It was Thursday, September 13th. I know because it was my 15th wedding anniversary. My wife and I felt that there was no better place to start this very special anniversary than one of the prettiest distilleries in Kentucky. I'm going to say right off the bat that I like this tour. But I knew that going in. You see, I've been on this one before. In fact, this tour is the one that made my wife decide to give whiskey a chance. There were some differences this time. The price increased from $10 per person to $25. We actually got to see the bottling area. And we wandered around the back of some of the buildings and saw the old water cisterns and the stream out back. Our tour guide was different as well. His name was Earl, and he gave a very good tour.
Horses watching from behind a fence along the drive to Woodford Reserve
Looking back from the entrance of the Woodford Reserve Visitor Center. I kinda wish I had these flagstones outside my door.
As you walk up to the fermentation and still building, they are always sure to point out the grind stone that was found on the property and set above the entry. It's cool, but very worn.
Recently filled barrels on a track going to the aging warehouse. Shot out the door to the fermentation room.
Mash fermenting in very large wooden vats. We were told that these were made from boards cut from logs that had been preserved in a swamp for a hundred plus years
The picture everyone takes at Woodford. The beer still, the whiskey safe, and the name on the wall.
A more interesting detail of one of the other stills which was open so you could look into it.
This is the stream that runs out behind the distillery. There is a small footbridge across it which leads to the old farm where the fathers of American Bourbon once lived.
Looking back at the distillery building while standing in front of an aging warehouse.
A close up of the rough hewn limestone aging warehouse. A lot of the buildings on the grounds are made of this material. Only the aging warehouses have bars on the windows though.
You can almost smell the angel's share through the screen can't you. Well, I can.
This is a barrel about to be dumped. We didn't get to see that, the workers were on break. But Earl did thieve some out of the barrel and let us smell it.
Like I said at the beginning. I liked this tour. Earl was a good tour guide. What I really liked about this tour, was that it was apparent that each tour guide was able to customize the tour to their strengths. Last time I was there I had a former science teacher giving the tour and he told us about molecules and fossils. This time, Earl gave us a bit more of the history and details about the grounds. Both were very good, just different.