it was possibly the most beautiful place we’ve visited outside of Zion. If I were to move to the rural south it would definitely be on one of the picture-esq farms dotting the hillsides of the back roads. Maybe someday I’ll come out here, write a book and open a bourbon distillery. Thor’s Straight Bourbon Whiskey has a nice ring to it.
As we raced down the country roads toward the freeway we snapped a couple pictures of Lincoln’s birthplace (i.e. log cabin), but time was a-wastin’ so we couldn’t trouble ourselves with spending any real time with Honest Abe.

Kentucky Pictures