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!!!!