September 16 – 28

In anticipation of our touring the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience at 1:30, Doug opted to miss the tour and have lunch with a relative who works downtown.  To kill time the rest of us hit a Starbuck’s a couple of blocks away, a welcome break from the alcohol-heavy routine we’d been perfecting.  Soon enough it was time to walk back to the experience and begin our tour.  Overall, we booked three tours on the trail with a tasting, and it would turn out that all three were different from each other. 

As this wasn’t really a production facility, what had been created was more like a theme park demonstration, something like Joanna and I experienced in 1984 at the Hershey Chocolate factory, or in 2014 at the Callier Chocolate factory in Switzerland.  You start in a room with a wall painting that recreates a scene on the river featuring Evan Williams, a Welsh immigrant who emigrated to the United States towards the end of the 18th century.  He settled outside what is now Louisville, began distilling in 1783 and was elected to serve as the first wharf master of Louisville in 1797.  This would have been a powerful position at the time given how important river shipping was and the city’s location adjacent to the Ohio River. 

Historians though cast doubts on the historical claims about Williams being the first distiller, as mention of this fact did not appear until an 1892 publication by Reuben Durrett, more than a century later.  Dating is also disproved by a record of Williams traveling from London to Philadelphia in May 1794, showing that he could only have begun his distillery substantially later.  Thus, it is possible that the true identity of Kentucky’s first distiller may never really be known, since record-keeping about such matters was poor, and there are others that seem more likely as candidates for “first distiller”, including Jacob Myers and the brothers Joseph and Samuel Davis.  Records reportedly indicate that Myers and the Davis brothers both arrived in 1779.

From there we moved on to a room with examples of fermenting and distilling equipment from that early era, then into one where small batches of Evan Williams products are distilled, likely one offs and barrel proofs.  Next was a reimagined Louisville downtown street of the period that led us to a recreation of saloon of the era where we got enjoy our tasting.  Owned by Heaven Hill with its products distilled at the parent company’s distillery and bottled in Bardstown, Evan Williams offers a regular line up of seven unique bourbons, often with labels denoting their age and strength.  Available are Green Label (80 proof), White Label (100 proof – bottled in bond), Black Label (86 proof), Single Barrel (86 proof – 7 Year), 1783 (86 proof – 10 Year), Red Label (101 proof – 12 Year), and Blue Label (107 Proof – 23 Year).

Not being bourbon experts, we found each of our tastes to be up to par with those we’d experienced earlier in our journey, proving to a degree that in many cases, the bourbon one pours can be exchanged for many others with no diminution in quality, at least until you get to the pricier offerings, or find one whose flavor profile becomes your favorite, much like Maker’s 46 is one of mine.  We finished up and wound our way back to the Drury Inn to prepare for our last meal of the trip together.

We identified a couple of likely options not far from the Drury and after a vote, opted to stop in at Moya’s American Kitchen.  We arrived to find it a large facility with few customers, wood paneled and somewhat dimly lit.  Seated in a booth we began to peruse the menu and I was having a hard time finding something to really enjoy, all the while breathing in an odor that was reminiscent of bleach, as if some heavy cleaning had been recently done.  Having also picked up a less than friendly vibe from the server, we decided to abandon and head just down the road to what had been my first choice, CASK Southern Kitchen & Bar.

The place was crowded when we arrived, a good sign, and after a fairly brief wait we were seated and took a look at the menu.  Although short staffed that night, our server made all the difference, greeting us in a cheerful fashion and tending to our needs throughout the meal.  I started out with an appropriate drink and a go to for me, the Kentucky OG, an Old Fashioned made with Knob Creek, demerara, and angostura bitters. 

For dinner I ordered and thoroughly enjoyed the Pan Seared Pork Chop: with onion gravy served with my choice of two sides, those being the Southern Green Beans and Hoppin’ John.  This uniquely southern dish is also known as Carolina peas and rice is often made with cowpeas (mainly, Black-eyed peas, Sea Island red peas in the Sea Islands and Iron and clay peas in the Southeast US) and rice, chopped onion, and sliced bacon, seasoned with salt.

The meal was a great way to finish up our last day on the trail and we repaired to the Drury Inn for one last night to enjoy each other’s company and finish off the bottle of Maker’s 46 I’d purchased at the distillery.  As I’d be flying to Charlotte the next day it just made to sense to not leave any behind.  The following morning, Evan took a taxi to the airport as he had a very early flight and JB would hang out with Doug as his flight was later in the afternoon.  So, Rendy and I loaded up the van one last time and drove to the airport for our respective flights to North Carolina, he to Greensboro, concluding yet another enjoyable time spent with these lifelong friends.  It doesn’t get much better. 

Links

Evan Williams Bourbon Experience: https://evanwilliams.com/plan-your-trip

CASK Southern Kitchen & Bar: https://cask-louisville.com/