Bourbon and Bluegrass

Kentucky Bourbon Trail

Kentucky

We have begun the Bourbon Trail!  We visited Buffalo Trace Distillery and were able to sample two different bourbons and a really sweet creamy thing that was delicious!

When we visited Kentucky in 2011 and did the Bourbon Trail we took quite a few distillery tours.  We really don’t want to do that many tours this time and just want to sample.  You know, the YUM part of the trail!

After arriving at Buffalo Trace and wandering around a bit we finally found someone who was willing to let us sample without the tour.  I still don’t understand why they REALLY want us to tour before sampling.   But anyway, the sampling was a lot of fun with a really nice lady who managed the sampling bar.  (They gave out chocolate pecan candies made with bourbon too!) Kirby decided to take home a bottle of the nice bourbon – and he got a cool tee shirt too.  The distillery warehouse is a beautiful old brick building and I could see the oak barrels through the windows.  We would have considered a tour but, hey, it was Saturday and the place was packed.

From there we went to Woodford.  Buffalo Trace is not actually part of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail but Woodford Reserve is.  We remembered it from three years ago when it was so crowded we opted for the tasting without the tour.  This time that was not an option.  You could buy yourself a beautiful bottle of the bourbon and wander around but unless you waited an hour or more for the tour and paid your $10 per person, you weren’t going to taste.  The whole public area was different and there were no longer nice rockers on the porch.  We didn’t want to wait for the tour or pay for it, so we just headed back to Georgetown.

We always try to feel like locals when we visit a place for more than a couple of days so after the two distilleries we went to a little spring fest at a local farm.  Now this was fun!  Great bluegrass music which is just about our favorite, some moist and juicy pulled pork for lunch and fresh veggies to take home with us.  Children were running around having fun, poking at the goat in the kennel and even pretending to sing with the band.  The sun was warm and I do believe I am falling in love with Kentucky!