Diesel and Wine: Bourbon Tasting

Kentucky colors and bourbon. Sounds like a good fit to me....time to experience the Bourbon Trail.

So we did just that at Maker's Mark Distillery in Loretto, KY.

About to explode with a rainbow of fall colors.

Loretto is about a 35 minute drive from Campbellsville and we were itching to do some exploring. Kentucky landscape is manicured with gently rolling hills. You can tell people have pride in their homes. There are a few horse farms in the area, but not large ones that I have seen along the interstate. And we have not made it to Lexington area, yet.

The Makers Mark tour costs 10 bucks a person at the door and we did not have a reservation. For more information check out the website here. We arrived around noon and joined a group of about 20 folks, which the guide had already began his spill, so we missed a little info, not much.

Maker's Mark

The tour included a brief history of how and who, along with the 'mark' significance. It has been in the family a long time...sorry, I don't remember the details. I was more in tune with the process since it was my first hard liquor tour. The tour included tasting different stages of the mash fermentation. So imagine tasting corn mush with varying degrees of alcohol. Gritty corn taste if you don't get below the mushy stuff. I learned after watching a few swirl it out of the way to get just liquid on your finger. And it does not sound sanitary, right? I suppose the fermentation process kills all germs. I hope so anyway.

Mash.

Just poke in a finger and have a taste! No germs here!

Corn at its' finest. Right.

We were also shown the actual printing of the label on a primitive (by today's standard) hand press. A one person operation. I think I will turn mine into a Christmas ornament. I did not get a photo :(

Aging buildings.

Throughout the small town of Loretto, there are many-maybe 50 plus aging buildings, all painted black. Big business. The actual bottling process seemed small, but efficient for such an operation. They do actually hand dip the bottle in red wax. Each one is unique. At the end of the tour you can purchase an un-dipped bottle and do it yourself. We did not. Sadly for the bourbon industry, I am not a fan of the juice...only with a lot of coke added!

Work.

The tour included a tasting of 4 bourbons. The guide explained the proper way to taste, similar to beer and wine-in my opinion. Stick your nose in the glass, mouth open, breathe in, then swig a little. It still tastes like bourbon! The color is determined by the charred barrel, how long it ages, or stays in the barrel. If I chose to drink one, it would be the Makers Mark 46. It was the third most aged. You can see the color in the glasses.