An interview with Robbie Delaney of Muddy River Distillery & a review of Queen Charlotte's Reserve Carolina Rum

Author’s note: Before I left Muddy River last November, Robbie was generous enough to gift me with two bottles of his product, one each of Carolina Rum and Queen Charlotte's Reserve. I do not normally accept such gifts, but made an exception. Although I do not consider this payment, the FTC does. As such I am disclosing the info now. And though I had tasted all of the products and made judgements about liking or not liking them before I knew the gift was being made, the tasting notes below are from this week. Please use this info to inform the relative accuracy of my thoughts on them.

​Back in November, I stopped for a tour at Muddy River Distillery just outside Charlotte, NC. When I got home, I realized that I really liked talking to Robbie. That's Robbie Delaney. He’s the proprietor, the distiller and the tour guide. I enjoyed our conversation enough that I thought you might enjoy it too. I asked him to answer a few questions for the blog. He was gracious enough to do so and they are below.

So Robbie, tell me a little about yourself. How did you get your start in the spirit business? What made you decide to open a distillery? 

I learned the meaning of hard work growing up on a horse farm in Wake Forest, NC. I became a General Contractor and traveled throughout the southeast working on projects and grew tired of living out of a suitcase. In early 2011 I read an in-flight magazine article about craft distilling. Construction was a little slow and so I gave distilling a shot. I read up and learned how to distill and designed and built Muddy River’s 3 reflux column stills. Everyone thought I was crazy. After getting the federal and state permits and a lot of hard work, Muddy River was the first rum distillery in NC. We began legally distilling in February 2012 and released our first product, Carolina Rum-a silver rum, in September of 2012. With almost 2 years of distilling under our belt, we released Queen Charlotte’s Reserve, an American white oak barrel aged rum, in October 2013. 

What is your specialty?

RUM. Carolina Rum is our smooth, slightly sweet rum and Queen Charlotte’s Reserve is barrel aged at least 8 months in unused American white oak barrels that are charred on the inside.

Is the distillery your full time job now?

Yes, both Caroline and I are full time now. I run the distilling, bottling, and tours. Caroline does sales, marketing, social media, and accounting for the company.

What's a typical day like for you?

An 18 hour day. Not because it has to, but because that’s how we make great liquor. We start by turning the machines on to heat up, run them, then clean and fill for the next day. Our typical activities include making mash, cleaning (the most important job), bottling, making liquor, tours, and a million other activities required of a small business.

So operating your own distillery seems like a cool job. What’s the best part?

People are interested in what I do for a living. It’s a big honor when someone wants to hear about your craft and enjoys drinking your products. We make amazing rums, and that is fulfilling in itself.

Tell me about the biggest challenge you've faced so far.

Properly managing growth. We’re trying to grow modestly, but we have sold out of product a few times.

So you’re trying to make sure you don’t grow too fast?

Yeah, I could spend all my time and marketing efforts trying to sell the first bottle to a million people. But if I can’t sell the second, I’m just a flash in the pan. You need to develop a brand loyalty. And you do that by doing things making a good product. Doing things right. Making small cuts. Using only new barrels. Instead of concentrating on expansion, we focus on selling the second bottle.

Wait, you use new barrels? As a bourbon drinker I’m used to the distillers using new barrels and then selling them to rum distillers, among others.

I buy bourbon spec barrels from the cooperage. And I only use them once. I find that it helps to cut the sweetness a bit. It doesn’t taste like your rum and coke is made with two sweetened products. Not that I would recommend adding Coke to Queen Charlotte’s Reserve.

That’s got to be expensive.

It can be, but if you live frugally, cut costs where you can and then sell it after your done with it, it’s doable. You can make back most of the cost by selling it afterward so you’re just sitting on the investment for eight months to a year. It goes back to growing modestly and making sure you can sell the second bottle.

Anything new on the horizon?

Our next product will most likely be a spiced rum. We have had a lot of people ask for one. We’ve been working on a recipe for a long time, but it has to be great before we put a product on the shelf. We’re still working on perfecting our recipe.

Any advice for readers who might be interested in following in your footsteps?

With the distilling industry growing so quickly, you have to make a top notch product in order to survive. You can sell one bottle, but it has to be good in order to have customers re-buy your product.

Do you offer tours?

Yes! Visit our website to sign up under the “Take a Tour” tab. There is a calendar with all the dates and times tours are offered. www.muddyriverdistillery.com/rumdistillerytour/

In North Carolina you are in ABC stores. Outside of North Carolina, can readers buy your products?

Yes, look and ask for us in the North Carolina section in ABCs, if you don’t see us in the rum section. And we’re in bars and restaurants throughout NC. We are in SC a little bit, but we’re working to keep up with NC and haven’t pushed to spread out much in SC.

Anything else you'd like to plug? Website? Twitter?

Website: www.muddyriverdistillery.com
Facebook: Muddy River Distillery
Twitter: @1stCarolinaRum
Instagram: muddyriverdistillery

Thanks so much for taking the time to answer some questions.

Queen Charlotte’s Reserve Carolina Rum

Purchase info: My bottle was a gift from Robbie and Muddy River Distillery, but if you are in North Carolina, you can pick it up at an ABC store for $27.95 as of this writing.

Details: Aged in new charred oak barrels. 42% ABV

Nose: Delicate sweetness. Honey, dried grasses and a hint of smoke.

Mouth: Warm and tingly with a delicate sweetness. Vanilla, baking spices and a hint of mint.

Finish: Warm with a decent length. Fades to a pleasant bitterness.

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Thoughts: I really like this one. This is the first rum I would drink straight. The one I’m tasting tonight was a gift from the distiller, but the next time I’m in North Carolina I’m stocking up.

5 Bourbon Barrel Aged Stouts That Will Warm You Up

It’s February in Minnesota. It’s cold. It’s snowy. I had the feeling today as I drove to the dog park that I was driving through the photos you see of Northern Canada or Alaska. The ones where you are so far north the trees no longer grow and the towns are just a collection of buildings. The only colors are blue sky and white snow. There’s snow on the road, snow on the buildings, snow on the few plants you can still see peeking out. Six foot piles along the sides of every driveway. The debris from too few snow plows lining roads that are becoming increasingly narrow.

I guess they don’t call it Minnesnowta for nothing.

But there is good news. There is a cure for the deep-set chill of a Minnesota winter. Beer. Strong, dark beer. Beer that is chocolatey or wine-like. Beer so thick you might be forgiven for thinking that you are actually drinking bread. 

But, you might be asking yourself, this is a bourbon blog? Well, don’t you worry your pretty little head about that. The result of a barrel only being able to be used once to make bourbon is a lot of used barrels. Just because many of them go to Scotland or Canada to age their fine whiskies, doesn’t mean that all of them leave the country. There is a demand among small brewers for bourbon barrels to help age their beers as well. What follows are five beers that have been aged in bourbon barrels. And because it is the dead of winter, and we all need it, each of them are sweet, strong stouts. 

Each of these were poured in identical tulip shaped glasses and tasted one at a time over the course of a single day. I’m rating them with the 1-5 style rating I used in Untappd when I checked them in.

Brewers Reserve Bourbon Barrel Stout

Style: American Imperial Stout

Brewery: Central Waters Brewing Company. Amherst, WI

Purchase Info: Purchased at Viking Liquor Barrel, Prior Lake, MN  

ABV: 9.5%

Initial Thoughts: Pours with a thick milk chocolate colored head.

Nose: Dark and fruity with wine-like qualities. After a bit that fades to be replaced with chocolatey cereal notes.

Mouth: Moderately thick mouthfeel with a good bit of carbonation. Fruity and sweet with a big hit of alcohol flavor. 

Final Thoughts: I could taste that this was a high ABV beer before I looked at it. The alcohol flavor was that strong. The more I tasted of this, the less I liked it. I don’t know that I would want more than one of these in a session. 

Rating: 3/5

Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Stout

Style: American Stout

Brewery: Lexington Brewing and Distilling Company, Lexington, KY

Purchase Info: Purchased at Liquor Barn, Lexington, KY  

ABV: 8%

Nose: Sour. Cooked cereal. Corn chips.

Mouth: Thin in the mouth. Nice carbonation. Nicely balanced sweetness and bitterness with hints of coffee and chocolate.

Final Thoughts: Balanced. Not heavy. Unlike many stouts, I could drink more than one of these in a session. Being a higher ABV beer, this is dangerously drinkable. 

Rating: 3.5/5

Wild Turkey Bourbon Barrel Stout

Style: Oatmeal Stout

Brewery: Anderson Valley Brewing Company, Booneville, CA

Purchase Info: Purchased at Casanova Liquors, Hudson, WI  

ABV: 6.9%

Initial Thoughts: Pours with a nice thick head.

Nose: Dark and fruity. Red wine. Then malty cereals

Mouth: Acidic. It bubbles and froths in the mouth as if it’s making more head on your tongue. finishes with acid bitterness and malt.

Final Thoughts: This barrel-aged stout is more acidic than most, almost a sour. I think this would be more refreshing on a hot summer day than most stouts due to that. 

Rating: 3.5/5

Bourbon Sidamo

Style: American Imperial Stout

Brewery: Hardywood Park Craft Brewery, Richmond, VA

Purchase Info: Purchased at Total Wine and More, Richmond, VA  

ABV: 10.3%

Initial Thoughts: Looks thick on pouring.

Nose: Sweet maltiness that fades quickly. Chocolate.

Mouth: Thick. Initially chocolatey. Finishes wine-like with an alcohol sharpness.

Final Thoughts: This proves that aging doesn’t always work . This doesn’t taste aged, it tastes old. I’d like to try the non-barrel aged version of this to see how it compares. 

Rating: 2.5/5

Dark Hollow

Style: American Imperial Stout

Brewery: Blue Mountain Brewery, Afton, VA

Purchase Info: Purchased at Corks & Kegs, Richmond, VA  

ABV: 10%

Initial Thoughts: Pours with zero head.

Nose: Cereal maltiness initially. After sitting a bit: dark fruit.

Mouth:Nice and thick with very little carbonation. Sweet fruit balances bitterness with a hint of smoke.

Final Thoughts: Everything is working here. The fruity flavors balance the bitterness with just the right hint of smoke. High ABV but drinkable, with no alcohol flavor. As I initially stated when I first tasted it: “This might be the best beer I’ve ever had. It’s at least in the conversation.”

Rating: 5/5

Beer is an amazingly adaptable drink. It is highly influenced by your glassware and what you serve it with. Wine flavors when imbibed on its own might give way to chocolate flavors when served with food. The Central Waters one did that with pizza after the tasting was done. If you just take a sip, you might like it better than if you are spending time with it. The Hardywood did that for me as I tried to finalize my rankings. Ultimately what you like is highly influenced by how, where and with whom you drink it. On a cold, snowy night in Minnesota, all of these are good enough to warm you up.

Muddy River Distillery, Belmont, NC: a visit and a rum review

Author’s note: Before I left Muddy River, Robbie was generous enough to gift me with two bottles of his product, one each of Carolina Rum and Queen Charlotte's Reserve. I do not normally accept such gifts, but in this case I made an exception. Although I do not consider this payment, the FTC does. As such I am disclosing the info now. And though I had tasted all of the products and made judgements about liking or not liking them before I knew the gift was being made, the tasting notes below are from tonight. Please use this info to judge the relative accuracy of my thoughts on them.

It’s raining as I pull up to the gate. I see a sign that bears the logo I’m looking for, but this isn’t the place I pictured in my head when I made arrangements to visit. 

Though I knew the address included a suite number, I sort of expected that a distillery would need to be a free-standing building. This is a multi-tenant, red brick, light industrial structure with a lot of loading doors. On all sides of the building. 

Some of the suites have numbers on them. Some do not. None of them have the number I’m looking for. I’m in a rental car, driving around the building on a driveway full of potholes. Finally, I give up. I’m not so dedicated to living up to male stereotypes that I can’t call and ask for directions. 

We park the car right outside the door that Robbie Delaney, proprietor of Muddy River Distillery, is holding open for us and run inside to try to stay as dry as possible in the pouring rain.

Once inside, we walk up a set of stairs and are greeted by a large, empty room, dominated by a large black wall with a smallish still set against it. It looks a bit empty and I’m not quite sure what to think at this point. But because I love craft distillers and I love to talk, I press ahead. It turns out that at the time of our visit, Muddy River Distillery had been in this, much larger, location for about two weeks. (That explains the emptiness.) And Robbie has spent most of that time doing the build-out. 

He built the large, black wall. He built the raised floor that we were standing on. He built the tasting area in the next room. He’s building a clean room for bottling. He even built the hand rails for the stairs in the entry way. Let me repeat: he did this all in two weeks. And that’s in between bottling batches of his rum. 

By this point it doesn’t surprise me that he also built the still. Though he built that while in his previous location on the other side of the property. For good measure, he is also elbow deep in his website. Robbie is the very essence of why I love talking to young entrepreneurs: drive, passion, and a real bootstrap mentality. 

My visit lasts a little over an hour. We spend most of it chatting. Along the way I see the still, impressive as hell when he tells you it used to be a milk tank. We see the fermentation area, the barrels where the rum ages. We even see the tent that Robbie has set up to sleep in when the nights get long. A rum tasting and another chat, this time about his website, and we’re done. 

It’s still raining as we run out to the car, but I feel good about this visit and can't wait to come back. I have a feeling that Muddy River is here to stay.

Postscript to my visit: a couple weeks after I get back from North Carolina, I get a note from Robbie that, based on our conversation, he’s launched a new website. Go check it out at www.MuddyRiverDistillery.com. 

Muddy River Carolina Rum 

Details: 40% ABV. Clear as water.

Nose: Dried grass with a hint of molasses and dried fruit.

Mouth: Thin mouthfeel. Initially: gingerbread, becoming sweeter as it moves back in the mouth. 

Finish: Sweet and gentle with just a hint of a burn.

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Thoughts: This is as close to a sipping drink as any white rum I’ve had. It’s really quite good. It’s not quite up to drinking neat, for me. But if it had a little more bulk in the mouthfeel, it might be the first rum that was. I also tried this in a mojito (my “tester” rum cocktail). Let’s put it this way. Until it runs out, it’s now the rum I’m going to use in all my rum cocktails. In fact, I’m regretting giving away the bottle I bought as a gift for a relative because I’m going to have to drive to North Carolina if I want more.

Visiting Broadslab Distillery in Benson, NC. Part two: the interview.

Author’s note: Before I left Broadslab, Jeremy was generous enough to gift me with four bottles of his product, one of each kind. I do not normally accept such gifts, but I made an exception in this case. Although I do not consider this payment, the FTC does. As such I am disclosing the info now. And though I had tasted all of the products and made judgements about liking or not liking them before I knew the gift was being made, the tasting notes below are from tonight. Please use this info to judge the relative accuracy of my thoughts on them.

This is the second in a two part series about my visit to Broadslab Distillery in Benson, NC. As I said in my last post, I spent an hour or more talking to Jeremy while I was at the distillery. Once I got home, I sent him a note to see if he would be willing to answer a few more questions for the blog. He graciously said yes. Our conversation is below.

Jeremy, we’ve talked of course, but tell the readers a little about yourself. 

I was raised on a produce farm by my grandparents and became an entrepreneurer straight out of high school. I have gotten to this point in my life having been taught by the school of “hard knocks.”

How did you get your start in the spirit business? What made you decide to open a distillery?

My granddaddy and his ancestors made moonshine both before and after prohibition. During those times, it became an economic necessity to engage in “moonshining.” I wanted to open a distillery to honor this tradition and preserve the history of my family’s legacy. The name “Broadslab,” which my distillery is named, refers to the southeastern section of Johnston County, NC that became well-known for the quality of home-brewed whiskey produced by entrepreneurs back in the day. My distillery sits right in the heart of “Broadslab,” which many say is the “moonshine capital of NC.”

Is the distillery your full time job now? 

(Laughs) I sure wish it could be but it does not pay the bills! My wife and I own and operate two collision repair centers, grow crops on our 100-acre farm (we grow our own corn for the moonshine mash), and maintain a few rental properties. 

What’s a typical day like for you? 

Oh, how it varies each and every day! Some days I am farming and some days I am running the rollback or washing cars for the body shops.  Some days I am distilling or bottling product at the distillery and some days I am mowing grass at home, or at the body shops, or at the rental properties. There is no typical day for me!

Tell me about the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far.

The biggest challenge I have faced in this distillery thus far has been marketing, marketing and marketing! No one tells you how hard it is to get your products on the market with limited funding.

What’s the best thing about operating your own (legal) distillery?

I am blessed with so very many opportunities to meet all kinds of people from all walks of life who are very interested in and appreciate what I am trying to do!

Sustainable growth and natural ingredients seem to be at the heart of your philosophy. Tell the readers a little about what you are doing on those fronts. 

I am a firm believer in only natural ingredients because most products and foods we encounter on a daily basis are full of artificial preservatives, artificial flavors and artifical sweeteners that I believe are harmful to an individual’s health. All of the products I currently produce at the distillery are made from only natural ingredients and are certified gluten-free. 

My products have been on the market since August 2012, a very short time period. I have seen steady growth since that time and my main goal is to continue with this steady growth. Most every day I get an email or a phone call or simply talk to someone in person that has not heard about my distillery. I am building my brand one person at a time.

Any advice for readers who might be interested in following in your footsteps?

Make yourself fully aware of the financial undertaking needed to start a distillery and be willing to work a lot of VERY long hours to attempt to fulfill your dream!

What is your specialty? 

My distillery is based on the “moonshining” legacy so clear, corn liquor is my specialty.  

Any other types of products you are making?

I focus on producing and bottling only traditional, all-natural distilled spirits. I currently produce 2 varieties of corn liquor and 2 varieties of rum.  

Anything new on the horizon?

I hope to add another product or two to the list I already produce.

Do you offer tours?

Currently, I am a one-man show so I only offer tours by appointment only. But, of course, I hope to set a tour schedule very soon.

In North Carolina you are in ABC stores, outside of North Carolina, where can readers buy your products?

We currently sell our products in SC and GA at various stores in those states.

Anything else you’d like to plug? Website? Twitter?

Please check out our website at www.broadslabdistillery.com (you can read all the details about the Broadslab legacy) and “like” us on facebook (https://www.facebook.com/BroadslabDistillery) and follow us on twitter (@BroadslabStill)!

Jeremy, thanks so much for chatting with me today. I enjoyed my visit to the distillery and I urge everyone in or visiting North Carolina to set up a visit with you and pick up a bottle or two in the ABC stores. Thanks again.

Broadslab Legacy Shine

Details: Label says 33% corn and 67% percent cane sugar. Jeremy told me that it included corn and malted corn along with the cane suger. 45% ABV 

Nose: Dried Corn or more accurately cattle feed. This most reminds me of when I was in college, delivering pizzas to the guys at Quality Liquid Feeds. (yes, my heritage is mostly redneck—and I’m proud of that)

Taste: This has a very delicate flavor. Very sweet. Almost no burn. I could hold this in my mouth for a while without it burning out. Based on the nose, you’d expect to be overwhelmed by corn. It’s certainly there. But it’s more like a cooked cereal than I would have expected.

Finish: Minimal heat. The cooked cereal taste really hits you after you swallow and lingers for a good while before slowly turning bitter and making you want to take another sip.

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Overall: I’ve liked very few unaged products. In fact I can only think of one before this. But I like this one. A lot. This is very obviously the work of a skilled craftsman.

Broadslab Legacy Reserve

Details: Same as above except that this has been “Colored and Flavored with Oak slabs.” (Which seems to be TTB speak for aged. For what it is worth I saw the barrels with charred oak slabs inside.)

Nose: Buttered popcorn and butterscotch. The nose on this is very sweet.

Taste: An initial hit of cinnamon transitions to a sweet smokiness. The smokiness is not overpowering. The buttery note is there to back it all up.

Finish: There’s a bit of heat that sticks around and a lingering smokiness. Kinda glad I tasted this second. Feels like a palate wrecker.

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Overall: my wife liked this, but overall this wasn’t for me. It’s not that it was bad or anything. I just have a well known preference away from smoky whiskies. And this has that same sort of smoky flavor (even if it is technically not a whisky). I am extremely interested in trying it in a Manhattan-type cocktail though. 

 

Visiting Broadslab Distillery in Benson, NC. Part one: the visit.

 Author’s note: Before I left Broadslab, Jeremy was generous enough to gift me with four bottles of his product, one of each kind. I do not normally accept such gifts, but I made an exception in this case. Though I do not consider this payment, the FTC does. As such I am disclosing the info now. Though I had tasted all of the products and made judgements about liking or not liking them before I knew the gift was being made, the tasting notes below are from tonight. Please use this info to judge the relative accuracy of my thoughts on them.

I like visiting with craft distillers. I love the passion with which they do the work they do. And let’s be honest, you don’t get into that business if you don’t have a passion for it. So, to that end when I started planning my trip to North Carolina, I decided that I was going to look to see if I there were any I could visit. And boy, were there. There are at least 13 active distilleries in North Carolina. Many of which were either nowhere near where I was going to be or not offering tours while I was going to be in the vicinity. I reached out to six of them, three responded. 

The first one that I passed was Broadslab Distillery in Benson, NC. Tours to Broadslab are available by appointment only as Jeremy, the proprietor, pretty much runs a one man show. Along with his two body shops. And the farm he grows his corn on.

To say that Jeremy is a busy man, would be an understatement. He also seems pretty handy to have around. You see, he built his still. And the building it’s in. And he cleared the driveway leading up to it. Along the way he found an old tub. It had ax cuts in the bottom given to it by the agents that busted his grandfather during prohibition. It seems Jeremy came by his passion naturally. 

Now I will say that the tour is a short one. The building isn’t big. You walk in, there’s the still. Turn around, and there’s the fermentation area. Take a short walk to the back of the building and you see the bottling line. But a small building is ok. It is just a part of his operation. He has a farm where he grows the corn that is one of the ingredients in his Shine. In case you were curious, he malts the corn there too. 

I talked to Jeremy for the better part of an hour. He took me through all the parts of the still from heat box (gas now, but designed to convert to wood if he wanted) to the thumper that is housed in a barrel. He explained how he’s trying to grow sustainably and run his business responsibly. He even told me about plans for the future. Though out of respect to him, I’ll keep those under my hat. (If you want to know, set up a tour!) He even went through the infusion process he uses to make his spiced rum.

I left admiring the operation and the proprietor. If you are in eastern North Carolina, set up a visit. Or attend an event he’ll be at. Taste the product. It’s good stuff.

Carolina Coast Silver Rum

Nose: A vague sweetness that I can't quite put my finger on. Smells like every moonshine I've ever tried.

Mouth: The sweetness is still here, but there's a bit of funk in the mouth too.

Finish: A fairly harsh burn and bitter.

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Overall: This is a fairly typical mixing rum. It performs nicely in a mojito, though that funk comes through and might be off putting if you were not expecting it. Drinking it neat: meh. Not great, not terrible. 

Carolina Coast Spiced Rum

Nose: Christmas in a glass. Vanilla, cinnamon, cloves, allspice. It's like a cookie in liquid form.

Mouth: All the flavors from the nose are here. Nice mouthfeel.

Finish: Sharp at first (in the sense of a sharp cheddar) but then a warmth spread from the back of the throat all the way to the tip of your tongue. Nice.

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Overall: Didn't expect to like this. I detest Captain Morgan spiced rum and have never had any others. But, to my surprise, I like this one. I'd sip it on it's own. I'd consider mixing it too. I think it'd bring a lot to a cocktail. I might even try dabbing a bit on myself as a cologne. It smells that good. 

Final thoughts: If I were buying this for myself, I wouldn't regret either purchase. I'd mix the silver as I expected to and not be unhappy about it. But if I were buying to sip, I'd go for the spiced. It's damn tasty.

This was part one. Part two will be an interview with proprietor, Jeremy Norris and reviews of his two moonshine products.

Bourbon Trail Distillery Tour Review: Buffalo Trace

Editor’s note: Please note that I went on this tour a month ago now, Easter Weekend. I might have gotten a few of the details messed up, but I think my memory is pretty accurate. And you might have a different experience since it was a holiday. Also this is not an official Bourbon Trail stop, but is one you should go on anyway. You’re right there. You might as well. Ok. On with the show. 

It’s Saturday morning. We’ve had storms all night. At one point the thunder is so loud that I jump straight out of bed and land on the floor looking to make sure the ceiling is still above me. Reports of flooding are rampant. I’ve got one distillery to go and after a bit of packing I’m ready to go.

As we head out of Bardstown for the last time on this trip we notice that the thunder was only the most audible of the storm’s effects. Branches are down everywhere and there are a traces that running water was everywhere too in the not too distant past.

We get to Frankfort a little early. There is a definite need for some coffee. Can you believe that the only coffee place in Bardstown was closed still at 8am? So we stop for coffee and plan what we are going to try to do when we get to Buffalo Trace. 

We get there just as they are opening and we get on the first tour of the morning. We had reservations for the Hard Hat tour a little later, but are assured of making it back in time. So we decide to give it a try. 

The first thing I notice while waiting for the Trace Tour to start is that we are in a beautiful old building. The second, as I chat with the tour guide, is that I think I am going to like this tour. Our tour guide is JW (editors note: I’m pretty sure…it has been a month now). This guy is awesome! So much raw excitement.

We start out with a little history. Then we head over to another building for a movie. This movie is as good as the rest. That is to say very informative and nicely done. After the movie JW takes questions and then we are asked to gather in the back of the room. 

Once we are in the back of the room, JW gives an old cabinet a pull and it pops out from the wall. It’s actually a doorway to get into one of the aging warehouses. It’s a small thing, but is impressively cool none the less. 

 Unlike some of the other tours we’ve been on, we don’t go into the rick house very far. We get to see some barrels and even an experimental barrel or two. But it’s all good. The smell is the main reason I like going into them anyway.

After the rick house we travel to a small building where JW explains just how much liquid is lost due to evaporation over time. This is the coolest visual aid we’ve seen on this. the rest of the tours we’d been on just sort of tell us there is evaporation. All of a sudden I understand why an 18 year old bourbon is so much more expensive than a 12 year old one. Pretty cool.

The one thing we didn’t see was the bottling. Once again. Make sure you don’t plan your trip for a holiday weekend. Or really a weekend in general if you want to see that. Just saying.

Then it is back for the tasting. We get to taste the Buffalo Trace and the Eagle Rare single barrel. Both are very good. There is something about seeing how something is made that kind of changes your opinion of it. I didn’t care for the Buffalo Trace before I went, but really like it at 11 am this rainy Saturday morning, so who knows. But the star of the show is the Bourbon Creme. Toss that guy in a little root beer and you have a knock your socks off adult root beer float. Holy Cow. That’s what I ended up buying as my souvenir.

After the tasting I chat with JW a little more. He’s a great guide and I hope that the rest are as good as him. After that it is time for the Hard Hat tour. 

We gather next to the tasting area for this one. It is my wife and I, an older couple and their daughter and son-in-law. Coincidentally, they are from the Twin Cities too, just not recently. Small world. We all keep an eye to the sky because there is more weather threatening.

To start this tour we get a tiny bit of history, not a lot since this is much more of a factory tour. We see some of the grounds. Very pretty. Then it is over to the industrial portions. The first stop on the way in is where the grains are unloaded. They are unloaded through a grate in the ground.  

Once inside we walk past the mash cookers and up some stairs. Once up there we get to see them from the top. They really look like giant pressure cookers. And wow, are the lids attached with some heavy duty closures! We also see the yeast cooker.

Then it is across a skyway to the fermenting building. It seems like each place we go to builds them bigger than the last. These fermenting tanks hold 92,000 gallons! Buffalo Trace also has a very cool CO2 removal system that we haven’t see anywhere else. At least I thought it was cool. (Oh and the “No Swimming” sign next to them is pretty much priceless.)

After that we see a small still for making experimental bourbons and some smaller fermenting tanks. Nothing in these.

Finally there are the stills. These suckers are multiple stories high. I forget how many, but we were way up there. These are column stills. I like the little touches here. Even the taps to pull a sample have a small buffalo on them. Love that.  

Then we are done. We stop a little bit to look at the flooding. The river in their back yard has not crested yet and is already high. Amazing.  

Then tasting. I already had one of these so I tell them that so they didn’t get in trouble for serving me twice. While he was serving the others I ask about the root beer. Dr. Mcgillicuddy’s. Not available most places. But available online, in that distillery and in certain places in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Yep. It’s made near me. It’s owned by the same company as Buffalo Trace. Some of the best I’ve had. Seriously. I also buy some of root beer. It’s gone before I leave the parking lot. Sad.

I loved Buffalo Trace distillery. I wish I had seen it in operation and on a sunny day. It was pretty, but I could only imagine the improvement a some sun would make. I will go back. I may try to get on both tours again. I think this tour was the best one. If I had to choose just one tour, it would be this one. And it isn’t even on the Bourbon Trail officially.

Bourbon Trail Distillery Tour Review: Jim Beam

It is still raining when we leave Maker’s Mark. Raining so hard that we at times we need to slow down as the wipers can’t keep up. We’d planned to go to the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln this afternoon. But, that’s out due to weather. So what else can we do?

I know! We’d planned to go to Jim Beam tomorrow, but we might be able to get a tour in yet today. Let’s give it a shot! 

I’m not all that excited to go on a tour because everything I’ve read states that this is a self guided tour. They list tour times on the Bourbon Trail site so I’m confused. But I figure I’ll figure out when I get there so off we go.

The rain is letting up by the time we get to the Beam Distillery. As we walk up to the steps to the gift shop, the sun is even peaking out. There’s a nice lady inside the front door. I ask her when the next tour starts and she tells me that it’s coming soon. Cool. We use the rest room and wander around the gift shop for a while. Here I get my first hint that Beam makes something other than the White label that I never really cared for. I’m intrigued and am starting to get to the point where I can’t wait for the tour to start. 

We gather at the back of the gift shop and head out the side door. The first stop of the tour is the old house. We looked at the old photos and saw a very small working still. This is pretty cool. I must admit. After that is the obligatory movie. They all do this and they are all pretty good. This is no exception. 

The tour guide answers some questions for us and we head out the back door. Now some of this part is the old self guided part, we kind of breeze past that with a promise that if we come back next September (2012) we’ll get tour of the distillery for the first time. But for now we get an enthusiastic tour guide who tells us stories and paints us word pictures. 

We work our way down to an aging warehouse. Oh man. That’s heaven. This is the money part of the tour. Our tour guide, I wish I could remember her name, gave us such a description of the aging process that even though I’d been on 5 previous tours at 5 other distilleries, I felt like I learned something. Then it was out for a tasting.

We got to taste the Basil Hayden and the Knob Creek Single Barrel. Both are awesome. At this point my mind officially changes regarding Jim Beam. 

I loved this tour. It was short and you didn’t see as much of the process as you do at others, but the enthusiasm of the tour guide made it the most fun tour of the six we went to. This tour is FUN. Capital letters. And if your only exposure to a Beam bourbon is the white label, especially take the tour, get the tasting. If your a fan, you’ll love it. If you are not, you’ll change your mind. 

This was the tour where we got our last stamp on our passports. Our t-shirt stop. So fun.

Bourbon Trail Distillery Tour Review: Maker's Mark

It was raining by the time we left Heaven Hill. The other tour we were planing to take this day was Maker’s Mark. We expected that by the time we got down there we would be too late for the next tour and would need to wait around. It was still raining when we got to Maker’s Mark. The tour was just leaving the building where they start and we were told to tag along. 

The first thing we got to see was an old house that the founders of the company once lived in. We were told that nothing really is done with it, but that they show it off now and then. We were then given a bit of the history of the company. How the original company president had inherited a recipe that was terrible and he set out to find a better one with the help of his wife the bread baker. Nice story, some of it might even be true.

After that we enter a beautiful building. Large, exposed timber frame beams holding up the building. This place was beautiful. There was a portion of the column still showing through the floor and the decorative spouts that the distilled spirits flowed through on it’s way to the holding tanks or the doubler still. 

Next we were led into the room that holds the fermenting tanks. They used a mixture of wood tanks and stainless. The tour guide didn’t let us see the stainless ones, claiming these looked more interesting. 

After the fermenting tanks the tour guide stopped for questions. One person asked about the origins of bourbon. (This leads me to believe that they didn’t show the normal movie at the beginning.) The tour guide fumbled for her words a bit before saying that Bourbon was the name of the French kings and the people who originally came to Kentucky were French so they named the drink after the king. If this is the truth then every other distillery lied to us. Or the tour guide was no good off script.

For the next stop, we were taken to an aging warehouse. This was a showplace of a warehouse. Like most of them, you could tell that this was set up for people to see. There were decorative barrels commemorating the last barrel under the old president and the first under the new. We got a small lecture including the tip that they rotate the barrels around the warehouses to ensure even climactic conditions. 

I guess this means no single barrel Maker’s since this would theoretically minimize the barrel to barrel differences.

You walk through the warehouse after the lecture and walk into the gift shop. This was the coolest part of the tour. This place is a cross between a mall store and the coolest night club you can imagine. There should have been some jazz playing over the speakers and a Playboy Bunny serving you drinks. All honey colored wood and red accents. The thing I liked best was the ability to dip your own bottle. I did a terrible job, but will aways have the memento of the trip. 

Overall, the tour was short, didn’t go into many details or show you much. The tour guide didn’t know anything but what she was coached to say and as such made me wonder if anything she said was accurate. But the place was gorgeous and I recommend taking the tour just to see it and hope for a more knowledgeable tour guide. You get a tasting at the end and the product is good. In any case go into the gift shop and buy a bottle to dip. It is the coolest and most prized souvenir I have from the entire bourbon trail trip. This was not a bad tour. I think we just got a bad tour guide.