Roadtrip: Bourbon Edition
Booked the first tour of the day at Copper and Kings, just a short walk from the hotel, and from Biscuit Belly. Not sure I'm a huge fan of the very indulgent biscuit sandwiches that Biscuit Belly does, but it's enough of a locally well-known breakfast place to make me say I'm glad I tried it.
The tour at Copper and Kings was impressive. The couple of pot stills may not be as impressive as Jamison's massive operation in Ireland, but the level of detail the tour guide went into more than made up for it. The unique part of the experience was the barrel cellar a floor below, with the details into brandy, gin, and absinthe aging, particularly with massive subwoofers, bringing a new level of geek into the tour. Once we made it upstairs to the tasting room it started to make more sense: the tour guide had a graduate degree in botany and expertise doing GIS for land use, which let him provide a very, very full experience into the production done at Copper and Kings! As someone who's decidedly not into gin or absinthe, going into this level of detail about the flavors was unexpectedly fun.
Next stop was Neely Family Distillery, a few miles up the road. We skipped the tour due to time constraints, but did a quick tasting of the rye and moonshines available. Felt like more of a classic Kentucky distillery experience here, and Joel was convinced enough by the rye to buy a hand-poured, hand-labeled bottle, while I browsed their ample collection of moonshine.
Late lunch at a local "institution" Skyline Chili. Found a massive location which looked like it was a former Carrows or Sizzler, nearly deserted due to the mid-day lull, and had some decidely crappy chili and cheese and hot dogs. But it's an institution, so again, can say I've gone and don't have to go back. :-P Did an obligatory stop by Microcenter to gawk at the finally-in-stock-but-still-overpriced GPUs on the way back, then a very final stop at Rooster's Chicken so Joel could pick up dinner for the family before heading home.