The Bourbon Trail and Louisville

Hey there, glad you came back to get your fix from the road! Lots has happened since the last update, so once again I am pleased to announce that you will be getting a double dose tonite, so sit back and enjoy!

Last you heard from me I was headed Westward toward Knoxville for the night. I'm sure there are plenty of cool things to do in Knoxville, but it served one purpose on my road trip: A gateway to the Bourbon Trail. For those of you that don't know what the Bourbon Trail is, it is a hundred of so mile stretch in central Kentucky that features some of the best distilleries in the country (possibly the world!) - for more info go here. So, I woke early, and got on the road to the Maker's Mark distillery.

I arrived in the early afternoon, and quickly signed myself up for the tour, as well as the tasting that concludes some of their tours. The tour was excellent: This place is steeped in tradition, with generations of Samuel's men crafting fine whiskies and bourbons (there is a difference my friends!). Although the Maker's Mark name has only been around since the fifties, the distillery itself has been there since the early 1800's. They share their recipe with you on the tour claiming that the real secret is the water in the area - somehow filtered through the limestone rock in the area - it creates the optimal taste for bourbon -- who woulda thunk it?

After the tour, one gets to partake in a tasting of both the traditional maker's as well as their new product, Maker's 64, which has a bit more spice to it - both delicious. They also offer their tour guests the option of purchasing their own bottle(s) and hand dipping it into their signature red wax - naturally I had to partake. Easily one of the coolest experiences on the trip. After wrapping up the tour, I headed West to the Heaven Hill distillery, to partake in their tour as well. Unfortunately it couldn't even come close to the maker's tour, as it was more of a bourbon history lesson, but it was fun none-the-less. The coolest thing about Heaven Hill is the sheer quantity of different bourbons they produce, and the way they are created in comparison to Maker's Mark - if you're interested head over to their site for some interesting facts on my favorite drink.

After one of the best days of the trip, I headed North to Louisville to meet up with the person I would be couchsurfing for the night. This was a foreign experience for me (at least in the sense of couch surfing with a stranger) but it proved to be quite a good time. My travels had rendered me hungry and thirsty so my host (also named Alex) took me to a local beer haus called Sergio's. This place hosts more than 1300 different varieties of beer, and is rated in the top 10 places in the world (that's right, the world!) to get a beer. I ordered some ceviche (delicious) and tried a couple of local beers, including a bourbon barrel stout(exactly what it sounds like) and a knock your socks off IPA. A great start to the night.

After getting a good start, we headed out on the town, Louisville (the locals call it Louahvahl) style. After hitting the local coffee shop for a pick me up, and the record shop to pick up a special order, we headed to the Rudyard Kipling bar, another pretty cool spot. Alex used to work there, so the beer was free, and low and behold the bartender was from the Denver area - small world! After reminiscing with the bar hop on The Mercury Cafe (his former place of employment) we moved on to the next spot. Here we met up with many of Alex's friends, and drank until hunger once again set in. I indulged in a local specialty - The Kentucky Hot Brown - a meal of epic caloric proportions - a huge pile of toast, turkey, ham, cheese sauce, tomatoes, and bacon! After that, I waddled to bed, satisfied with a truly great day.

Alright blogosphere, Ive crammed as much info as possible into this post - Stay tuned for tonite's second helping.

A.S. Bloom

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