Kentucky Bourbon Trail: Barton 1792 distillery tour

September 27, 2012 Eric Burke

Enjoying a 86 proof Very Old Barton while I write this. It just seemed appropriate.

Storage tank on top of the buildings at 1792

It was Wednesday. We were up early. We had to be on the road to get to Bardstown by 9 am in order to get on the first tour of the day at Barton. We had a lot planned today and needed to get this tour out of the way early.

That's how I thought of it. "Get it out of the way." Well, before I went on it I thought of it that way.

Barton was a hold over from my first trip to Kentucky. They started offering tours one week after I had left that last time. Made me sick because I ended up driving past it two or more times on that trip and each time I was disappointed. To say it was on the list was an understatement. It was the first thing to get put on the list this time around. Not that I was expecting a lot. I mean, I didn't really drink anything that was made there. It was curiosity, really, nothing more.

We walked into the gift shop just a little before 9 am. We get on the first tour and we browse around the shop a little bit. I've got my eye on a couple things I plan to check out a bit later when an older gentleman in a logo'd polo and khaki shorts—Don—walks out and asks who's on the tour. Robin and I said we were and expected that the other two people in the shop would as well, but they didn't.

This means another "private" tour. I love those.

As we walk out of the gift shop, Don asks if we'd been on any other distillery tours. We admitted that we'd been on about 4 already that week and seven on our previous trip and that we'd been to Independent Stave as well. At this point, he jokingly asks if we'd like to switch roles because we've obviously done this more times than him. I admit it, I thought about it. Briefly. As we walk across the parking lot and over to the first stop Don fills us in on the history of the plant, the company, and a little about what it's like to live so close to the distillery. It turns out he lives just up the hill.

The aging warehouse isn't much to look at on the outside. Like, Maker's it is black with red trim. It looks nice, such as it is. It looks better than it would if it were white and covered in fungus. And Don admits that was the reasoning behind painting it. I wonder what that does for the whiskey aging inside since it'll draw a lot more heat that way.

One of many very beautiful and dramatic photos we got inside the Barton aging warehouse.

On the inside it's different. It doesn't look that much different than other rick houses. Thick wooden beams. Barrels filled with wonderful whiskey. A smell that makes you want to stay there forever. But they all have that. No the difference is subtle. It's in the lighting. It's more dramatic. Certainly more photogenic. We took some that make me want to weep they are so pretty. We wander in there for a little while, learning about things like the elevator shaft and a strange device called a mule (a device which it seems no one working there will either confirm nor deny the existence of to him).

After the warehouse we walk over to the still house. This is one damn big still. Don explains a little about it, but what he is better at is telling stories. Don reminds me of my grandfather in some ways. Except that after one of my grandfather's stories, I was never poured a whiskey.

Don's stories about the still being done, we head over to the bottling area. They weren't bottling bourbon that morning, but we get to wander around with him as he talks about various things that are happening on the line and of course more stories he is reminded of as we walk by things. Stories like one about a former tour patron explaining that he and his friends used to drink Ten High and still would occasionally say "Ten High: for when it doesn't matter." A statement which Don quietly said he very much agreed with as it's not very good.

Then it was back to the gift shop for a tasting. We tried Very Old Barton 86 proof and 1792 Ridgemont Reserve. As a nice gesture to those who like such things, they also had them available chilled in case you were the type who liked it that way. I wasn't but I appreciated the gesture. Oddly in a head to head, I liked the Very Old Barton better. If it were available in MN, I'd save myself a bunch of money with that realization. As it stands though, that knowledge does me no good.

I loved this tour. I was amazed at the photogenic-ness of the warehouse, the size of the still. But I will fully admit that it might just be that I loved the tour guide. Don was awesome. I would do this again in a heart beat.

I can't forget the world's largest whiskey barrel. Can I? Near a visitor picnic area, the only one I saw at a distillery.

BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts Etsy store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com. Thanks!

Kentucky Bourbon Trail: Willett Distillery tour

September 26, 2012 Eric Burke

Willett Distillery was a bit of a wild card for me. I'd been to or researched every other tour on our trip. All I knew about Willett is that when we first called to see if they were doing tours during the Bourbon Fest, they thought it would be a good idea. They sounded small. I like small places as much as I like big places. The tours are often more personal, more private.

So that's my way of saying that when we pulled up the steep gravel drive we weren't quite sure what to expect. At the top of the driveway we turned a corner and saw a building with a parking lot on one side and an old aging warehouse on the other. Off in the distance there looked to be some more industrial buildings. We stopped in the parking lot, there were chairs on the porch. Peaked my head in a couple doors and decided that this couldn't be where we were supposed to be. So we hopped back into the car and drove down toward those industrial looking buildings. As we got closer, saw a small sign that said gift shop and we spotted a parking lot behind it.

This time we were pretty sure we were where we wanted to be. As we parked and looked around, we were struck by how pretty this place was. We went into the gift shop and paid for our tour. $7 for tour and tasting.

First stop on the tour was to watch a truck unload some grain. It was interesting, but I was distracted by the very interesting arched gold door in front of us. It had very large medieval looking hinges and a handle shaped like a pot still. After the tour guide finishes discussing the history of the property and of the business, we go inside. As we make our way up the black metal and wood stairs, our guide fills us in on a some more background on who the company is and what's going on around us.

The rough hewn stone, wood ceiling and exposed beams make this one of the most authentically beautiful distilleries I've seen.

Once we get upstairs we are shown the fermentation tanks. There are some filled and some empty. What I am really struck by is the rough hewn stone that is being installed around us. Off in the corner the workmen are still installing some of it. It is beautiful. This is already one heck of place and is just getting more so. After a side trip to see the column still—the little column still which is running a batch as we watch it—we head down stairs to see the pot still.

We are told by our tour guide as we look at the still that we will never see anything like it. She tells us it is patented. Unfortunately she didn't say why and now I'm curious. I tried doing a google patent search but all I found for these guys was a design patent on the pot still shaped bottle they have. Oh well. I'll ask next time.

In between the still house and the closest aging warehouse we make a stop at the barrel filling room. Then it's over to the aging warehouse. This one isn't quite as picturesque on the outside, but the inside is full of aging barrels of whiskey and that's even better. Then its back into the gift shop for the tasting.

I like this tasting. First whiskey we try is the Willett Pot Still Reserve. I found this to be a tasty whiskey. Enough so that I plan to purchase one in the future so that I can spend some more time with it. Then it got really interesting. They gave us the opportunity to taste anything they had. That included the 23 year old rye or some really old bourbon that I can't remember due to being distracted by the rye. I did not try the old rye or the old bourbon. I have no self control, if I tried it, I would have liked it. Then I would have had to fight with myself to not buy it. And it was out of my budget. So instead I tried the five year old rye and ended up buying it with no regrets about what I could have tasted.

I like this tour. It's a beautiful facility, the tour was informative and the tasting was great. I do think they need better signage at the top of the hill to tell you where to go and I wonder at the $7 tour fee but I had fun and want to do it again next time I am in Kentucky.

This is how I felt during and after my tour: happy.

Kentucky Bourbon Trail: Maker's Mark Distillery tour

September 24, 2012 Eric Burke

After visiting Independent Stave we stopped off at Maker's Mark since it was on the way back to Bardstown and we wanted to get our passport stamped. We weren't planning on taking a tour, since we'd already been on the tour last April. But when a cheerful person asks me if I want a tour when I walk up, I automatically say yes. Much of the tour was the same, so we mostly just took the opportunity to take a lot of pictures.

Entrance Sign at Maker's Mark

The Maker's Mark campus is beautiful

Almost all of the building on campus are black with red shutters

Even the more industrial looking items and buildings follow the branded look of the campus.

The inside of the buildings are showpieces too. This is a mash cooker and too highly polished copper tanks.

Fermentation tanks with the logo on the wall behind them.

I found this bottle labeling machine fascinating.

These bottles have just been dipped and are going into a chamber to set the wax.

The new tasting rooms are a major improvement. And they are also beautiful with very nice artwork.

We tasted unaged, regular Maker's Mark, "Over Matured" Maker's Mark and Maker's 46

After the tasting, you can visit the gift shop and have the opportunity to buy a souvenir bottle and dip it yourself. Robin took that opportunity.

This is probably my least favorite distillery tour. It is very pretty, very highly polished, but I felt that it was much more about style than it was about substance. We visited an aging warehouse, but it was empty. We had a tasting of a product (the "Over Matured) that the tour guide claimed was only made so that they could make sure that the stuff they've been making is good. That doesn't make sense to me. I'm not sure if there was a mistake somewhere or if they're doing extra market research. Either one would make more sense.

If you don't know anything about bourbon or never developed a taste for it, this is the one I would recommend because it will make you want to drink Maker's which will make you curious about other bourbons and bring you into the fold. But for me, this tour only rates a meh.

Bourbon Trail Background: Independent Stave Company's, Kentucky Cooperage tour

September 23, 2012 Eric Burke

Independent Stave Company. If you are a Bourbon geek like I am, you've probably heard of this company. They are one of only a handful of companies across the country that make the barrels that all that tasty bourbon ages in. In fact, almost every major producer of bourbon along the Bourbon trail uses the barrels from this one company. I learned about them on my first pass along the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. And once I saw that they offered tours, I knew I needed to get myself on one the next time I was in Kentucky.

It's about 9:00 when we roll into Lebanon, KY home of Independent Stave Company. Tour starts at 9:30 sharp. We are early. To pass the time until our tour starts, we drive around the small town for a bit. Pretty town, but there is a strange dust floating on the wind. It's not until we get back to the visitor parking lot that we realize that it's sawdust.

We walk up to the building and enter what looks to be the break room. There is another couple already sitting in the little roped off area near the door. No one else is there so we take our seats there too. At just about 9:30 a gentleman walks over and tells us we are going to watch a video and plays it for us.

As you might have guessed, this is our tour guide.

After the video, he hands us safety glasses and hearing protection if we want them and leads us into the plant. Inside the work area, there is a set of risers behind a metal railing. We all step up onto that to...watch another video. This time due to the noise, there is no sound. It sounds bad, but for safety issues, there is no way we are going to be allowed to get close to the folks working. I actually like it, it has captions that tell what all the precesses you can see from there are called. After the video we get a demonstration of a barrel raising. Barrel raising is an art. A lot of decisions need to be made for every barrel in order to make sure it stays water tight when it is finished. You need to meet a minimum number of staves, but not go over a maximum number. And when you are finished, you need to meet a very tight tolerance for the circumference or it might leak. Yeah, these guys are good.

The next stop is the one that everyone who's even thought of the tour is waiting for. This is where we get to see the fire. In between where we watched the barrel raising and where we were standing, the barrels had been steamed, formed and had a temporary band placed on them. As we pretended to watch the video, we all watched the charring. This is where the barrel rides a conveyor to a barrel-end sized nozzle and then a natural gas fire is shot and sucked through the barrel for 40 or 55 seconds.

It is so cool! Oh and we were informed that no matter what the distillery tour say, they all use either 40 or 55 seconds (number 3 or 4 char). I found that very interesting.

The final stop on tour is one that I found very surprising. It's where they repair the barrels they just made. They tell us that roughly 20% of the newly made barrels will need to be repaired. A cooper quickly takes the barrel apart and pulls out the bad stave, matches it with a stack of staves that are piled nearby, puts the new one back in and puts it back together, sealing the seams with cat tails (the marsh plant not the kitty's hind end). Nature's silicone he called it.

Then it was done. We gave back our safety glasses, shook hands and walked out. That's it. It's a short tour, but very interesting. I liked this tour a lot. I wish it was longer and that you had a little more time to watch what was happening. The videos were on a large screen that obscured much of the process. You only saw certain parts of it. But the parts you saw were the parts most people would want to see. If you love bourbon or are planning to visit Maker's Mark, plan to stop in to Independent Stave's Kentucky Cooperage. Tours are at 9:30 am and 1 pm sharp, Monday through Friday except on holidays.

Kentucky Bourbon Trail: Heaven Hill Behind the Scenes tour

September 20, 2012 Eric Burke

I'm having a little Evan Williams 1783 while I write this. Thought it was fitting to have a Heaven Hill product I'd never had before while writing about my visit to their facility.

This is my second tale of a visit to Heaven Hill. I was not impressed by the first visit, tour ticket mishaps and what-not. You can go back and read that one if you want, it's well written but not very flattering.

This tale begins well before I went to Kentucky. If you went back and read about my previous trip to Heaven Hill, you'll know that I was pretty upset. I almost didn't go back other than to get my passport stamped. A few months ago (4-6 or so?, might have been) I visited the Heaven Hill website to check on something or another. Seeing if a brand was theirs or something. I was rooting around the site, as you do, when I saw a link to the Bourbon Heritage Center site. On a whim I clicked the link so I could relive that sweet little worm of a memory of my disappointment. You know so I could really remember how much I didn't like it.

The site had been redone. It was actually really nice looking. Stupid good looking site. I clicked on the view our tours link, and then on the Book a Tour link. Everything was really slick. I was impressed. So much so, that before I knew it I was inputting my credit card info into the slick little form and buying tickets for the Behind the Scenes tour for both my wife and I.

Stupid good looking and slick form...

Ok fast-forward to the day of the tour. I'm a bit nervous, as you might expect. But there was no need. I walked in, the lady behind the little desk greeted us warmly, asked what we were there for, checked us in and gave us our little stickers. We were in.

Fred, our tour guide got the two of us set up in the movie theater. (Yes, it was just the two of us, I know, right? how awesome!) I described the movie in the last post, it hadn't changed. I was right though, with a better outlook it, I did like it. After the movie we walked out, got into a van, and drove across the parking lot.

Did I tell you Fred was old? Well, he is. And he's a retired school teacher. Which means that he was completely full of the ol' knowledge.

So we got out of the van at the barrel filling building. This was an impressive process. There was one person working the filling machines in there, one unloading the truck holding the empty barrels, one loading the full one into another truck and some quality assurance people behind the scenes. That's it. Everything was controlled by hydraulic activators. Everything. It was like a mad genius who hated computers put this thing together. It was awesome!

Barrel filling by mad-genius machine

After the barrel filling room we went to the warehouse. This was part of our previous tour. It was still good. I loved it. The smell of a bourbon aging warehouse is unbelievable. Old wood, evaporating bourbon, dust and sunshine. I could have stood there all day just smelling.

This barrel was filled on Dec 7, 2010 (number of letter in alphabet=number of month in year, A=January, B=February, etc)But I didn't. Out we went and piled back into the van. Next stop was the barrel extraction room. Now I have to call it this, other places will call it the dump house or something similar, in fact Heaven Hill did too. But there was no dumping. Instead another mad genius hydraulic system bought full barrels to be vacu-sucked empty. I'm sure there is a very good reason for the vacu-sucking. I didn't ask. They didn't say.

Vacu-suck extraction of bourbon

Next stop was the bottling line. Compared to Four Roses, this was massive. Like, that took up a corner and this took up somewhere in the neighborhood of 3-4 giant rooms. It was huge. They had a bunch of lines. Almost all of them were down or filling something other than bourbon, but by this time, we didn't care. This was an amazing tour. Totally worth the $25.

But it wasn't done. Oh no. A van ride back to the Heritage Center and we walked into the large barrel shaped tasting room. Fred was on his game. He knew we were bourbon drinkers, and didn't bother with the entire how to taste presentation we got last time. No we just got down to business. He offered us about 5-6 different bourbons to choose from. My wife chose the 20 year and 21 year Elijah Craig. I took the new Larceny and the Elijah Craig 12 year (but a higher proof one than I can get at home). Needless to say, we each also tasted each others. I wasn't going to let that kind of old bourbon go by without at least a sip.

And then it was done. We each got a souvenir pin, a signed certificate, and an invitation to the gift shop. All of which I appreciated greatly.

So, yes, I loved this tour. My attitude has flipped 180 degrees. I will now recommend the Behind the Scenes tour to anyone who will ask. Or in this case, to an entire internet who didn't ask. It was great. Fred was awesome. I'd say he's tied with Terry at Four Roses and maybe one other for best tour guide we had. I loved hanging out with him and chatting. What was going on around us was just gravy. Very tasty and informative gravy.

Kentucky Bourbon Trail: Four Roses Warehouse tour

September 18, 2012 Eric Burke

It was around 10 am when we rolled into the Four Roses Cox's Creek Warehouse and Bottling facility. You stop at the guard house which is shaped like a large barrel. The guard comes out, you sign your name to the visitor register, they open the gate, and invite you to drive down to the gift shop.

It's a nice drive. It's at the back of the property so you get to drive past a good number of their single story warehouses. By the time we got back to the stone house which houses the gift shop (we'd stopped/slowed down to take photos) our tour guide was outside waiting for us. Looking at my wife, he smiled "You must be Robin," he said. (I think he knew her name because we had scheduled a tour way back when they still required that.) We introduced ourselves. His name was Terry. We chatted a bit as Terry walked us over to the van that was going to drive us around the property. We got inside and he drove us to the first stop.

As we exited the van at the dumping and bottling building, he warned us that there are cattle roaming the property and to be sure we watched where we stepped since they often leave evidence of their visit. Reminded me of the pastures I snuck into as a child so I had no problem with that.

Empty barrels waiting to be shipped off to Canada

When we got into the building, Terry gave us a brief run-down on the equipment that we were walking past. It was the barrel filling stations. As we walked across the room to the barrel dumping station (yes, they were in the same room) he explained how the tanker trucks bring in the new make and where things are unloaded. All I could think was that all that tasty bourbon goes through that one room twice. And I was standing in it!

When we got to the dumping station Terry gave us a quick explanation of how they take out the bung, put in the breather and dump it in the trough in the floor. And then he did something amazing. He asked us if we wanted to try some from the barrel in front of us! Even though it was maybe 10:15 am, of course we said yes. He tipped the barrel and poured us each a quick sample and told us this was destined to become part of a batch of Four Roses Small Batch. I probably don't have to tell you, but I will anyway. Even though it was in a little plastic cup, that might have been the tastiest bourbon I'd ever had. The experience of tasting my favorite bourbon straight from the barrel? I'd have been happy if the tour had ended there.

Barrel with breather in it ready to be dumped. I tasted out of this barrel

But it didn't. We looked at the filtering system and then walked through a door and into the shipping area. We saw another filtering system for the yellow label and then entered the bottling area.

I was shocked at just how small the bottling area was. We got to walk up to the line in various areas. Close enough to touch things, though that might have gotten us hurt and probably escorted off the premises. But in any case close enough to see exactly how everything worked. We said hi to a couple of the people putting the labels on and the guy running the capping machine. There were maybe 8 people in there.

Bottle filling machine filling Yellow Label

After taking a bunch of photos, we went back the van and rode to one of the warehouses. Terry explained a lot to us while in there. Things like: Four Roses ages in single story warehouses to minimize temperature variations between the barrels at the top and bottom of the building.

After the warehouses, the tour was over and it was back to the gift shop for a brief tasting and some shopping. I bought a signed bottle of a 17 year old Single Barrel (OSBV) and the new-to-the-shelves-that-morning 2012 Limited Small Batch.

I loved this tour. I had a lot of good tour guides, but Terry might have been the best. Top two at least. He was awesome! The tour was also probably my favorite. But, if you are going to do it, make sure you go do the distillery tour first. This is the second chapter.

Bourbon Trail Distillery Tour Review: Buffalo Trace

May 25, 2011 Eric Burke

Editor’s note: Please note that I went on this tour a month ago now, Easter Weekend. I might have gotten a few of the details messed up, but I think my memory is pretty accurate. And you might have a different experience since it was a holiday. Also this is not an official Bourbon Trail stop, but is one you should go on anyway. You’re right there. You might as well. Ok. On with the show.

It’s Saturday morning. We’ve had storms all night. At one point the thunder is so loud that I jump straight out of bed and land on the floor looking to make sure the ceiling is still above me. Reports of flooding are rampant. I’ve got one distillery to go and after a bit of packing I’m ready to go.

As we head out of Bardstown for the last time on this trip we notice that the thunder was only the most audible of the storm’s effects. Branches are down everywhere and there are a traces that running water was everywhere too in the not too distant past.

We get to Frankfort a little early. There is a definite need for some coffee. Can you believe that the only coffee place in Bardstown was closed still at 8am? So we stop for coffee and plan what we are going to try to do when we get to Buffalo Trace.

We get there just as they are opening and we get on the first tour of the morning. We had reservations for the Hard Hat tour a little later, but are assured of making it back in time. So we decide to give it a try.

The first thing I notice while waiting for the Trace Tour to start is that we are in a beautiful old building. The second, as I chat with the tour guide, is that I think I am going to like this tour. Our tour guide is JW (editors note: I’m pretty sure…it has been a month now). This guy is awesome! So much raw excitement.

We start out with a little history. Then we head over to another building for a movie. This movie is as good as the rest. That is to say very informative and nicely done. After the movie JW takes questions and then we are asked to gather in the back of the room.

Once we are in the back of the room, JW gives an old cabinet a pull and it pops out from the wall. It’s actually a doorway to get into one of the aging warehouses. It’s a small thing, but is impressively cool none the less.

Unlike some of the other tours we’ve been on, we don’t go into the rick house very far. We get to see some barrels and even an experimental barrel or two. But it’s all good. The smell is the main reason I like going into them anyway.

After the rick house we travel to a small building where JW explains just how much liquid is lost due to evaporation over time. This is the coolest visual aid we’ve seen on this. the rest of the tours we’d been on just sort of tell us there is evaporation. All of a sudden I understand why an 18 year old bourbon is so much more expensive than a 12 year old one. Pretty cool.

The one thing we didn’t see was the bottling. Once again. Make sure you don’t plan your trip for a holiday weekend. Or really a weekend in general if you want to see that. Just saying.

Then it is back for the tasting. We get to taste the Buffalo Trace and the Eagle Rare single barrel. Both are very good. There is something about seeing how something is made that kind of changes your opinion of it. I didn’t care for the Buffalo Trace before I went, but really like it at 11 am this rainy Saturday morning, so who knows. But the star of the show is the Bourbon Creme. Toss that guy in a little root beer and you have a knock your socks off adult root beer float. Holy Cow. That’s what I ended up buying as my souvenir.

After the tasting I chat with JW a little more. He’s a great guide and I hope that the rest are as good as him. After that it is time for the Hard Hat tour.

We gather next to the tasting area for this one. It is my wife and I, an older couple and their daughter and son-in-law. Coincidentally, they are from the Twin Cities too, just not recently. Small world. We all keep an eye to the sky because there is more weather threatening.

To start this tour we get a tiny bit of history, not a lot since this is much more of a factory tour. We see some of the grounds. Very pretty. Then it is over to the industrial portions. The first stop on the way in is where the grains are unloaded. They are unloaded through a grate in the ground.

Once inside we walk past the mash cookers and up some stairs. Once up there we get to see them from the top. They really look like giant pressure cookers. And wow, are the lids attached with some heavy duty closures! We also see the yeast cooker.

Then it is across a skyway to the fermenting building. It seems like each place we go to builds them bigger than the last. These fermenting tanks hold 92,000 gallons! Buffalo Trace also has a very cool CO2 removal system that we haven’t see anywhere else. At least I thought it was cool. (Oh and the “No Swimming” sign next to them is pretty much priceless.)

After that we see a small still for making experimental bourbons and some smaller fermenting tanks. Nothing in these.

Finally there are the stills. These suckers are multiple stories high. I forget how many, but we were way up there. These are column stills. I like the little touches here. Even the taps to pull a sample have a small buffalo on them. Love that.

Then we are done. We stop a little bit to look at the flooding. The river in their back yard has not crested yet and is already high. Amazing.

Then tasting. I already had one of these so I tell them that so they didn’t get in trouble for serving me twice. While he was serving the others I ask about the root beer. Dr. Mcgillicuddy’s. Not available most places. But available online, in that distillery and in certain places in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Yep. It’s made near me. It’s owned by the same company as Buffalo Trace. Some of the best I’ve had. Seriously. I also buy some of root beer. It’s gone before I leave the parking lot. Sad.

I loved Buffalo Trace distillery. I wish I had seen it in operation and on a sunny day. It was pretty, but I could only imagine the improvement a some sun would make. I will go back. I may try to get on both tours again. I think this tour was the best one. If I had to choose just one tour, it would be this one. And it isn’t even on the Bourbon Trail officially.

Bourbon Trail Distillery Tour Review: Jim Beam

May 19, 2011 Eric Burke

It is still raining when we leave Maker’s Mark. Raining so hard that we at times we need to slow down as the wipers can’t keep up. We’d planned to go to the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln this afternoon. But, that’s out due to weather. So what else can we do?

I know! We’d planned to go to Jim Beam tomorrow, but we might be able to get a tour in yet today. Let’s give it a shot!

I’m not all that excited to go on a tour because everything I’ve read states that this is a self guided tour. They list tour times on the Bourbon Trail site so I’m confused. But I figure I’ll figure out when I get there so off we go.

The rain is letting up by the time we get to the Beam Distillery. As we walk up to the steps to the gift shop, the sun is even peaking out. There’s a nice lady inside the front door. I ask her when the next tour starts and she tells me that it’s coming soon. Cool. We use the rest room and wander around the gift shop for a while. Here I get my first hint that Beam makes something other than the White label that I never really cared for. I’m intrigued and am starting to get to the point where I can’t wait for the tour to start.

We gather at the back of the gift shop and head out the side door. The first stop of the tour is the old house. We looked at the old photos and saw a very small working still. This is pretty cool. I must admit. After that is the obligatory movie. They all do this and they are all pretty good. This is no exception.

The tour guide answers some questions for us and we head out the back door. Now some of this part is the old self guided part, we kind of breeze past that with a promise that if we come back next September (2012) we’ll get tour of the distillery for the first time. But for now we get an enthusiastic tour guide who tells us stories and paints us word pictures.

We work our way down to an aging warehouse. Oh man. That’s heaven. This is the money part of the tour. Our tour guide, I wish I could remember her name, gave us such a description of the aging process that even though I’d been on 5 previous tours at 5 other distilleries, I felt like I learned something. Then it was out for a tasting.

We got to taste the Basil Hayden and the Knob Creek Single Barrel. Both are awesome. At this point my mind officially changes regarding Jim Beam.

I loved this tour. It was short and you didn’t see as much of the process as you do at others, but the enthusiasm of the tour guide made it the most fun tour of the six we went to. This tour is FUN. Capital letters. And if your only exposure to a Beam bourbon is the white label, especially take the tour, get the tasting. If your a fan, you’ll love it. If you are not, you’ll change your mind.

This was the tour where we got our last stamp on our passports. Our t-shirt stop. So fun.

Blog