I think two distilleries in a day are better than three because we had a chance to walk around the city of Louisville and see some of the sites!
But first. Coffee.
AND sausage, biscuits and gravy! Cause you need a good base, right? The Talbott Tavern was all hits, no misses!
So many places had THE cutest hand towels! I loved the ones at the Talbott Tavern!
This is what the neighborhood looked like in 1880. Courthouse Square is in the foreground, with Talbott Tavern behind it.
And here's the Talbott Tavern today!
One last selfie with the Talbott Tavern before we headed back north. I'm often just a floating head in Todd's selfies.
Goodbye, Bardstown. Cutest town EVER!
And hello James B. Beam Distilling Company!
I mean, that's just so iconic!
This staircase at the Jim Beam welcome center is the original cast iron stair from 1934.
Jim Beam himself was actually a fourth generation distiller, although he is the one who took them through prohibition and into the new age, where their Old Tub brand of bourbon (pre-prohibition) became the new (now famous) white label Jim Beam bourbon.
We didn't do a traditional tour at Jim Beam. Instead, we did a tasting that included a storytelling walk through the history of the Jim Beam company. I believe this one was called 8 Generations of Beam. I feel really bad, I didn't get the name of the guy who sat down with us and told us about each bourbon. He was excellent and full of fun and historic facts! One of my favorite facts he told was of how T. Jeremiah Beam expanded the brand internationally by securing a government contract for the overseas soldiers in World War II. From personal experience, if you hit up a bar anywhere in Europe, in all likelihood, the only bourbon they sell is white label OG Jim Beam. I'm certain T. Jeremiah's foresight is the reason for this!
And we got a private tasting because we were the only ones who showed up for this particular tasting! Many people ask about the dropper in front of Todd- that's to cut your bourbon, in case you are struggling to drink the straight stuff. Cutting your bourbon can actually change the flavoring a bit and help you discover new flavors!
The various bourbons we tasted at Jim Beam were Old Tub, Jim Beam white label, Basil Hayden's, Knob Creek Bourbon and Rye, Bookers, Legent and Little Book. That's a pretty awesome tasting right there! I have had most of these (minus Little Book and Old Tub) but I think I liked Old Tub and Knob Creek the best- further solidifying my enjoyment of ryes!
Hmm, is that an amber or caramel coloring?
Put 'er back!
This isn't the original location of the Jim Beam distillery. In the 1780s, Jacob Beam and the Beam family (who were originally from Germany) moved from Pennsylvania to Kentucky where they started distilling their Old Tub whiskey. Jacob's son David eventually moved the distillery to Nelson County, Kentucky to capitalize on the nearby railways. It wasn't until 1933 that Jacob's great grandson, James Beauregard Beam (Jim!) brought the family business here to Clermont, which is in Bullitt County.
They truly are the first family of bourbon!
I need a Bailey version of this lighted sign in my house!
The history and portfolio tasting at Jim Beam was just perfect. Next time, I would like to see more of the property but the Jim Beam distillery really had a nice selection of non traditional (ie: distillery) experiences!
Welp. I guess I'm in the will now.
After our tasting, we dodged a thunderstorm and headed up to Louisville where we checked into the Hyatt and had a nice view of downtown and the convention center.
Our hotel was right next to Fourth Street Live! Here, they host concerts, festivals, car shows and even UFC/MMA fights.
We had a tour at Angel's Envy in the afternoon, so we decided to walk closer to that distillery and grab some lunch at the brewery (Against the Grain) that is located at Slugger Field, where the Cincinnati Reds AAA affiliate Louisville Bats play. I got myself a Cold Ass Beer!
Angel's Envy only moved into this building in 2013. They're such a well known brand now, it's hard to believe they haven't been around that long. But the building was constructed in 1902 and previously housed the American Elevator and Machine Company and, in 1947, the American Saw and Tool Company (which then became Vermont American Power Tool Company) moved in.
Our tour with Jason started with a brief history of the brand, how bourbon is made, and a bit about the family before you go through these gorgeous doors into the distillery. Many people call this the Willy Wonka moment ha ha.
Jason told us that while Angel's Envy is distilled here, it was not currently running due to the summer shut down where they clean and do routine maintenance on everything. (That's ok, I've seen my fair share of distilleries!)
The founder of Angel's Envy was Lincoln Henderson, along with his son Wes who still runs the show. Lincoln had previously worked for many years on brands like Jack Daniels and Woodford Reserve. The three generations mentioned here also included his grandson, Kyle.
Upstairs, we got to see inside of the empty fermenters. Some distilleries use open fermenters (see: Maker's Mark) and some used closed ones, like they do here at Angel's Envy.
I think my favorite part of the Angel's Envy tour was the hands on mash experience.
Angel's Envy is 72% corn, 18% rye and 10% malted barley. I'm a nerd, I love a good pie chart!
The still wasn't in use when we were there (for the hot summer reasons) but the copper still used by AE is 43 feet high and was made by Vendome - which is literally just down the street here in Louisville.
They don't offer you a real tasting of the white dog here at Angel's Envy, but they will pour some in your hand so that you can slurp it up before it leaks through the cracks in your fingers. White dog is what will eventually go in the barrels, so it's clear, much like moonshine (because well... it technically is moonshine!) It's VERY strong and not very tasty since it hasn't been sitting in that beautifully charred oak barrel gaining all of its flavors.
Between the two main buildings is a long hallway that, in the early 1800s was an alleyway. It's now known as the Billy Goat Strut because back then, they used to race billy goats down this alley. That's just delightful nonsense!
8.HEIC)
The bottling area was not running, unlike Maker's Mark who was still working on their bottling, despite the fact that the distillery operations had shut down. I would kind of like to see what comes down the slide there in the back right!?
I didn't get a great picture of the barrel filling room but I did love the sign about the Angel's Share on the wall. Angel's Envy, unlike some other brands, puts a lot of importance into their finishing barrels. While you know that you can only use a new, charred white American oak barrel for bourbon, there are no rules on any kind of finishing barrel. So Angel's Envy finishes their bourbons for several months in port wine barrels, and that's kind of their schtick.
It's not a bad schtick -- in fact, this was Todd's favorite bourbon of the week! But it does change the flavor of the bourbon. In this tasting, we were able to pare FOUR tastings (that one on the far left is water!) with some yummy local chocolates from Art Eatables.
My favorite of all of the tastings we had at Angel's Envy was the Finished Rye, which was finished in Caribbean rum barrels.
That's a happy man, enjoying some tasty bourbon.
One thing I learned was that I have been calling certain bourbons "smoky" through the years and really, I should probably change that to say they are "charred" or "oaky." I also learned (about myself) that I prefer bourbons that have barrels that are charred to a level 3 rather than a level 4.
We went to the bar afterwards and I had something called Grape Minds Think Alike. There was Angel's Envy bourbon, St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur, Green Grape Soju (!!!) and a bit of tonic water. YUM! It was a nice little bit of South Korea here in Kentucky.
Me and Todd, having one last specialty bourbon drink at Angel's Envy.
We walked back to the hotel, swinging by the Louisville Bats ballpark - which was closed, but we were able to see the park through the merch shop, which was open.
Why thank you! It's so nice to be here in Bourbon City!
We decided to walk around downtown a bit before we had dinner reservations. They have a really cool Louisville Slugger Walk of Fame on the sidewalk that you can check out.
I liked this building because it had little jockeys in front of the second floor windows! The Louisville Thoroughbred Society is housed here, hence the window decorations.
We walked out to the Ohio River and found a restaurant to stop and have a drink and a snack, Joe's Crab Shack! (This building is in the floodway, oops!) That's Indiana on the other side of the river.
Um. I think I need this sign! But cross off beer and change it to bourbon, of course.
Where am I, South Korea???
A little nod to the nearby Louisville Slugger museum, I'm sure.
We finished our snack and drink and headed back toward the hotel, passing through Whiskey Alley on our way there.
Me on the back side of the Old Forester Distilling Company.
We actually had dinner reservations at the Troll Pub for the following night, but they canceled on us! Apparently, there is a hidden dining area behind a bookcase inside of the restaurant and I wanted to see that!
Manhole covers of Louisville.
I have never even HEARD of a hot brown before I came here to Louisville and this painting is incredible.
There's actually a lot of great street art in Louisville. Probably some of the best I've ever seen!
Back in the hotel, we went for a quick little nap before dinner. I'm terrified of heights so this made me very dizzy.
After our quick little nap break, we walked over to Porch Kitchen and Bar where I had some fried chicken, and Todd got the braised short rib. We have been eating and drinking so much this week, that we both were about 4-5 bites into the meal and we just put our forks down. We were so stuffed and just couldn't eat another bite. Which was unfortunate because this meal was very good! It's so funny because that has NEVER happened to both of us at the same time!
Many, many years ago, when Todd lived in New York and I would visit him, we would have a great meal that would make us so full, that we had to take a walk around the city to "walk it off." So that's what we did on this particular evening! Does anyone REALLY know how to pronounce Louisville?
Ok this was my favorite piece of art work in Louisville! The bourbon barrel!
Me walking through the hoops of a bourbon barrel.
Todd says, "of course these are charred white American oak barrels!"
Just keep walking and you'll find more Louisville Slugger Walk of Fame home plate recipients.
We walked back down to the Ohio River to the Riverfront Plaza, this time with a view of the Falls of the Ohio which are in the background and on the right.
There's a big statue of General George Rogers Clark here, who was the brother of William Clark. George was a high ranking Revolutionary War leader who led the Virginia militia on campaigns to capture Vincennes and Kaskaskia, which were former French forts that the British troops had taken over. He wasn't really a great person - notably because his drinking interfered with his ability to lead.
There is an even more fascinating statue nearby of a slave named York who was owned by the Clark family and was the first African American to travel from coast to coast as he joined Lewis and Clark on the expedition to the west coast. During this trip in the very early 1800s, York was given many freedoms he had not experienced yet as a slave, such as the ability to handle a rifle, and when there were decisions to be made, Clark considered York's opinions equal to all others on the expedition.
He was nicknamed "Big Medicine" by the Native Americans and the sign near this statue reads, "When Indians who had never seen a black man before were encountered, York's skin - the very thing that marked him as inferior and a slave in white society of that day - signified him as someone special and spiritually powerful. They considered him as superior to his white companions and were amazed by his strength and agility. The captains used this influence that York wielded to help advance the expedition."
We had to keep walking because, well... we were still full. We passed the larger-than-life Evan Williams glass on our way down Main Street.
PROST!
And then, as we were approaching the Louisville Slugger museum, we happened upon this ginormous golden statue of David. What? This statue is actually made of gold spray painted foam. It's so out of place here, but unique nonetheless.
The architecture in Louisville was surprisingly very beautiful!
Ahhhh, we never made it to the Bardstown Bourbon Company, and we didn't make it to their Louisville tasting room either because it was closed!
Michter's Distillery looked like a castle! This building from 1890 fell into such disrepair that by 2011, the structure was in danger of "imminent collapse." But the Michter's team did extensive repairs to the building and were able to save the building and its beautiful façade.
Not far from Michter's is the famous Louisville Slugger museum. It was closed for the evening when we got there, but you HAVE to go see the giant bat that sits out front! This bat is an exact replica of Babe Ruth's 34" bat! Only this one weighs 68,000 pounds and is 120 feet tall! This is, of course, the world's LARGEST baseball bat - superlative, check!
I'm obsessed with this Michter's building!
Anybody got one of them T206 Honus Wagner baseball cards you want to give me?
We finally made it back to the hotel after walking off some of the day's overindulgence. Goodnight, Louisville. Thanks for another wonderful day on the Bourbon Trail!
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