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The thought had occurred to me that a tour in the fall to north central Kentucky may well be just what was needed for the perfect long weekend. Add in the the history of the area and the Kentucky Bourbon Trail and I was sure it was a good idea.
I made an effort to create interest among my riding buddies but the fall of the year is a busy time and the competition for those precious weekends is tough. With no other takers,Mari and I decided a weekend together for just us would be a great idea.
We had made plans to leave on Wednesday night but the office would not let loose its ties and in fact required a bit of my time on Thursday morning. We loaded everything on Wednesday night for a fast departure on Thursday mid-morning.
The trip from Birmingham would be straight up I-65. So we arrived in Shepardsville, KY about dark Thursday evening and took up residence at the KOA as this would be our base of operations for the next three days. The weather beyond the storms tonight looks great. Stormy it was Thursday night with tornadoes in the area, but the sun will shine tomorrow and the peaking fall colors and the Kentucky countryside await our exploration!
We are up early on Friday. It is a cool and crisp morning, and yes the sun is peaking through the autumn colors from the eastern sky. We have chosen “Buster” our 2005 R1200GS for the Bourbon Run. We depart the campground around 10AM. Mari has been lazy this morning and I have been on the phone trying my best to get away...really away from the office!
I had charted separate routes for today and tomorrow on the GPS. I have learned to pick crooked roads on the computer for the area I am exploring, download it to the GPS and see what is out there! This was the plan for today so we head off. It is a beautiful morning and the colors in this part of the state are at their peak. Some say the extreme drought conditions in the southeast have negatively impacted the fall color show but they look beautiful to us. My GPS plan is working. For those not familiar with it, Kentucky is one of those few places where the pavement is in great shape, the traffic is light and these paths literally snake in and out of the hills and hollows taking us places we would never get to without the aid of the GPS. Well, I am enjoying myself so much that I miss a turn and the Zumo immediately begins it recalculating maneuver. We are turning here and there and find ourselves on some of the smallest paved roads I have been on in a while. But this is Kentucky so we just ride around enjoying it! Once we have looped back to our original route, its time to enter the address for our first stop and get on with it!
We pull into the Jim Beam American Outpost shortly after lunch. Here you can participate in a self-guided tour of the grounds after a short video explains the history of bourbon making and the traditions of the Beam family. The grounds are perfectly landscaped and the sounds of the working distillery are heard in the background. The tour ends in the old Beam home where you can sample a couple of their products…we did.
We stopped by the gift shop on the way out where they gave us a souvenir barrel bung and we gave them $60 for some of their product. I think they came out better than we did but I won’t know for sure until I find the bottom of that bottle.
Back on the bike we head down through Bardstown and set our sights on Loretto, KY the home of Maker’s Mark. You know the red wax sealed bottle? The ride down is about 20 miles. The road is twisty just the way we like it. The traffic is light and we scoot briskly through the curves. We roll into the distillery that lies at the end of a narrow lane leading into a hollow. We shed our gear and enter the Visitor Center just as the last tour of the day is forming up. Lucky…really lucky! The tour begins with a walk through the period decorated kitchen where Bill & Marge Samuels experimented with different grain recipes for their bourbon by baking bread in the kitchen oven. It was Marge that came up with the idea for the bottle design and wax seal. Needless to say that was a brilliant idea! The tour takes you into the fermentation room where the aroma is pleasing and you are invited to stick your finger into the vat and taste the mash..we did. Outside the distillation house we are led down the side of the warehouse and into the bottling area where you can see up close the filling line and watch the hand dipping of the bottles into the famous red wax. From there we are led into one of the barrel houses where the lady explains the storing and aging process. We are led through the center of this old wooden warehouse filled with the pleasing aroma aging bourbon and through the far end door where it opens into an ultra modern gift shop and bar where we are offered a sample of the finished product...we took it. I might add it tastes pretty good for sitting a burned out barrel in an old warehouse for 6-8 years! It is 5PM local time and we watch the employees escape for the weekend as we are putting on our gear. The ride back to Shepardsville is cool as we are racing dark back to the campground. We have logged just under 150 miles today and are glad to be back at camp. We need to sample that Jim Beam black to see if it is worth what we paid for it.. it is.
Saturday morning breaks and we are up and ready to go again..by nine o’clock. Well OK 10. Today we are headed to Frankfort via a series of “lines” I have chosen again on the GPS. This turns out to be about 60 miles of the most scenic countryside we could have hoped for. These roads are amazing! We made our way across one ridge that was lined with horse and dairy farms. The autumn colors are in full display to the left and right on the hillsides. Folks seemed puzzled to see two spacemen riding a motorcycle but they do not hesitate to offer a friendly wave as we motor by.
We pull into Frankfort and follow the Zumo into the front gate of the Buffalo Trace Distillery on US 127 just north of town. A tour is offered here as well and is highlighted by an informative video presented in the “Free House” where the tour guide also explains the art of bourbon making using the hands on display located there. We are then led into the barrel house typical of the other barrel houses we have seen recently. However the guide explains in greater detail the warehousing and aging process that gives the finished product its distinct characteristics. Our group is only 6 members so the tour guide takes a little extra time with us. He then took us into the single barrel bottling house for a look and ends the tour in the tasting room where he offers a taste of three of the 15 products produced there..we took it.
We take time to shoot a few pictures of the bike and the grounds before loading up. We are heading south about 15 miles to Lawrenceburg, KY home town of the Wild Turkey. We arrive there in time for the last tour of the day. Again…lucky..really lucky. Another video explains how the Austin Nichols Company came to be the distillers of the famous brand and the tour is led by a knowledgeable lady that offers even more insight to the whole process. With the help of a scale model of a distillery, she gives us a laymans explanation of the process along with her wit and commentary. She leads us across the street to view the process in action. The fermentation tanks, still house, bottling room, it is beginning to look familiar. We walk back across the street for what we are hoping is another taste test..we didn’t get it.
We take a few more pictures and load up for the ride back. The sun is beginning to drop and we got about 75 miles back to the campground. I punch up the Zumo and we head back to Shepardsville utilizing another series of thin crooked roads I had selected. One section includes Tracey Road which turns out to be a narrow lane up and over a couple mountains and passing by the home sites of folks I am quite sure have never seen spacemen on a motorcycle go by. Exactly what I had hoped for, if they had not. We arrive at the campground just before sundown and ready for a nice meal. We had one.
Tomorrow we head for home and the end of our Bourbon Run. We have visited four distilleries had samples at three of them and have enjoyed the beautiful fall foliage offered by Kentucky in October. This trip has been every bit as fun as we had planned. This part of Kentucky offers spectacular scenery year round with the magnificent horse farms and awesome roads. There are several more stops along the Bourbon Trail and other attractions in this area that must be explored another time..we will.
I made an effort to create interest among my riding buddies but the fall of the year is a busy time and the competition for those precious weekends is tough. With no other takers,Mari and I decided a weekend together for just us would be a great idea.
We had made plans to leave on Wednesday night but the office would not let loose its ties and in fact required a bit of my time on Thursday morning. We loaded everything on Wednesday night for a fast departure on Thursday mid-morning.
The trip from Birmingham would be straight up I-65. So we arrived in Shepardsville, KY about dark Thursday evening and took up residence at the KOA as this would be our base of operations for the next three days. The weather beyond the storms tonight looks great. Stormy it was Thursday night with tornadoes in the area, but the sun will shine tomorrow and the peaking fall colors and the Kentucky countryside await our exploration!
We are up early on Friday. It is a cool and crisp morning, and yes the sun is peaking through the autumn colors from the eastern sky. We have chosen “Buster” our 2005 R1200GS for the Bourbon Run. We depart the campground around 10AM. Mari has been lazy this morning and I have been on the phone trying my best to get away...really away from the office!
I had charted separate routes for today and tomorrow on the GPS. I have learned to pick crooked roads on the computer for the area I am exploring, download it to the GPS and see what is out there! This was the plan for today so we head off. It is a beautiful morning and the colors in this part of the state are at their peak. Some say the extreme drought conditions in the southeast have negatively impacted the fall color show but they look beautiful to us. My GPS plan is working. For those not familiar with it, Kentucky is one of those few places where the pavement is in great shape, the traffic is light and these paths literally snake in and out of the hills and hollows taking us places we would never get to without the aid of the GPS. Well, I am enjoying myself so much that I miss a turn and the Zumo immediately begins it recalculating maneuver. We are turning here and there and find ourselves on some of the smallest paved roads I have been on in a while. But this is Kentucky so we just ride around enjoying it! Once we have looped back to our original route, its time to enter the address for our first stop and get on with it!
We pull into the Jim Beam American Outpost shortly after lunch. Here you can participate in a self-guided tour of the grounds after a short video explains the history of bourbon making and the traditions of the Beam family. The grounds are perfectly landscaped and the sounds of the working distillery are heard in the background. The tour ends in the old Beam home where you can sample a couple of their products…we did.
We stopped by the gift shop on the way out where they gave us a souvenir barrel bung and we gave them $60 for some of their product. I think they came out better than we did but I won’t know for sure until I find the bottom of that bottle.
Back on the bike we head down through Bardstown and set our sights on Loretto, KY the home of Maker’s Mark. You know the red wax sealed bottle? The ride down is about 20 miles. The road is twisty just the way we like it. The traffic is light and we scoot briskly through the curves. We roll into the distillery that lies at the end of a narrow lane leading into a hollow. We shed our gear and enter the Visitor Center just as the last tour of the day is forming up. Lucky…really lucky! The tour begins with a walk through the period decorated kitchen where Bill & Marge Samuels experimented with different grain recipes for their bourbon by baking bread in the kitchen oven. It was Marge that came up with the idea for the bottle design and wax seal. Needless to say that was a brilliant idea! The tour takes you into the fermentation room where the aroma is pleasing and you are invited to stick your finger into the vat and taste the mash..we did. Outside the distillation house we are led down the side of the warehouse and into the bottling area where you can see up close the filling line and watch the hand dipping of the bottles into the famous red wax. From there we are led into one of the barrel houses where the lady explains the storing and aging process. We are led through the center of this old wooden warehouse filled with the pleasing aroma aging bourbon and through the far end door where it opens into an ultra modern gift shop and bar where we are offered a sample of the finished product...we took it. I might add it tastes pretty good for sitting a burned out barrel in an old warehouse for 6-8 years! It is 5PM local time and we watch the employees escape for the weekend as we are putting on our gear. The ride back to Shepardsville is cool as we are racing dark back to the campground. We have logged just under 150 miles today and are glad to be back at camp. We need to sample that Jim Beam black to see if it is worth what we paid for it.. it is.
Saturday morning breaks and we are up and ready to go again..by nine o’clock. Well OK 10. Today we are headed to Frankfort via a series of “lines” I have chosen again on the GPS. This turns out to be about 60 miles of the most scenic countryside we could have hoped for. These roads are amazing! We made our way across one ridge that was lined with horse and dairy farms. The autumn colors are in full display to the left and right on the hillsides. Folks seemed puzzled to see two spacemen riding a motorcycle but they do not hesitate to offer a friendly wave as we motor by.
We pull into Frankfort and follow the Zumo into the front gate of the Buffalo Trace Distillery on US 127 just north of town. A tour is offered here as well and is highlighted by an informative video presented in the “Free House” where the tour guide also explains the art of bourbon making using the hands on display located there. We are then led into the barrel house typical of the other barrel houses we have seen recently. However the guide explains in greater detail the warehousing and aging process that gives the finished product its distinct characteristics. Our group is only 6 members so the tour guide takes a little extra time with us. He then took us into the single barrel bottling house for a look and ends the tour in the tasting room where he offers a taste of three of the 15 products produced there..we took it.
We take time to shoot a few pictures of the bike and the grounds before loading up. We are heading south about 15 miles to Lawrenceburg, KY home town of the Wild Turkey. We arrive there in time for the last tour of the day. Again…lucky..really lucky. Another video explains how the Austin Nichols Company came to be the distillers of the famous brand and the tour is led by a knowledgeable lady that offers even more insight to the whole process. With the help of a scale model of a distillery, she gives us a laymans explanation of the process along with her wit and commentary. She leads us across the street to view the process in action. The fermentation tanks, still house, bottling room, it is beginning to look familiar. We walk back across the street for what we are hoping is another taste test..we didn’t get it.
We take a few more pictures and load up for the ride back. The sun is beginning to drop and we got about 75 miles back to the campground. I punch up the Zumo and we head back to Shepardsville utilizing another series of thin crooked roads I had selected. One section includes Tracey Road which turns out to be a narrow lane up and over a couple mountains and passing by the home sites of folks I am quite sure have never seen spacemen on a motorcycle go by. Exactly what I had hoped for, if they had not. We arrive at the campground just before sundown and ready for a nice meal. We had one.
Tomorrow we head for home and the end of our Bourbon Run. We have visited four distilleries had samples at three of them and have enjoyed the beautiful fall foliage offered by Kentucky in October. This trip has been every bit as fun as we had planned. This part of Kentucky offers spectacular scenery year round with the magnificent horse farms and awesome roads. There are several more stops along the Bourbon Trail and other attractions in this area that must be explored another time..we will.
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