Straight Bourbon Whiskey

When one moves to Kentucky, one finds herself surrounded by whiskey makers. Today we visited Buffalo Trace distillery in Frankfort, KY. We learned many things.   For a whiskey to be  considered a bourbon it must start out with at least 51% corn in the mash, age in a new American white oak charred barrel,   cannot be less than 80 proof and can't be cut with anything but water. The other elements for Buffalo Trace whiskeys are rye, barley and Kentucky limestone filtered water. They have a ton of products including Blanton's reserve bourbon and Rain Vodka (try it). We were able to sample Rain (seven times filtered), Buffalo Trace (9 year old small batch), and Eagle Rare Single Barrel (10 year old, 90 proof.)

Next stop was the Woodford Reserve distillery, where they only have one product, but it's good. Woodford Reserve bourbon is 72% corn and with an extra bit of rye for an extra kick. We missed the last tour, but there was a nice lady who answered all my random questions. There are two huge yellow brick buildings that stand empty because they are a much smaller operation than they were right after the Prohibition ended. I think she referred to them as raccoon condos.