bourbon bike trip:day 2

I have to start the day 2 post by saying that Friday's ride was probably the most physically exhausting and difficult thing we have done in our memory.  The Kentucky hills are so brutal! And we had climbed some big ones! So, with a lot of debate and conversation, we eventually decided to hang up our bikes for the day and let our bodies rest before riding again on Sunday.  It worked out well, because we were able to add in another distillery visit and get one we had planned for Sunday out of the way, which left us time to do more tours than we originally had planned.

Saturday started at Maker's Mark. At the end of the trip, it was on the top of all our lists as one of our favorites that we visited. The grounds and buildings are still the same and still have the outward appearance of when it first opened up many, many years ago. 

Laura was our tour guide and she was great! We were the first group off at 9:30am and she was full of energy and laughs. She was very knowledgable, as well. On the walk out of the tasting room, there is this beautiful glass ceiling that some famous artist did for the company...pictures do not do it justice!

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From Maker's Mark, we headed to our bonus stop of the weekend, Buffalo Trace. This distillery was located in Frankfort, and had an urban feel with gorgeous old brick buildings. An interesting fact: it was one of four distilleries allowed to stay open during prohibition to produce alcohol for medicinal and other purposes.

We then headed to Wild Turkey. In our original plans, we didn't think we'd be able to do this tour because we wouldn't have enough time on Sunday. Fortunately, we were able to get it in because of not biking today.

Wild Turkey was one of my favorites because, of course, its name and logo. It was also really neat for me to see that the company had these old ceramic collectable decanters on display. My grandparents have had these at their bar forever, and I never really knew what they were. I definitely see them with more value now that I've learned more about them and have visited the distillery.

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Bubba was our tour guide at Wild Turkey, and he was also great! It truly was hard to find a bad tour guide at any of the places we visited. A bonus at this stop was that I even got to do a little hunting and walked away with two hens :)

At Wild Turkey, you could look down and see an s-bridge that connected the highway over the river. We were told there are only five s-bridges in the world, and only two in the United States, so of course we took a drive over it to say we did! Above the bridge you can see an old trestle. That is now used by a bungee-jumping company. There are two platforms so they can send people down side-by-side. I forget how tall the jump is, but I do know you can touch the Kentucky River at the bottom - I'll take their word for it!

That concluded our day of distillery tours. But, we weren't done. We headed to Harrodsburg where we were staying for the night. Although the buildings were closed, we were still able to walk around. The site includes a replica fort of the one that first stood there in the 1770's. It was the first settlement in Kentucky. There is also the Lincoln marriage temple were the parents of President Lincoln were married. There is also an osage orange tree that claims it is the largest of its kind, and an old pioneer graveyard with stones so primitive, it's hard to believe they were put there for a reason so long ago.

For dinner, we headed to a well-known spot in the town and area, the Beaumont Inn. The grounds includes a tavern where we ate that used to be the old carriage house. The food and atmosphere was great. Hank checked a big item off the bucket list by trying Pappy Van Winkle bourbon, which comes from Buffalo Trace and is extremely rare. Bottles of the kind he tried go for a few hundred dollars - very premier stuff and some claim it to be the best and the most expensive bourbon in the world. Very cool moment to watch Hank try and enjoy it! The Beaumont Inn is a very historic building that was originally used as a school. We were able to go in and walk around the first floor. It is preserved to be in its original decor and contains so many amazing antiques and artifacts. I was in heaven! I wished I could step back in time and live there in that beautiful house.