American Originals

What is more quintessentially mid-west American architecture than a wood barn?  This building is more specifically modeled on a classic tobacco barn - traditionally painted black to be hotter inside, to help the tobacco dry and cure faster.  

This is the new visitors center at the Wild Turkey Distillery near Bardstown Kentucky.  It is a new building, to go with the entirely new distillery that they have built over the past decade.  The ground floor is reception for the tours (they use a bus) and a nice retail shop.  The second floor has a wonderful tasting room.  Onsite tasting rooms are relatively new for Kentucky distilleries, along with onsite sales.  The first time I visited Wild Turkey, about 15 years ago, a sniff was as close as you could get to a sample - if you wanted to buy you had to go elsewhere (I did receive a nice gift from a staff member once.)  

The Wild Turkey tour, is nice, the new plant is a huge industrial distillery.  I liked the old up close and personal tour in the ramshackle old distillery better. The tasting room experience, is one of the best I have experienced.  There is comfortable seating for everyone.  You are offered a taste of a nice variety to help you understand the subtle and not so subtle differences in the products Wild Turkey offers.  It is worth the stop.   

Another American original has been creating a new business, the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. Many of the finest (and few of the pedestrian) distilleries have opened tours, visitors centers, tasting rooms, and retail stores.  It is an exciting new chapter in a storied industry.  

Have you visited a distillery?