Day 2 - Kentucky Bourbon Trail...Roll out the barrel

Location: General Butler State Park, Kentucky

Nothing like waking to blue skies to put a spring in your step...that and knowing we had a date with Four Roses to pick up a newly emptied barrel of bourbon!

Here's our barrel, that just a few hours earlier held finely aged bourbon, being rolled out to Winnie.

Ned's already got a plan for when we get home. He wants to put the barrel sideways, resting on rollers and turned slowly by a motor. He's hoping this will transfer the bourbon flavor to the nibs. We'll make several batches of dark chocolate, with different aging times to try it out. Linda, Marisa, Faye, Dad, Vida...thanks for volunteering to be our tasters. I'm thinking we try this with some good bourbon too!

 

We thought we were being clever buying a 55 gallon bag to fit over the 53 gallon barrel. Mmm...not so much. It was kinda like getting a size small t-shirt over an extra large belly.

 

 

 

We moved around 3 duffel bags, 2 pillows, 4 towels and 2 backpacks...voila! The barrel fits perfectly in the back of Winnie.

Mission accomplished...now on to more bourbon tasting! (It's noon somewhere right?)

 

Down the road is the Jim Beam Distillery. Gorgeous grounds and ready for another plant tour.

 

Ned checking the different grains to make the mash. (Bourbon has to be at least 51% corn to be called bourbon).

 

 

At this stage it's just moonshine. Aging it in the oak barrel that has been charred is what gives it the caramel color. It's also what gives it that oaky bourbon flavor. (Fingers crossed it transfers to cocoa nibs too).

 

We tasted some of this...pure alcohol. A little too potent for my taste!

 

 

 

Seeing "the still" in action.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The best part of the tour...tasting the different types of Jim Beam bourbon.

They use these fancy self-serve machines.

 

Ned enjoying Booker Bourbon (too strong for my taste) and another one that was 121 proof.

 

 

 

I went for the Small Batch and the Knob Creek. Pretty good...still enjoyed the Four Roses more.

 

We were going to visit Bulleit Distillery next, but actually we were kinda "bourboned" out. We decided to just head for General Butler State Park and get settled in for a long Memorial Weekend.

The campground is sold out, and the kids, bikes, bbq's, dogs and chaos is pretty much what we expected on Memorial Weekend.

 

We have a campsite at the end of a loop next to a very green lake. This campground is situated between the Kentucky and Ohio Rivers. Since the lake isn't swimable, we took a bike ride to the lodge. Up a really, really steep hill! Fortunately, they let the riff-raff campers use the swimming pool from 4 to 7 pm. We dove in and damn - felt like Lake Tahoe. Freezing cold!!! Kinda makes me miss the warm swimming pool in Death Valley. We hear there's going to be a hoe-down in the campsite next to ours tomorrow night. Should be interesting....

 

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Day 1 of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail

My Old Kentucky Home Campground

Under beautiful skies we pulled out of our little piece of heaven above the Mississippi River and headed East, towards the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.

 

 

 

Our first stop was Four Roses. We took a tour of their bottling and warehouse operation.

 

These are newly emptied bourbon barrels. Mmm...know what would taste awesome in these barrels? Bourbon aged Cello Chocolate.

 

 

 

Here's the single barrel bourbon being bottled. (Try and say that fast 3 times after you've sampled bourbon all afternoon!)

 

 

Ned in the rickhouse, one of 4 Roses' 20 warehouses. The aroma in this place was amazing!

 

 

After the tour we sampled 3 bourbons.

 

 

 

 

My fave was definitely the Small Batch.

 

Ned measuring up a barrel to see if it would actually fit in Winnie. Yes, we are seriously considering buying a bourbon barrel from 4 Roses and aging some of our chocolate in it. The question is...

1. Will it fit? 2. Do we really want to haul a 53 gallon bourbon barrel with us for the next 5 weeks? 3. Will we get used to the bourbon smell? 4. Does this qualify as an open container? 5. Are we just plain crazy?

 

 

We decided to go to visit another bourbon place and mull things over. We went to Heaven Hill Heritage Center and opted out of the tour and just went right to the tasting.

 

Ned checking the aroma before tasting the Elijiah Craig bourbon.

 

 

 

Debi tasting the 25 year old bourbon. Not my favorite. Good thing there are others to keep trying.

 

 

Yeah, I tried them all. Oh hell, let's go buy that ol' bourbon barrel and drive it 8,000 miles!

 

 

Ned doing the sniff test on aromas of differently aged bourbons. We were pretty silly by this point.

 

 

We decided to sober up by looking for a local bbq joint. After all, this is Kentucky. (For the record, Ned was in much better shape than me. Perhaps he didn't imbibe as much?)

Perfect...can't go wrong when you see a smoker in the parking lot, in the rain.

 

Ordering cornbread with our bbq. In this part of the country it comes as a cornmeal pancake.

 

 

In the camper now doing some serious pros v. cons of buying the bourbon barrel. If we do this, what friends will help taste our aged bourbon barrel chocolate? Figure by the time we get back, roast the beans, age the nibs, we're looking at late fall. Who's in??

 

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When it rains it pours...chocolate!

Location: Columbus-Belmont State Park, KY

Our plan WAS to head for Johnson Shut-Ins State Park. It's supposed to have these amazing natural water chutes that you can ride. Given that a huge thunderstorm descended down upon us last night, and is still continuing this morning, we decided to change plans. (BTW - thunderstorms in the mid-west are amazing. The thunder rolls on forever with continuous lightening flashes). So, what do any self-respecting chocolate makers due when it rains? Find another chocolate maker. We've been a follower of Askinosie Chocolate for awhile so decided to visit them in person, in Springfield, MO.

 

 

 

Here's their chocolate making facility. It's pretty small, but gave us some inspiration for the new chocolate laboratory we are building out this summer.

 

 

They were making a white chocolate with goat milk. We could see it conching in the Bauermeister.

 

 

Of course we sampled several bars.

 

 

 

We decided on 3 of them - Ecuador, Honduras and Philippines. Good thing Ned and I each have our favorites, no fighting that way.

 

 

There was an impressive amount of cocoa beans in their warehouse next door. We have at most 6 or 7 bags at a time. Talk about a small batch company!

 

 

I was impressed with their whiskey bar. A limited edition for the price of $14.

 

 

 

As we drove thru Missouri, one of the sights on the side of the road.

 

 

 

 

A stop to stretch our legs we came across these little gems. Anyone want a ham...or two?

 

 

The weather looked better in Kentucky than Missouri, so we decided to keep driving - over the Mississippi River. We're camped tonight at Columbus-Belmont State Park, an amazing place!! So glad we decided to push on and camp here.

Great camp spot overlooking the Mississippi River. Even comes with our own little swinging bench.

The Civil War history here is interesting. U.S. Grant and Gen Polk had an epic battle. Grant pushed Polk back, Polk got reinforcements and pushed Grant back. Both sides claimed victory. After the battle, Polk and Buford (on the Union Side) would frequently meet for dinner. Over champagne they would discuss horses and the war. Ned and I are currently reading a couple of books on the Civil War. They both emphasize that most of the officers were graduates of West Point and even though they fought on opposite sides, they still had a great deal of respect for each other. This site confirmed this.

We also visited a local cemetery where a 150 yr. old tree crashed onto a monument. Talking with one of the local workers here he said that apparently the guy who was buried under the monument was a real scoundrel. He insisted upon being buried at this spot, even though no one wanted him there. Karma - dude.

 

 

 

There was a local cat who followed us around and was very friendly.

 

 

 

Very Friendly!

 

After a busy day, Ned grilled up some bratwurst at our campsite.

Still amazed that the Mississippi River is right behind us. What a view!

 

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All About the Journey - Ozark Mountains

Roaring River State Park, Missouri

We started out in Oklahoma, traveled thru Arkansas and ended up in Missouri. Most of the travel was on back roads thru the Ozark Mountains. Just gorgeous country! Our final destination was Roaring River State Park which is a fisherman's paradise.

I don't know what it is about Missouri, but they have the bluest, clearest water of any state.

 

 

 

As is the case on some journeys, there are a few hiccups along the way. Early this morning we picked up a bolt that blew our tire. Thank goodness for hubbies...and I'm not just saying this because it's our 12th Anniversary today! BTW - Ned's an expert tire changer and we were on our way in no time. (Thank goodness too for our spare Michelin tire!).

 

Once we arrived at Roaring Park State Park we did our usual exploration on bike. Loved seeing the spring! This is the headwaters of the Roaring River. It produces over 20 million gallons of water a day.

There's a huge underground cave system that some divers have explored. Kevin are you game?

There's also a fish hatchery at this state park. It takes anywhere from 12 to 18 months before a trout can be introduced to the river.

 

 

 

Interesting to see all the stages of growth. Here's the toddler pool.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here's the full grown trout in the river. They must be over 2 ft! (They are swimming around the rocks in the bottom of the picture).

 

 

This state park also has an old lodge built by the CCC circa 1930's.

 

 

And a new one too. Very reminiscent of the great lodges in the West, only smaller.

 

 

 

Happy Anniversary traveling buddy. It's been a wonderful 12 years, filled with great family times, laughter and lots of love. Lucky girl.

 

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