For the first time in weeks, Jason and I awoke after a full night's rest. Rousing us from sleep was the feeling of contentment, rather than the startle of an alarm. We lie in bed as the morning light began to peer in through the window, enjoying the freedom to rest before beginning what was sure to be an adventurous day.
We began the day in the best way possible--with a complementary breakfast cooked by someone else. We headed toward the hotel lobby, stomachs growling. The air became impregnated with the smell of eggs, sausage, and maple syrup. We collected our breakfast and made our way to a small booth in the hotel lobby area. We discussed politics as we ate, being unable to ignore the nettlesome Fox News segment on a nearby television set. Below are pictures of our food. Jason had peach yogurt, an apple, sausage, one french toast stick, and an egg and cheese omelet. I had two french toast sticks, and egg and cheese omelet, and--although not seen in the picture--a small cup of lucky charms without milk. Jason later found a small Miso soup packet, which he ate later on for a snack. Delicious and frugal!
After breakfast, we returned to our hotel room to finish getting ready for the day. Soon we were headed toward a small craft distillery. Jason learned over the week that there is a second bourbon trail-- the craft tour. Two years ago we completed the most well-known trail. Although we do not have time to complete another tour, we could at the very least begin it. This would also give us another excuse to return to Bardstown! Win. Win. Win.
On the way to Barrel House Distillery, we listened to Beirut and continued our audio book. Although fully rested, our lack of movement made my eyes heavy on the drive. The slow-moving plot of the book did not help this predicament. Luckily, we arrived safely and were ready for some bourbon upon our arrival! Once in Lexington, we began noticing familiar-looking landmarks. We passed an extravagant castle on our way, remembering it from our last trip to Lexington, KY. We also noticed Town and Branch-- a brewery/distillery next to Barrel House. In fact, Town and Branch was on the bourbon trail we completed two years prior. It was our least favorite distillery (as it was mainly a brewery). We became worried the Barrel House might actually be connected to it, but we decided to give it a try anyway. Below is a picture of the outside of Barrel House.
We walked in and browsed the gift shop as we waited for the last tour to end. Jason was welcomed by a rather affectionate kitty cat as it roamed throughout the distillery. It looked up with sad eyes and gently meowed, politely waiting for a friendly visitor to rub it's ears. I later asked our guide the name of their cat, as it was desperately wanting to be known--it followed us from room to room throughout the tour. "Snuggie," the tour guide replied. The name suited him. Apparently there is another cat, but it's rare to see him out and about. Snuggie is welcoming enough for the both of them, so it seems.
Another couple wandered into the shop just as the tour guide made his was toward us. We all introduced ourselves and the tour began. Below are pictures. Keep in mind this is a craft distillery; the equipment is smaller and less grand than the larger distilleries.
After our guide and Snuggie showed us around, we made our way to the bar for a tasting. We had vodka, moonshine, aged moonshine, and rum. Jason and I just realized as we are writing this that they never let us sample bourbon, the very reason we went in the first place. Not sure how they are on the craft bourbon trail, but oh well-- it was still very good! The Vodka we could have done without. Both of us had a bad reaction to it. To quote Jason, "It sat in my stomach like a rock." I quite agree. The rest was wonderful, however! We purchased the rum and some moonshine chocolates before leaving. He also allowed us to taste a special concoction he created-- moonshine which he infused with berries. It was scary delicious! The berry flavors overtook the taste of the alcohol, creating a sweet and potentially dangerous drink for light-weights.
Moonshine chocolates:
Before leaving the distillery, we wanted to obtain a passport from Barrel House. The passports are a small book with the name of each distillery on the craft bourbon trail. Should you fill the passport with stamps from every distillery, you can obtain a silver mint julep cup for a reward. We asked our guide if he had any, but unfortunately he was out. He, instead, pulled out his business card and stamped it. This would prove we visited once we obtained the passport. We thanked him and made our way to the car. On to the second craft bourbon distillery, Limestone Branch!
The trip would take us an hour to reach the second distillery. We stopped by KFC for a popcorn chicken "go cup" and two diet Pepsi's.
We spent the hour-long drive talking and laughing.I love long drives with Jason. Long drives and walks are where we do our best laughing, thinking, and connecting. We discussed Kentucky life and all it's beauty and faults. We talked about how we love to visit but would never live in Kentucky. We batted around our thoughts on religion. We discussed my reaction to an event that occurred earlier this week-- an old friend condemning me to hell. As we drove and examined life, I realized one of my favorite things about Jason-- how easy it is to talk to him about anything and everything. How, even when we disagree on big issues, he always is kind and respectful to my differing opinions. Even when one of us is wrong, we are kind. Later on I thanked Jason for this gift in our marriage. He said, "incorrect ideas and/or irrational thinking should always be challenged, but the person and their humanity should never be attacked." I quite agree with him.
Soon we arrived to Limestone Branch. Below are pictures.
The moment we entered the distillery I sought after their restroom, as I had consumed a large diet soda on the drive over. Jason checked in as he waited. When I returned the tour started almost immediately. The free tour, I might add! Both activities for the day were free! Score!
He was a tall, bald man with the voice of Forrest Gump. I kid you not! Life is like a box of chocolates. He went over the history of the families who own the distillery. The Beam family is the soul of this distillery. In fact, while he reviewed the Beams, one of the oldest living Beams sat down and joined us. He left early, however, to attend a family reunion. Pretty cool. They discussed the different types of bourbon. The two biggest ones I remember were the "Old Trump" (no relation to Donald) and "Yellowstone."
Another interesting tidbit-- each master distiller keeps a "yeast jug." This is the yeast which holds the secret to each distiller's bourbon. The beam family had a special jug which contained the recipe for "Old Trump." However, because of prohibition, the yeast dried up and became unusable. Luckily, they were able to go to a molecular biologist and have it recreated. It will not be called "Old Trump," due to their dislike of Donald Trump. I like these people! Pretty cool. Below are pictures of the actual distillery.
Here is their small barrel room (basically a trailer).
After the tour, we made our way to their bar for a tasting. Each person was allowed 6 tastings. Luckily, that means Jason and I could try 12 if we split each sample. Below is a picture of the tasting bar.
We tried Moonpie Moonshine (dutch chocolate and vanilla) first. We tried it by itself and then he poured orange soda in with the vanilla moonshine, which made it taste like a creamsicle. He recommended root beer with the chocolate so it would taste of tootsie roll. Then we had their bourbon, called YellowStone. After tasting the bourbon, we tried another whisky named Precinct 6, this tasted remarkably like a high barley scotch. After this we tried a couple of "Sugar-Shines", specifically Blackberry and Strawberry --both he recommended would go well with lemonade. All were very good. We ended up purchasing blackberry and strawberry sugar shine, along with moonpie moonshine. They also had actual moonpies--chocolate and vanilla.
(writer swap)
After doing a bit of research and determining that we had all but run out of things to do in the area, we decided to head back to Bardstown. On the way back to the hotel, we decided that we were not quite ready to "hang our hats" on our adventures today so we began looking for more fun things to do. A little before the square in Bardstown is an interesting sign that reads "Museum Row." Given our experiences earlier, we thought that everything would be shut down because it is Sunday, but we followed some quick directions to try out the civil war museum. We got out of the car, sun blazing on our necks, and walked towards the guest services building. After we had entered, I noticed a tall man with a beard sitting behind a desk. As we started in his direction, I decided to save on small talk and ask him if that was where we purchase the tickets. He affirmed. With a swipe of a credit card we gained admission to not only an internal museum with relics of struggles past, but to a full-scale replica of what the old Bardstown settlement would have looked like. We took our receipt and walked up a sloping ramp. In the first room we noticed some sketches of men from a bygone era. Below and beside these sketches were descriptions of the parts these various men had played in our nation's history.
I think we all know who this guy is, but if the image is too small then I'll just say that he's a famous Union General who made a rather impressionable journey through most of Georgia...
In the case below we see what appears to be a medicine bottle kit and a couple of volumes on the treatments of various conditions.
After reviewing these grisly devices, DaNae and I discussed how happy and lucky we are to have been born now. People tend to have a lot of nostalgia, especially for time periods that they have not lived in, but this particular time period does not appear to offer the same kind of comfort when compared to the safety that our current time affords.
The photo below is interesting, This is the view from the small bridge off to the side. When we were looking we noticed that it made us feel kind of disoriented and upside-down. Sometimes you have to roll with the confusion and I think that is very representative of our experiences this year.
After leaving the heat and the insane number of wasps out in the village, we decided to head back to the hotel for a short break, where we grabbed two free cookies. We noticed that there was supposed to be a pretty good barbecue place in town. The photo below is not from that barbecue shop... We drove to the place and noticed a sign on the door that said they were at no point open on Sundays, so we decided to do something else. We headed on to the downtown area and attempted to go to Talbotts Tavern. They clued us into the fact that we would be waiting almost an hour. No kidding, they were one of the only places open in the whole area. Hungry people have to go somewhere. We ended up going to a place called Maya's Mexican. The ratings were so-so but we thought we would make a mini-adventure out of it. We headed in and asked for a booth.
Overall, our full day in Bardstown was not a loss. We were kind of unsure of how things were going to happen, we had essentially planned nothing. Sometimes just going with things and enjoying yourself if the way to go.
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