The Trifecta In Lexington

Welcome to Lexington, Kentucky.....the Horse Capital of the World.

Surrounded by over 400 horse farms, it has also produced some of the most legendary horses in the world (Man o' War).  More money changes hands over the sale of horses in Lexington than any place in the world.  Ironically, the Kentucky Derby is held in Louisville each year but Lexington is where the horses are born, bred, trained, raced -- and retired!  The Horse Capital of the World will also go down in history as the site of American Pharoah's grand slam win at Breeders' Cup 2016 at Keeneland Race Course.

Keeneland Race Track is arguably the most beautiful race course in the world.  Keeneland hosts live race meets in the spring and fall.  In 2009, the Horseplayers Association of North America introduced a rating system for 65 Thoroughbred racetracks in North America.  Keeneland was ranked #1.

After visiting the racetrack we thought the next logical step was to attempt the Lexington "trifecta" of nearby distilleries. Woodford Reserve. Four Roses. Wild Turkey. Lexington certainly did not invent Bourbon, but its proximity to the world's finest distilleries makes it a great starting point for the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.

As Kentucky’s oldest and smallest distillery, Woodford Reserve is a National Historic Landmark and lies quietly tucked on the same hallowed grounds where Elijah Pepper began crafting whiskey in 1812. Featuring one of the only heat-cycled barrelhouses in the world, Woodford Reserve is the only Bourbon made in copper pot stills with a triple distillation process.

Woodford Reserve also boasts 100-year old cypress wood fermenters.  The average fermentation time for Bourbon is three days, but Woodford ferments for a full 6 days.....one of the longest in the industry.  Pictured below are the six wooden fermentation tubs (one for each day) and a close-up of what it looks like after 2-3 days (carbon dioxide forming bubbles).

Woodford Reserve ages its whiskey in 1870 stone barrel houses. These buildings use a process called heat cycling, which involves heating and cooling the air to closely control maturation. On average, Woodford is aged for seven years before it’s blended and bottled.  The barrel-aging process works like the illustration pictured below.

After completing the tour of Woodford Reserve we were given a tasting opportunity in the barrel house.  They had us pair our whiskey with a Southern "delicacy".....a bite-sized chocolate Bourbon ball.  D.E.L.I.C.I.O.U.S.  I think we'll have another!

The next pick on our distillery trifecta would be a visit to Four Roses.  The legend began in 1888 when Paul Jones, Jr., the founder of Four Roses Bourbon, became smitten by the beauty of a Southern belle. It is said that he sent a proposal to her, and she replied that if her answer were “Yes,” she would wear a corsage of roses on her gown to the upcoming grand ball. Paul Jones waited for her answer excitedly on that night of the grand ball…when she arrived in her beautiful gown, she wore a corsage of four red roses. He later named his Bourbon “Four Roses” as a symbol of his devout passion for the lovely belle, a passion he thereafter transferred to making his beloved Four Roses Bourbon.

Four Roses was the top selling Bourbon in the U.S. in the 1930's, 40's and 50's, until Seagram made the decision to discontinue the sale of Four Roses’ Kentucky Straight Bourbon in the United States, and Four Roses was moved to the rapidly growing European and Asian markets where it quickly became - and still is - a top-selling Bourbon in both Europe and Japan today.

I am not particularly a big fan of this whiskey......so we chose not to spend the time or money on a full distillery tour here.  Instead, we scheduled a shorter Taste of History tour which gave us a chance to sample a variety of their Bourbons.

Before completing our distillery trifecta today......we stopped to have a bite to eat for lunch.  Always looking to try something new wherever we travel I ordered a local favorite called the Hot Brown.  It's an open-faced sandwich of turkey and bacon, covered in Mornay sauce and baked or broiled until the bread is crisp and the sauce begins to brown.  Fred K. Schmidt created this concoction at the Brown Hotel in Louisville, KY in 1926.  It's definitely worth trying when you visit Kentucky!

Hey everyone!  We're officially confirming this next bit of information to all of our friends and family back home......we have officially secured several turkeys for next Thanksgiving!  Trust us when we say it will be the best Turkey Day ever!

Our last distillery of the day features the only active father-son Master Distilling duo in the business.  Both Jimmy and Eddie Russell are legends in the bourbon world and have both been inducted into the Bourbon Hall of Fame.

#WILD TURKEY DISTILLERY

"I prefer Wild Turkey on the rocks.  It makes the ice taste better."
- Jimmy Russell

What separates Wild Turkey from its peers is that after distillation, the spirit is poured into superior-quality American White Oak barrels with the deepest No. 4 "alligator" char.  The Bourbon is barreled at a lower proof, so by the time it is finished aging they can add less water than other whiskey makers before bottling.  This allows Wild Turkey to retain the true, rich flavor and deep auburn color it acquires from the barrel.

It was here at Wild Turkey that we first learned about "angel's share."  This was due to the fact that most of the warehouses surrounding the visitor's center looked like they had been on fire at one time.  All of the outer walls on these buildings looked charred black!  There is a good reason for this.  Due to the porousness of the barrels in the warehouse, some of the liquor inside would disappear during the critical aging process. The result? A loss of about 2-5% of the total volume per year. Because the liquid would evaporate into the heavens, it was dubbed the “angel’s share.”

In 2007, researchers published a scientific study about Baudoinia, a newly identified type of fungus. Naturally occurring, Baudoinia germinates on ethanol, the colorless alcohol that can evaporate during maturation, making the area around whiskey-aging warehouses a prime breeding ground.

Some of you may find Wild Turkey to be wicked......I like to think it is wicked GOOD!  Either way it is finally time to wrap up our first day in Kentucky.  Jenesa thinks it is beer thirty.  I kinda want to let her know that it is quarter past bourbon.  Who really cares?  We don't have to work tomorrow!