Bourbon. Whisky.

          Brown sugar, toffee, vanilla and caramel.

All those flavors wrapped up in a fragrant glass of all american liquor.

We took a trip to discover the hometown of bourbon and taste our way through bottles we had only read about.  Bardstown Kentucky is home to many distillers and is close to several others.  We stayed at Rosemark Haven bed and breakfast which started us off with a hearty meal to fortify us through our tasting adventures. And welcomed us home each night; whether we traveled near or far.

Just half the display of bourbons at the Oscar Getz Museum of Whisky.  A great starting place for orienting yourself to whisky, prohibition and Bardstown history.  The docents are fun and welcoming and like bourbon too!

Maker's Mark

All the reports recommend this tour and we do too.  The grounds are impeccable, the tour leader informative and they give you an opportunity to taste sour mash!

Maker's Mark red isn't in the Benjamin Moore catalog, but it would certainly make a nice addition.  In combination with the dark paint of the buildings, it makes a nice statement.  By the way, the dark paint is functional as well as decorative.  Because the whisky is a fermented product, yeasts are everywhere.  When they settle on buildings and plants, they coat everything in black - hence the paint allows more time between power washings!

Notice the whisky bottle cutouts in the shutters....

Vats of mash fermenting.  Maker's Mark lets you taste it if you want.

I didn't want...

I believe this is 4 or 5 stories tall,

the bourbon is distilled and comes out clear fire.

For a price you can claim your own barrel.

White Oak Barrels are burned inside to leave a charred coating.  The new bourbon is stored in here, for a proprietary amount of time.  The flavors are due to the mix of grains, water and also the charred barrels.

Brian and his parents after the tour.

Next stop Woodford county where the stables are nicer than my house.

Driving through the countryside, you will see fields of these warehouses.  The are filled to overflowing with barrels of the stuff.

Woodford Reserve

Beautiful place and we will be back.

Up Next, Buffalo Trace

Home to many bourbons including the epononymous Buffalo Trace, Blantons, Eagle Rare among others.

This is a display at Buffalo Trace that illustrates how much of a full barrel is actually the angel's share.  I think the angels get the better end of the bargain.

Our very entertaining and knowledgeable tour guide explaining how Blanton's ages in a metal rick house.

Brian, inspecting a display of how they used to do it, and probably some still do.

Bourbon Heritage Museum

The Bourbon Heritage center is quite well done and has lots of displays and tours and a very nice gift shop with lots of neat culinary items - which we bought quite a few of.

FIRE!   Supposedly the streams around the site actually burned due to the bourbon spill.  

I love the sense of humor they have evidenced by putting this display on he wall with the fire alarms.