When It's All Said and Done

Today was our last day of touring distilleries. We visited Wild Turkey and Four Roses. I'm worn out so there will be no pictures until later....

Wild Turkey was one that I was really looking forward to. We got to tour the distillery with Eddie Russell, who is Jimmy Russell's son. Jimmy is the Master Distillery and has been working at the distillery for 54 years. Eddie, who has only been there a short 27 years is probably next in line to take the job. He is currently the Assistant Distillery. Besides a few small differences, the tour was the same as all the others, not that it was a bad thing, but what I really enjoyed about this tour was Eddie's stories about the generation of master distillers that are either retired, passed away or on their way out: Elmer T. Lee (Buffalo Trace), Parker Beam (Heaven Hill), Booker Noe (Jim Beam) and Jimmy Russell (Wild Turkey). It was really great.

We then headed to a restaurant called Kavanaugh's School Diner. It was a former school, that was a house previously, that is now a diner. They serve everything buffet style - and it was fantastic.

After lunch we headed to the Four Roses Distillery. Four Roses was a brand that was HUGE around WWII, but shortly there after put all of its focus in exporting - and turned the whiskies that were in the U.S. into garbage - before long all U.S. product was gone. Then the Japanese brewery Kirin bought the distillery and has started turning it around. Products have been reintroduced into Kentucky and the surrounding states and are supposed to come to CA in July of this year, but who knows as the date has been pushed back several times already. The tour was ok - nothing really new except that they distill 2 different mash bills and have 5 yeasts - which make 10 different whiskies. These whiskies are then combined in various ways to create their releases. We were able to taste the 3 main products they make: Yellow Label (which is around 6 years old and contains 8 different whiskies - Small Batch which is around 7 years old and contains 4 different whiskies - and the Single Barrel which is around 8 years old and only has one whiskey.

After Four Roses we headed back to Louisville to have dinner at Bourbon's Bistro. Good Lord, after eating and drinking at this place I want to open a Whiskey Restaurant SO BADLY! They featured around 100 bourbons or so - which cost anywhere from $5 for a pour, up to $75. They also let you pick three whiskies to taste as a flight - smaller pour but at half the price listed. I did a flight of Buffalo Trace 9yr Single Barrel, Parker's Heritage and Wild Turkey American Spirit. Shannon had a whiskey sour with Maker's Mark. All four were fantastic. I had Ahi Tuna and Shannon had a pork chop stuffed with chorizo for dinner. Both dishes were amazing. We left so full we could barely walk and broken hearted that there is no place like this in CA (until I open my restaurant!)

We fly out at 10:30am tomorrow and are excited to get back - its been a fantastic trip, but I am ready for my big screen TV and my comfortable bed.

See ya soon!