Bourbon and Horses

Versailles KY, self proclaimed "Horse Capitol of the World".
It is slightly SW of Lexington, KY
Don't forget, double click to enlarge pictures.

Also it has three major bourbon distilleries within twenty miles.

What is Bourbon?
It must be produced in the U.S. from a grain mixture (called "mash") made up of at least 51 percent corn. It must be distilled to a maximum strength of 160 proof, bottled at a strength of at least 80 proof, and barreled for aging at no more than 125 proof. It must be aged in new, charred oak barrels. To qualify as "straight bourbon," the spirits must meet the above requirements as well as being aged for at least two years and containing no added coloring, flavoring or other spirits.

These regulations were signed into law in 1964.
South of here is Bourbon County where the first bourbon was distilled. We will not get there, it is about 80 miles so we will see some here and move on. Maybe another trip here.

The first we visited was Four Roses

Four Roses is the largest exporter of all the bourbon distilleries in the USA with Japan being the largest buyer.

The store.

We did not take the tour here. We just missed one and it would a long time before the next.

The tasting room.
By KY law, you can only taste two types each visit.

My favorite, but, they do not sell it any more.

The hand writing at the bottom gives the alcohol content, batch number and when bottled.

The actual distillery in back of the visitors center.









The one actually in Versailles is Woodford Reserve

Visitors Center

The grounds are immaculate.

The distillery

Starting the distillery tour

The five processes of flavor.
Water, grain, fermentation, distillation and maturation

These are not heated, the bubbles are because of fermenting.

 Mash cooker

Woodford is the only distiller to use three fermenters.
The left one, "beer fermenter" brings the mixture up to beer level, 7 proof. The middle one, wine distiller, up to wine level, about 30 proof. The one on the right brings it up to 160 proof.

The locked cabinet where the mix masters test and taste the mixtures.

Each barrel can only be used once then it is sold to wineries, scotch and rye distillers.

We will see the rails later.








How they move the barrels over to the bottling plant. It is slightly downhill and they roll by gravity.











On to the bottling plant. Each bottle is inspected.

Then the tasting room.










 Then twenty miles to the Wild Turkey distillery and the most photographed turkey anywhere.

Most of this tour is similar to the last. You start with corn, rye and barley malt.

Ferment that

distill it

But this is a different type still, 70 feet tall and a single one.











The different types of product. They bottle bourbon and rye here.

The tasting room.












The vies from the tasting room

And of course, ride the turkeys

This is horse country.

Wrought Iron

tree trunk and metal

  concrete














Getting to the distilleries was through some gorgeous country.

Lots of horse barns of different sizes

mamas with their babies

the roads are narrow. This was one of the wider ones.

 More barns

more mamas with babies

We are leaving here tomorrow. We are going to Georgetown KY, just north of Lexington. Long day, about 30 miles but closer to what we want to do.