A Head-to-Head-to-Head Tasting: Very Special Old Fitzgerald 12 Year, Larceny, & Old Fitzgerald Bottled in Bond

Has it finally happened? Has my nose unclogged? Have my senses of smell and taste returned to me? Am I ever going to stop asking questions and get on with this?

Yes. To all of them. My wife and I have finally come close enough to kicking the cold/flu that felled us in the late December/Early January that we can breathe again. We can laugh without coughing again. And most importantly, our tastebuds and our sniffers work again.

Last year, round about September, I hit on the idea that to really know the minute differences of different bourbons, I needed to compare them to one another. Have them side by side. Smell one, smell the other, smell my hand*, and start over again. So while I was in Kentucky, the land of bourbon, I decided to start picking up a few things with an eye toward head to head tastings. Some of them were planned. Some of the stuff I lucked into. I was checking out when I'd notice a small bottle of something. Maybe it was a different proof than what already had. Maybe it was a mini of another release of something I had at home. I collected things all autumn long, buying bourbon in at least 6 different states along the way. It was fun. 

But by the time I was about to get started on the tasting fun. BLAM! Laid out by tiny little viruses. So unfair. And now we're back to the present. About to dig into a trio of wheaters from Heaven Hill. so how did I decide on these? Well, a little bit of luck and a tiny bit of planning. I've had the Very Special Old Fitzgerald 12 Year Old since a visit to Des Moines, Iowa this summer. I picked it up because it was something I knew I couldn't get here in Minnesota. Or at least I had never seen it. The Larceny was released right about the time I was going to Kentucky. I got a $10 rebate on the bottle and it was also on sale for roughly $22. Buying that was a no brainer. At that point it seemed I had a pretty nice head to head going. It wasn't a planned one, but hey, I'm not one to sneer at dumb luck. One problem, those two wheaters were both MSRP'd like premium bourbons. One of the things I had read about Old Fitzgerald was that it was a good value bourbon. So with the head to head in mind, I went ahead and picked up a bottle of Old Fitzgerald Bottled in Bond for ~$18 for a liter. And just like that it became a head-to-head-to-head. Three times the fun!

Here's how the wife and I did the tastings. With her out of the room, I poured each into identical Glencairn glasses. One set for me, one set for my wife. I had them on a piece of paper and in front of each I wrote a number 1-3. Then I left the room. My wife came in and moved each glass onto another prepared sheet that was labeled A, B, C. So I knew which bourbons were 1, 2 and 3 and she knew which letter corresponded to which number and neither of us knew which bourbon was in which place in front of us. A perfect double blind tasting.

So what did we think? Well, we both agreed that there were a lot more similarities between the bourbons than there were differences. In the glass all three were the same color. Though in the bottle the VSOF was a bit darker. None of these were overly complicated bourbons. All of them were sweet with a hint of spice in the mouth. So knowing that, let's dig in.

Bourbon A:

Nose: Sweet with a hint of something smoky. Once I was hit with something  sharp, almost acidic, but it was gone as soon as it appeared and never came back. I found the same thing at another time in my wife's but it was still gone so fast I couldn't place it.

Mouth: Sweet, but not overly sweet. Brown sugar with a little spice. This one was a bit thin when compared to the other two. 

Finish: Short and sweet. Not hot. Dried the mouth.

Overall: This one confused me. I smelled things that I couldn't catch before they were gone and couldn't pick out anything beyond a very gently spicy brown sugar sweetness. This is a bourbon that I could drink the heck out of though. I like it and I'd enjoy having it at my side while watching a movie or talking with friends. This was probably our favorite of the three.

Bourbon B:

Nose: Tangy and sweet play a game of cat and mouse with each other while nosing this one. One time it's a hard maple bomb, the next it's tangy, then they swap back again.

Mouth: This is a sweet one. Not as sweet as the nose, but there is a slight maple or brown sugar there amongst the alcohol. I found this one to be a bit on the thick side. Not oily, but syrupy. I guess that goes with the maple in there.

Finish: Finish was the best part of this one. There is that tang in the back of the throat that the nose promised, sweet spice on the sides of the tongue, and a hint of smokiness all around.  

Overall: My wife found this to be the harshest one out of the three we tasted. Said she only tasted alcohol. I agree it was the harshest one, but not overwhelmingly so. I like this one as well. Though good, this was probably our least favorite of the three. 

Bourbon C:

Nose: Right away I was hit with sweet baked apples. After a bit I got a lot of brown sugar sweetness.

Mouth: Sweetness at first on this one getting spicier as it moves back. I get a lot of corn in this one as well. 

Finish: I found this to have the most burn in the finish out of the three. Really drying the back of the throat.

Overall: This is a good bourbon. It won't blow you away analyzing it, though I found those backed apples on the nose to be interesting. But I drink a whiskey more often than I taste it and this is another one I'd enjoy drinking over conversation with friends or along side a movie or good book.

So which was which? Bourbon A was the Very Special Old Fitzgerald 12 Year Old. No Surprise here, my wife loves older Heaven hill bourbons. Bourbon B was Old Fitzgerald Bottled in Bond, which explains the harshness comment by my wife. And Bourbon C was Larceny.

I like all of these in their own way. Like I said, our favorite was the Very Special Old Fitzgerald, but I wouldn't turn down any of them. And in fact, before I did the tasting, I enjoyed each and every one on numerous occasions. The BiB was great in cocktails or on it's own. The VSOF made a wicked good manhattan. And Larceny is just plain tasty.

If I could only buy one moving forward, I'd pick the BiB because it is so much cheaper and almost as good. My wife, the accountant, though disagrees with me and would choose the Larceny. She like the VSOF the best, but initially had a hard time finding differences between them. So since it is a little cheaper, she'd go that route. If you're buying though? Give either of us the VSOF.

*By the way, that hand smelling thing isn't a joke, it seems to reset the ol' sniffer for some reason.

An End of 2012 Updating of the Stash

As I was cataloging my whiskey collection...

That's not weird right? I've found that I tend to catalog things in the stage where I have more than I can keep track of just by looking, but not so many that I'd need a database to keep track of it. I used to catalog my library of music...too big now. I used to catalog my library of books...too big now. So now because I feel a deep seated need to keep track of things and unlike books or music, stuff actually leaves this collection, whiskey is the perfect outlet. Anyway as I was saying:

I was cataloging my whiskey collection and noticed that I hadn't updated my stash in a while. Things have been added that I hadn't noted and others have left. This can't stand. However will random strangers know what types of whiskey I might be drinking at any given moment if I don't keep this list up to date?

Because there are random strangers who wonder this, aren't there? Say yes! Say YES!

ahem...excuse me

Since the last time I updated this, I've lost a few friends. Most have been mentioned here. 

Wild Turkey Rare Breed, this one will be coming back. It's one of our favorites.
Parker's Heritage Collection, Barrel Finished, I want this one to come back, but doubt it will due to limited availability.
Corner Creek Reserve, this one was taking up space. I'm kinda glad it's gone. 

But don't be too sad, I've also gained a few friends as well.

Col. E. H. Taylor Rye was a gift from my wife and is sitting in the bunker waiting for shelf space.
Four Roses Small Batch was a gift from my daughter's boyfriend (trying to get on my good side)
1792 Ridgemont Reserve was bought to compare to the Liquor Barn Private Selection. Bunkered.
Old Fitzgerald Bottled in Bond was bought to compare to both the 12 year Very Special Old Fitz. and the Larceny.
MB Roland White Dog was a gift from two very good friends
Old Grand Dad 114 proof was bought because it is extremely tasty. Bunkered.
Breckenridge Bourbon and Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey are both in the bunker waiting for shelf space after a recent trip to Colorado. 

So there you have it. I'm up to about 47 bottles with one duplicate. As you can see some of these are very similar. If you are perceptive you might pick up on some plans for 2013 in the list. At least as soon as I kick this cold and can taste things again...

Another empty: Corner Creek Reserve

What's this? Two posts in a single week? That...well...that just doesn't happen. Does it? Well it should. And this week it does. Do you remember how earlier this week I was baking a ham? While making the ham I just so happened to empty a bottle that had been sitting on my shelf for a long time.

It was Corner Creek Reserve, or as I heard it described in a liquor store once: the "one that comes in a wine bottle." When I bought this, it was on sale. I was a bit leary (it is in a wine bottle after all), but it's hard to pass up buy one get one free bourbon. I think I paid $26 for the pair.

...time passes while Eric stares at the screen...

So here's the thing, I am finding it extremly hard to write about this BOGO bourbon because it is extremely unremarkable. It doesn't come in a pretty bottle. It's not bad, but it's certainly not good. It's just...ok. I've had it as both the first, the last and the only drink of the night. The only time I wasn't disappointed was when there was nothing to compare it to. 

So I cooked with it. But only when it was melding with other flavors, never when it was the featured flavor.

I last tasted this over a year ago. (Taste, not drink. I've had it quite often over the course of the last year or so.) But I wrote the following tasting notes over a year ago and they are weird. I'd have redone them, but I kept forgetting I had it...and when I did remember, I really didn't want to drink it. In fact, the BOGO bourbon was normally the threat I used on my wife when we couldn't decide or she said "I don't care."

Nose: Butterscotch, black pepper and wheat bread, after I while I could swear I was picking up some banana and maybe cedar wood.

Taste: butterscotch and corn sweetness with cinamon spice. I've written down choclate milk, but I'm guessing that meant a sweet lactic flavor in the back of my throat, not actual chocolate milk.

Finish: This had a thick, oily finish. Sweet and a little spicy.

I will fully admit that this is just my opinion, but this one did nothing for me. It wasn't good or bad. It was interesting, but in the way old people mean when they are too polite to say that they don't understand the weird kid in front of them. For me, this is just a meh. To be honest, I'm kinda glad it's gone. One less thing to take up shelf space.

Bourbon Christmas Ham

I've been cooking again. If you follow me on twitter, you'll know that all my uncles, cousin's and their kids were at my house. There were about 20 adults and almost the same number of kids present. It was my job to cook the meat. Our family will normally have a turkey for christmas. After all there is a large turkey processing facility in the area I grew up in and many of my family have either worked there or have relatives or in-laws that do. 

I hate turkey. 

I made ham. And even if I wouldn't let my family in the same room as my bourbon, I couldn't pass up a chance to put a little on the ham. I found this recipe on foodnetwork.com. This is not mine. I pass it along as a service to you because it is just damn good. Here is the original recipe, it's for a 5 pound ham (Bourbon Honey Glazed Ham). I realized after I went to the store that I was not going to have enough as I was cooking an 18 pound ham. So I improvised.

I'm sure the original is tasty, but here is what I made. It was delicious.

Improvised Bourbon Glaze

1 1/3 cup of Corner Creek Reserve Bourbon
1 cup of honey
1 cup Door County cherry flavored honey
2/3 cup molasses
1 cup orange marmelade
1 tablespoon whole cloves

Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Cut diamonds in the top of the fatty portion of the ham and spoon glaze over it multiple times over the course of the last half hour of cooking.

I don't know that the cherry flavored honey added any flavor, but I had it on hand and it certainly didn't hurt. Unlike the original recipe I did not stud the ham. This thing had to be cut up and placed in a roasting pan to be served buffet style. So I boiled a reduced quanitity of cloves in the glaze to infuse it with clove flavor (probably should strain them out if you don't want your family to have punture wounds in their mouth...oops). And since I had left over glaze (like half of it) and I knew that pretty much only the top of the ham had the glaze, I poured it over the cut up ham as I placed it in the roaster to allow all of the pieces to enjoy the sweet bourbony goodness.

My entire family raved about it. And coming from 40 folks who wanted turkey instead, that's a pretty big win. Plus, now I get to eat really delicious ham sandwiches all week. For once I'm not regretting making so much.

An Empty: Parker's Heritage Collection, Barrel Finished

So yes, I realize that this isn't an empty bottle in this photo. But, I guarantee you this, by the time I finish this blog post it will be sitting in two glasses, ready to be enjoyed by my wife and I. So I call it close enough. 

I bought this bottle on a whim. At the time I liked to dole out my monthly whiskey money over the course of a couple weeks. And over the course of a couple of bottles. But I thought to myself: "20 bourbons is a lot, I've got enough bottles on hand. I'm going to buy myself something nice"

Apparently I thought that way for approximately a month since I'm sitting somewhere north of 45 right now. But to be fair, a lot of them are "nice."

And this was the one I picked up. I distinctly remember buying this bottle because I remember the nod the clerk behind the counter gave me as he looked at the bottle. Was it admiration? Awe? Lust? Wonder...that anyone would pay $80 for a bourbon (yes, sometimes the stores I frequent are more of the beer-run variety). In any case, I took it to mean I had something special on my hands.

After bringing it home, I realized...it was ok. Not blow your socks off good, but fine. My wife didn't like it. She just gave me a look that said: "Really? $80? Gone just like that, huh?" Needless to say, as we revisited it, we've both changed our opinions of this one. This is one damn fine whiskey.

Color: This one is a deep reddish amber.

Nose: Carmel apples, cola and baking spice.

Taste: Initially sweet, think toffee or honey. There's more spice, this is a hot one.

Finish: I found that this had a sweet finish that faded to a mouth puckering dryness as time went on.

So, yes. I love this whiskey. I bought it on an excited whim and was initially disappointed. I don't know if I just wasn't feeling it that day. It was my first "finished bourbon' maybe my palette just wasn't ready for it. As I spent more time with it, I grew to love it more and more. And since my local stores are out of it, I will miss it. But there's always a new one to try so I won't miss it for too long.

Spiced Cranberry Bourbon Punch

I wanted to come up with a catchier name for this, but it just isn't in me. Autumn Punch? No, that could be a lot of things. I guess this mouthful will have to do. 

I was invited to a autumn food themed party this past weekend. It was a "bring-something-to-share" sort of affair. My wife decided that pumpkin cupcakes were the order of the day. While I didn't disagree, I do love pumpkin after all, I felt that the folks who invited me would be a bit disappointed if I didn't bring something a bit more alcoholic in nature. So I set to work doing just that. I wanted something with bourbon in it, naturally. I was hoping to use the homemade cranberry juice as I thought it would pair well with the bourbon in a punch sort of setting. I googled Cranberry Bourbon Punch and found quite a few recipes. All of them were similar, but none of them were exactly what I was looking for. I wanted this to be light and refreshing, but also with a hint of the autumnal spiced feel to it. 

Based on the reactions I got to it, I at least came up with something worth sharing. The ladies couldn't stop gushing and certainly wanted, and consumed more than one glass. The guys thought it was good, but ended up turning back to the beer before too long. I was happy to have multiple glasses myself. Good thing this works out to about 2.25% ABV once it's all said and done, lowers the risk of over-consumption. I found this to be fruity with just the right hint of spice. Any more and it would have felt too much like you let your spiced cider go cold.

Spiced Cranberry Bourbon Punch

Juice Blend
5 cups + 1 oz cranberry juice 
1.5 cups pineapple juice 
1 cup orange juice 
1/3 cup lemon juice 

Spices
2 3-inch cinnamon stick
2 tsp whole cloves
3 white cardamom pods

The Rest
1 cup bourbon
1 bottle (2L size) ginger ale, chilled

The Procedure

• Combine fruit juices.
• Measure out 2 cups of juice blend and put in a sauce pan along with cinnamon sticks, cloves and cardamom pods. Bring to a boil, simmer for five minutes. Strain out everything but the cinnamon sticks. Allow to cool. 
• Fish out the cinnamon sticks. Recombine juice blend with spiced juice blend. 
• Add bourbon. 
• Refrigerate until well chilled.
• Serve mixed 50-50 with chilled ginger ale.

Sazerac

As I've loved both bourbon and rye for a while and cocktails for even longer, it was inevitable that this historical favorite was brought to my attention. 

Now, I like history. A lot. In fact I list amateur historian higher than bourbon evangelist in most of my bios. But it takes more than the fact that something is old to make me curious about it. There has to be a hook. Something that really makes me want to make the investment to try it. 

The sazerac's hook for me was the absinthe. Absinthe is expensive and hard to find. At least here in Minnesota. And in almost every description of a sazerac that I've ever read, you take that expensive, hard to find liquor and "discard" some of it. You dump it out! And yet, people love it. I read raving reviews of it almost every time I read about it. So when I found it on a menu while visiting Louisville recently, I thought to myself: "I have to try this." Guess what? I fell in love. The Sazerac was trying for first place in my list of favorite cocktails.

Unfortunately, I couldn't make one. After searching all my favorite liquor stores, I found one bottle of absinthe and it was $70. That's a bit rich for anything non-bourbon for me. Sad-Eric was Sad.

Fast forward to my recent vacation to Colorado. I love craft distillers, so every time I visit an area, I look up who's there. I try to take a tour, but if I can't I try to buy some of their product. Low and behold, local distiller Leopold Brothers made an award-winning absinthe. And they sold it in 375 mL bottles which brings the cost of entry down significantly (~$35). That was the last piece I needed to try to make my own at home.

I did some research and found a recipe that sounded trustworthy. While the recipe may have been fine, I made a horrible, undrinkable mess. I dumped half of the drink out. Sad-Eric was very sad. Again. But, as I (now) always say: if at first you don't succeed, dump it out and try again.

So, another night, another try. I was so scared off by the first recipe, that I found another recipe. The article that preceded it told me what I should be looking for in a well crafted Sazerac. I tried again. This time when I took a sip, I was overcome. This was the tasty drink I remembered! While it wasn't perfect, it was close enough to look forward to trying again until it was. After some tweaking and modification, the recipe I now follow is below: 

Sazerac

.25 oz water
1 tsp sugar
Peychaud’s bitters (4 shakes of the bottle)
2 oz Bulleit Rye
Ice
.5-.75 tsp Leopold Brothers Absinthe Verte
Lemon Zest

1. Chill your rocks glass
2. Mix the water and sugar in your mixing glass. Stick it in the microwave for 10-20 seconds to dissolve the sugar.
3. Add ice to the mixing glass, dash in the bitters
4. Add Rye and stir for about 30 seconds
5. Coat the inside of the chilled rocks glass with the absinthe. Dump out the excess
6. Strain the rye mixture into the coated glass and twist the lemon zest above the drink to release lemon oils into the glass. Wipe the zest around the rim.  

Want to learn even more about Sazerac's? This series of blog posts was recommended to me by a friend and is very interesting 28 Sazeracs in 28 Days. The Sazerac company also gives some history and a recipe. 

The Urban Bourbon Trail

One of the things I really wanted to do while in Louisville was to get the Urban Bourbon Trail t-shirt. I love free t-shirts. Especially ones that you have to do things to get. You see, I'm a bit of a homebody. When I travel, I often end up staying in my room at night and read or watch tv with a drink in my hand and wondering why I'm not out doing something a bit more fun. So I like it when something like this comes along. The desire for the t-shirt is a good excuse to get off my butt and get out there.

In case you haven't been to Louisville, or never paid attention when you were, the Urban Bourbon Trail is a collection of around 20 bars and restaurants in Louisville, KY. Each of the bars has to have at least 50 different bourbons available, offer bourbon flights and a good bourbon cocktail list. The ones I ate at also had some damn fine food. In order to qualify for the free t-shirt: you get a passport and get your passport stamped at six different locations. When you are at each just make a purchase (doesn't have to be bourbon, but yeah, it probably will be) and can get your passport stamped. 

So what were my six? Read on my friend and I'll share my adventures and thoughts with you.

The Bar at BLU

A tired me at the Bar at BLU. I'm enjoying my Old Forester Birthday Bourbon on my birthday.

It was about 7 o'clock on a Saturday night. I'd been on the road since 4am that morning. It was all I could do to get myself out of my hotel room and go visit the bars. But it was my birthday and I was bound and determined to go have some fun. My first stop was the Bar at BLU. It was in the hotel about a block west of mine. I walked in and immediately felt a bit under-dressed. I was in my Minnesota Gopher t-shirt and jeans. All the others in the lobby were dressed much nicer. I was a bit confused as to where the bar was, but the hostess for the restaurant very kindly walked us over to it. We grabbed a table where we could see the football games and took a look a that the bourbon list. It said they had Pappy's...it was wrong so I asked for a recommendation. The bartender told me that he had just opened a bottle of this year's Old Forester Birthday Bourbon. Since it was my birthday, how could I resist. We sat there sipping our bourbon and watching the games. Every so often, the bartender would come over to chat. At first he was checking up on us to see how we liked it, after that it seemed it was just to chat. He gave us some tips about other bars that we had to see while we filled our passport. As we finished, we looked for one to have supper at. I liked this bar. Even though we looked like we'd been on the road all day, they treated us as very welcome guests. 

Doc Crow's Southern Smokehouse & Raw Bar

These won't all be of me. But this is the only photo I have of the inside of Doc Crow's. Very nice place.

So we'd decided to eat at Doc Crow's for supper. We both love barbecue and since it is darn near impossible to get great barbecue in Minnesota, we try to have it whenever we edge closer to any of its many homelands. We hadn't made a reservation, but the host was happy to take our phone number and give us a call when there was a seat free. Worked for me as that would give us a chance to wander down to the waterfront and see the river. After we got the call to return, we were seated in a nice half booth. I ordered a Founder's Red Rye to go with my brisket and my wife had a Bourbon Barrel Stout (from Bluegrass Brewing Company) to go with her pulled pork sandwich and fries. I gotta say the fries were amazing! The only downside was that when we asked for our passports to be stamped the waiter wouldn't do it if we didn't have a bourbon. It wasn't in the plan, but since we were on the Urban Bourbon Trail, what the heck. I had an Ancient Ancient Age 10 year and the wife had Angel's Envy. I liked this bar too, the stunt with the passport I'm going to chalk up to inexperience rather than malice since they were new to the program.

Maker's Mark Lounge

This is the Markee, one of the signature bourbon cocktails at the Maker's Mark Lounge. My wife loved this.

Even though it was getting on toward 9 (remember me starting my morning before 4am?) I wasn't ready to go back to the hotel yet. The guy back at the hotel had told us that if we wanted to do some people watching, we needed to go to 4th Street Live. Not one to pass up some prime people watching and knowing that there was at least one bar where I can get another stamp we decided to make or way over. So, Maker's Mark Lounge was where we decided to make our final stop for the night. The bar was on brand, dark wood and red everywhere. I really felt like I was in some sort of slick and sexy bottle of Maker's. Because it was early, there were only a few people in there. I ordered a Manhattan. Very tasty, though a bit heavy on the bitters for my tastes. My wife decided to go with one of their signature bourbon cocktails and have the Markee. After our drinks, it was back to the hotel and off to bed. I liked the Maker's Mark Lounge. Though I have a feeling that later on, the crowd might not have been to my liking. Based on the crowd in 4th Street Live, I'm not nearly Jersey Shore enough for it (I consider this a good thing about myself.) It did have nice people watching though. 

Proof On Main

The Satyr at Proof on Main. Its a bar/restaurant in a hotel/art museum. Yeah. Cool, right?

Oh my god! This is a cool place. So I walked in and the hostess pointed me to the bar. I ordered a sazarac, my first. The bartender might have actually been a mixologist, he was a tad hipsterish. But whatever his tendency toward hipsterness may or may not have been, he made a fantastic cocktail. For that, I forgive him anything. Plus he seemed to be a nice guy. It was a very nice place, a tad too white and cold in it's decor for me. But really nice. The coolest part of this place was the museum. When I asked the hostess about it, her eyes lit up. She personally walked me to the other end of the bar, showed me the entrance and told me a little about it. We wandered through. It was a bit strange for it to be both a hotel with guests going to and from their rooms and an art gallery. Somehow, the cool, white decor of the bar made much more sense now. Great cocktail, amazing art. This was a cool place. Not one I'd hang out in everyday, but I am so glad I stopped.

Dish on Market

Dish on Market is exactly what I'd want my local bar to be if I had a local bar.

So I'd read mixed reviews of this place. But the special of $10 burger and a bourbon was enough to bring me in anyway. I walked in and immediately felt at home. Exposed brick, green stained wood bar, honey colored bar top, black metal stools. It fit my tastes perfectly. We were seated by a very nice gentleman, who as it turns out was also our server and the bartender. We ordered the burger and bourbon special that we came in for and also a plate of steak fries. I expected steak fries to be a sort of thick cut fries. It was only $8 or so. What arrived was a plate of french fires with a sliced steak and a white cheese sauce on it. I was blown away. It was so good! We each had a burger, turns out that came with fries too, and a bourbon. Mine was Old Grand Dad 114 proof and my wife's was Eagle Rare 10 year. Everything was amazingly tasty. Our server Demitrius, was probably the nicest person I'd met in Kentucky. And that is saying a lot since everyone I met in Kentucky was amazingly nice. After chatting with us for a little bit, he found out that we were in town for a few more days and made the nicest and most sincere request that we come back before we go that I'd ever had at a restaurant. 

And so we did. On Saturday, the night before we left to come home, we found ourselves with nothing to do and decided to take him up on his request. No idea if he was working again or not, but it didn't matter. Another bourbon was going to be a good thing whether he was there or not. Turns out, he was. We ordered the steak fries again. This time they were bacon wrapped steaks instead of sliced steaks. Even better. I had a Black Maple Hill and my wife had a Elmer T Lee. I got to let Demitrius know that the only reason we came back was his very sincere request. It seemed to make his day. We sat in there a while longer, he was trying to perfect his whiskey sour recipe and we got to be his guinea pigs. Trying a few little sips of each try. One tasted like lemonade, a few almost there, and then there was a perfect one. Even though I know the recipe, I won't share. It's not mine to give away man. This was my favorite stop on the Urban Bourbon Trail. I'm pretty sure it was all because of Demitrius.

Derby Cafe: At the Kentucky Derby Museum

No photos of the cafe, but this is the outside of the derby museum. It would have been way cooler if I cared even a little about horse racing. Don't tell anyone, ok?

This was the only place on the Urban Bourbon Trail where I could not get a bourbon. I'm not sure what was going on, but the waitress told us they didn't have their liquor license yet and that the bar didn't open until later. That was after my wife tried to order a mint julep, which was on the menu. I was disappointed by this place. Don't get me wrong, it's a fine place, it just didn't live up to the expectations I had for something on an Urban Bourbon Trail. But, the ravioli that was the day's special was tasty, so there's that. And hey, if you're into horse racing, there's a museum all about it.

Well, those were our adventures on the Urban Bourbon Trail. Next time I go back, I am totally trying for the t-shirt again. I got it by the way. It's a nice brown shirt. Which is a nice change and a lot of these earned souvenirs are white. I hate white shirts.

My Urban Bourbon Trail Shirt. It's a nice looking one. I suggest you go get one.