It’s five minutes from the brand new Hotel Bourre Bonne where we’re staying, but only two of us eat breakfast (not me), and it’s too hard to leave the sumptuousness of the property. The hotel has been open less than a month, and the staff are trying very hard to make sure we never forget this place. It’s spotless, the multi-head showers divine, and the Frette linens/robes/slippers are heaven. The bed platforms “float,” so when you step out of bed at night, the underside of the platform automatically lights up softly so you can see your way to the bathroom.
Maybe next time (and there WILL be a next time), but tonight’s our last night, and we have reservations at the hotel restaurant before getting to bed early for tomorrow’s long drive back to MD to drop off the kids and then head back up to ME the following AM (not looking forward to all that driving).
Haven’t seen any evidence (or talk) of flooding anywhere and no rain until this morning, but it’s light and won’t interfere with our last two distillery tours.
Apparently Buffalo Trace was flooded in early April. Frankfort and eastern Kentucky had it much worse than Louisville (which is well above the Ohio river). We were in Louisville that week and the city wasn’t affected beyond the flooding of a few parks, roads and parking garages near the river. We just missed the tornado touching down in the suburbs the night before we arrived (sirens until 2am apparently).
My favorite cocktail at Mr. A’s, Offshore Account (Myers’s Dark Rum, Kiwi, Novo Fogo Cachaca, Lucky Falernum, Coconut, Lime, Sparkling Pineapple). And a lovely Beef Tartare.
Small world – we ate there during our honeymoon, just before being misted on for three hours at Fenway.
I had the baked rigatoni and can still taste it – it was outstanding.
ETA, to stay on topic: yesterday she picked up a new (?) beer called Niiiice – a light ale – which I will try tonight. Last night, vodka and juice sufficed.
Final update on our Bourbon Trail tour now that we’re home. Oddly enough, of the ten distilleries we visited, the last two, Willett and Angel’s Envy, provided a couple of the best tours. Willett was surprising as it was the smallest of them but offered a unique experience as the master distiller is also a coffee fanatic, so they have a fantastic coffee bar/barista. As it was our first stop of the day, we took our aromatic coffees with us on the tour. They also have a kitchen that is open on weekends and a very nicely curated merch shop.
But, I was looking forward to Angel’s Envy most, which is in downtown Louisville. It’s the newest of the distilleries and was designed for tours, unlike the others that have been in operation since Moses was a baby and make a point of telling you that. Still my favorite bourbon, finished in port wine barrels, and smooth as they come. Did not disappoint.
Overall, though, I would still say that Maker’s Mark is the one that stood out due to the beauty of the property and the fun of dipping your own bottle in that signature red sealing wax. If you ever do the trail, Maker’s is an absolute must.
The most fun we had, though, was on our way out as we got on the highway to head back home. Our son was reviewing some of the distillery products on his phone and discovered that it was a Blanton’s/Weller day* at Buffalo Trace (the allocations were Colonel Taylor and Eagle Rare on the day we toured), and we were only two exits away from the distillery. It took DH about 9/10ths of a second to swerve over to the right lane in the hopes that we’d be in time to grab the last two missing bottle stoppers in his collection (IYKYK). There was quite a line at 8:45 in the morning, but it moved quickly, and all four of us were able to score a bottle (one per visitor), so DH now has his complete “horsey” set. All is right in his world.
We had an absolute blast traveling with our son and DIL for the first time, and have a nice haul to show for it:
Just a final note for fellow sinners considering this trip. It took DH two years (multiple tries) to finally cobble together all the tours for his favorite spirits because he didn’t know he had to be online the minute the distillers opened their schedules, and he watched the tour slots disappear before his eyes as he was trying to select. The result was that he eventually got the reservations, but not for a logical progress by distance; we did a lot of zigzagging. Because one tour becomes much like another (the process doesn’t change just because the mash bill does), I would only try to schedule a tour for your top one or two brands and just do walk-in tastings for the rest. Also note that the tastings might not include your favorite bottles; the distillers want you to try “something else,” though they will always feature their signature brand for comparison. But, never fear, each distiller has a cocktail bar (imagine that) where you can order a pour of anything they make.
In case anyone is worried about drunks on the trail, we didn’t see any. KY limits the amount of alcohol in the tasting flight to a total of 1.7 ounces, so those four or five little glasses in front of you total about one jigger. We did two tours/tastings/day, one in the morning, one in the afternoon with no ill effects.
