Kentucky Bourbon Trail with Greg - Day 2

 As the morning before, we woke early and chatted in the kitchen of the Finnell Pike house as the sun came up. Sunrise and sunset are really pretty at the house. We packed our things and prepared the house for being empty for a few days. Since I would be back on Saturday I didn’t leave the furnace on. Our first distillery visit was at Barrel House which didn’t open until 11 am. We decided to make a stop at Liquor Barn to shop for gifts and to restock our bourbon shelves. I bought a few bottles of Buffalo Trace Bourbon as well as Buffalo Trace Bourbon Cream as gifts. I picked up a bottle of Jack Daniels as a gift for a friend and a bottle of Old Granddad 114 for me. Greg got a 1.75 L bottle of 1792 at a great price. We still had a little time before our 11 am tour at Barrel House Distillery so Greg suggested that we find a bakery. We drove on Southland Drive and spotted Donut Days Bakery. Greg had another cream filled donut and I had an apple fritter. We both enjoyed our selections. 

We arrived at Barrel House a little before their 11 am opening. We were met by two of the distillery’s operators and Snuggie, the distillery cat. I had been there a couple of times before but the tour is interesting every time. The distillery is operating in the barrel house of the old Pepper Distillery in Lexington. The building was constructed in 1936 as used as a distillery until the late 1970s. The Barrel House distillery currently makes Devil John Moonshine, corn based vodka, rum, aged Oak Rum and Rockcastle Bourbon. They also sell a good selection of bitters, moonshine cherries and other gift items. The facility is small but the passion of the distillers is evident. We stopped at Zaxby’s for lunch since we were in the mood for chicken and we had never been to Zaxby’s. The chicken was fine and the restaurant was busy. The pop machine made a terrible racket that we feared would explode. After a while the machine settled down and conversation in the restaurant could resume. 

It wasn’t far to the Bluegrass Distillers facility in Lexington. We had purchased a Groupon for the tour which gave us both a tour for $9 which is less than half price. The distiller took us through the grain area where the ground blue corn is stored then to the mash tubs with IBCs of fermenting grain and water. The nearby cooker steamed with stewing ground blue corn that would be cooled and set to ferment with yeast. The fermentation room smelled great. The single copper still produces all of the distilled spirits made by Bluegrass Distillers. 

 We tasted some of the 160 proof distillate coming off the still and found it to be surprisingly drinkable. This smooth white dog would sneak up on you. Since it was not rough at all it would be tempting to drink more than advisable. We saw small five gallon barrels of aging whiskey some of which was made from blue corn. Bluegrass Distillers makes several mash bills including one with rye, one with wheat and one with blue corn. They also experiment with malted barley spirits and other recipes that may appeal to whiskey drinkers. 

After having a tasting of generous samples of each of Bluegrass Distiller’s products we were treated to a small bourbon cake to take home to our wives. We left Bluegrass Distiller’s around 1 pm and headed home. The return trip was far easier and faster than the drive to Central Kentucky. We arrived at Greg’s home around 3:30 pm. I went into work for a couple of hours including a meeting to revise the assessment tool for student teaching and other clinical experiences. We were both tired but pleased to have had another great trip.