The Urban Bourbon Trail

One of the things I really wanted to do while in Louisville was to get the Urban Bourbon Trail t-shirt. I love free t-shirts. Especially ones that you have to do things to get. You see, I'm a bit of a homebody. When I travel, I often end up staying in my room at night and read or watch tv with a drink in my hand and wondering why I'm not out doing something a bit more fun. So I like it when something like this comes along. The desire for the t-shirt is a good excuse to get off my butt and get out there.

In case you haven't been to Louisville, or never paid attention when you were, the Urban Bourbon Trail is a collection of around 20 bars and restaurants in Louisville, KY. Each of the bars has to have at least 50 different bourbons available, offer bourbon flights and a good bourbon cocktail list. The ones I ate at also had some damn fine food. In order to qualify for the free t-shirt: you get a passport and get your passport stamped at six different locations. When you are at each just make a purchase (doesn't have to be bourbon, but yeah, it probably will be) and can get your passport stamped. 

So what were my six? Read on my friend and I'll share my adventures and thoughts with you.

The Bar at BLU

A tired me at the Bar at BLU. I'm enjoying my Old Forester Birthday Bourbon on my birthday.

It was about 7 o'clock on a Saturday night. I'd been on the road since 4am that morning. It was all I could do to get myself out of my hotel room and go visit the bars. But it was my birthday and I was bound and determined to go have some fun. My first stop was the Bar at BLU. It was in the hotel about a block west of mine. I walked in and immediately felt a bit under-dressed. I was in my Minnesota Gopher t-shirt and jeans. All the others in the lobby were dressed much nicer. I was a bit confused as to where the bar was, but the hostess for the restaurant very kindly walked us over to it. We grabbed a table where we could see the football games and took a look a that the bourbon list. It said they had Pappy's...it was wrong so I asked for a recommendation. The bartender told me that he had just opened a bottle of this year's Old Forester Birthday Bourbon. Since it was my birthday, how could I resist. We sat there sipping our bourbon and watching the games. Every so often, the bartender would come over to chat. At first he was checking up on us to see how we liked it, after that it seemed it was just to chat. He gave us some tips about other bars that we had to see while we filled our passport. As we finished, we looked for one to have supper at. I liked this bar. Even though we looked like we'd been on the road all day, they treated us as very welcome guests. 

Doc Crow's Southern Smokehouse & Raw Bar

These won't all be of me. But this is the only photo I have of the inside of Doc Crow's. Very nice place.

So we'd decided to eat at Doc Crow's for supper. We both love barbecue and since it is darn near impossible to get great barbecue in Minnesota, we try to have it whenever we edge closer to any of its many homelands. We hadn't made a reservation, but the host was happy to take our phone number and give us a call when there was a seat free. Worked for me as that would give us a chance to wander down to the waterfront and see the river. After we got the call to return, we were seated in a nice half booth. I ordered a Founder's Red Rye to go with my brisket and my wife had a Bourbon Barrel Stout (from Bluegrass Brewing Company) to go with her pulled pork sandwich and fries. I gotta say the fries were amazing! The only downside was that when we asked for our passports to be stamped the waiter wouldn't do it if we didn't have a bourbon. It wasn't in the plan, but since we were on the Urban Bourbon Trail, what the heck. I had an Ancient Ancient Age 10 year and the wife had Angel's Envy. I liked this bar too, the stunt with the passport I'm going to chalk up to inexperience rather than malice since they were new to the program.

Maker's Mark Lounge

This is the Markee, one of the signature bourbon cocktails at the Maker's Mark Lounge. My wife loved this.

Even though it was getting on toward 9 (remember me starting my morning before 4am?) I wasn't ready to go back to the hotel yet. The guy back at the hotel had told us that if we wanted to do some people watching, we needed to go to 4th Street Live. Not one to pass up some prime people watching and knowing that there was at least one bar where I can get another stamp we decided to make or way over. So, Maker's Mark Lounge was where we decided to make our final stop for the night. The bar was on brand, dark wood and red everywhere. I really felt like I was in some sort of slick and sexy bottle of Maker's. Because it was early, there were only a few people in there. I ordered a Manhattan. Very tasty, though a bit heavy on the bitters for my tastes. My wife decided to go with one of their signature bourbon cocktails and have the Markee. After our drinks, it was back to the hotel and off to bed. I liked the Maker's Mark Lounge. Though I have a feeling that later on, the crowd might not have been to my liking. Based on the crowd in 4th Street Live, I'm not nearly Jersey Shore enough for it (I consider this a good thing about myself.) It did have nice people watching though. 

Proof On Main

The Satyr at Proof on Main. Its a bar/restaurant in a hotel/art museum. Yeah. Cool, right?

Oh my god! This is a cool place. So I walked in and the hostess pointed me to the bar. I ordered a sazarac, my first. The bartender might have actually been a mixologist, he was a tad hipsterish. But whatever his tendency toward hipsterness may or may not have been, he made a fantastic cocktail. For that, I forgive him anything. Plus he seemed to be a nice guy. It was a very nice place, a tad too white and cold in it's decor for me. But really nice. The coolest part of this place was the museum. When I asked the hostess about it, her eyes lit up. She personally walked me to the other end of the bar, showed me the entrance and told me a little about it. We wandered through. It was a bit strange for it to be both a hotel with guests going to and from their rooms and an art gallery. Somehow, the cool, white decor of the bar made much more sense now. Great cocktail, amazing art. This was a cool place. Not one I'd hang out in everyday, but I am so glad I stopped.

Dish on Market

Dish on Market is exactly what I'd want my local bar to be if I had a local bar.

So I'd read mixed reviews of this place. But the special of $10 burger and a bourbon was enough to bring me in anyway. I walked in and immediately felt at home. Exposed brick, green stained wood bar, honey colored bar top, black metal stools. It fit my tastes perfectly. We were seated by a very nice gentleman, who as it turns out was also our server and the bartender. We ordered the burger and bourbon special that we came in for and also a plate of steak fries. I expected steak fries to be a sort of thick cut fries. It was only $8 or so. What arrived was a plate of french fires with a sliced steak and a white cheese sauce on it. I was blown away. It was so good! We each had a burger, turns out that came with fries too, and a bourbon. Mine was Old Grand Dad 114 proof and my wife's was Eagle Rare 10 year. Everything was amazingly tasty. Our server Demitrius, was probably the nicest person I'd met in Kentucky. And that is saying a lot since everyone I met in Kentucky was amazingly nice. After chatting with us for a little bit, he found out that we were in town for a few more days and made the nicest and most sincere request that we come back before we go that I'd ever had at a restaurant. 

And so we did. On Saturday, the night before we left to come home, we found ourselves with nothing to do and decided to take him up on his request. No idea if he was working again or not, but it didn't matter. Another bourbon was going to be a good thing whether he was there or not. Turns out, he was. We ordered the steak fries again. This time they were bacon wrapped steaks instead of sliced steaks. Even better. I had a Black Maple Hill and my wife had a Elmer T Lee. I got to let Demitrius know that the only reason we came back was his very sincere request. It seemed to make his day. We sat in there a while longer, he was trying to perfect his whiskey sour recipe and we got to be his guinea pigs. Trying a few little sips of each try. One tasted like lemonade, a few almost there, and then there was a perfect one. Even though I know the recipe, I won't share. It's not mine to give away man. This was my favorite stop on the Urban Bourbon Trail. I'm pretty sure it was all because of Demitrius.

Derby Cafe: At the Kentucky Derby Museum

No photos of the cafe, but this is the outside of the derby museum. It would have been way cooler if I cared even a little about horse racing. Don't tell anyone, ok?

This was the only place on the Urban Bourbon Trail where I could not get a bourbon. I'm not sure what was going on, but the waitress told us they didn't have their liquor license yet and that the bar didn't open until later. That was after my wife tried to order a mint julep, which was on the menu. I was disappointed by this place. Don't get me wrong, it's a fine place, it just didn't live up to the expectations I had for something on an Urban Bourbon Trail. But, the ravioli that was the day's special was tasty, so there's that. And hey, if you're into horse racing, there's a museum all about it.

Well, those were our adventures on the Urban Bourbon Trail. Next time I go back, I am totally trying for the t-shirt again. I got it by the way. It's a nice brown shirt. Which is a nice change and a lot of these earned souvenirs are white. I hate white shirts.

My Urban Bourbon Trail Shirt. It's a nice looking one. I suggest you go get one.

Review: Bourbon—The Evolution of Kentucky Whiskey

Friday's post on the Chuck Cowdery blog featuring Sam Cecil reminded me of something: I've been meaning to post another book review here. In honor of that timely reminder, let's choose one by the late Mr. Cecil: Bourbon—The Evolution of Kentucky Whiskey. 

I bought this book as part of a book devouring frenzy that I had just after bourbon entered my consciousness as a substance worth reading about. I got it from Amazon.com. It cost about $15 at the time (Sept 2011). It's a little less than that as I type this. It's 292 pages long.

The first seven chapters are a nice history of bourbon. They cover topics from the early years of whiskey distilling in America, through Prohibition and beyond, The Whiskey Trust, Master Distillers, the KDA and coopering and warehousing. They are seven well researched and very informative chapters. Of course, it didn't hurt that Cecil spent over 40 years in the whiskey business from 1937-1980 working with T.W. Samuels, Heaven Hill, J.W. Dant and Maker's Mark. He knows his stuff, and it shows. 

Now the eighth chapter, well, that is where your opinion of this book will either be substantially raised or where you will leave off entirely. For me it was the former. You see, the eighth chapter is a 203 page county-by-county breakdown of every registered distillery in Kentucky, that there were records for, from the early 1800s onward. As I was unfamiliar with the layout of Kentucky's counties, I read this with a map in hand. I loved every minute of it.

I can see where someone without my unique love of history, geography, geology and bourbon might find this chapter a bit tedious. If you find that you are of that sort, the first 88 pages or so are still a wonderfully entertaining read. But even if you are that type, I'd skim over the last chapter. There are some very cool stories buried in there. 

I like this book a lot. I found the writing entertaining. I found the history fascinating. I loved the old ads and old photos. The amount of research that was done to bring this book to us is astounding. (The author admits right off the bat that he has stood on the shoulders of giants who did a lot of the research, but the organization and presentation of the information do not suffer in the least for that.) I learned a lot from this book and highly recommend it.

Review: The Best Bourbon You'll Never Taste

I bought this book with high hopes. I read The Chuck Cowdery blog religiously. I subscribe to the Bourbon Country Reader and Have bought two of his other books previously.  After all of that I find it hard to believe that my expectations were actually exceeded. I've read every book on bourbon I can find at my local library. I have a small collection of books on the subject sitting behind me on a shelf that I've read cover to cover and go back and reference now and then. This is better than all of them. 

So what is it? Well, the title is The Best Bourbon You'll Never Taste: The True Story of A. H. Hirsch Reserve Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Distilled in the Spring of 1972. Admittedly, the title is a mouthful. It was written, as you might have guessed by my intro, by Charles Cowdery. 

The Best Bourbon You'll Never Taste is a complexly winding tale of not just the bourbon itself, but of the one-time Michter's distillery in Schaefferstown, PA. The tale of a very famous bourbon that became a legend almost by accident is fun. But the tale of the distillery, the people who owned it, ran it, and worked in it is fascinating. 

This book stirred complex emotions in me as well. It introduced me to and made me start to lust after this bourbon that I would never have, that was distilled before I was even born. It told me I would never have it. Even though I loved the writing, I stopped reading the book at one point because the disappointment of me never tasting this beautiful thing he was describing was proving too much for me to bear. But I came back to it because the history was too tempting. I needed to know the rest of the story. And I'm glad I did. By the time I had finished the book, it had reassured me that while I was missing out, it would be all right since there are bourbon's I am tasting now that will go on to be legends in their own right. Some of which, I'd already stashed away for future celebrations.

The Best Bourbon You'll Never Taste is available as an ebook for $7.99 on both the Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble Nook stores. It is not available in paper form.

This book deserves to be considered amongst the best spirits stories ever written. Lots of well researched history and wonderful story telling. I loved it and highly recommend it.

Blue Max Liquors: Burnsville, MN

So, in the time I've lived in Minnesota, I probably passed Blue Max Liquors in Burnsville, MN about 50-60 times without really noticing it was there. I mean I occasionally noticed that there was a building that had blue awnings, had Blue-something written on it and was a liquor store, but I never really gave it any real attention. When I got the first issue of my Whiskey Advocate subscription, I noticed it in the back under the Specially Retailer section. 

"Where the hell is that? I've been everywhere in Burnsville," I muttered. Or something very near to that. Probably with happy curse words attached. Once I went to their website (http://www.bluemaxliquors.com for the curious) I knew exactly where it was. I'd driven past it numerous times. The listing said they were know for their scotch and bourbon selections. 

Yes, I was in the car before the book closed, why?

When I pulled into the parking lot, I was a little leery. This close to the south end of the metro, you don't normally see stores with bars in the windows. But I persevered, visions of bourbons dancing in my head. And was I ever rewarded. I can't speak to the other types of whisky, as I have much less knowledge about them, but the bourbon selection was indeed the best I'd seen in Minnesota. And the prices were lower than the chain just down the road. It wasn't the shiniest place I'd been in. There weren't wide aisles or bright lighting. But it was comfortable. And more importantly, it was stocked to bursting with wine, craft beer (they claim 1300 varieties), whisky (450 varieties) and, I assume, other liquors as well. To be honest, I've never really ventured beyond the beer and bourbon sections. I've walked past wine bottles, but didn't really pay them much mind. And the people. They were so nice. Helpful, cheerful, ready to chat with you. Just what I would hope for in a place of such wonderment.

There is just one knock on them. And it is something that I really do not understand because their prices are good, their selection is excellent, and the staff is so nice. They are about a 20 minute drive from my house. So one time I called ahead to see if they carried a certain whisky. The guy said they did and then even put down the phone to make sure it was in stock. When he got back on the phone he confirmed that it was indeed in stock. I told him I'd be right in and then asked how much it was.

His cheerfulness faded. "We don't give prices over the phone," he snapped. I was shocked. I had just told him that I would be right in. I keep aside a bit of cash each month to help stock the stash I didn't want to bring all of it if I didn't need to. 

Having worked in retail, this confuses me. I understand not wanting to tip off your competition, but to turn away customers as well seems like throwing the baby out with the bathwater and counter-productive at best. Needless to say I didn't go in that day. In fact, I might not have gone back at all, but...there was one bourbon in particular that I wanted and I knew they had it and I couldn't find it anywhere else. The guy behind the counter was so nice that I was won over all over again. 

Selection: I found two Pappys sitting on the shelf:   love

Price: About a couple bucks lower than the closest chain:   like

Customer Service: Confusing mix of awesome and terrible:   meh

Overall: I really like this store. I've just tried to memorize which of their products are cheaper (most) so I don't need to call again.

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