This is known as the feeling you get in your chest when you take a shot of whiskey! It sounded even better in our tour guide Justin's southern accent. Last weekend Mk and I did tours of Bourbon Distilleries in Kentucky and it was such a unique experience.
Our first stop was at the Bulleit distillery. I must say my favorite tid bit from this tour was about the whiskey barrels. When Bulleit is done with them, they go to Scotland to house Johnny Walker scotch, and then to Mexico to hold tequila. If they make it past there they head down to the Caribbean to house rum! So amazing the life these barrels have!
Next we were off to Buffalo Trace. I was excited to go here because this is MK's fav whiskey to have in the house. The plant was HUGE! It was very cool to get to see how everything was made.
Later that night we went to The Even Williams Speak Easy. So fun. We were transported to prohibition where our bartender Rosko told us all about how they still drank "back in the day". They had this secrete door to get in that looks like a safe, so cool!
We started off Saturday by heading to Makers Mark where I was able to dip my own bottle in the iconic red wax. I loved the Makers 64 so that's what I chose to dip. The property of Makers Mark was absolutely stunning and was actually purchased for 35,000 dollars, on a 200 acre plot! The first bottle of Makers Mark was sold for $7 while most others were sold for $3.
We also go to tour Makers new Rickhouse which was built into a side of a massive hill. This is where they store the Makers 64. The back wall is actually the stone inside the hill. Since its built inside the hill it will stay a constant 50 degrees all year round.
At Four Roses we got to tour the bottling plant. It's such a cool experience to see just how the bourbon is bottled and what that exact process is. We got to drive through the whole property!
Jim Beam shows us the entire process from start to finish. MK got to actually bottle his own and put his thumb print in the black wax of Knob Creek.
It wouldn't be Friday without a drink recipe! Since the Mint Julep screams spring and is basically the state drink of Kentucky, I thought it would be perfect to make with my new favorite bourbon. I got a cocktail book called "Shake" from our Bulleit tour and I'm totally obsessed with it!
The W & P Mint Julep
(makes 2 drinks)
4 shots bourbon
Handful of fresh mint
4 sugar cubes
1/2 shot fresh lemon juice
Add mint leaves, sugar, and lemon juice to shaker. Muddle the ingredients until sugar has dissolved, add bourbon and ice and shake for 10 seconds. Then strain mixture into tumblers containing crushed ice and garnish with remaining mint leaves.
Cheers!
Have a great first weekend of spring all!
xoxo