AS things worked out, I was able to visit the Buffalo Trace distillery, and take the free (!) Trace Tour, sample 2 out of 4 offerings (the standard Buffalo Trace bourbon, Eagle Rare 10YO bourbon, Buffalo Trace bourbon and cream-available ONLY in KY, for now, and the Buffalo Trace Whitedog distillate)...I samples the last 2, and WOW, the whitedog was very good even at 125 proof (essentially what goes into the barrel for aging...some sweetness, something Agave-like, too) and the bourbon and cream was lovely! I hope that becomes available here in California soon!
The tour was very interesting, in no small part due to the knowledge of the guide, Shelly, and also due to the gorgeous day and the sweet corn smells wafting about the property.
Being able to see the "small batch bottling" staff at work, where Eagle Rare 10 YO was being bottled and packaged at the time all by hand, was a rare treat, as was going into one of the older storehouses.
About an hour later, outside Lawrenceburg, I made it to the Austin Nichols Wild Turkey Giftshop and was able to go one the next to last tour given that Friday. As different as the tour was from Buffalo Trace, with the year old distillery building and no smell of sweet corn as there was no distilling going one, it was just as good a tour.
Apparently Gruppo Campari is quite serious about Wild Turkey and has spent a good amount of money for the new distillery, and will be spending even more for the new bottling plant that is planned to open next year, and provide 60 new jobs to the local economy.
See a few pictures of the new distillery here.
There were 7 options to sample 2 of at the end of the Wild Turkey tour (101 Wild Turkey, WT American Honey Liqueur, Wild Turkey Rare Breed a personal favorite of mine, and so I passed on it, Wild Turkey Kentucky Spirit, WT Russel's Reserve 10YO, Wild Turkey Rye and Wild Turkey Russel's Reserve Rye 6YO....the Wild Turkey American Spirit 15YO was there, but not available to sample unless one bought the $100 bottle), and so I tried the standard WT Rye never having tried it before, and the WT Kentucky Spirit.
I found that I don't much care for the dry, spicy Rye character, but REALLY enjoyed the Kentucky Spirit.
And so it was a good day, that Friday, as I was able to visit several places I have always wanted to visit, and was able to sample some very good bourbon.
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Capn's Log: U-Man, thanks for a lovely and enticing post. Of course we are all jealous. Question: did you consider visiting Prichards?