CardsandBourbon Posted February 25, 2017 Share Posted February 25, 2017 Son and I are headed up the road to Clermont to tour the Jim Beam Distillery. Man it's so nice to have all these distilleries within a 30-40 minute drive. Once back home I'll post a recounting of our trip. Here's a shot from their web site, just to let you know where we're headed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldFitzWithTheGoldLabel Posted February 25, 2017 Share Posted February 25, 2017 Have fun. Keep an eye out for any gift shop exclusives.Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tennessee Dave Posted February 25, 2017 Share Posted February 25, 2017 Neat place. Enjoy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CardsandBourbon Posted February 26, 2017 Author Share Posted February 26, 2017 (edited) Back from Clermont. Headed up a little after noon. First thing you see when you get out of the car is You can see the statue of Jim Beam to the left of the Stillhouse. It only gets better after this. Once the tour starts you get to see all parts of the process. Here my son is dipping his finger in some mash Basically at this point it is a very grainy beer that is about 6% alcohol. Further down the line you get to the point that it is called Here is a picture of me standing next to my new best friend. These are just the tops of of the 5 story fermenters Once all of the fermentation and distillation has been completed it's ready to go into the barrels to become bourbon. Here's our tour guide, Josh, talking about the barreling process. I tasted it, pretty raw at this point. Before we went to the warehouse we went through the bottling area where we got to fill our on bottle of Knob Creek Single Barrel 120. I asked if there was ever going to be a Knob Creek Single Barrel, Barrel Proof. I got a shrug, raised eyebrows and a sly smile. Here is my bottle being filled, it's the one about 1/3 full. After bottling it is corked and dipped. Once it is dipped you get to personalize your bottle by putting your thumb print on the top in hot wax. The last stop before the tasting is the warehouse. We got to see Mila's barrel. Unfortunately she wasn't at the distillery today. Right next to that barrel are barrels Now on to the tasting. You get to sample three of their products (anything but the Masters Series). One of the guys on our tour doesn't drink so he gave us his 3. Between my son and myself we sampled the following: Jim Beam Black, Extra Aged Jim Beam Single Barrel Jim Beam BIB Jim Beam Double Oaked Bakers Knob Creek Rye Knob Creek Small Batch Bookers (Batch 2016-04) Bookers (Batch 2017-01) The Extra Aged was my least favorite. Single Barrel wasn't bad as was the BIB. The Double Oaked really put me off at the start but after a minute or two to open up the taste profile really changed. At some point I'll probably pick up a bottle. The Baker's and the Knob Creek speak for themselves. They never disappoint. We finished up with the Booker's. We both liked the 2017 batch better. Better nose, smoother in the mouth and not quite as spicy on the finish as the 2016-04. Back to the gift shop to personalize and pick up our bottles of KCSiB and some other goodies. We both got a Beam shot glass at the tasting. I also picked up a Basil Hayden's shot glass (because I thought it was a cool shape), A Baker's glass (since my mother's maiden name was Baker) a gray golf shirt and of course my KCSiB. My son got the black golf shirt, red fishing shirt, a golf ball, a Booker's glass his KCSiB and the last bottle of Booker's Batch 2016-05 (Off Your Rocker). Plus we had our bottles personalized. A great day. We thoroughly enjoyed our time at the distillery. If you're ever near Clermont it's worth the time to stop by and visit. Edited February 26, 2017 by CardsandBourbon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldFitzWithTheGoldLabel Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 Wow, that looks like a VIP experience. I am glad that you all had a blast. I can say that the Jim Beam double Oaked was my favorite our of a 5 bourbon blind tasting at a bourbon party that I went to a couple of weeks ago ( which included Stagg Jr., and Elmer T Lee).Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CardsandBourbon Posted February 26, 2017 Author Share Posted February 26, 2017 When we got to the tasting I really wanted to taste the JBSB and the Double Oaked. I had already had some WR Double Oaked so I wanted to try theirs. That first sip was almost like smelling and drinking fingernail polish remover (not that I've ever actually imbibed in fingernail polish remover). After a minute or two of opening up I tasted it again and really enjoyed it. The SB was not bad. We had a blast and are already figuring out where our next tour is going to be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richnimrod Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 Loox like a wonderful time enjoyed by all. Good for y'all! Touring a Bourbon distillery is one of the best ways to spend a couple hours. Try some other ones, if you haven't; the similarities abound, but there are certainly differences worth exploring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tennessee Dave Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 Looks like a great trip! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kwshannon Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 Sounds like you had a great time on the tour. We took it a couple of year's ago. I think it is one of the top tours to take and recommend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mosugoji64 Posted February 27, 2017 Share Posted February 27, 2017 Their tour has improved immensely in the past few years. Glad to hear you enjoyed it! The only one that isn't an actual distillery tour is HH since their distillery is in Louisville, so any of the others should be a good time for you as well. Be sure to give us a report on whichever one you choose next! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M1marksman Posted February 27, 2017 Share Posted February 27, 2017 Very nice post! How fortunate are you to be on the tour with that generous non-drinker. Just wondering, do they offer the personalized bottling on only the brand they are bottling that day? Also what do they charge for the personalized bottle? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tsangster Posted February 27, 2017 Share Posted February 27, 2017 Thanks for the pictures and review. Gotta love those non-drinkers on distillery tours. At Woodford a very nice lady offered to trade her sample for my empty souvenir glass. Can't say no to that. As I finished off the second sample (third if counting the wife's) someone else offered to trade a full sample for empty glass. will take that trade any day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CardsandBourbon Posted February 27, 2017 Author Share Posted February 27, 2017 1 hour ago, M1marksman said: Very nice post! How fortunate are you to be on the tour with that generous non-drinker. Just wondering, do they offer the personalized bottling on only the brand they are bottling that day? Also what do they charge for the personalized bottle? The only thing they were offering as the personalized bottle was the KCSiB 120. Other days, I'm not sure. They weren't actually doing any bottling on the KC line, but started it up and ran it for those of us who purchased a bottle. I think they priced it at $47.99 + $10.00 if you wanted your bottle engraved, which we both chose to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CardsandBourbon Posted February 27, 2017 Author Share Posted February 27, 2017 11 hours ago, mosugoji64 said: Their tour has improved immensely in the past few years. Glad to hear you enjoyed it! The only one that isn't an actual distillery tour is HH since their distillery is in Louisville, so any of the others should be a good time for you as well. Be sure to give us a report on whichever one you choose next! My son has already done the MM tour. That's probably the next one my wife and I are going to do. I also want to get to the Four Roses, and Buffalo Trace tours. I will definitely try to get pictures and post them and my experiences after the next tour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camduncan Posted February 27, 2017 Share Posted February 27, 2017 Great review! Thanks for sharing... it looks like you had a fantastic time. Makes me realize I've travelled half way round the world twice now to visit KY and Beam, but have never done the tour. Need to fix that on the next trip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokinjoe Posted February 27, 2017 Share Posted February 27, 2017 Thanks for your report. Sounds like y'all had a great time. My Goodness...the pictures of the barrels in the racks and barrel heads in the Josh picture show just how hard they're running: 10,000,000th barrel in 2005 12,000,000th 6 years later in 2011 14,000,000th 3 years later in 2014 16,000,000th 2 years later in 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M1marksman Posted February 28, 2017 Share Posted February 28, 2017 23 minutes ago, CardsandBourbon said: My son has already done the MM tour. That's probably the next one my wife and I are going to do. I also want to get to the Four Roses, and Buffalo Trace tours. I will definitely try to get pictures and post them and my experiences after the next tour. Check the Maker's Mark web sight. They offer a variety of tours. Some require reservations, and are limited to a small group. My wife and I did one where we mixed drinks after a distillery tour. Great fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CardsandBourbon Posted February 28, 2017 Author Share Posted February 28, 2017 3 hours ago, camduncan said: Great review! Thanks for sharing... it looks like you had a fantastic time. Makes me realize I've travelled half way round the world twice now to visit KY and Beam, but have never done the tour. Need to fix that on the next trip. Cam, you definitely need to do that. If you're ever in my neck of the woods, I only live about 20 miles from JB, let me know and we can do some sipping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CardsandBourbon Posted February 28, 2017 Author Share Posted February 28, 2017 2 hours ago, smokinjoe said: Thanks for your report. Sounds like y'all had a great time. My Goodness...the pictures of the barrels in the racks and barrel heads in the Josh picture show just how hard they're running: 10,000,000th barrel in 2005 12,000,000th 6 years later in 2011 14,000,000th 3 years later in 2014 16,000,000th 2 years later in 2016 Joe, Josh our guide said they hope to barrel their 17,000,000th barrel this year and do a million barrels a year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tanstaafl2 Posted February 28, 2017 Share Posted February 28, 2017 14 hours ago, CardsandBourbon said: Joe, Josh our guide said they hope to barrel their 17,000,000th barrel this year and do a million barrels a year. A million barrels a year! That is about 2,740 barrels a day. Every single day of the year. That would be a lot. Maybe a bit more than a lot! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokinjoe Posted February 28, 2017 Share Posted February 28, 2017 6 minutes ago, tanstaafl2 said: A million barrels a year! That is about 2,740 barrels a day. Every single day of the year. That would be a lot. Maybe a bit more than a lot! 1 barrel every 30 seconds. 24/7/365. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tanstaafl2 Posted February 28, 2017 Share Posted February 28, 2017 Just now, smokinjoe said: 1 barrel every 30 seconds. 24/7/365. Yikes! Can you even fill a barrel that fast??? You would need a pit crew! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokinjoe Posted February 28, 2017 Share Posted February 28, 2017 1 minute ago, tanstaafl2 said: Yikes! Can you even fill a barrel that fast??? You would need a pit crew! That's roughy filling at 2 gallons a second! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CardsandBourbon Posted February 28, 2017 Author Share Posted February 28, 2017 Well Josh said, you guys keep drinking it and we'll keep making it. I guess we need to keep up our end of the bargain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishnbowljoe Posted February 28, 2017 Share Posted February 28, 2017 One thing to remember about Beam, they do have Clermont and Boston. Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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