Kentucky XO

Sketches from the Kentucky bourbon trail. View the full gallery of images in my archive.

The idea for the recent bourbon tour began after my return from an early summer trip to the UK this year, which left me wanting much more including 2 more weeks to do a proper scotch trip. Once I was back home I realized that we had our own native spirit in the U.S., and I could much more easily afford the time and cash to begin digging into what makes Kentucky bourbon country. And once I found out about the annual KY Bourbon Festival, the whole trip was settled upon, with a few dedicated (eg. freelance or student) friends to join me as well.

Up until about a dozen years ago, there still wasn't much of a market for bourbon, and that lack of serious demand seems to have kept the original handful of distilleries as pretty much the sole producers (good bourbon takes at least 5-7 years to get to the bottling stage). In the last 5 years however, the market for ultra premium bourbon (think Makers, Knob Creek, Booker's, Baker's, Woodford, Pappy Van Winkle, etc.) has begun to take off in a big way. Personally, I started drinking bourbon having already fallen in love with its big brother scotch in early college. The reason was pretty simple math... my favorite scotches are $60+, compared to ~$32 for the bourbon.

The world's capital of bourbon is Bardstown, KY, which lies right smack in the middle of south central Kentucky and on top of a multiple county footprint of limestone bedrock, which offers clean spring water to all of the major distilleries. Coupled with the abundance of corn (bourbon is by definition American whiskey which is made with at least 51% corn -- the good stuff is usually upwards of 70%) and the region's location on the Western migration of two centuries ago, you get a picture of why Kentucky is the ground zero of bourbon. Bardstown celebrates all of this with a festival (this year's was the 16th), but you could also make the case that the real annual celebration is the Kentucky Derby (and its ubiquitous mint juleps).

Driving up from Orlando, via Atlanta, Eric and I began our tour by cutting up through Chattanooga and then staying north on small highways (its a bit quicker to head West to Nashville and then over) until we reached Loretto, KY, and our first stop: the Maker's Mark distillery (the south edge of the limestone region). What is shocking upon landing in the MM visitor's parking lot is that its a very, very small operation. If you have ever visited your local liquor store and were frustrated to find them out of Maker's, the reason may be that like the other small batch distilleries, they are truly S.O.S. (slow, old, and stubborn). Maker's offers a free tour through not only the property and a mini-museum, but also directly through the production, where you can literally poke your fingers into the bubbling yeast during the fermentation process to get a taste of the distiller's beer.

Starting off with Maker's was a great choice (which we only made because of its location -- be careful that you remember each distillery is at least 20-30+ miles away from the next one) because its such a small, classic operation that puts you in the right frame of reference. Though Maker's has never been my favorite bourbon, it was one of our highlights on the trip. And after eating a bit of lunch we moved on and North to Bardstown itself to check out what the festival was all about.

Ultimately, and somewhat unfortunately, the festival itself is best treated as a state fair that happens to have a bourbon theme. Bardstown is a cool little spot, but the festival doesn't have nearly enough of the very stuff that brought you there. It took us more than a full hour wandering around at the festival to even find the only place where you can actually drink bourbon, the "spirit tent," which was hidden behind the music stage. And even in the spirit tent, more than half of the people are drinking cheap bear. After getting ID'd, and then purchasing a badge and tickets (1 ticket=1 dollar, which makes you wonder why you needed to waste the paper in the first place), you can enjoy one of 20 or so bourbons (I was intimately familiar with almost all of the choices) while staying inside the confines of the tent area (which is set-up on a little league baseball field). There is no food in the spirit tent, but you can bring it in from outside, and not nearly enough seating. Nonetheless the bourbon was delicious and the weather was beautiful as the sun set.

Ultimately the festival is charming but incomplete for the real bourbon fan. The whole idea of a celebratory trip down the liquor trail is to discover new inspiration and kinds you have never tried or (hopefully) even heard of before. At most of the distilleries we visited there was nothing there that you didn't already know about. There is no special secret Maker's Mark blend that you can buy in their gift shop. Nope, just the same stuff in different bottles and on t-shirts and chocolates. As cool as it is to see the operation, I wanted to learn just how much more there was out there to try in the bourbon universe. It was disappointing to learn that except one giant exception, the bourbon you find at a good liquor store is pretty much the extent of things.

Later that first night of the festival my buddy Travis met up with Eric and I and we retreated back to our hotel in Elizabethtown (I tossed a coin and decided to stay west of Bardstown instead of east - staying in Bardstown itself requires a hell of a lot more preparation by way of advance booking - but next trip I'll be staying east and closer to the action). After a few beers and other libations we finished off the night, and got going to the Jim Beam distillery in nearby Shepherdsville the next morning.

On approach its obvious just how much larger of an operation that Jim Beam is, belying its role as one of the world's largest producers. JB is home to several of my all-time favorites including the world's best selling ultra premium, Knob Creek. Visitors to the distillery can check out a museum and tasting room, including a pretty nice video of the 200+ year old distillery, and then can step outside for a self-guided tour that is pretty limited to staring at the outside of their multiple giant bonded warehouses. A nice place to visit, but again there was nothing there for the ardent fan outside of dozens of expensive t-shirts.

After another content several hours spent tromping around Bardstown (lunch at a great old fashioned drug store lunch counter), we made possibly the smartest decision of the entire trip and joined friends of friends Simon and Jeremy up for a tasting they had heard about at the Chapeze House, a historic house in central Bardstown. It was immediately apparent that we had struck gold and finally found the uncommon road. We sat down to study a bourbon tasting menu separated into 3 flights possibilities: premium, ultra premium, and vintage. Uhh, yes please! Finally! Stuff I had never heard of, let alone tasted. We ordered 4 flights (2 ultra, 2 vintage) of 5 bourbons per flight, for a total of 20 different, including several bourbons that were 20+ years old (extremely rare).

The five of us were presented with trays of every bourbon sitting on a note card explaining what it was (many bourbons + drinking gets very confusing, trust me). And we diligently dug in, comparing and contrasting, matching ryes and ryes (one of the ingredients which adds a beautiful sweetness such as in Booker's) or 21 year old vintage vs. 23 year old (21 is much brighter and balanced). Things get better and better as we discussed the bourbon with Colonel Michael Masters who was on hand. And as we cleared the cups away I had a burning question for the Colonel: what in the hell is this "vintage" stuff?!

Turns out that "vintage" was not a category so much as an actual distillery located just a few miles from where we were sitting. And the heavens parted and the angels sang... a whole new distillery which we'd never heard of whose stuff was not only extremely rare and old, but it was the best bourbon I'd ever tasted, beating Booker's, Baker's, Pappy Van Winkle, and everything else hands down. Not only was it incredible stuff, but it was incredibly varied, ranging from their 25 year-old (and 125 proof) Willett Estate to the Pure Kentucky XO (think of a bigger, better balanced, beautiful Woodford Reserve). So why in the fuck haven't you heard of this heavenly stuff?! Well, to hear Colonel tell it they have such a limited distribution and tiny production that Bardstown, KY, is basically the only place on Earth that you can get it.

On the way out of Bardstown that night Jeremy and Simon had the smart idea of stopping by one of the local liquor stores and found some of the Vintage we had been drinking that night. I placed a phone order for 3 bottles (I would have done a lot more but you can only let friends buy so many bottles and carry them over state lines for you, ya know). The Chapeze House tasting was the bourbon highlight of the trip and its basically an absolutely required stop for anyone planning a trip. The Colonel will blow your mind.

Our final day in Kentucky was a Sunday which means that in Kentucky there isn't much you can do to appreciate bourbon unless you've thought ahead and pre-purchased. We made our way across the state to the beautiful horse country and the Labrot & Graham distillery near Versailles (pronounced in the most un-French way possible), home to Woodford Reserve (the official bourbon of the Derby). I've long since been a fan of this extremely under valued blend but even if I wasn't the distillery (a national historic landmark) was the best tour we went on during the trip. Though it costs $5, the tour begins with a short film and then takes you through the entire operation (another very, very small one). It was really a great way to end the trip, and I'd be surprised if Eric and I don't eventually end up buying our own barrel of Woodford Reserve (which is specially blended exclusively for you, for only $9000, equaling 190 1 liter bottles).

We wound our way back down to Atlanta and some more fun, and then eventually home. It was a great trip and I can't wait to head back.

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Comments (7)

Just to let you know, you can indeed buy alcohol in Kentucky on Sunday's after 1:00 pm. And yes, people look at me as if I'm from another planet when I pronounce Versailles. Thanks for the info on the Vintage. Perhaps I'll see you there next year.

Interesting story John. Took a look at the images on photoshelter as well. Being from the Caribbean, I'm more of a rum man myself. Never really got into the Bourbon and whiskey world. However, I can appreciate having a sense of taste about what you drink. Nothing like the experience of some fine aged rum from Barbados, Haiti, Jamaica, Nicaragua .... maybe as a long long term project I can do a series on the distilleries of my favorite rums ..nice!

Good Stuff.

Haha, I can't even begin (being French and all) to imagine how Versailles is pronounced in Kentucky. I just can't.

I'm more of a beer person myself (well, all the good Belgian stuff is right across the border), but this whole write-up makes me wonder if I'm not missing out on something.

Actually, to be fair to KY, its pronounced the same poor way in several states, including Missouri. "VER-sales." Its best to draw out the "sales" for several seconds too long.

Some follow-up straight from Kentucky Bourbon Distillers, Ltd (Vintage) that I got in reply to an e-mail I sent them: "We are currently in talks with a distributor in FL, but I wouldn't expect anything to hit the shelves until sometime early next year. Our products are available in KY, TN, IN, GA, IL, CA, OR, TX, NJ, NY, SC, DC, RI, CT, MO, WI. We don't distribute to every state because everything we do is small production and there simply is not enough to go around."

Kentucky Bourbon Distiller products are also available in Louisiana at Martin Wine Cellar.

Your blog is interesting!

Keep up the good work!

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