Ramblings from an amateur booze geek.
A quick admin note.
I set this blog up with only minor customizations so that I could stop bikeshedding and just start writing. I chose a minimal theme and just got on with it.
Now that there’s some content here, I’m trying to make sure it’s easy to view and search. I’m also playing with a new theme that adds some flexibility (like sidebar menus) the original one didn’t have.
Independent Stave Company is the world’s largest barrel company, and their Kentucky Cooperage in Lebanon, KY is the world’s largest cooperage. And let’s not forget that a key requirement for bourbon whiskey is that it be aged in new, charred oak barrels. So you might be surprised to learn that the Kentucky Cooperage isn’t on the official Kentucky Bourbon Trail, even though it plays an absolutely critical role in bourbon. So I had to visit and take a tour as part of my distillery roadtrip.
Continue reading “Rolling barrels at a tour of ISC’s Kentucky Cooperage”
How could I resist stopping in for a drink at the Talbott’s Tavern, the world’s oldest bourbon whiskey bar while I was staying in Bardstown on the distillery roadtrip? There’s also a restaurant, but I thought it would be more fun to go to the bar, where I could try whiskies that weren’t available in Singapore (that’s a long list, unfortunately).
Continue reading “When in Bardstown: Drink at Talbott’s Tavern”
We’ve now come to the Kentucky portion of my distillery road trip. I’ve been to Kentucky many times in my life, but this is my first trip into bourbon country. And I’ll never forget the first breath I took when I stepped out of my car in the Bardstown Bourbon Company parking lot. There’s nothing like the sweet smell of aging bourbon, and I had a huge grin on my face as I walked across the parking lot to the distillery. Now you know what I meant by the title – enjoying the breeze!
Continue reading “Enjoying the breeze at Bardstown Bourbon Company”
This morning I saw that Atlanta’s Old Fourth Distillery has hired a consultant to try and broker a sale. It’s sad to see but not terribly surprising. This is actually the second Georgia distillery to go on the market this month – Savannah’s Ghost Coast distillery is also up for sale through the same consultant. You can read (and see) more about what I saw at O4D this summer if you’re not familiar with them.
Continue reading “A hot take on the Old Fourth Distillery sale”
After a disappointing unplanned stop at another tasting room, I really needed a beer. Fortunately Corsair Distillery’s Marathon location was able to help, as they have sixteen taps of beers (and ciders) from Nashville craft breweries in addition to their own spirits! This is the next stop on the roadtrip.
Continue reading “Beer and whiskey at Corsair’s Marathon taproom and distillery”Fernet Branca is something that many readers might not have tried before. In fact, I’d bet that if you’re not in the industry or aren’t a fellow booze geek you may have never tried it before. So before I talk about what I mean by the bartender’s handshake, let me give a bit of background.
Continue reading “Fernet Branca is the bartender’s handshake”In our last roadtrip report, I had to dash out of a tasting at Corsair’s headquarters that ran over. My destination was Nashville Barrel Company, a whiskey brand that’s exploded on to the scene in recent years.
My next stop on the tour wasn’t planned, and I’d never heard of this distillery before. I was actually at Marathon Village to visit Corsair Distillery’s first Tennessee location, but I got there quite a bit earlier than I expected and saw a sign for another distillery in the same building. Of course, I couldn’t resist checking it out.
Continue reading “Tennessee Legend Distillery at Marathon”The next stop on this summer’s roadtrip is in Nashville, and is the first of two visits to Corsair Distillery locations. This is their HQ location, the newer of their two Nashville distilleries and home to, well, their HQ offices as well as their whiskey and gin stills, bottling line, lots of cask aging space, and a cocktail bar. I’ll make a separate post about their Marathon location later.
