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Kentucky’s Bourbon Trail, a diversion for wine travelers
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Wine travelers have many wineries to visit in Kentucky between Lexington and Louisville. Close by the wineries are eight distilleries that make up the Bourbon Trail. This is the only bourbon trail in the world, and offers a nice change of pace for the wine traveler. The distilleries on the trail offer tours of their facilities. One can learn the process for making bourbon as well as the rules that have to be followed. It is interesting to see the large fermenters and notice the different types and shapes of stills. Oak barrel aging may be the most important part of making bourbon. At some distilleries there are massive warehouses that have thousands of barrels.
Wine enthusiasts should note the similarities and differences between making wine and bourbon. Each involves fermenting. Some wine is stored in toasted oak barrels while bourbon is stored in charred oak barrels. The difference is similar to a piece of bread toasted in a toaster to a golden brown and a piece of bread over-toasted to where it is black. Many wineries have barrel storage. The room is often temperature and humidity controlled. Bourbon warehouses are large with thousands of barrels in them. The barrel absorbs some of the bourbon when temperatures are hot and release it when temperatures are cooler. These warehouses are heated if the outside temperatures become too cool.
Both winemakers and distillers deal differently with angel share. Angel share is the amount of wine or bourbon that evaporates from the barrel. Winemakers must keep the barrel topped off while bourbon makers are not permitted to top off. It is not unheard of to open a bourbon barrel after twenty years of aging to find it empty. Winemakers and distillers taste their products while they are aging. Removing the bung, a winemaker uses a thief to remove a small amount of wine from the barrel. A distiller will drill a small hole through a bourbon barrel to thief some of the bourbon to taste. The hole is then plugged.
Perhaps the most similarities can be found in the tastings. A structured tasting for both wine and bourbon follow the same steps. Notice the color, aroma, taste and finish.
Visit the Kentucky Bourbon Trail website for information about the member distilleries. You can find articles about bourbon and four of the distilleries on the Wine Trail Traveler site. An article describing the process of making bourbon can also be found on the Wine Trail Traveler site.
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