Blog for July 31, 2008

July 31, 2008    Berea, KY    Rode 76 miles

 

Well, yesterday, July 30, after finishing my blog for the SECOND time,  just before the first epistle was finished it vanished into cyberspace,  Philip and I decided to drive back to Bardstown and take a tour of the Bourbon Distillary.   There are several distillaries in the area, this being the heart of Kentucky Bourbon country.   At Heaven Hills "Jim, I'll be your tour guide this afternoon" met us and explained all about the history of storing the product in charred oak barrels and the aging process.  The buildings I saw when I cycled into Bardstown are called Ricks and each had seven stories each filled with barrels of bourbon slowing aging for up to 18 years!!  At the end of the tour we tasted samples of 10 and 18 year old bourbon.   Most bourbon producers are concerned with color, fragrance and taste, but at Heaven Hills, "we also consider the FINISH of the product.   The best I could tell is the "finish" is the sensation of having a blowtorch suddenly aimed at the back of the throat when you swallow.   Both the 10 and 18 seem to have a very powerful finish in my opinion. 

 

The ride to Berea was, in a word, wet.   We awoke to rain and the forcast was for it to clear out by mid-day.   I set off about 9:00 AM when it cleared briefly but he rain soon soon began again.   Once you get wet through and through though, you can't get any wetter.   Stopping in Herrodsburg I had some great potato soup and coffee to warm up, then rode on in very heavy mist which was almost worse than the rain.  As I entered Berea at 3:30 the skies suddenly cleared with full sunshine.   The Italian Buffet did not make much profit on me that evening.