While returning from a long drive to Michigan to visit my mother and father in law, this Rampant Oenophile was treated to a special sojourn along the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.A helpful attendant at the northernmost rest stop on I-75 in Kentucky pointed us in the right direction and sent us on our way down US-127 to visit 4 of the 7 bourbon distilleries on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. You'll enjoy the leisurely pace and sylvan hills as you wander ever closer to sour mash heaven. I heartily recommend the trip.
Our first stop proved to offer both the tastiest range of flavors and the most idyllic scenery. Buffalo Trace Distillery, in Frankfort, Kentucky makes a variety of fine Bourbon in hundred year old factories on their large campus. We missed out seeing the actual distillation because that's done only during the cold weather months from October through April. I'll need to plan a trip back, as the smells throughout the town must be outrageous.
We beat a hasty retreat from the tour to the tasting room, where we wanted to be in the first place, and enjoyed samples of Buffalo Trace's fine spirits. I took home a bottle of their signature bourbon, which delights with a full nose, strong flavors, and smooth finish.
Bourbon is always sweet, but the Buffalo Trace finds a way to moderate the vanilla, molasses, and brown sugar tones with a light smokiness that delivers to the nose as well as the tongue. The first sip is strong and forward, but sipping leads to a lingering oak and nuttiness with a slow extended finish.
The bottles of the signature brand are adorned with a new buffalo nickel, and those bottles are available only at the distillery. However, you can find Buffalo Trace at all good spirit shops. I heartily recommend the occasional glass of bourbon as a balance to good wines and other spirits.
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