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Kentucky Bourbon Trail: Heaven Hill

01 Tuesday Oct 2013

Posted by annashortcakes in Cocktails/Beverages, Kentucky Proud, Travel

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bourbon, Kentucky Bourbon Trail, Kentucky Proud, Southern, staycation, summer, tourism, travel

Heaven Hill • Bardstown

Distillery Hours – Monday through Wednesday • 10AM to 5PM, Thursday through Saturday • 10AM to 5:30PM, Sunday (March – November only) • Noon to 4PM. General admission is $5 and free to military families.

What makes Heaven Hill Distillery different from other distilleries?

Heaven Hill Distilleries is America’s largest independent, family-owned and operated producer and marketer of distilled spirits.
Heaven Hill is America’s seventh-largest supplier of distilled spirits.
Aging in its facilities is the second largest inventory of aging Kentucky whiskey in the world, with over 900,000 barrels. This accounts for nearly 17 percent of the world’s future supply of Bourbon.
Heaven Hill has filled over six million barrels of Kentucky Bourbon since it was founded after the repeal of Prohibition. Pretty incredible!

A Brief History

Founded by the five Shapira brothers in 1934, the Heaven Hill Distilleries is still run by descendants of the Shapiras, making it the only family owned and operated bourbon distillery on the Bourbon Trail. With a brief pause during WWII to manufacture alcohol for the war effort, the distillery has continued to operate and now is the seventh largest spirits supplier in the US and the second largest holder of aging bourbon in the world with 900,000 barrels in stock (this is according to their website.) Today, Heaven Hill Distilleries is the owner of such brands as Copa De Oro Coffee Liqueur, Dubonnet Aperitif, Coronet VSQ Brandy, DuBouchett Cordials and Liqueurs, and Burnett’s Vodka. For a full list, click this link.

The Tour

The Bourbon Heritage Center is the main visitors center for the distillery. This building was built to pay homage to the bourbon trade. Limestone is used for the brickwork, copper is used in the roofing, and oak as the hardwood flooring. It was named The International Whiskey Visitor Attraction of the Year 2009 Winner by Whisky Magazine. It is quite lovely indeed.

Our tour guide was a very nice lady who was knowledgeable about the bourbon. She took us to a rick house, gave us quite a few details about the distillation process, and gave an excellent tasting. I do have a couple of reservations about the tour. We didn’t see much- just the visitors center and the rick house. For being such a large operation, I would have liked to have seen more of the actual operations. We didn’t get to see any of the actual distillation process. Instead, they set up a model in the visitors center. If this is going to be your only visit to a distillery, this is not the place to go. It was a good tour but your won’t see much of the process. I suggest some place like Woodford Reserve, Maker’s Mark or Buffalo Trace (not on the Trail.) We did get an excellent tasting, though. The tour guide made the effort of talking about the flavor profiles that we should taste in each sample. We tried each of the bourbons straight and with a bit of water. She also told us how the master distiller felt each bourbon was best savored. If he doesn’t know how it is best tasted, I doubt I will. And I appreciated the expert tip. Evan Williams was about to release a new seasonal bourbon based liquor- Apple Orchard. I asked the tour guide if it was good and she said “Do you want to taste it?” Of course, I said yes and we got an extra sample! I love that she was passionate enough about the product to try to convert me. And she did. We bought a bottle as soon as it was on the market. Overall this was a nice tour, but I wouldn’t want this to be someone’s only distillery visit.

Other posts in the series:

Kentucky Bourbon Trail: Town Branch

29 Sunday Sep 2013

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Town Branch • Lexington, KY

Distilery Tours- Monday – Saturday: 10am – 4pm; Sunday: 12pm – 4pm. All tours start on the hour and the facility is closed on major national holidays. Tickets for admission are $7. (Photo below from here.)

What makes Town Branch Distillery different from other distilleries?

It is owned by the Lexington Brewing and Distilling Company, which makes both beer and bourbon.
It is the youngest distillery on the Bourbon Trail, opening in 2012. Prior to that, they produced Kentucky Ale.
It is the first distillery opened in Lexington in over 100 years.
It gets it’s name and water from Town Branch, a limestone-bottomed creek running through Lexington.

A Brief History

This distillery was founded by Pearse Lyons, the president and founder of animal nutrition company Alltech, in 2012. Prior to that, the facility was (as still is) a beer distillery. Mr. Lyons received a doctorate in brewing from the British School of Malting and Brewing in Birmingham, UK. He is also very influential in agribusiness- founding an animal feed company Alltech, sponsoring a major equestrian event (the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games held in Lexington) with that company, and open one of the largest commercial algae production sites in the world. Though the distillery may be young, it recieves a significant amount of attention because of it’s connection to this pinnacle of business/agriculture.

The Tour

Town Branch was the last stop and fourth distillery of our first day. We were pretty tired and I was afraid that the tour itself would be boring as the facility looked so small. Boy, was I wrong! The tour met in a nice brick building where the gift shop is housed. We were shown a brief video about Lexington Brewing and Distilling Company, it’s connection to Alltech and Pearse Lyons, and it’s brief history. Our tour guide led us and another couple through the small brewery area. They brew five beers that are very popular in the area, especially the Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale. This beer is their basic Ale, stored for six weeks in bourbon barrels, and then bottled. The beer has a great bourbon flavor without being overwhelming. It’s a nice specialty item and is a great gift idea if you want to show someone the awesomeness of this Kentucky product married to a famous Kentucky tradition.

After the brewery tour, we walked to the distillery area. A lot of their production area was very small. They had two copper stills and two cyprus mashtubs in a gorgeously constructed stone room. It would be the perfect place to host a small, upscale party. When the bourbon production is completed, they barrel the bourbon and store it in rickhouses and bottled off site.

Production of the bourbon is small and is not the main source of revenue for Lexington Brewing and Distilling Company. Nevertheless, it is a nice stop on the trail. The tour guide was very informative, was interested in all of their products and their practice use in your daily life. She talked about how she used them at her dinner parties and, since she used to work for Southern Living in food photography, I bet they are awesome affairs. I recommend Town Branch being the last stop on a day of touring the Bourbon Trail, that way you can enjoy one of the great restaurants in the Lex food scene. There are some pretty tasty places on both ends of the financial spectrum. Overall, Town Branch was classy and inviting, a nice addition to the Trail.

Other posts in the series:

Kentucky Bourbon Trail: Jim Beam

26 Thursday Sep 2013

Posted by annashortcakes in Cocktails/Beverages, Kentucky Proud, Travel

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bourbon, Kentucky Bourbon Trail, Kentucky Proud, Southern, staycation, summer, tourism, travel

Jim Beam • Clermont, KY

Distillery Tours – Monday-Saturday • 9:30am –3:30pm, Sunday • 12:30pm –3:30pm. Closed on New Year’s Day, Easter Sunday, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Sundays in January and February. General admission tickets are $10.

What makes Jim Beam Distillery different from other distilleries?

They have a large museum of special limited-edition decanters, first introduced in the 1950s. It’s a pretty neat look back at advertising in the past.
They sell the most bourbon of all the distilleries on the Trail.

A Brief History

The legendary forefather’s of bourbon, the Beams, came to the US from Germany, bringing with them their whisky brewing know-how. Jacob Beam was the first member of the Beam family to sell bourbon. In the early 1800s, it was later more widely distributed David Beam. With each subsequent generation (and there have been 7), Jim Beam bourbon distillery has expanded. Today it is so large it has it’s own New York Stock exchange tag: BEAM. They have expanded from bourbon to BBQ sauce, snacks, hams, jellies and glazes, clothing, and even charcoal.

The Tour

This was my least favorite tour of the Bourbon Trail. This analogy explains it all- Woodford Reserve is to Jim Beam, as a locally owned general store is to a Kroger Marketplace. So it is huge!

As we drove toward the grounds, we passed a nice white barn painted with the Jim Beam label. Kind of cool. The road up the hill was well paved with newly planted landscaping; it wound through several rickhouses and past a country church. The road ends on top of the hill among a small city of buildings. The main building you see is their “American Stillhouse.” It is where you purchase your tour tickets and then wander around their extensive collection of gift shop merchandise.

Our tour guide was a 20 something year old guy who was clearly not passionate about bourbon. Not that he wasn’t informative. He was. His tour was so obviously a memorized spiel, like if you swapped things up he would lose his place and the tour might fall apart. Honestly, I am not sure why I expected something else. The distillery itself turns out hundreds of thousands of cases of bourbons and whiskies each week. Unreal! If the production is so commercialized, I should have expected that the tour would be as well.

OK, so enough of my gripes. It was really cool to see the huge machines and vats they use to distill their bourbon. Their column still is FIVE stories tall!!! All that bourbon needs to be bottled and quickly. They have a several lines for the bottling, run 8 hours a day. The line was saw has bottled as many as 1800 cases a day! Blows my mind! I have always had a fascination with mechanized things so I really enjoyed seeing this part of the tour.

Part of the bottling line.

Look how fast that gushes out! 24 hours a day!

At the end of the tour, we walked to a tasting area where we were given swipe cards with “tokens” on them for two free tastes per person. You swipe the card, push the button for your desired bourbon, and a pre-set amount of that bourbon is dispensed into your cup. There were about 12 total choices. We enjoyed the multiple choices but it was less personal than the previous tastings. There was no human interaction. No “I really like this one because…” from a knowledgeable, bourbon-loving employee. (Photo below from here.)

Overall, I liked seeing this end of the two extremes of bourbon production. If this is your only bourbon distillery to visit, I am concerned that you won’t get a true good view of what bourbon and the Bourbon Trail is.

Other posts in the series:

Kentucky Bourbon Trail: Woodford Reserve

24 Tuesday Sep 2013

Posted by annashortcakes in Cocktails/Beverages, Kentucky Proud, Travel

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bourbon, Kentucky Bourbon Trail, Kentucky Proud, Southern, staycation, summer, tourism, travel

Woodford Reserve • Versailles, KY

Distillery Tours- Monday – Saturday • 9:00 am – 5:00 pm, on the hour
Sunday (March through December) • 12:00 pm – 4:30 pm. Closed on major national holidays. General admission tickets are $7. Those with military ID get free admission and a 10% off discount in the gift shop.

What makes Woodford Reserve Distillery different from other distilleries?

They use limestone rickhouses- others use wooden or clay tiled.
It’s the official bourbon of the Kentucky Derby.
They use a triple distillation process to handcraft their bourbon.
They use temperature controlled warehouses instead of rotation of the barrels.
The mash bill is 72% corn, 10% malted barley, 18% rye.

A Brief History

According to the Bourbon Trail website, Woodford Reserve is the oldest and smallest distillery in Kentucky. It traces its origins to 1797 when Elijah Pepper began distilling in Woodford County. The company was sold to Leopold Labrot and James Graham in 1878, who owned and operated it (except during Prohibition) until 1941 when it was sold to the Brown-Forman Corporation. The distillery continued to operate until 1968, when it was shut down and sold again. Brown-Forman later repurchased and then refurbished the facilities in 1993. The brand was then placed back on the market in 1996. It has been a popular seller since then.

The Tour

The grounds of Woodford Reserve are gorgeous! Nestled in the horse farms and stone fences, this distillery is one of the most beautiful on the Bourbon Trail. It reminded me of other classic Southern architecture like that found at Mt. Vernon. Our tour guide was an elderly gentleman who clearly had a passion for the bourbon and for the distillery. He gave an informative tour and didn’t rush through things.

: Cyprus Vat

: Copper Still

: Barrel Cooperage

The distillery itself is not too large, though it is one of the most visited distilleries on the tour. Perhaps this is because it is a National Historic Landmark. Like other distilleries, Woodford uses grains and limestone filtered water. They are one of the few distilleries to still use a copper pot still and the only to use the triple distillation process. Woodford Reserve is a small operation so they focus more of flavor than the quantity that they produce.

Overall, we really enjoyed this tour. It was informative and fun. The grounds were gorgeous as was the area surrounding. The horses and the stone fences really set off the atmosphere. At the end of the tour, you get a sample of Woodford Reserve and a bourbon ball. If you can only visit one distillery, this is the one to visit.

Other posts in the series:

Kentucky Bourbon Trail: Wild Turkey Distillery

23 Monday Sep 2013

Posted by annashortcakes in Cocktails/Beverages, Kentucky Proud, Travel

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bourbon, Kentucky Bourbon Trail, Kentucky Proud, Southern, staycation, summer, tourism, travel

Wild Turkey Distillery • Tyrone, KY

Distillery Tours- Monday – Saturday • 9:00 am – 3:00 pm, on the hour and
Sunday (March through November) • 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm, on the hour. General admission tickets are $5. There is no charge for military personnel with ID.

What makes Wild Turkey Distillery different from other distilleries?

Their master distiller has been there since 1954. That’s 59 years!
They use one of the heaviest chars on their bourbon barrels – #4.
The bourbon is barreled at a lower proof so that they add less water at time of bottling. They say this helps retain the flavor.

A Brief History

In 1869, the Ripy brothers opened their distillery on the banks of the Kentucky River. They ran the distillery until they were bought out by the Gould Brothers in 1952 (with a brief pause for Prohibition). There were a couple of other buyouts. In 2009, the Campari Group bought the distillery. Today they make Wild Turkey in addition to bottling other brands such as SKYY vodka and Cabo Wabo tequila.

The Tour

From the beginning of the tour, it is obvious that Wild Turkey is a larger operation than Four Roses. We took a small bus from the gift shop to the newly opened distillery. There we watched a video about the distillery, it’s history, and the process. Then we walked through the cookers and fermentation room. They were in full swing there. Next we went to the warehouses, where we learned about their barreling and storage processes. We also learned about a warehouse fire in 2000, where thousands of gallons of bourbon spilled into the Kentucky River, killing lots of fish and resulting shut down of water to Lawrenceburg. We enjoyed the tour but I felt like there was some missing intimacy. Maybe it was lost in the industrialized process.

At the end of the tour, you get to try three bourbons of your choice (you get to select from 6 varieties). Honestly, I am not a huge fan of Wild Turkey bourbon. It is too spicy for me. I prefer smoother, sweeter bourbons. But my husband drinks it, sometimes straight out of the bottle. He says it makes him want to fight… no fights have actually occurred 🙂

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