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RV Travel Log |
Woodford Reserve bourbon, heaven - 08/14/2003
On our way to Natural Bridge State Park and somewhere near Frankfort between Louisville and Lexington, we saw a highway sign for the Labrot and Graham Distillery, only 5 miles down the road. They make one of my favorites, Woodford Reserve Bourbon, so of course we took the detour!
Getting to the distillery took us through stereotypical Kentucky land, home of thoroughbred farms. The distillery itself was beautiful, with a small cluster of limestone buildings and a very well done visitors center. We took the 1 hour tour -- it was amazing! It was one of the highlights of our adventures so far. They basically showed us everything and showed us up close, unlike the Anheuser Busch tour where you only see what they want you to see. We got to see the fermentation tank and stick our heads in it, to see the yeast going crazy and producing roiling bubbles. We got to smell the freshly distilled spirit (about 75% alcohol), and we got to smell the final product straight out of the barrels. What a difference - the fresh stuff is clear and smells a little funky, kind of like yeasty bread. The final stuff is dark amber and smells wonderful. The only difference is 7 years sitting in a charred white oak barrel.
We got to see the copper distillers, the barrel making process, the barrel warehouse, and the final bottling and filtering building. This was so cool!! Everyone, go out and buy a bottle -- I would have recommended it before, and now that I've seen the company and distillery and how small they are, I can't recommend it enough.
I captured a movie of the fermentation tank in action. It's a 3.9M Quicktime movie: Labrot and Graham - fermentation tank.mov
Southern Indiana, kinda nice
| Hiking the natural bridge
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