Chattanooga Whiskey and Tennessee Stillhouse

Downtown Chattanooga features the Tennessee Stillhouse, a micro-distillery for Chattanooga Whiskey. They proudly proclaim "Whiskey to the People" and "Making Up for 100 Years of Prohibition." My kind of place.

The Stillhouse features two whiskeys: 1816 Reserve - a bit mellow and good neat or in a cocktail. The 1816 Cask is 113,6 proof so while tasty, a bit harsh due to the high alcohol content. For $12 you get a personalized tour and a taste of both whiskeys and a sample of four different cocktails made with the whiskeys. The place is open until at least 9 PM most days and I'm sure regulars now skip the tour and just sample the goods. It's also the only place to buy a bottle of whiskey on Sunday in Chattanooga.

Chattanooga Whiskey had to lobby the state legislature to change some of the alcohol control laws in order to begin their endeavor. It's nice to see folks forging ahead and turning their whiskey dreams into reality.

Willett Distillery

My favorite distillery turned out to be Willett which is a craft distillery (although they still crank out a goodly number of barrels). Three reasons why I liked these guys the best:

1. While we were waiting for the tour we could wander around the property as long as we did not go into any of the buildings. Lots of leisurely photo time.
2. For $10 we got a tour, a taste of two bourbons (2nd one our choice), and a souvenir sipping glass (kin to a Scotch glass). Our tour guide was young, but she was very knowledgeable and took us through the distillery itself with the copper pot still, the building where the barrels are filled and then one of the rickhouses.
3. The Willett Pot Still Reserve was my favorite bourbon out of all that I tasted. The aromas of vanilla and caramel as well as the smooth taste were impressive. I prefer to drink this elixir neat after dinner. The bottle shaped like a pot still was cool, too.

Here are a few of the photos from the visit:

Woodford Reserve - An Historic Distillery

Woodford Reserve held the prettiest distillery title. The rickhouses were constructed of stone or tile which made the expansion and contraction of the barrels a bit trickier. But since the place is designated a national historic landmark, changes of material will not be taking place. The distillery began in 1840, survived prohibition, and now serves up a mighty tasty beverage.

The tour was more extensive and we saw the distillation process, a rickhouse, and a small-operation bottling line. Everyone was served a taste of the Woodford Reserve. No opportunity to taste anything else.

I was afforded numerous photo ops:

Visitor Center

Woodford Reserve and Cherry Bitters

Tasting Room

Barrels on the Barrel Run

The fermentation takes place in cedar containers

Copper Pot Stills

Barrels in the Rickhouse

Opening a Barrel

Bottling

Stone Rickhouse

Tile Rickhouse

Cheers!

Wild Turkey

Before I hit the Bourbon Trail Wild Turkey was my bourbon of choice. Of course, I never imbibed it straight. No matter, even after my trip, I still like it for egg nog and to make vanilla-infused bourbon. Being such a Wild Turkey fan we had to visit the distillery. On this tour we got to see large vats of sour mash as well as one of the numerous rickhouses. For the tasting we could also pick our poisons. The most serendipitous image was actually seeing real wild turkeys roaming near the property (no photos, unfortunately).

Since most of the offerings, including Russell's Reserve can be purchased here in Virginia, we tasted but held off on buying.

Take a gander at some photos:

Wild Turkey has a good branding presence at their distillery

Rickhouses

Gift shop offerings

Large vats

Capturing high and low wine

Aging Barrels

Rickhouse Interior

Heaven Hill Distillery

Heaven Hill Distillery was the largest bourbon producer we visited. Their metal corrugated rickhouses stretched for miles. The smaller ones held 20,000 barrels. They were in the process of building new rickhouses that could hold up to 50,000 barrels. Whew!

Heaven Hill produces Evan Williams, Larceny (one of hubby's favorites), along with a myriad of others. This tour featured one of the rickhouses and a tasting of both Evan Williams and Elijah Craig in a barrel-shaped tasting room.

A note on tastings in Kentucky (well in wet counties in Kentucky). You can basically taste 1/2 an ounce. Each distillery will have one bourbon in particular that they want you to taste (sometimes it's the only one to taste) and then most will have you taste a second (some their choice, some yours - every place is different). In order to taste more (at least in Bardstown) you have to patronize the Kentucky Bourbon House for flights (highly recommended if you are walking back to your home away from home) or settle in at any restaurant for the upwards of 90+ offerings at the bar.

For this tasting we were given two offerings. The only thing I did not like about the tasting was the tour guide telling the group to add a few drops of water BEFORE tasting the bourbon. I get the role of water in tamping down the alcohol level and smoothing out potential harshness, but I want to taste the straight stuff first and then decide if water is needed (water was needed in this case).

As usual there were photo opportunities:

Heaven Hill

Barrels in the Rickhouse

No Bull

Little Brown Jug

Tasting Room

Elijah Craig 12 Year Old Small Batch

Barton 1792 Distillery Pictorial

Only a handful of distilleries make a vast amount of bourbon. Before prohibition there were hundreds of bourbon producing operations. Even through there are only a few and Kentucky Straight Bourbon needs to be made in a certain way, within those set parameters, distilleries experiment and come up with unique tastes. And in Barton's case they use their highly mechanized bottling line to bottle and package a wide variety of spirits as well.

The Barton 1792 bourbon was nothing to get mad at, but we did not purchase any. If one enters the town of Bardstown from the southwest, the Barton rickhouses come into view. These rickhouses we discovered were unique being painted black with red-sashed windows. Barton is also a union shop. The column still was very tall and we were fascinated by the bottling line.

Pictorial highlights:

Rickhouses store barrels of bourbon for aging

Bourbon-processing facility

Column still

1792 Bourbon

Rickhouses usually hold about 20,000 barrels

Bottling plant

Boxes of New Amsterdam vodka ready to be shipped

Visitor Center