5. Lawrenceburg
Four Roses and Wild Turkey
Incorporated in 1820, Lawrenceburg was named after local tavern owner William Lawrence. Appropriately, Lawrenceburg is home today to not one but two distilleries. Wild Turkey and Four Roses are only a few minutes' drive from each other and are easily reached via US 127 from Frankfort. The Bluegrass Parkway also serves as a conduit from Lexington or Bardstown.
One warning about US 127: During the first week of August every year, 690 miles of the highway from Michigan to Alabama is the site of the World's Longest Yard Sale. Traffic slows to a crawl. Since neither Four Roses nor Wild Turkey makes bourbon in August anyway, this is a good time to avoid the area, unless, of course, you want to bargain hunt. For information about the sale, go to http://www.127sale.com/ or call 800-327-3945.
Four Roses Distillery
1224 Bonds Mill Road
Lawrenceburg, KY 40342
502-839-3436
Hours: Monday–Saturday, 9 a.m.–3 p.m.; Sunday, noon–3 p.m. Tours start on the hour and are available year-round, but there is no distilling from July to mid-September. The gift shop is open daily until 4 p.m. Call for tour groups of ten or more. Tours of the Four Roses warehouse and bottling facility at Cox's Creek (about an hour's drive from the distillery) are given Monday–Friday, 9 a.m.–2 p.m. Call 502-543-2264 for information.
Bourbons: Four Roses Yellow Label, Four Roses Single Barrel, Four Roses Single Barrel Limited Edition, Four Roses Small Batch, and Four Roses Small Batch Limited Edition; plus Four Roses Black Label and Four Roses Super Premium (“Platinum”), which are for export only
The US 62 bridge, with Wild Turkey warehouses in the background.
Chief Executive: Hideki Horiguchi
Master Distiller: Jim Rutledge
Owner/Parent Company: Kiren Brewery Company Ltd.
Tours: There is one standard tour that lasts about an hour. Visitors are given a choice of bourbons to taste at the tour's conclusion. If a Four Roses expression (even a limited edition) is available, the gift shop stocks it for purchase.
What's Special:
- California mission-style architecture is unusual and unexpected in the Bluegrass State and has earned Four Roses a listing on the National Register of Historic Places.
- Bottling and aging take place an hour from the distillery at the Cox's Creek site.
- The warehouses at Cox's Creek are the only single-story warehouses in the bourbon industry.
- A combination of five yeast strains and two mash bills results in ten different bourbon recipes.
- The distillery sponsors a Four Roses Mellow Moments Club, with membership perks such as discounts in the gift shop and VIP tours and tastings (www.mellowmomentsclub.com).
Exterior of Four Roses Distillery.
History
The bourbon industry in general has numerous legends, from how barrels came to be charred to various claims about who was the first person to distill bourbon. So it isn't surprising that Four Roses Distillery has its own share of lore—in this case, contradictory stories about the origin of the distillery's name.
One version, which appears on the back label of Four Roses 80-proof bourbon, states that Paul Jones Jr., one of the nineteenth-century founders of the brand, was courting “a beautiful Southern belle” and had asked her many times to marry him, but his proposal had always been rejected. Jones decided to make one last attempt and invited her to a dance. He told her that when he arrived to pick her up, if she was wearing a corsage of four roses, her answer to his persistent proposal would be yes. If she wore no roses, there would be no marriage. Her answer was yes! Jones, who was just starting his distilling business in Kentucky, was so delighted that he named his best bourbon after this sign of love.
Alternatively, according to Al Young's very enjoyable Four Roses: The Return of a Whiskey Legend, the suitor was Paul Jones Jr.'s cousin and business partner, Lawrence Lavalle Jones. The object of his affection and the wearer of the corsage was indeed a southern belle: Mary Peabody of Columbus, Georgia. Or perhaps this isn't the real story either.
Another version requires some background: The Jones family traced its roots to Virginia, and during the Civil War, Paul Jones Sr. and his two sons, Paul Jr. and Warner Paul, supported the South. Warner Paul enlisted in the Confederate army and, by sheer coincidence, took part in the 1862 Battle of Perryville, Kentucky's most significant Civil War battle, which occurred just thirty miles south of Four Roses' current distillery site. Colonel Warner Paul Jones was subsequently killed in the war. After the conflict ended, other Jones family members relocated to Atlanta, where they became successful in the whiskey business. But in 1883, when a strong temperance movement brought Prohibition to Georgia, the Joneses moved to Tennessee, where they grew their business, acting as brokers for distillers. Attracted by the concentration of bourbon businesses in Louisville, they moved to Kentucky by 1886. Two years later, in 1888 (the year the company cites as its origin), the Joneses bought assets from whiskey maker R. M. Rose, who is said to have named his bourbon after his four daughters. In yet another version of the story, the name was based on Mr. Rose, his brother, and their two sons. Whether it signified sons or daughters, the Joneses acquired the Four Roses name, along with other Rose assets, and operated as the Paul Jones Company.
Paul Jones Jr. continued his bourbon brokerage business, buying thousands of barrels of bourbon, until Prohibition. Jones then managed to acquire one of the half dozen licenses in the country (four of them in Kentucky) to distribute “medicinal” whiskey. Jones moved his stock to Frankfort and opened the Frankfort Distilleries, where he bottled Four Roses, Paul Jones, and Antique bourbons. The Paul Jones Company also acquired an interest in Louisville's A. Ph. Stitzel Distillery so that it could continue to meet the pharmaceutical demand.
Members of the Jones family ran the business until World War II. In 1943 Canadian beverage giant Joseph E. Seagram & Sons Inc. purchased Frankfort Distilleries and four other Kentucky distilleries—Old Hunter Lewis Distillery, Athertonville Distillery, Henry McKenna Distillery, and Old Prentice Distillery. Old Prentice is the 1910 Spanish mission–style facility that Seagram used to make Four Roses and that houses the distillery today. Under Seagram, Four Roses was exported to Europe and Japan, where it became very popular and helped drive the demand for bourbon outside the States. (Ironically, for decades, Four Roses was sold only in America as an inexpensive—and, quite frankly, awful—blended whiskey.)
Acquiring these five Kentucky distilleries is how Seagram wound up with five distinct strains of yeast. The company also established two mash bills for all five sites: one uses a corn and rye ratio that is fairly typical in the industry, and the other uses a higher proportion of rye (though corn still predominates, of course). Four Roses—the distillery and warehouse, along with the yeast strains and mash bills—was purchased by Kiren Brewery Company of Japan in 2002. The truly good news is that Kiren reintroduced the premium Four Roses bourbons to the American market, and you can taste them at the end of your tour.
The Tour
The bright yellow stucco walls of the Four Roses Distillery complex guarantee that potential visitors can't miss it. From spring through fall, the property is blooming with hundreds of bright red roses and other flowers.
The tour begins with a film that dwells much less on history compared with the orientation films at other distilleries. The emphasis is on the bourbon and how it's made, with narration by master distiller Jim Rutledge. Then the tour guide goes into great detail about the yeast strains and the mash bills, complete with a flip chart. To save you from furious note taking, here are the specifics:
| Mash bills: | E—75 percent corn, 20 percent rye, 5 percent malted barley |
| B—60 percent corn, 35 percent rye, 5 percent malted barley |
| Yeast strains: | V—Light fruitiness |
| K—Slightly spicy | |
| O—Rich fruitiness | |
| F—Herbal | |
| Q—Floral |
Five recipes are made with mash bill E and each of the yeast strains, and five are made with mash bill B and each of the yeasts, for a total of ten recipes.
The first stop after orientation is the grain quality lab, a small building near the distillery entrance, where each shipment of corn, rye, and barley is evaluated before being milled. Small samples of grain are put into a stemmed glass and microwaved for twenty seconds. This brings out the aromas, making any flaws easier to detect. Four Roses usually receives three truckloads of corn each day and one truckload of rye Monday through Friday; barley is delivered once a week.
Relaxing under one of the distillery's catalpa trees.
Tanker truck carrying 6,000 gallons of new whiskey prepares to leave for the bottling facility at Cox's Creek.
The tour then moves into the main distillery. Although the building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the technology inside is anything but archaic. A large room just inside the entrance contains the computerized electronics that control the distilling. A series of metal stairs takes you to the fermentation room, where red cypress and stainless steel tanks contain the fermenting sour mash in various stages of completion. The guide explains the details of the distillation process, including the percentage of alcohol in the distiller's beer (8 percent, in this case).
Interior of the still house.
A fountain in the garden at Four Roses.
A tour group passes barrels bearing the Four Roses logo.
One of the rather unusual aspects of the Four Roses process is that aging does not occur at this site (the warehouses across the street actually belong to Wild Turkey). The new whiskey is put into 6,000-gallon tanker trucks and taken to the Four Roses warehousing and bottling facility at Cox's Creek, near Bardstown.
The Bourbon
The tour wraps up with a tasting that gives you a true appreciation of the various Four Roses recipes. You can taste small samples of Yellow Label, Single Barrel, and Small Batch.
The honey-gold Yellow Label is a product of the mingling of all ten Four Roses bourbon recipes. It is bottled at 80 proof, which gives it a light character but also results in a lively bouquet in which fruity notes, including apple and pear, are easily detected. The finish is long and sweet. It is very pleasant sipped neat and is an excellent bourbon for cocktail mixing.
Because of the multiple recipes, the Single Barrel bottles from this distillery are more variable than most single-barrel bourbons. If your guide doesn't mention it, ask about the formula (printed on the label). Depending on which yeast strain was used for the bottle you are tasting from, there may be a stronger presence of fruit or spice (cinnamon is common) or even a floral nose (yes, roses). The higher rye mash bill is always used for Single Barrel.
A decorative gate with the distillery's symbol.
Rolling out barrels at Cox's Creek.
While many distilleries define “small batch” in numbers of well over a hundred barrels, Four Roses takes the term a bit more to heart. The average number of barrels used for a Small Batch bottling is nineteen. The bourbon's color is polished bronze, and the nose is characterized by chocolate and toffee in balance with the vanilla. As you sip, a series of fruit flavors emerges—from spicy apple through citrus to dark fruit—with a long, rich finish. Interestingly, Small Batch is a product of the mingling of four of the ten recipes.
One more note about the Four Roses recipes: The Single Barrel bottles contain a series of four letters, such as OBSQ. The O stands for the Lawrenceburg distillery (which was important when Seagram had five distilleries), B designates the 60 percent corn mash bill (E would designate the 75 percent corn mash bill), S means that it was made by the straight whiskey-making process, and Q is the yeast strain.
Cox's Creek Tour
There has been so much interest in the Four Roses warehouse that it too is now open for tours, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. To get to the site from the distillery, go back up Bonds Mill Road to US 127 and turn right. About a quarter mile ahead, you will see the signs for the Bluegrass Parkway. Turn right onto the Bluegrass Parkway west (the signs are for Elizabethtown) and drive about thirty-four miles to exit 25, US 150 (Springfield/Bardstown). Turn right on US 50 (Springfield Road), and after just a fifth of a mile, turn right onto KY 245, New Shepherdsville Road. Follow this road for a little over thirteen miles, and you will see the sign for Four Roses on your right. This drive takes a bit less than an hour. Of course, you could simply follow one of the tanker trucks from the distillery, but they tend to leave early in the morning.
Check in at the barrel-shaped guard office to join a tour, which includes a peek in one of the unique one-story warehouses that date from Seagram's ownership. There were originally twenty-one (designated A through U), but Warehouse O had to be demolished due to a construction flaw. Each warehouse sits on its own acre, and the ground has been graded so that it slopes away from each building. (If a fire starts in one warehouse, the burning bourbon will flow downhill and be trapped in a depression, keeping the fire from spreading.) In contrast to the many variables in its recipes, Four Roses' one-story warehouses take the variables out of aging. Whereas temperatures in traditional seven-story warehouses can vary as much as thirty-five degrees Fahrenheit from the bottom row of barrels to the top one, there's a maximum of only eight degrees' difference in these warehouses.
View of the unique one-story warehouses at Cox's Creek.
At Cox's Creek, you'll also see where the tanker trunks weigh in and discharge their loads for barreling. In the bottling facility, a combination of technology and manual skill is used for filling and labeling.
Cox's Creek is the place you would come to select your own personal barrel of Four Roses. Barrels are brought to a space behind the labeling room, and master distiller Jim Rutledge is often on hand to help with the selection.
The Cox's Creek site covers nearly 300 acres, and Four Roses uses an interesting method to maintain the grounds. You may notice a herd of black-and-white cattle in the distance by the trees. These cattle belong to the distillery and are allowed to graze between the warehouses after hours to keep the grass short.
Travel Advice
The Four Roses Distillery is on Bonds Mill Road, just off US 127, which is about fifteen miles south of I-64 exit 53-A. The distillery is about an hour's drive from downtown Louisville, less than half an hour from Frankfort, about half an hour from downtown Lexington, and forty minutes from Bardstown. Because it's only fifteen minutes away from the Wild Turkey Distillery, many visitors tour both in the same day. You could even take in three distilleries in one day if you tour Four Roses and Wild Turkey in the morning, go to Frankfort for lunch, and tour Buffalo Trace in the afternoon.
If you are interested in the Cox's Creek tour, you might want to combine it with a trip to the Jim Beam Distillery, which is only a five-minute drive west of the warehouses.
Perryville Battlefield State Historic Site
Colonel Warner Paul Jones, whose family founded Four Roses, commanded Confederate troops in the Battle of Perryville, which took place on October 7 and 8, 1862. If you are interested in Civil War history, you might want to visit the battlefield, which is preserved as a 669-acre state park (http://www.parks.ky.gov/findparks/histparks/pb/).
More than forty interpretive signs along self-guided trails vividly re-create the battle, which resulted from a chance encounter between Union and Confederate troops moving through Kentucky. Nonetheless, Perryville was an important conflict. Many historians believe that if the Confederates had succeeded in capturing Kentucky (which remained in the Union during the Civil War), the South could very well have won the war. As it happened, the 16,000 Confederates were vastly outnumbered at Perryville by 58,000 Union troops—unbeknownst to the commanders at the time. More than 7,500 soldiers were killed or wounded in the battle.
Every October, the battle is reenacted on the weekend closest to its actual dates. For tickets and information, go to http://www.perryvillebattlefield.org.
To get to the park from Four Roses, take US 127 south about fifteen miles to Harrodsburg. This town is Kentucky's oldest permanent settlement, and there is a re-creation of Fort Harrod (http://www.parks.ky.gov/findparks/recparks/fh/) along the way if you want even more Kentucky history. In Harrodsburg, turn right onto Mooreland Avenue (US 68); after a fifth of a mile, Mooreland becomes KY 152 as you bear right. Follow KY 152 for eleven and a half miles, turn left on Deep Creek Road (KY 442), drive about four miles, and follow the signs to the park (1825 Battlefield Road, Perryville, 859-332-8631).
Reenactment of the Battle of Perryville.
Wild Turkey Distillery.
Wild Turkey Distillery
1525 Tyrone Road
Lawrenceburg, KY 40342
502-839-4544
http://www.wildturkeybourbon.com
Hours: Tours are given Monday–Saturday at 9 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 2:30 p.m., and 3:30 p.m. and on Sundays (March–December) at 1 p.m., 2 p.m., and 3 p.m. The gift shop is open 9 a.m.– 4:30 p.m. Monday–Saturday and 12:30–4:30 p.m. on Sunday. Closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Bourbons: Wild Turkey 81, Wild Turkey 101, Russell's Reserve 10-Year-Old, Russell's Reserve Single-Barrel, Wild Turkey Rare Breed, Wild Turkey Kentucky Spirit, Master Distiller's Selection (annually released)
Ryes: Wild Turkey Kentucky Straight Rye, Russell's Reserve 6-Year-Old Rye
Other Liquors: Wild Turkey American Honey Liqueur
Chief Executive: Bob Kunze-Concewitz
Master Distiller: Jimmy Russell
Associate Distiller: Eddie Russell
Owner/Parent Company: Gruppo Campari
Tour: The tour includes the distillery and a warehouse, and visitors are given a choice of several products for tasting.
What's Special:
- The distillery is perched atop a cliff more than 250 feet above the Kentucky River.
- Whiskey was first distilled on this site in 1869.
- The new distillery, which more than doubled the previous capacity, opened in 2011. It was the first new distillery built in the United States since the boom years just after the repeal of Prohibition.
- Wild Turkey is the largest-capacity whiskey distillery in the world.
- Master distiller Jimmy Russell has been with the distillery since 1954.
- Wild Turkey 101 was reportedly the favorite bourbon of both President Dwight D. Eisenhower and gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson.
History
Wild Turkey's history is a hybrid of traditional Kentucky bourbon making and the evolution of a New York wholesale grocery company. The first distillery on the current site was built in 1869 and purchased (and rebuilt) by Irish immigrant J. P. Ripy in 1888. Ripy's brands were J. P. Ripy, Old Hickory Club, Old Hickory Spring, Sam Stevens, and J. W. Stevens. In 1906 Ripy's sons became involved in the business, and it was renamed Ripy Brothers Distillery; it produced Ripy Brothers and Old Hardy bourbons until the facility was closed by Prohibition.
In 1937, four years after the end of Prohibition, the Ripys updated the distillery, which was in operation until the present distillery was built. Through the years, the distillery was sold several times and produced several different bourbons, including Old Joe and J. T. S. Brown, though members of the Ripy family continued to be associated with it. When current Wild Turkey master distiller Jimmy Russell started working at the distillery in 1954, one of the people who taught him about bourbon making was distillery manager Ernest W. Ripy.
But part of Wild Turkey's heritage predates the distillery. Austin, Nichols & Company Inc., a food importing and distribution business, was founded in 1855 by Friend P. Fitts, who had made a fortune in the California Gold Rush. After the repeal of Prohibition, Austin Nichols started selling its own spirits, including straight bourbon. By the early 1940s, it was purchasing bourbon from a variety of suppliers, but primarily from Boulevard Distillery—the plant the Ripys had built.
Around this time, Austin Nichols president Thomas McCarthy took some of his company's bourbon along on a turkey hunt with three of his friends. They enjoyed the whiskey so much that McCarthy decided to name it after the object of their sport, and the Wild Turkey brand was introduced in 1942.
Taking a ride on an old barrel that has been converted to a “rocking turkey.”
In 1972 Austin Nichols bought the distillery itself, renamed it Wild Turkey, and made it the exclusive venue for the production of Wild Turkey whiskies. An international element was introduced when Austin Nichols sold the plant and the brands to Pernod Ricard of France in 1980. Today the distillery is owned by the Italian company Gruppo Campari, which purchased it in 2009.
The Tour
Even if you toured Wild Turkey as recently as the spring of 2011, the experience will now be very different. That's because the 1937 Ripy family distillery, where Jimmy Russell perfected his bourbon-making skills, was replaced by a brand-new, gleaming facility that opened in June 2011. The new 134,000-square-foot distillery and offices cost $50 million and more than doubled the production capacity of Wild Turkey, from about 5 million gallons annually to 11 million gallons. And that's not the only change: ground was broken in 2012 on a new $44 million bottling and packaging plant, which is projected to open in the fall of 2013. So every aspect of production—milling the grain, fermentation and distillation, and aging and bottling—will take place on the Lawrenceburg property.
The 1930s Wild Turkey facility, photographed in 2012. It is scheduled for demolition.
One more big change is coming to Wild Turkey. Depending on the construction schedule, the current Visitors Center, consisting of a little house by the woods, will be replaced with a striking new one in 2013 or 2014. The building will be downhill from the distillery and will boast spectacular panoramic views of the palisades of the Kentucky River. Building materials will be a mixture of historic and modern, including barn siding incorporated into the interior. The reception area will be made of amber-colored glass, and interactive displays will include iPad stations.
The tour of the distillery begins outdoors by the giant grain silos. They overlook a very large, colorful turkey painted on the side of the distillery building—a favorite backdrop for photos. Moving indoors, you'll see a short film about making Wild Turkey narrated by master distiller Jimmy Russell and featuring both the elder Russell and his son, associate distiller Eddie Russell.
Distillers Jimmy and Eddie Russell in the tasting lab.
In contrast to the old distillery, which had cypress fermenting tanks arranged in a rather dark, low-ceilinged room, the new facility's stainless steel tanks occupy a bright, high-ceilinged space with walls of windows facing southeast and southwest. The quality-control laboratory is visible through a large window on another wall of the tasting room. This is where the Russells and other staff evaluate new whiskey that has just come off the still, as well as the aged whiskies prior to bottling. A handy design feature in the tasting lab is that the samples are arranged on a giant lazy Susan–like tabletop, allowing the evaluators to stay seated as they sample each glass in turn and keeping the bottles in the designated order.
Wild Turkey warehouse interior.
Jimmy Russell will tell anyone who asks (and it's not uncommon for tours to encounter him) that the mash bill for all Wild Turkey bourbons is the same, although he won't reveal the exact proportions of the grains. Part of what makes Wild Turkey 81, Wild Turkey 101, Russell's Reserve, and American Spirit distinctive are differences in proof and age.
After viewing the still house, the tour moves to a warehouse, where the guide explains that, unlike some other distilleries, Wild Turkey's warehouses are not climate controlled. Windows are opened in summer and closed in winter.
Kentucky law limits the volume of alcohol that distilleries can offer for sampling, but at the end of the tour, you can choose to sip any two of these six products: Wild Turkey 101, Russell's Reserve 10-Year-Old Bourbon, Wild Turkey Rare Breed, Kentucky Spirit, Russell's Reserve 6-Year-Old Rye, and American Honey, a liqueur made with bourbon.
Tour guides Daniel Pollis and Alan Tenniswood pour tastes.
The Bourbon
Wild Turkey bourbons have a deserved reputation for robustness. The new whiskey off the still is a lower proof than most other bourbons, so less water is added before it is put into barrels with a number 4 char (the darkest) for aging.
Wild Turkey 101 is named for its proof. When Austin Nichols introduced Wild Turkey in 1942, it was aged eight years—about twice as long as most bourbons on the market at the time. You can still buy eight-year-old Wild Turkey with the age printed on the label, but most 101 (and the expression offered in the tasting) is a mingling of variously aged barrels. Deep amber in color, it has a spicy nose and a correspondingly peppery flavor on the tongue, but it finishes with a surprising honey sweetness.
Russell's Reserve 10-Year-Old is a 90-proof, small-batch bottling. To my palate, it has more vanilla character than any of the other Wild Turkey bourbons, and it retains the characteristic Wild Turkey spiciness and nuttiness.
Rare Breed is a mingling of six-, eight-, and twelve-year-old bourbons and is bottled at 108.4 proof. Roasted corn predominates in the nose and on the palate. The finish is long, smooth, and honey scented.
Wild Turkey's single-barrel bourbon is Kentucky Spirit, bottled at 101 proof. The honey here intensifies to honeycomb, and the spice is less peppery and more like nutmeg and cinnamon, with an underlying nuttiness.
If you have never tasted rye, Russell's Reserve 6-Year-Old Rye is an excellent introduction. You'll detect rye in the nose, on the tongue, and at the finish, all with underlying notes of vanilla and a little honey.
Given the distinctive honey notes in the Wild Turkey bourbons, it was natural to use honey in making American Honey Liqueur. If you enjoy Drambuie, you'll love this 71-proof liqueur.
Travel Advice
From I-64, take exit 53-A to US 127 and travel south for about fourteen miles. Just past the Wal-Mart Superstore on your left, turn left onto US 44, which becomes US 62, and travel about two and a half miles before turning right onto Tyrone Road. You'll see the distillery. The Wal-Mart is just over four and a half miles north of the Bluegrass Parkway if you are coming from that direction.
Given Wild Turkey's proximity to Four Roses, you might want to visit both distilleries in one day. You can also enjoy some pretty Kentucky countryside by taking the back roads to Woodford Reserve and thereby indulge in a study of contrasts, comparing the ultramodern Wild Turkey facility with Brown-Forman's historic, early-nineteenth-century site. From Wild Turkey, cross the bridge over the Kentucky River on US 62 and follow the highway for three and a half miles. Make a sharp left onto KY 1685/Steele Road and stay on it for five miles; then turn left onto McCracken Pike. Woodford Reserve is about two miles down the road. Travel time is just under half an hour.
Metal-clad warehouses on the Wild Turkey property.
Where to Stay
If you want to enjoy some true Kentucky hospitality while visiting the eastern portion of bourbon country, there are two historic accommodations in nearby Harrodsburg, about half an hour's drive south of Lawrenceburg. Both have restaurants specializing in regional cuisine.
Beaumont Inn
You can be forgiven if the theme to Gone with the Wind pops into your head when you pull up to the Beaumont Inn (638 Beaumont Inn Drive, Harrodsburg, 859-734-3381 or 800-352-3992, http://www.beaumontinn.com/). It happens to a lot of people. At one time, the antebellum mansion was an exclusive girls' school. Now guests can stay in antiques-appointed rooms and enjoy southern delicacies such as fried chicken, country ham, and corn pudding in the dining room. And yes, you'll find grits on the breakfast menu. The inn complex (there are two other historic buildings for overnight guests) also includes a casual restaurant, the Owl Tavern, and a cozy pub, the Owl's Nest; both feature personalized bourbon tastings. Contact proprietor Dixon Dedman to book one (dixon@beaumontinn.com).
Beaumont Inn.
Dessert at the Beaumont Inn.
Dixon, his wife Elizabeth, and his parents, Helen and Chuck Dedman, own and run the Beaumont Inn, which has been the family business since 1919, the year the Volstead Act was passed. This is not a coincidence. Before they were innkeepers, the Dedmans were distillers. The tavern and pub at the Beaumont Inn are named in honor of Charles M. Dedman's Kentucky Owl Distillery, which operated thirteen miles north at Oregon, Kentucky, on the Kentucky River. From 1880 until 1916 it produced Kentucky Owl and C. M. Dedman bourbons. Dedman died in 1918, and the advent of Prohibition meant that his distillery never reopened. Large black-and-white photos of the old distillery are part of the tavern's décor.
Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill
The Shakers were a nineteenth-century communal society that promoted racial and gender equality, practiced celibacy, and was renowned for its craftsmanship. The village they established in 1805 and maintained through the nineteenth century at Pleasant Hill has been painstakingly restored, and overnight guests are welcome to stay in fifteen different buildings on the 3,000-acre property. Staff members in Shaker clothing tend farm animals and crops, make implements and furniture, and serve patrons in the Trustees' Office Dining Room.
Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill (3501 Lexington Road, Harrodsburg, 859-734-5411 or 800-734-5611, http://www.shakervillageky.org) is a fine place to relax after spending the day touring bourbon country. In the morning, a buffet breakfast is served, providing fuel for the next day's explorations. The grounds include forty miles of hiking and equestrian trails, including walks along the Kentucky River, and a nature preserve. The restaurant serves traditional Shaker fare (don't pass up the Shaker lemon pie). Bourbon is offered, of course, and twice a year, Shaker Village hosts a bourbon-themed dinner as a fund-raiser for the nonprofit foundation that maintains the site.
An autumn day in Shaker Village.
Some of the buildings where overnight guests can stay at Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill.
Not Just the Angels' Share
Without a doubt, one of the highlights of a distillery tour occurs in the warehouse, when visitors are enveloped by the rich and luscious aromas of caramel and vanilla rising from the aging barrels. Inhaling is almost, but not quite, as satisfying as sipping the end product. There's a lot of whiskey vapor in the air. In fact, over time, as much as two-thirds of a barrel can evaporate, depending on how long the bourbon is aged. Distillers whimsically refer to this evaporation as the “angels' share.” But in reality, the evaporating bourbon is providing nutrition for far more corporeal beings.
During a distillery tour, you may notice that light-colored warehouses and even nearby fences, trees, and concrete walls are streaked with black markings, as if soot had settled on their surfaces. But obviously it can't be soot, since fire is not allowed anywhere in the vicinity of the highly flammable whiskey. (No doubt you will notice the numerous No Smoking signs, too.) The discoloration—known in the industry as warehouse staining—is caused by millions of microscopic fungi growing on the darkened surfaces. It is a species of black mold with the tongue-twisting name Baudoinia compniacensis—commonly known as the whiskey fungus—and it was first described in an 1881 paper published in a French scientific journal. The mold had long been observed staining warehouses where cognac was being aged and on surfaces near bakeries, where rising dough also released ethanol.
Baudoinia happily grows outdoors in the presence of ethanol vapors, but it has proved difficult to culture in a lab. Recently, however, Canadian scientists studied samples taken from concrete walls near rye warehouses in Ontario and from bourbon warehouses in Kentucky and concluded that the same species of mold is responsible for warehouse staining in France, Canada, and the United States. Happily, it doesn't harm trees and seems to have no adverse health effects on people or animals, since we have been coexisting with Baudoinia for as long as we have been baking and distilling. And the lofty angels apparently don't mind sharing with the humble little fungi.
Warehouse C at Buffalo Trace, Frankfort, was damaged by a tornado in 2006. The replaced bricks on the top show the effects of staining on the rest of the building.
