An eventful morning for the four of us today.
Larry hadn't been able to get reservations for a tour at the Buffalo Trace Distillery, the oldest continuously operating distillery in the USA. (They made "medicinal" bourbon during the 14 years of Prohibition, where you had to get a prescription from your doctor). Sound familiar?
Anyways, we get there (just hoping to walk around and visit the gift shop and perhaps get in on a tour. While we're processed in terms of COVID19 temperature check and so on, they make an announcement saying "Blanton's is on the shelf at the gift shop". This made my friend Larry's ears perk up and soon he was "moving with a purpose" towards the gift shop!
We trailed along and soon we were gazing at bottles of Blanton's Single Barrel Bourbon, with their signature Kentucky Derby Horse Rider tops. There was a limit of one per customer (and they track you by your Drivers License number to only one purchase every three months) and so each of us bought one bottle. I discovered later that the price we paid at the distillery was far cheaper than what it would cost us at a retail store. Wow.
Image source: Gearpatrol
We took care to make sure we didn't duplicate the lettered rider tops, as the complete set spells Blanton's and it's a collectors item Larry wants to accomplish.
Note the small "B" by the horse's
left rear leg.
Above is the full set of riders/horses. Once you collect all 8, you sent them in and Buffalo Trace will mount them on a barrel stave and send it back to you free of charge. Of course, you've paid for it in terms of bottle cost and such but I thought it was a great marketing scheme!
A demonstration of what happens in a barrel of bourbon as it ages over the years. The portion that evaporates through the wooden staves of the barrel is called the "Angels Cut".
The 12 makes of Bourbon made by Buffalo Trace:
One of the older warehouses built to house to thousands upon thousands of bourbon barrels to age them. This one flows air up and down the structure to create the microclimate that creates the taste profile desired.
Buffalo Trace has passed the 8 million barrel mark, here's the one that was the 8 millionth barrel. It'll be opened when appropriately aged, then the bottles will be sold for about $30,000 each with the proceeds going to local charities. What a deal eh?
On our way to the tasting room, I spotted the barrel tops for a couple of milestones:
Here's my set of tasting glasses with Buffalo Trace's offerings, I liked the Blanton's! The Bourbon Cream was quite yummy as well but it did upset my stomach a tad as I am lactose intolerant, but oh so tasty.
Martha, Larry and Jane in front of Warehouse D I think
Larry in front of his Bourbon Mecca, Warehouse H where they
store/age Blanton's Single Barrel Bourbon
After the distillery, we returned to camp to pick up the RVs and proceeded on down to Bardstown. We're staying at the Old Kentucky Home State Park.
It started raining really big cats and dogs shortly after I got there and I was soaking wet within seconds. So, being wet, I just stayed wet and set up the outside umbilical's such as electric and water, leveling the VRRV and so on. I made sure to flip on the electric breaker using an insulated pole, no worries, though I'm sure Martha, Larry and Jane were wondering.
Note: This campground is known, apparently, for poorly sited electrical hookup boxes. I had to use a 15 foot extension for the VRRV's power cord and it barely reached!
We went into town to get an early dinner at the Cracker Barrel and then after an errand at the post office we returned to camp to nicer conditions:
The evening was spent sampling one of the Blanton's Single Barrel bottles of Bourbon. Tasty. Dessert was Key Lime Pie purchased beforehand, this and light conversation and music finished a good day nicely.
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