VAGentleman Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 I did the Kentucky Bourbon Affair again this year and it was a really good time. The first event I did was the Heaven Hill one. We got to go into a Rick House and taste directly from three different barrels. Each barrel was 10-11 years old and on a different floor. They were on floors 1, 4 and 7. You could definitely notice the rise in temperature the higher you went. Each barrel was manned by one of the HH Master Distillers. Charlie Downs (EW experience MD) was on the first floor, Craig Beam was on the second and co-Master Distiller Denny Potter was on the seventh floor. They led us through thiefing the bourbon out of the barrel and then tasting it. They answered any and all questions and told some great stories. Being able to tell first hand the differences between the barrels on the different floors was a pretty cool experience. The different flavors and proofs was pretty evident and pretty enlightening. After tasting through the barrels on the different floors, we had an excellent catered lunch. We then went and did a side by side tasting from the three barrels and voted on our favorite. We received a bottle from our favorite barrel and could then purchase the other barrels if we chose. After this we were taken to the barrel rolling test track and got a crash course in barrel rolling (Rolling barrels around a track in a timed competition making sure to get barrels bung up and stenciled side out). We then got to give it a try. The whole time the Master Distillers and some other HH employees (including Bernie Lubbers) hung out with us discussing different things and telling great stories. It was a very memorable event.During one of the evenings I went to the Fred Noe Bourboncue event. We were taken to the historic Beam family home in downtown Bardstown, where Beams have live for a very long time (Booker lived there and Fred’s Mom still does). We got to hang out with Fred, his son Freddie and the rest of their family. He answered all kinds of questions, told some great stories, led us through a tasting and helped grill some fantastic Pork Chops. The rest of the food was incredible as well. We had an open bar and were able to kick back in his Man Cave that the DIY network did for him. Also got to go inside his amazing Smoke House where he was curing hams. A really fun eveningI also did the Wild Turkey event. Eddie gave us a behind the Scenes tour, going places the regular tour doesn’t take you including into the still room and the lab, where we got to try white dog. We went over to warehouse A and had a tasting of 6 different bourbons with Eddie and Jimmy. We tried the Diamond Anniversary, the Masters Keep, the RR 1998, the RR Single Barrel Rye, the single barrel picked by a group as part of the bourbon affair and the American Honey Sting(American Honey with ghost peppers. We then went back to the Visitors Center and had an incredible catered lunch. Eddie and Jimmy told some amazing stories and were very down to earth and cool people hanging out with everyone.I had another great time this year and as a bonus transportation to all events was provided so you could drink and not worry about having someone drive. Well worth the trio for some very cool interactions you normally wouldn’t be able Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richnimrod Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 Sounds very COOL!!!What, if I may ask, did they charge for the whole shebang?How many days/nights were involved?How is it booked? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VAGentleman Posted June 8, 2015 Author Share Posted June 8, 2015 Each event was between $150-$175. Each of the distilleries did one event each Day Thur-Sat. Wednesday FR, WT and JB did a single Barrel event where you got to be in a group to pick a private barrel selection. Each night had different dinner type events from the different distilleries. There was also an opening and closing event that all of the distilleries participated in. You could pick and choose and do as many or as few as you wanted. So Basically Wed-Sat. You purchased tickets to the events through their website. They had discounted rates a t base hotel but you didn't have to stay there although that's where all the transportation left and returned to. You also got at least one bottle of whiskey at each event Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts