Bourbon Trail — project blog — 10,000 Hours Photography

The clinking of glasses and sparkling laughter echoing off wood-paneled walls, caramel liquor in shining decanters, and wisps of smoke from a lit cigarette - these were the ghosts I imagined about The Old Seelbach Bar as we began on the Urban Bourbon Trail - similar in conception to the Bourbon Trail, but localized about Louisville.

The Seelbach Hotel has certainly seen its share of celebrities during its storied history and contributed in its own way to Americana - in fact, it served as the inspiration for the hotel where Tom and Daisy Buchanan got married in The Great Gatsby. I love the Rathskeller Room too - one of their banquet rooms that is modeled (and named) after basement restaurant/bar spaces found under German city halls where council members and other people would congregate to discuss business, politics, and the shenanigans of the day. For all the progress that has been made, I do love some of the old-world luxury feel from the Art Deco period.

Anyway, from The Seelbach, we wandered to the Maker's Mark Lounge at 4th Street Live and Asiatique. On Sunday we also made it to Corbett's and Limestone. I finished out my trip just one stamp shy of a free t-shirt for the Urban Bourbon Trail, a little bit intentionally so I'd have to go back!

Very Art Deco. Not surprise F. Scott Fitzgerald drew inspiration from this place.

Got some practice with portraiture! Ashley, rocking her model face, as usual.

Stamp in my passport!

An overhead light in the Rathskeller Room

<3 Maker's, did not <3 the bartender who stamped my passport upside down and made a crappy recommendation for my bourbon tasting flight.

Go big or go home: Pappy Van Winkle, aged 23 years, neat. Easily the most expensive 2oz I've ever had.

More of the Urban Bourbon Trail
Hours to Date: 60

Bourbon is a type of whiskey, which is an umbrella term that generally refers to a distilled beverage made from a mash of cereal grain that has been fermented (read: sugars -> alcohol) generally aged for some time in some kind of wooden barrel.

Bourbon is an American whiskey (there are other varieties like Scotch, Irish, Canadian, etc.) specifically made from a mash that consists of at least 51% corn. In addition to that, there are a number of other technical requirements like being aged in new, charred oak barrels and how much alcohol can be present in the liquor in each stage of the process. Bourbon actually derives its distinct caramel color from the charred oak barrels - it's clear when it goes into the barrel (aka: moonshine).

The color comes from aging in charred oak barrels

The Bourbon Trail is essentially a tourism program (read: clever marketing strategy) by the Kentucky Distillers' Association to promote bourbon - as if it really needs any help, there's currently a bourbon shortage due to its increasing popularity as a beverage and time needed to increase supply (due to aging). In any case, the Bourbon Trail consists of 7 major distilleries in Kentucky and if you visit each and get a stamp in the passport, you can return to the visitor's center and get a free t-shirt.

I made it to 2 of the 7, but I made them count since I was most interested in these two - Maker's Mark (my favorite bourbon) in Loretto and Woodford Reserve in Versailles. Unlike Napa wineries, these distilleries aren't situated just one plot of land over... some of these distilleries are almost 2 hours from the next and on windy back country roads - largely because good bourbon hinges on clean and pure water, which is what really determined the location for these distilleries.

Photographing and adventuring on the Bourbon Trail was the entire impetus behind the trip to Louisville and besides the hours I already posted spent in Downtown Louisville, I managed to get in another 11 active shooting hours over 2 days and another 3 hours reviewing photos, bringing my grand total to 60 hours!!