I STOOD AMONG $40,000,000
I’ve mentioned before that Kentucky Bourbon is famous around these parts, and that folks take it very seriously. I got the opportunity to tour the Woodfield Reserve Distillery today. What an amazing place! I was most taken with the architecture, which has HUGE Scottish and Irish influence. However, I managed to learn a bit about Bourbon while I was there … something I figured I should do if I was planning on living down here.
Bourbon is made from sour mash, or as they call it down here, sar maaaash. Sour mash is basically a mixture of corn, rye and yeast. I don’t remember whether there’s a bit of water mixed in for good measure, because as we were standing in the fermenting room watching the big wooden drums bubble away, I couldn’t help feeling like it smelled a bit like bread, and that made my stomach start growling.
It goes through a distilling process then, via four copper kettle like things … I don’t understand the whole process, but I did catch that this is the only distillery that still uses the copper distiller thingies.
When it comes out of that process, it’s a clear liquid that has so much alcohol it’ll curl your hair, finger nails, toe nails, and anything else that might not have been curled prior to. I smelled the stuff and felt a little buzzed from the fumes!
It then goes into wooden barrels that have been specially crafted and fired to bring out flavor and color. There’s a real nitpicky process there that I won’t go into (take the tour yourself), but they take those barrels and put them in this big warehouse that houses something like 500 barrels. I got to stand in the middle of that warehouse … among $40,000,000 worth, near as we could figure (if each barrel is worth about $8,000 to $9,000).
I could tell you about the bottling warehouse, but, frankly, that was boring. The best part of the tour for me? Discovering the beauty of bourbon balls. They are also famous around these parts. Hey! I say anything with chocolate covering them is good with me!
Bourbon is made from sour mash, or as they call it down here, sar maaaash. Sour mash is basically a mixture of corn, rye and yeast. I don’t remember whether there’s a bit of water mixed in for good measure, because as we were standing in the fermenting room watching the big wooden drums bubble away, I couldn’t help feeling like it smelled a bit like bread, and that made my stomach start growling.
It goes through a distilling process then, via four copper kettle like things … I don’t understand the whole process, but I did catch that this is the only distillery that still uses the copper distiller thingies.
When it comes out of that process, it’s a clear liquid that has so much alcohol it’ll curl your hair, finger nails, toe nails, and anything else that might not have been curled prior to. I smelled the stuff and felt a little buzzed from the fumes!
It then goes into wooden barrels that have been specially crafted and fired to bring out flavor and color. There’s a real nitpicky process there that I won’t go into (take the tour yourself), but they take those barrels and put them in this big warehouse that houses something like 500 barrels. I got to stand in the middle of that warehouse … among $40,000,000 worth, near as we could figure (if each barrel is worth about $8,000 to $9,000).
I could tell you about the bottling warehouse, but, frankly, that was boring. The best part of the tour for me? Discovering the beauty of bourbon balls. They are also famous around these parts. Hey! I say anything with chocolate covering them is good with me!
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