All kinds of things ... about Kentucky.

35.6% of Lexington, KY work force has a Bachelor's degree or higher! This city has 15 golf courses and over 3000 acres of parks! Thank you Commerce Lexington for these delightful tidbits, but what really caught my attention was bourbon.

Even more than horses, bourbon distilling is what helps make the state of Kentucky tick. According to Business Lexington magazine, "Kentucky hosts nearly half — 43 percent — of all distilling jobs in the United States. With a high job multiplier of 3.29, distilling creates more spin-off jobs than other signature industries, such as tobacco farming(1.267), horse farms (1.181) and coal mining (2.142)." That's pretty impressive, perhaps made even better when you consider that booze is on industry that continues to do well during economic downturns. Combine those numbers with the upcoming World Equestrian Games (more on those later), and the humble state of Kentucky is in for some good times.

New Year's Resolutions

Going off of my brother's example, I think it's time to create a list of goals for 2010. Here's a start:

1. Tweet less, blog more
        I'm learning things but not retaining them! For example, it would take 1400 Gummy bears to equal this 5-pound Gummy bear!

2. Eat more vegetables
        I don't think I've consumed one yet this year.

3. Use my library card!
       The Lexington Public Library is a great resource and super close to both my work and home.

Alcohol Wish List

At the moment I reside in a state that doesn't allow consumers to purchase alcohol online. This makes it more difficult for me to buy different wines/beers/liquors that I can't find locally. In a few cases this isn't a bad thing: Sagatiba Preciosa is a cachaça that would run me nearly $300 if I acted on all my desires. That same company's two year cachaça however, is only around $35 and probably far superior to any similar product I can find in Lexington, KY. So I have two wish lists: one that is ridiculous, and one for which I might need an out-of-state mailing address.

The ridiculous list:

Sagatiba Preciosa

According to alcademics.com, a distiller put 10,000 liters of cachaca into five giant cognac mixing casks (2,500 liters each) in 1980 to see what would happen, but then died in 1982. Over 20 years later in 2006 the Sagatiba folks pulled it out, filtered, and bottled it. There were 3,300 liters remaining out of the original 10,000, hence the steep price tag of $300 if not much higher.

Pappy Van Winkle's Family Reserve 23 Year Bourbon. $300
or
Pappy Van Winkle's Family Reserve 20 Year Bourbon $170

Some of the oldest bourbon on the market, and definitely the oldest wheat bourbon available (when you can find it), Pappy Van Winkle's line is known for being the highest quality bourbon. I'm a big fan of wheat bourbon, of which there are only five lines. My favorite, W.L. Weller 12-year, was recently taken off the market to expand their 7-year sales. Though it probably wouldn't be able to replace the Weller 12-year cost-wise, sipping on Pappy 23 year would be a sweet way to celebrate (eventually) leaving Kentucky.

Regular old list:
W.L. Weller 12 year.

Pitu Cachaça

Santa Barbara Winery Syrah
More to come