Tickets typically range from about $5 to $15 per person and include a tour, tasting and sometimes a souvenir glass. Most offer tastings as part of your tour fee, which is fairly inexpensive to tour at most places. You’ll be astonished at your discoveries. Don’t forget to take your favorites home for taste-testing and sipping with friends.Īnd while it’s always nice to hit the big names like Jack Daniel and Jim Beam, don’t miss the smaller distilleries that have popped up in recent years. Each stop is a new experience and well worth lingering. Give yourself several days, because while you can absolutely hit five or six in a weekend, you should take more time if you have the luxury. Below are some worthwhile stops, as you drive up Interstate 65 from the Alabama border, through Tennessee, to Bluegrass Parkway over to Lexington, KY (with a couple of side trips off I-65 in Tennessee). If you want to tour the distilleries in both states, major and minor, there’s plenty to experience. Ready to Tour a Whiskey or Bourbon Trail? When you visit the growing number of distilleries, good tour guides will give you the exact statistics for their individual products, so you have a sense of the real differences – but it’s quickly obvious that taste-testing will tell you what you like best. Kentucky bourbon has very similar requirements, with a minimum of 51 percent corn, blended with rye and malted barley and of course, it must be made in Kentucky to carry that “Kentucky” label. Many use the so-called “Lincoln County” process, which filters the spirit through a maple charcoal. It ages for at least two years, which is why moonshine (white lightening, white dog, pick your term) can’t be classified as whiskey or bourbon – it’s not aged. Tennessee whiskey must contain 51 percent corn mash and be free from any artificial colorants or adulterants, as well as be produced in the state. A reused barrel won’t have the same power to impart the classic characteristics (though they’re great of aging other products, from beers to rum). It’s vital because amber color and the distinctive butterscotch, maple syrup, vanilla and caramel flavors come from that wood, as over the years, the whiskey in the barrel aging expands and contracts with the temperature, seeping into the wood and back out again. Happily, the traditions in each state are winning the legal battles.īoth products must be aged in new, single-use, charred oak barrels. In Tennessee and Kentucky, producers must adhere to strict definitions governing whether their labels can read “Tennessee whiskey” or “Kentucky bourbon.” That’s important now especially, as several of the large distilleries have been bought by multinationals, and some of those are now legally challenging those definitions in an effort to take shortcuts to making their beverages. There’s a distinct difference between whiskey and bourbon: In short, all bourbons are whiskeys, but not all whiskeys are bourbons. What’s the Difference Between Whiskey and Bourbon? Ready to Tour a Whiskey or Bourbon Trail?.What’s the Difference Between Whiskey and Bourbon?.
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