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Welcome To The World’s Most Unique Bourbon Experience!
Bourbon Through Bluegrass is an immersive bourbon tasting experience hosted at the Frazier History Museum—and now in its second season, it remains truly one of a kind on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. Hosted by The Whiskey Professor Bernie Lubbers, and Bluegrass brick of gold Steve Cooley. This unique program brings the history and evolution of bourbon to life by pairing compelling stories with thoughtfully curated Kentucky whiskeys and further paired with Live Bluegrass Music. Bernie and Steve’s instruments are also stars of the show as they share stories of how they sit in music history! Think of Bourbon Through Bluegrass as your own personal MTV Unplugged or NPR Tiny Desk Concert infused with history and bourbon. Led by bourbon industry veteran Bernie Lubbers, a.k.a. The Whiskey Professor, alongside Bluegrass Music Legend Steve Cooley, this live musical experience quite literally brings Kentucky’s Native Spirit to life. As bourbon’s rich past unfolds, each chapter is paired with a care
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Live Music in Louisville
We have a lot of talented folks here in River City, and several nice live music venues. First Off, some great bands and artists you should search and follow on FaceBook or other Social Media Aaron Bibelhauser – Bluegrass Woldpen Branch – BluegrassHickory Vaught – Bluegrass and Olde Tyme Jim Dishman- Acoustic Johnny Berry – Honky Tonk Dozens Of Dollars – Bluegrass / Irish Little Band – Rock Kevin Cummings – Acoustic The Bottled In Bond Boys – Bluegrass Richard Powell – Acoustic and electric solo Standing Weekly Gigs Monday Nights at Lou Lou On Market – The Buzzards – Instrumental Jazz Saturday Nights at Marriott Lobby Bar at 2nd and Jefferson is Hickory Vaught Bearno’s By The Bay – casual Pizza Joint on a wharf with nice outdoor music venue where my buddy Jim Dishman plays every Wednesday. Stop on by, then, and also has music on the weekends too with a rotating cast of music acts. Captains Quarters – 5700 Captains Quarters Rd. – (River Road past Lime Kiln Ln) – Seasonal since it is on t
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Other Than Distilleries, What To Do On Your Visit
So you’re visiting the distilleries here in Kentucky, and you’re looking for places other than distilleries to visit too. Here are some cool places to check out. Belle Of Louisville & Mary M. Miller Riverboats – 401 W. River Rd. (at the foot of the Galt House) – The Belle is the oldest steam boat still rolling on the river and is a National Historic Landmark. The Mary M. Miller is a cool steamboat replica named after the first woman Steamboat Captain. They offer a variety of cruises so check out their website at www.BelleOfLouisville.org or stop by if you’re staying at the Galt House, Moxy, Distil or other hotels just walk down to the oldest Coast Guard Station which is their gift shop and ticket office at the wharf. Bernheim Forest Arboretum – great hiking and you’ll find the Forest Giants as you do. located across from Jim Beam Distillery off exit 112 off I-65. This is a 30 minute drive from downtown Louisville, and has over 16,000 acres of land donated by Whiskey Baron, Isaac Wolfe
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Retail List Of Certified Bonded Premises Liquor Stores
A Certified Bonded Premises is a retail liquor store that has declared that they will carry every Bottled In Bond Whiskey and Spirit that is available in their market. It is certified by Heaven Hill Distillery, and myself, Whiskey Professor; Bernie Lubbers. Here are locations of Retail Liquor Stores that you can go to and buy all the Bottled In Bond Spirts available INDIANA Indianapolis Area Crown Liquors #1 – C.B.P. IN – 8125 8125 East Highway 36 – Avon, IN Crown Liquors #14 – C.B.P. IN – 15o 150 Delaware – Indianapolis, IN Crown Liquors #19 – C.B.P. IN – 1420 1420 West Main St. Carmel, IN Crown Liquors #21 – C.B.P. IN – 4000 4000 West 106th St. Carmel, IN Crown Liquors – #26 – C.B.P. IN – 2222 2222 North State St. Greenfield, IN Superior Liquors – C.B.P. IN – 1004 1004 South U.S. 31 Greenwood, IN WestClay Wine & Spirits – C.B.P. IN – 12995 12995 Petigru Dr. Carmel, IN Elite Beverages #7 – C.B.P. IN – 15887 15887 Cumberland Rd. Noblesville, IN Bedrock Liquors – C.B.P. IN – 5853 5853 N
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Barley Information
Here’s a little information I got from our distiller regarding Barley: As for barley: there are two kinds, 6-row and 2-row. There is hardly any 6-row grown any more, most everyone is switching to 2-row. I believe that back in the day 6 was considered “better” but there has been so much work on 2-row that it’s the predominant one now. One of the issues with 6-row is that the heads are so heavy, they can cause the plant to fall over in the field (called “lodging”) which obviously ruins the grain. So we get essentially 100% 2-row. There are different strains (Thoroughbred, Cascade, loads of others) that have been bred to be better for malting. Growers can manage the crop to influence that too. It used to be that the malting companies produced primarily for the brewing industry and we got the leftovers. (Fred Noe told me once “we get the floor sweepins”) Nowadays though, they are giving us a lot more attention and really working to get us the performance we need. Note that there is no GMO
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Federal Tax Strip Information
Tax strips are the blue (if exported), green or red strips that go up the side of the neck and over the cap and will either say U.S. Internal Revenue or Bureau of ATF. If it says ATF on the strip then your bottle is from 1977 – 1985. If it mentions the IRS then it’s pre-1977. We can break it down to smaller chunks of time thanks to tax strip changes over the years. 1934-1944: Weight/Proof Marks on ends, no “Series” near Eagle’s feet. Upper-left edge reads “US Internal Revenue” 1945-1972: Words “Series” and “111″/”112″ added near Eagles feet. Upper-left edge reads “US Internal Revenue” 1973-1976: Volume markings removed from ends of Tax Strip. Upper-left edge reads “US Internal Revenue” 1977-1983: No Volume markings. No “Series” or “111″/”112″ near Eagle’s feet. Upper-left edge reads “Bureau of ATF” 1982 the words “Tax Paid” and “Distilled Spirits” were removed and replaced with simply “Distilled” and “Spirits” on the bottom of the strips. Green Bottled in Bond strips were discontinued
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Whiskey Barber Poles
I like to get my hair cut on the road. I enjoy going to little barber shops in major cities, or in smaller towns. I just love meeting new people in them, and the characters that are so often the barbers. It’s easy to find a barber shop, all you have to do is look for the Barber Pole. That’s the whole concept of what I call, Whiskey Barber Poles. When it comes to wines, I like Pinot Noir’s and Cabernet Sauvingnon. When it comes to beer, I like a Pilner, Ambers, and Pale Ales. That really helps me out when I’m looking at a wine or beer list. You can do the same thing with whiskeys. There are bourbons made with wheat, and there’s only a handful of them, so if you like one of those, it sure helps out to know which ones those are. So I have written down some Whiskey Barber Poles to help you out when you are given a huge bourbon and whiskey list to look over. WL Weller – Makers – Rebel Yell >>> Larceny – Bernheim Knob Creek – Russell’s Reserve >>> Elijah Craig Small Batch Woodford Reserve –
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Bourbon Distillery House Styles
Why do essentially the same style bourbons made from different distilleries taste so different? The laws on the books for producing bourbon are very restrictive. The law states that “Bourbon Whisky is whisky produced at not exceeding 160 proof from a fermented mash of not less than 51% corn, and stored at not more than 125 proof in charred new oak containers”. Our Master Distiller at Heaven Hill Conor O’ Driscoll puts it this way. “There’s only so many levers we can pull.” Yet bourbon tastes different from one distillery to the other. What is it that makes them taste different? I describe the difference in a large part is “House Style”. House Styles are talked about with Cognac and Tequila distilleries, and it’s something I’ve been talking a lot about lately with bourbon distilleries too. Especially now since there are around 1,800 craft distilleries, along with the 10 major distilleries. Those 10 by the way produce about 95% of the worlds bourbon. Here’s something I learned from Greg
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Gold Dust & Bricks of Gold
Bourbon hounds love it when they come across a store that has an Elijah Craig Barrel Proof on the shelf, just sitting there. Or a couple Blanton’s, Weller 12, or Kathleen’s Batch of Booker’s available with “no strings”; just up there on the top shelf as if they were waiting there just for you. And then there’s the folks that automatically cruise the top shelves to look for “gold dust” as I call them, or in locked cases in the front of stores. Most all distilleries have “gold dust” in varying rare offerings. Its what people want, we just don’t have enough of them, but that’s really what makes them special is their rarity. As a result, we don’t have to sample them in our tastings, they’re going to sell on their own. My tastings are designed to tell a story. In my Evolution Of Bourbon Tasting, we taste unaged corn whiskey with Georgia Moon to show the genesis of American Whiskey. Then it evolved in to aged corn whiskey that illustrates how that unaged corn whiskey was put in to barrels. I
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Tax Stamps – BIB – & Other
Until 1985, the government required distillers to put tax strips draped over each bottle neck and cap to signify that tax had been paid. Because so many people are hunting and discovering old bottles and dusties, here’s a little information that might help you date a bottle. Of course, the Green Bottled in Bond tax strip states the Season and year the whiskey was put in the barrel and then the Season and year the whiskey was put in the bottle. “Tax strips are the blue (if exported), green or red strips that go up the side of the neck and over the cap and will either say U.S. Internal Revenue or Bureau of ATF. If it says ATF on the strip then your bottle is from 1977 – 1985. If it mentions the IRS then it’s pre-1977. We can break it down to smaller chunks fo time thanks to tax strip changes over the years. 1934-1944: Weight/Proof Marks on ends, no “Series” near Eagle’s feet. Upper-left edge reads “US Internal Revenue” 1945-1972: Words “Series” and “111″/”112″ added near Eagles feet. Upp