Side Trip to Lexington

There were a couple options that we considered on Josie's birthday yesterday. Just before leaving the Hotel/Casino we looked at going into Louisville to see the Frankfort Ave shops or going on to Lexington to see the last of the Distilleries that was on the Bourbon Trail. We opted to go to Lexington, since we didn't want to spend a lot of time walking around town the day before we had to start working again. (We did stop, however, at a local Kohl's store to do a little bargain shopping before leaving Louisville). It was a good opportunity to visit the Woodford Reserve Distillery and complete our passports and send them in to the Kentucky Distillers' Association to receive our free T-shirts.

We checked out of the hotel right at 11 AM and traveled the 50 miles to the Distillery, which was actually located in Versailles, just outside of Lexington. It is the smallest of the distilleries we have visited, and also the oldest. It was located among rolling hills and was very impressive as we drove up:

One thing became immediately noticeable to us, and that was that the aging warehouses here were made of masonry blocks:

instead of the wood and aluminum construction at the other distilleries. They also do more than just allow the seasonal changes to assist in the aging process. About 7 times per year, they inject steam into the aging warehouses to assist in the process. No other distillery uses artificial means to boost the aging process. That probably explains why the buildings are masonry.

Another difference at this distillery is that they charge $5 per person for the tour. It is the only one that charges a fee of any kind. We thought we would take the tour, even though the process is the same for producing the bourbon at all of the distilleries. We purchased our tickets in  what was a very nice reception area:

and walked outside to board a bus:

The bus drove to a location where there were several buildings that we toured which performed all of the same processes that we had seen at the other distilleries. We were dumped on by a very heavy rainstorm while walking from one building to another, so that was different. Here is one shot of the barrels that were housed in one of the "aging" warehouses that we visited:

We returned to the reception area where we had our tasting of the fine bourbon they produced and visited the gift shop. All in all, it was nicely done, but we felt they didn't need to charge the money. We did get to keep the monogrammed sample glasses they used, so maybe the money justified the cost for those. Our Bourbon Tour is complete now, and we will forward our passports to the Distillers' Association for our prize.

After leaving the tour, we went to a Cracker Barrel for dinner to complete the day. There are so many beautiful horse farms and properties in this part of Kentucky, and we had to take some pictures - one of which is below:

We do plan to visit one of these farms before we leave the state.

There was heavy rain, off and on, all the way home and we discovered that there was about an inch of rain that fell at home while we were gone for the day. It was a great time this weekend, and now we are facing 5 days of work, the last of which is voluntary overtime. It will go fast, I'm sure...