Ever since I was old enough to enjoy good bourbon (which
is very different than simply being old enough to drink bourbon), I had always
wanted to hit the road for a weekend exploring as many distilleries as I could
on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. I’ve been
to and through Kentucky more times than I can count due to my family’s
connections there and its proximity to my home state of Illinois, but the many
famous (and some less famous) and historical distilleries where I believe the
best bourbons are made had always eluded my radar.
Last summer, Punky convinced me to finally pull the
trigger on just such a trip over Memorial Day weekend, and it turned out to be
one of the many travel highlights of the year.
We decided to make historic Bardstown, Ky., the epicenter of our trip,
selected a handful of distilleries near Bardstown and the state capital of Frankfort
from our “most wanted” list and plotted our course for two full days of touring.
We chose to make the Jim Beam distillery in Clermont as
our first stop on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, partly because of its name
recognition, partly because of its proximity to Bardstown and partly because of
the route we chose to get there … we really wanted to avoid Louisville and
really wanted to stop for lunch at the Moonlite Bar-B-Q Inn in Owensboro. Once we were past Owensboro, it was an easy
and scenic drive on Kentucky’s parkway system to Elizabethtown, then just 20
minutes up Interstate 65 to the Clermont exit.
It’s safe to say without Jim Beam Clermont would probably
not even exist anymore. As it is,
Clermont is an unincorporated village off the side of Ky. Highway 245 as the
road meanders east the interstate to Bardstown.
Before you get in the thick of the woods that comprise the Bernheim
Forest, look off to the north for the first signs of Clermont and its most
famous (if not only) business.
You’ll turn onto the appropriately named Jim Beam Way and
wind briefly through some rolling countryside before coming to an intersection
with (also appropriately named) Happy Hollow Road. Take a left if you intend to loop back toward
the Clermont Baptist Church, but the spirits you’re likely after are straight
ahead. You’ll soon reach a large parking
lot ahead in front of another highly recognizable building in Beam lore …
… the Jim Beam American Stillhouse, regarded by many as
the birthplace of bourbon and the starting and finishing point of any tour of
the distillery …
… and Jim Beam himself is always there to welcome
you.
The stillhouse is where you’ll purchase your tour
tickets, drink tokens, souvenirs and take-home purchases. Try not to linger too long, though, because
there’s plenty more to see once you reach the top of the hill behind the
stillhouse. Besides, on a busy day, the
place seems to stay constantly crowded.
Punky and I were already short on time, so we opted to
skip the guided tour and instead decided to focus our time and efforts on the
bourbon bar adjacent to the tasting room in the famous red barn.
The selection certainly didn’t disappoint.
But rather than spend our tokens on just shots, a “neat”
pour or even a flight of higher-end Beam bourbons, we figured what better place
to try an authentic Jim Beam cocktail than here? We placed our orders and set out to relax in
the Kentucky air with the scent of sour mash wafting all around us.
Me, relieved to be unwinding with a black walnut old
fashioned – the Jim Beam black paired perfectly with walnut bitters, simple
syrup and a hint of orange and cherry flavors.
Punky saluted the unofficial start to our summer with a
Beam margarita. The recipe called for
Red Stag but she was very happy with substituting the standard Beam
bourbon.
We finished our drinks … and our brief tour of the
grounds … which included a walk past the old master distiller’s home, suitably
perched at the top and center of the surrounding area.
In hindsight, a formal tour of the Jim Beam distillery would
have been quite rewarding, similarly to the one we took at the Jack Daniel’s headquarters in Lynchburg, Tenn. But we
had a lot of bourbon-themed adventure to squeeze into one weekend, so on to
Bardstown we went. To be continued in Part
Two of this series of blog posts “On The Kentucky Bourbon Trail.”
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