t-ball Posted March 27, 2017 Share Posted March 27, 2017 Spent this past Thursday, Friday, and Saturday in Bardstown, KY. 2/23 - 2/25 2017. First tour, and no doubt the high light of my trip, was a tour at Heaven Hill. Only 7 people on the tour so that was good. When we got into the rickhouse, our tour guide turned the corner and said you have a treat. Said we would get to watch a barrel tasting. WRONG ! The EC rep, was there with a Louisville bar hand selecting a barrel for them. He gave us good pour from each of the three barrels. First one was unbelievable ! 9 yr/132 proof. But it was butter smooth. Other 2 were good, but #1 was the pick. The bar chose that barrel as well. Only thing that concerned me, they would get the bottles at 94 proof ? I asked the rep why ruin that barrel proofing it down ? He explained but that was some great bourbon at 132. What a treat to get to drink from the barrel in a rickhouse ! And it was one of my favorites ! Elijah Craig ! Awesome tour to say the least. Gift shop was nice, grenades were limited to one each. Did have some 12yr Very Special Old Fitz, for 149.99 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t-ball Posted March 27, 2017 Author Share Posted March 27, 2017 Just stayed in Bardstown the first day. After Heaven Hill, we went to Willett. Tour had just left so we hung out in the gift shop and spent some money. No Willett bottles at all in there ? Did get a couple BIB's so it was good. After Willett we ended the day, distillery part, at Barton 1792. Tours had ended but you can do tastings at the gift shop. So we did ! Ha ! VOB and small batch. Ended with Barton Chocolate Bourbon. A lot of fun at Barton's. The ladies in the gift shop were a blast. Ended up going back there another day because it was 1/4 mile from we were staying and it was so much fun. Had to go get a couple bottle of Chocolate Bourbon. Great in coffee ! Friday we had the Buffalo Trace hard hat tour in the morning, and Woodford Reserve tour that afternoon. Number one tour on my list was the HHT at BT. Had 16 people on the tour. Too many in the spaces we went. Couldn't see alot of what we were being shown. Went thru mash rooms, stills, tasted white dog, and back to the gift shop for tasting. No bottling, no rickhouse, and tour was over. Needless to say this one was a huge disappointment for me. Gift shop had their 2 types of Vodka, Eagle Rare and Buffalo Trace. And Bourbon Creme. Mostly Buffalo Trace items, and some Pappy hats and glasses. I guess i had read so much about this tour before going I expected more. At the end of the week, the four of us all voted it the worst tour of the week. Woodford Reserve was next ! Classy, beautiful, everything about Woodford was just NICE ! Tour was excellent, went from corn to watching them box and pallet Cases. Really liked watching them fill their barrels and rolling them down the tracks ! Still don't know how they stay on, but they do. Tasting was awesome ! Got some double oak and they explained the process. Also grabbed a .375 of dbl dbl oak in the gift shop. Its left in the second barrel longer than the dbl oak. Only available in the gift shop. Haven't cracked it yet, but will very soon. Great tour. Stopped in Wild Turkey for a few minutes but nothing that I couldn't get here . Wife bought a couple of Christmas Ornaments and a candle . Stopped at Four Roses but the closed at 4 and we were 15 minutes too late. Saturday was Maker's Mark and Jim Beam. Maker's property and tour was great. We had Lee as our tour guide and he was awesome. He actually drank with us in the tasting ! Only tour guide that did that. Got to go inside the new cellar where they make 46. Liked everything about the Maker's tour. Beginning to end. Would go back in a second. Gift shop is NUTS !! Dipped some bottles, bought some bottles, met alot of nice people. My wife called it the Disneyland of Bourbon. Needless to say we saw more people here than we had seen the entire 2 days before. Drive in is , let's say thrilling ! Almost got clipped by a John Deere ! Fun times. Jim Beam was last. I was gassed by 2 pm on Saturday. 3 days non-stop, 20-25 shots of bourbon during the day, another 4-6 each night, old man was tired ! BUT we went anyway. Not a fan of Jim beam bourbon, love Booker's, but everybody else voted me out. Off to Jim Beam ! GLAD I went ! Awesome tour, awesome tour guide ( Travis ). Property is beautiful. Probably took more pics here than any other place. Got to see Mila's barrel so it was all good ! Gift shop is really nice and they had some Old Tub BIB. Had to get a few of those, but for some reason I only made it home with one ? First time having that so we really gave it a try. Other three didn't enjoy the tasting, I loved it. I used the three shots on my card for 3 shots of Off Your Rocker Bookers. Wife did the bottle your own Knob Creek. Had the bread pudding and bourbon sauce at the BBQ shack. Actually got to walk around some. Really glad I went to Beam. Also would go back. Showed us a "quality control" locker they have. Had some 4.5 L bottles they ship over seas. Can't sell them here. Almost 3 ft tall. Asked Travis about OG114. Said yes they are making it, it will be back out, just depends on how much they actually have. But it is def coming back out. Can't believe I lived in KY for almost 40 years and never enjoyed this area. Had an absolute blast and will be back very soon. Stayed in the Houston House in downtown Bardstown. Walked to Mammy's, Hadorn's Bakery, Toddy's , pretty much everywhere in town. Couldn't ask for a better visit. Except maybe a few more days ! Will try to post some pics. It's not cooperating right now. Let me post one, then keeps giving me an error. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t-ball Posted March 27, 2017 Author Share Posted March 27, 2017 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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t-ball Posted March 27, 2017 Author Share Posted March 27, 2017 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richnimrod Posted March 27, 2017 Share Posted March 27, 2017 (edited) Sounds like a great time; and a busy one! I'm envious. Boy that VSOF 12 has gone through the roof! I bought one a year and a half back at the gift shop for about $50, if I remember correctly (almost didn't pull the trigger on it for that price). Edited March 27, 2017 by Richnimrod Spelling... duh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CardsandBourbon Posted March 27, 2017 Share Posted March 27, 2017 t-ball, sounds like a great time. I've done the EW Experience in downtown Louisville and the JB tour. Next on our list is the MM tour. I've been to BT but just for a conference and stopped in the tasting room/gift shop. Should have given me a yell, I'm 25 minutes from Bardstown. We could have shared a sip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b1gcountry Posted March 27, 2017 Share Posted March 27, 2017 Very cool writeup. Thanks for sharing Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t-ball Posted March 28, 2017 Author Share Posted March 28, 2017 On 3/27/2017 at 10:24 AM, Richnimrod said: Sounds like a great time; and a busy one! I'm envious. Boy that VSOF 12 has gone through the roof! I bought one a year and a half back at the gift shop for about $50, if I remember correctly (almost didn't pull the trigger on it for that price). Clerk said they had 30 left. Limit was 1 and you had to take a tour to be able to purchase one. Some young guy walked in at 10:05 and wanted one VSOF 12 and a grenade. Told him he had to take a tour. After he walked out, guy behind the counter said " Damn Flipper " ! I had to laugh at him. I was thinking the same thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t-ball Posted March 28, 2017 Author Share Posted March 28, 2017 On 3/27/2017 at 11:03 AM, CardsandBourbon said: t-ball, sounds like a great time. I've done the EW Experience in downtown Louisville and the JB tour. Next on our list is the MM tour. I've been to BT but just for a conference and stopped in the tasting room/gift shop. Should have given me a yell, I'm 25 minutes from Bardstown. We could have shared a sip. I will be back that way with in the year. I will def let you know. Something about drinking bourbon in Bardstown. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t-ball Posted March 28, 2017 Author Share Posted March 28, 2017 46 cellar at Maker's Mark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t-ball Posted March 28, 2017 Author Share Posted March 28, 2017 (edited) One of the many mash pots at BT. ( It's about half full ! ) Edited March 28, 2017 by t-ball Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokinjoe Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 Really good stuff, T-B. Thank you. First picture of inside the Maker's 46 "cave" that I recall seeing. Very nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeTerp Posted March 29, 2017 Share Posted March 29, 2017 I really enjoyed the write-ups and the pictures. Thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lilsweetpea Posted March 29, 2017 Share Posted March 29, 2017 I enjoyed your review. We are heading down in April and looking forward to spending time at the distilleries. BT review is a little disappointing. It's always been a highlight for us! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flahute Posted March 29, 2017 Share Posted March 29, 2017 Sorry to hear your hard hat tour was a miss. That's one of my favorites. Sounds like you had a large group which does impact the experience. Surprised you didn't get into the warehouse as we did on our tour. (Bottling is not part of the hard hat tour - you see that on the other tour they offer.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t-ball Posted March 29, 2017 Author Share Posted March 29, 2017 Another cellar pic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dSculptor Posted March 29, 2017 Share Posted March 29, 2017 On 3/28/2017 at 4:30 PM, t-ball said: Clerk said they had 30 left. Limit was 1 and you had to take a tour to be able to purchase one. Some young guy walked in at 10:05 and wanted one VSOF 12 and a grenade. Told him he had to take a tour. After he walked out, guy behind the counter said " Damn Flipper " ! I had to laugh at him. I was thinking the same thing. What is a grenade ..other than the ones you throw and blow things up with? Never heard of that. Lucky you on the tasting from the barrel. One of my Fav's was also the JB tour. I think when we went down there I got the first release of the ECBP. It did not last long. We missed the 4R tour, but I'll get down there again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hop Posted March 29, 2017 Share Posted March 29, 2017 The "grenade" is a 200ml barrel shaped bottle of Elijah Craig Barrel Select @ 125 proof and rumored to be around 8 yrs old - $30 or thereabouts at the HHGS only. It's pretty tasty and a novelty item due to the bottle. I've drank one and liked it - very fruit forward as I recall and off the norm for EC at least to my palate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dSculptor Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 Thanks! Never heard of one nor saw one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t-ball Posted April 20, 2017 Author Share Posted April 20, 2017 Buffalo Trace tour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paddy Posted April 20, 2017 Share Posted April 20, 2017 ^^^^They have the best white dog going (especially when they're making rye)! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishnbowljoe Posted April 20, 2017 Share Posted April 20, 2017 1 hour ago, Paddy said: ^^^^They have the best white dog going (especially when they're making rye)! I respectfully disagree Pat. It's all good, but...... I've toured BT numerous times, and if they were distilling, it was always one of their rye mash bills. Finally, one time I was there on a tour and they were running the wheated mash bill. Being the wheater whore that I am, I was in heaven. Marvelous stuff. I was tempted to fill up the empty water bottle I had, but Fred was doing our tour. Cheers! Joe 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paddy Posted April 21, 2017 Share Posted April 21, 2017 ^^^^That HAD to be your Nirvana moment Joe! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishnbowljoe Posted April 21, 2017 Share Posted April 21, 2017 2 minutes ago, Paddy said: ^^^^That HAD to be your Nirvana moment Joe! It was most certainly one of 'em. I don't think I stopped smiling till after I went to sleep that night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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