Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Blitz plans a trip to the Bourbon Belt

So Blitz and his son are planning a trip from the Chicago area to the Bourbon Belt in Kentucky in August of 2008. This was relatively easy because Blitz's uncle lives in Louisville, and because most of the distillieries down there are part of a consortium called the 'The Kentucky Bourbon Trail'. It's really easy to plan a trip using their website. Since we only had two days, we planned to visit three distilleries: Buffalo Trace, Makers Mark and Jim Beam. Here's a tip. When we arrived at our first tour at Buffalo Trace, we met some guys from North Carolina who were on a two day Distillery Tour Bachelors Party. How cool is that! Anyway, we were trading stories with them about our respective distillery schedules, and when we told them we were visiting Jim Beam on Sunday, they warned us that the County where Jim Beam is located is dry on Sunday, so there are no tastings. Thank god we got that information because the tasting was the best part of the Jim Beam visit (more detail about this in my subsequent review of the tour).

Monday, August 25, 2008

The beginning - How I became a Whiskey drinker

I never really drank whiskey until after I was graduated from college. I was a beer, gin, vodka kind of guy. My father-in-law was a whiskey drinker. Canadian Club was his weapon of choice. He was up there in years, and was a self proclaimed 'cheapskate'. He was nearly impossible to buy him a Birthday or Christmas present. Therefor, everybody bought him C.C! Naturally, he could not drink it all, so I was the lucky recipient of his extras.

And then there was Bourbon...

Eventually, the supply of free Canadian Club ran out. May he rest in peace. Around that time, a buddy brought over a bottle of Jim Beam (white label). I immediately preferred the taste, although I really couldn’t describe why. So I became a Jim Beam drinker. On the rocks. No mixes. For many years. This all changed when I visited the distilleries in Kentucky in the summer of 2008. More about that later.

The inspiration……

The genesis for my Whiskey ‘awakening’ was an episode of a TV show called ‘Three Sheets’. My son, Blitz Jr., is a big fan. It’s a show about a guy who goes around the world experiencing the drinking culture in different countries, including the local hangover cure. One day they had a show in Kentucky. The host, Zane Lamprey, visited 'Bourbons Bistro' in Louisville, Buffalo Trace distillery, and some local watering hole. Blitz Jr and I immediatly turned to each other and said "We gotta go." The rest, as they say, is history.