Harrison Bay State Park, TN
It was sure hard to pull down the top and roll out of this camping spot. I especially enjoyed the different type of bird activity that was going on this morning. Without even trying you could spot colorful woodpeckers tapping away at the tree trunks and summer tanagers flying by. I'm not a birder and completely ignorant about bird life, but I was really getting a kick out of listening to their various calls back and forth.
We left "Bama" behind us and drove due north into Tennessee headed into the general direction of the Tennessee Whiskey Trail. Several years ago we took the Jack Daniels Tour in Lynchburg and really enjoyed it. Since we were close enough to the Whiskey Trail (what's a couple of hundred miles when you're driving across country...) we thought it was an excellent excuse to check out another distillery. We decided on George Dickel Whisky Distillery. Note that there's no "e" in the Whiskey at this distillery. It's because George claimed his whisky was so darn smooth that it tasted like Scotch Whisky, which is spelled without the e. Sounded good to us.
The drive through the backroads of Tennessee on this gorgeous hot summer day was pretty fun. I had no idea that so much wheat was grown in this part of the country. We drove up and down thru rolling green hills, past newly planted green wheat fields and too many trailer homes to count.
The George Dickel Distillery is not an easy place to find. It's definitely tucked in the back hills of Normandy, TN in a place called Cascade Hollow. It's much smaller than the Jack Daniels Distillery, but very charming. One side of the road is the General Store, Post Office and Visitors Center - all in one building. Across the way is the very small distillery. The big difference between this operation and the Jack Daniels is that everything is done by hand. Their motto is "handmade the hard way". No kidding. As a bean to bar chocolate maker we sure appreciate when something is handcrafted. However, we don't go out of our way to make it particularly hard. It seems like they pride themselves on doing things the exact same way it was done in 1959. For example, the charcoal ricks are burned in the open (up a hollow), hand bagged with shovels, driven with a pickup to the distillery and then walked bag by bag upstairs.
Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside the distillery so the only shots we have are of the outside. The warehouse where the barrels are being aged and stored smells AMAZING! It was one of the best parts of the tour. We also learned that Sterling Winery in Napa gets their used barrels, which are only used once.
As far as distillery tours go we enjoyed the Maker's Mark and Jack Daniels tour better. I think George Dickel whisky is darn good, but our tour guide was a bit of a sourpuss. There were only 4 of us on the tour, so it wasn't as if we were an unruly crowd. The best part was the whisky tasting at the end. After 4 shots our guide did seem to loosen up a bit. (Feedback to George Dickel Visitors Center - have your guides take the shots BEFORE giving the tour). Ned and I had a great time being whisky connoisseurs - sniffing, sipping, swirling and smacking our lips. The barrel select is their very finest, (for the very discerning whisky drinker), but obviously we don't have discriminating palates when it comes to whisky. Our favorite was No. 12. It had great buttery notes. Ned took one for the team and drove this afternoon. He was in much better shape than I was. Go Ned!
We left "Bama" behind us and drove due north into Tennessee headed into the general direction of the Tennessee Whiskey Trail. Several years ago we took the Jack Daniels Tour in Lynchburg and really enjoyed it. Since we were close enough to the Whiskey Trail (what's a couple of hundred miles when you're driving across country...) we thought it was an excellent excuse to check out another distillery. We decided on George Dickel Whisky Distillery. Note that there's no "e" in the Whiskey at this distillery. It's because George claimed his whisky was so darn smooth that it tasted like Scotch Whisky, which is spelled without the e. Sounded good to us.
The drive through the backroads of Tennessee on this gorgeous hot summer day was pretty fun. I had no idea that so much wheat was grown in this part of the country. We drove up and down thru rolling green hills, past newly planted green wheat fields and too many trailer homes to count.
The George Dickel Distillery is not an easy place to find. It's definitely tucked in the back hills of Normandy, TN in a place called Cascade Hollow. It's much smaller than the Jack Daniels Distillery, but very charming. One side of the road is the General Store, Post Office and Visitors Center - all in one building. Across the way is the very small distillery. The big difference between this operation and the Jack Daniels is that everything is done by hand. Their motto is "handmade the hard way". No kidding. As a bean to bar chocolate maker we sure appreciate when something is handcrafted. However, we don't go out of our way to make it particularly hard. It seems like they pride themselves on doing things the exact same way it was done in 1959. For example, the charcoal ricks are burned in the open (up a hollow), hand bagged with shovels, driven with a pickup to the distillery and then walked bag by bag upstairs.
Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside the distillery so the only shots we have are of the outside. The warehouse where the barrels are being aged and stored smells AMAZING! It was one of the best parts of the tour. We also learned that Sterling Winery in Napa gets their used barrels, which are only used once.
As far as distillery tours go we enjoyed the Maker's Mark and Jack Daniels tour better. I think George Dickel whisky is darn good, but our tour guide was a bit of a sourpuss. There were only 4 of us on the tour, so it wasn't as if we were an unruly crowd. The best part was the whisky tasting at the end. After 4 shots our guide did seem to loosen up a bit. (Feedback to George Dickel Visitors Center - have your guides take the shots BEFORE giving the tour). Ned and I had a great time being whisky connoisseurs - sniffing, sipping, swirling and smacking our lips. The barrel select is their very finest, (for the very discerning whisky drinker), but obviously we don't have discriminating palates when it comes to whisky. Our favorite was No. 12. It had great buttery notes. Ned took one for the team and drove this afternoon. He was in much better shape than I was. Go Ned!
