Bourbon and Caves

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We decided to spend a couple of weeks in middle America. First stop was Bardstown, Ky. A quaint little town in the green rolling hills of Kentucky. Fortunately, it is also part of the bourbon trail of kentucky. There are eight distilleries who have banded together to promote Americas whiskey. We were able to visit Makers Mark, Woodford Reserve, Jim Beam and Heaven Hill. Makers Mark and Woodford Reserve were in beautiful country and had fantastic tours (and whiskeys too). You get to see every facet of the production from fermenting the mash, to distillation, aging and bottling. We tasted the mash from the first day of fermentation to the last day when tasting actually does give you that bitter beer face! Fortunately distilling and aging does make a better drink. The Jim Beam tour was not very good and is basically a 10 minute movie.

Also took a 4 1/2 mile 5 hour tour of Mammoth cave. Considering that we did not see the other 296 miles of the cave, one can understand why it is called Mammoth cave.

Next is on to North Carolina and the Smoky Mountains and Ashville.

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Photos

Makers Mark
Fermentation tanks

Heaven Hill
Aging warehouses

Heaven Hill
Good stuff!!