BACK ON THE BOAT

After being in Ohio for a month, coming home was something special. Jodi took the above picture just before picking me up at the airport.

Columbus is nice. Great people, nice restaurants, and some vibrant areas. The ‘Short North’ is pretty cool and reminiscent of a combination of Capital Hill and Ballard Avenue. German Village is very cool with great architecture. Ohio State is a fine university. Worthington is a real cute town seeming built for a perpetual fourth of July parade down main street every day. Columbus brewery has a killer IPA, and North Star has a very fine vege burger and their Bhudda bowl is out of this world. Traffic isn’t bad around Columbus although there’s a higher percentage of aggressive, nearly insane, drivers.

But it’s flat, away from any great body of water, and the overall topography is better described by what it isn’t than by what it is. There’s nothing to look at. No views. None. Everything you look at or do is manmade or has a business model. There’s nothing wrong with that and I imagine that huge segment of the US population lives that way. If you get a away from the coast, and away from the mountains, you are probably living somewhere in the mid west (or from a Seattle perspective, just shy of the east coast).

Much of the mid west was summed up by a gal we met at a pub. She was from Iowa and was extolling the virtues of her small town (pop 1000). It had all you needed. A doctors office, a pharmacy, dentists and a grocery store. Her central point was that this is what made her town a great place to live. She actually repeated her points a couple of times to ensure we knew that all health care providers were close and you could obtain food. I can’t remember which Iowa town it was, but wherever it is, it’s firmly cemented in last place on my ‘places to visit’ list.

Compare it to living on the dock. The dock has its own vibe. Last night we sat in the cockpit of a Cape George. A boat that came down from Juneau and, in two years, will be somewhere in the South Pacific. A powerboat near us is getting ready to head out for the weekend with a new crew mate, exploring the area. This morning I helped an older couple push off and they are headed down the sound for a 4 or 5 day cruise. There’s a new sailboat on the dock that looks destined for a round the world voyage. I talked to Rick this morning and he just took off his Satellite dish as he just didn’t want to pay those fees when he takes his boat down to Mexico this fall. There’s a laid back, casual feel on the dock but when the conversation touches on ‘where’d you go last week’ or where are you headed next weekend (or next year), it can get pretty interesting.

Certainly there are tradeoffs living on the dock, but after being in Columbus for a month it re-affirms that the relatively small hardships of living aboard are worth it. It is comfortable and last night’s chat on the bow, followed by a barbecue, followed by some time kibitzing with neighbors was really nice. What many want to escape to, we are living in. I’ll take it.

KENTUCKY BOURBON COUNTRY

 

 

 

Under gray and rainy skies we left Columbus bound for Kentucky’s Bourbon country.  Quick stop at Strabucks and headed south on 71 for a 4 hour drive.  Uneventful drive with the exception that heavy rain dropped the visibility at times to a few hundred feet.

the navigator

 

Our first stop was Maker’s Mark.  We signed up for a tour and were joined by about 30 others.  On this particular tour, the average displacement of our fellow tourers was up there.  To the point that collectively there was more of a waddle than a walk.  But I digress.

The grounds of Maker’s Mark are terrific with a stream running right through it.  A stream with several rattlesnakes sunning themselves on the rocks adjacent to the stream.   The first portion of this tour (and all the subsequent ones) was the building where the Mash was cooked and fermented.  Every distillery had their points of what made them different and Maker’s was differentiated by their more sweet flavor.  Eschewing Rye, they used wheat.  The vats that are used are huge old cypress tubs, some 15 feet in diameter.  Our perky tour guide encouraged us to stick our fingers in the goo and taste it.

 

I hope I didn't screw up the proportions at Makers Mark by flipping some switches.

 

We went on to the distillery house, then the aging houses and finally to the bottling area where the now quite valuable liquid is bottled with the trademark red wax seal.

 

 

 

 

Makers was pretty cool in that the bourbon was the vision of one family and was different from the other products on the market.   Created in the late 50’s, the bourbon was the product of Mr. Samuels, but the marketing was all Mrs Samuels.  The bottle’s shape and wax seal were all her ideas.   While many of the other distilleries seem to have been buffeted by corporate direction, Maker’s appeared to be a family tradition and vision.  Now owned by Jim Beam, they are trying to keep that same attitude.

 

 

 

The real fun began when the tour ended.  In the corner of the gift shop they had an area were you could dip your bottle (or other paraphernalia) into the hot red wax.  Jodi donned an apron, sleeves and safety goggles and dipped our bottle of Maker’s and our bottle of Maker’s 46, their new upper end product.  While all the bourbon is aged, the 46 product is put into a second barrel with additional charred staves built into the barrel, giving off more of the wood flavor and mellowing the overall taste.  I liked it.

note the extra staves within the barrel

 

In all the tours, the folks listed what was required to make a bona fide bourbon and it was the inclusion of at least 51% corn (most used more) and that the final product was aged in new, charred white oak barrels.  Aside from the other grains used, nothing else is added for color or for flavor.

 

 

Maker’s was a fun tour and they certainly have branded themselves well.

The Detox cell

 

hood used for hangings

 

 

The next stop was Bardstown, a short 20 minute drive to the north.  We checked in at the Jailers Inn, a rather unique bed and breakfast. From the late 1700’s through to the late 1980’s, it served as a Jail and a few of the cells were still intact, including the detox cell were up to 30 drunkards were housed in a very small space.  Several executions were carried out on the grounds.  Justice in the 1800’s was swift.  One fellow committed a crime (rape) in Mid December, was caught and tried by the end of December and hung the 2^nd week of January. 

The room was nice with an outer small living room and a nice bed with a deep and very comfortable king size foam mattress.

After  check in we went over to Talbots Tavern, which is right next door to the Jail.  Other than renovations and repairs, it was supposedly in continuous business since the late 1700’s. The food was OK with the clear highlight clearly being the Kentucky Burgoo.  Oh my word was that good.  Jodi found a recipe and that’s on the list for this fall.

As we had travelled for hours, missed lunch with the Maker’s tour our ‘dinner’ at the inn was either a very late lunch or an early dinner.  We were done eating shortly after 5, so after a brief walk we went back to the room and relaxed.  It had been a long week.  Jodi and done several audits in Illinois and Indiana and I had put in some hours as well and it all caught up to us after dinner. 

With some reluctance we ventured out shortly after 9 and went back to the Tavern to check out the band that was playing.  Oh were we glad we did.  It was the ‘Dev and Doug’ show.  The gal, Devon, had a great voice with a sound somewhere between Stevie Nix and Janis Jopin.  She had pipes.  Doug was an accomplished and inventive guitarist with a pretty good voice as well.  The real fun begain when she whipped out a fiddle.  Doug was crazy fast with the guitar and her fiddle work was right there to compliment.  Great evening of music.

The jailer’s Inn was listed by the Travel Channel as one of the top 10 haunted sites in America.  Jodi had talked to the spirits, inviting them to visit, as apparently you are supposed to do.

Sure enough, about 3 am, I awoke with a start.  There was a light on the ceiling.  Chills went up my spine.  This was it.  The light was real.  A ghost?  Ancient spirit?  Nope.  Just confirmation the smoke detector was on and working.  So much for ghosts.

Sunday morning we were treated to breakfast in the same courtyard where the hangings occurred.  Breakfast was pretty good, with Dixie serving all the guests.  No ghost sightings were reported by any of the guests.  After breakfast we toured the cemetery behind the Jail then headed out to see what else we could see.

view from breakfast in the courtyard

same courtyard in the 1800's.  note the gallows to the left

We ended up touring Four Roses distillery which turned out to be our least favorite.  The grounds were beautiful and the distillery was unique in Kentucky owing to the Spanish mission style architecture. 

 

 

 

Their product’s claim to fame was the fact they aged their bourbon in a single story facility.  The bourbon was so so in my opinion and while Jodi found all bourbons objectionable, this one was exceedingly so.

We moved on to what in retrospect was our favorite distillery.  Woodford Reserve.   The grounds were beautifully elegant with stately buildings in the midst of Kentucky’s Thoroughbred Country.  Oh what a setting.  Their claim to fame was a ‘triple distillery process’ unique to the industry.  Most other bourbons are distilled twice. 

Unfortunately the elderly monotone speaking tour guide was boring to the point of lacking a pulse.  Or a sense of humor.  And the fact that the restaurant, which looked great, was supposed to close at 3:30, but allegedly had run out of food around 2.   Other than that, the grounds and the bourbon were excellent, especially their ‘double barreled’ product.  Very tasty.    Woodford’s double barrel product was more rye based (instead of wheat, like Makers) and initially aged like all the other’s in new charred white oak barrels.  But the product was poured into a second barrel that was ‘toasted’.

The charring process takes about 40 seconds with flame, but the toasting process was done by roasting a new set of fresh barrels for about 40 minutes, bringing a caramelized like finish to the interior of barrel.   The aging in that 2^nd barrel mellowed the bourbon and took the ‘burn’ out of the liquid.  It was smooth.

After Woodford we angled back towards Columbus and Jodi found a neat café near Lexington where we had, what for this trip, had become either a late lunch or early dinner tradition.

As I write, Jodi has us hurtling back towards Columbus at the conclusion of an excellent weekend in Kentucky’s bourbon region.  

 

 

 

ROAD TRIP

When the Columbus opportunity came up, I thought “hmmmm. I can make this fun”, so even though I only had a week’s worth of notice before getting here, I had my eyes open for opportunities for side trips on the weekends. There were plenty of suggestions from helpful associates, and while all sounded interesting, nothing really stirred the soul.


I missed hitting the trail out west. I’ve always had visions of the great Pacific Crest Trail, perhaps even the Appalachian Trail. Where are the trails in Ohio?

Then I realized that Ohio bordered on Kentucky. As in Kentucky, birth place of Bourbon and the famous “Bourbon Trail”. OK, not really a trail per se, but small roads linking several distilleries together in what they call, in Kentucky, a trail.

ROAD TRIP!!

Part of the fun of a road trip is the planning. And planning involves tradeoffs. All the literature says that you need 3 full days or more to do the ‘bourbon trail’. We’ll only have a weekend forcing the twin thoughts of nailing what you want to see as well as getting over what you won’t see.

While the region encompasses a fair area, the one place we really wanted to see was Maker’s Mark to honor dear old Dad. He loved his Maker’s Mark. That’s in Loretta, just 15 minutes South and slightly east of Bardstown, self proclaimed bourbon capital of the world and listed in the book 1000 places to see before you die. Also described as America’s most beautiful small city. And, our intended hotel the Jailers Inn, was listed by the Travel Channel as one of the top 10 haunted sites in the America.

I write the above with the full knowledge that the true ‘best places’ never make any list. Top 10’s, best of’s, etc are usually due to marketing, arm twisting, or outright bribes. One of Bardstown’s former or current civic leaders has a hankering for self promotion and marketing. But it’s only a weekend and it does sound like fun.

So the wide region just narrowed. Right next to the inn (a former Jail dating back to 1797) is a Tavern, which has been in continuous existence since the late 1700’s. Among the luminaries who have visited that Tavern? Abraham Lincoln, Jesse James, and Daniel Boone. Cool.

Unfortunately I don’t have the camera. So this will be captured via cell phones and the tab. Don’t expect visual excellence. Given the bourbon, don’t expect grammatical excellence either.

Speaking of bourbon, I’ve been reading up on it. Interesting history. Scotch, Beer, Wine, Vodka, and virtually any other form of drink trace their lineage to the ‘old world’. Europe or Asia. Bourbon, while sounding French, is uniquely an American product. While bourbon has a couple of other ingredients, two of the things it must have is first to be distilled from 51% or more from corn, and be aged in new, charred, oak barrels. Corn and Oak (only white oak is used) were only available in the new world. Both were unknown before the Europeans got here.

Other tidbits. Ever wonder where the word ‘proof’ came about? Seems that early distillers using primitive stills could only get their spirits up to about 50 percent alcohol. Various techniques were used to measure the alcohol content and if it passed these tests, the content was considered ‘proved’, or ‘proof goods’. With 50 percent alcohol being the then standard, it became 100 proof. Or so the story goes.

So, we’re off to the land of Jim Beam, Evan Williams, Wild Turkey, Old Grand Dad, Makers Mark and a whole host of others.

One more nugget. Is Whiskey a good thing or a bad thing? Seems a southern legislator made a speech many years ago on that very topic.

His speech: “….here is how I feel about Whiskey. If, when you say whiskey you mean the devils brew, the poison scourge, the bloody monster that defiles innocence, dethrones reason, destroys the home, creates misery and poverty, yea, literally takes the bread from the mouths of little children; if you mean the evil drink that topples he Christian man and women from the pinnacle of righteous, gracious living into the bottomless pit of degradation and despair and shame and helplessness and hopelessness – then I am certainly against it."

"But if, when you say whiskey, you mean the oil of conversation, the philosophic wine, the ale that is consumed when good fellows get together, that puts a song in their hearts and laughter on their lips and the warm glow of contentment in their eyes; if you mean Christmas cheer, if you mean the stimulating drink that puts the spring in the old gentleman’s step on a frosty, crispy morning, if you mean the drink which enables a man to magnify his joy and his happiness and to forget, even if only for a little while life’s great tragedies and heartaches and sorrows, if you mean that drink the sale of which pours into our treasuries untold millions of dollars which are used to provide tender care for our little crippled children, our blind, our deaf, our pitiful aged and infirm, to build highways and hospitals and schools, then certainly I am for it."

"That is my stand, and I will not compromise.”

Looking forward to the road trip and reporting on same!!!!