More beverages in barrels

More tastings today!  After breakfast, we headed out under more grey skies to Woodford Reserve distillery, the smallest distillery in the US. They are also one of the oldest but we’ve gotten some conflicting info about that which we haven’t worked out yet (see below).  The grounds are lovely and the buildings are designated as part of a national historical landmark. We pulled in behind a hummer limo and were dismayed to see a gaggle of girls emerge – a hen party from Chicago.  Really?  Ten women came down from Chicago to taste bourbon for 3 days.  Okay Stephanie – it’s your wedding.  At least they were not a giggling gaggle.  This was the first distillery where we actually got to see some of the equipment working – the bottling line was really cool.

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This of course puts in question the comment we heard at the Wild Turkey distillery yesterday that all the distilleries shut down in the summer. Woodford Reserve produces only two bourbons, their signature one and a double oaked version that gets recasked after the 6-9 years in a second new oak barrel for an additional 9 to 12 months.  They also triple distill their bourbon ala Irish whiskey like Jamesons and this was the first tour to show and discuss the spirit safe (still no head, heart and tail of the run discussion though.)   Like Maker’s Mark yesterday, the distillery and tasting was very classy.  The tour guide explained how to do a three sip tasting to wake the palate so that the third sip was really appreciated.  And we got the bourbon ball which really changed the flavor profile of the bourbon when you sipped after eating the chocolate.  I think their double oaked is by far my favorite bourbon.

Now bourbon isn’t the only beverage that comes in a barrel – Kentucky has a wine industry don’t you know! 🙂  There were several that we could visit but we did get a personal “recommendation” for one from Chris and Amy; by recommendation I mean they conceded that it was “pretty good for Kentucky wine” so off we went to Equus Vineyards.  It was very laid back and friendly and we did a tasting (so now we have MORE wineglasses from wineries) and actually purchased a few bottles.  Nothing earth moving but they did have a nice steel chardonnay (Frank actually preferred it to the oaked version for a change) and a pretty smooth cab sauv. So we now have wine from at least 4 states in our collection (not including commercial ones we pick up a the grocery store) as we are equal opportunity wine industry supporters!

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Then we nipped into Frankfort to snap a pic of the capitol.  Keep your eyes out for my new page ‘Capitol Selfies’ – I’m going to see how many states I can get photos of the capitol building for.  I’m sorry I didn’t think of this when we were in Charleston WV the other day so we’ll just have to go back.  Snapping a photo was about all one could do in Frankfort on a dreary Saturday though.  What a lonely and depressing place! We couldn’t even find a restaurant open to have lunch – we had to settle for the celiac fast food standby – Wendy’s!

But we got some sustenance before heading to the last distillery of the trip: Buffalo Trace.  Executive summary:  best tour for technical information, otherwise not particularly impressed.  This was the only tour where they discussed the barrel making process in detail and explained the technical process of distillation.  Otherwise, the best part about the tour was that it was free! The distillery is one of the largest and claims to be the oldest continually operating distillery in the country.  It was opened in 1787 and operated even during prohibition when they were one of four distilleries allowed to make “medicinal whiskey” [Note: I have as yet been unable to craft a Google search that will return the names of the other three.  There are pages of dense text that make up the results of the searches I’ve done so far and I haven’t yet had the patience to sift through it.]

The distillery supports *18* brands of bourbon and I’m not sure either of us think they do them particularly well.  They did start bottling some pretty good vodka though and we picked up a bottle of that instead. They also were not operating and so similar to Wild Turkey yesterday, we got to sit and watch a video instead of seeing how things were actually done.  That was more painful today because the script was appallingly maudlin and soppy.  I think it was written by someone at Hallmark. Some memorable phrases: “amber hued treasure” and making “whisky as bold as their spirit”.  Yak.

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And like Wild Turkey yesterday, there was no organized tasting.  There were four options for tasting: white dog (moonshine), vodka, Buffalo Trace bourbon and Eagle’s Rest 10 year old – and everyone could taste two.  I opted for just the vodka but Frank tried both the bourbons and wasn’t a fan of either.  So we are calling it a day and are off for the evening repast and possibly some bluegrass!

 

A tale of two distilleries

Today started our pilgrimage that is the bourbon trail.  After a long lie and a lovely breakfast, we ventured out into the grey, drizzly day to hit two of the big bourbon distilleries outside Lexington.  First, to visit Maker’s Mark.  At first Frank wasn’t too bothered about whether or not we stopped here but since it was one of my mom’s favorites, I might have twisted his arm a bit.  It’s a fair drive from Lexington (about an hour) but very near a cooperage that I wanted to visit. [I still laugh when I think about how I used to use coopers as examples of the structurally unemployed.] So off we went. 

It was kind of like finding some of the more obscure wineries in Virginia – on several occasions we were convinced that we were lost and then the sign with the barrel and an arrow would appear.  The grounds and buildings are lovely, even in the rain, and our tour guide was adorable and very interesting.  Maker’s mark is the oldest continually operating bourbon distillery – going since 1805 according to the Guinness plaque on the wall but I wish I had thought to ask about how they counted prohibition… The fermentation room was in full swing with several different stages that people could actually touch and taste (luckily, as it was predistillation, it is not gluten free so I was spared the expectation that I would taste it.  Yuck.) 2014-07-18 11.46.49

They still use a 1930’s era printing press to print the labels and each bottle is hand dipped in the signature red wax that seals the top of the bottle.  We got to taste the “white dog” – precask alcohol which is basically moonshine – as well as the regular Maker’s Mark and their “46” which has extra aging with charred oak staves.  (They sell the staves for  use as grilling planks – it’s going to be a yummy summer at our house!)

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Interesting note:  used barrels go to the Laphroig distillery in Scotland.

Frank got to dip his own bottle.

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We had so much fun that we missed the tour at the cooperage and decided to grab a bit to eat before the next stop.  So off to Bardstown and a stop at the Old Talbott Tavern for lunch.  It dates back to 1779 and we had a lovely meal there – Frank had the Old Kentucky Hot Brown which may have started as a sandwich but this version was slices of bread covered with meat, cheese and Mornay sauce. He declared it delicious.

Then to the Wild Turkey distillery, a completely different experience.  We were on the last tour of the day so there were only 8 of us and our tour guide could have been Duncan if he had a Kentucky accent and could grow a beard. 🙂  The distillery wasn’t operating – it seems they all take the summer off because it gets too hot but we saw things going on at Maker’s Mark so I’m not sure what that means.  We did get to see a video and this guide gave more detail about the distilling process including using official terms like mash and high/low wines.  (We might know too much about the process….)  It was really interesting to see how bourbon distilling compares to single malt in Scotland.  At Wild Turkey they did talk about the angel’s share but no one used terms like the head, heart and tail of the run.  At the tasting, we got to choose two samples to try.  Which really meant that Frank got 4 samples.  I had a small sip out of all of them (the single barrell was WAY too strong, the spiced stuff tasted like cough medicine, the regular version was fine and I really liked the Russell’s Reserve) but he actually enjoyed them all. 

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Interesting note: Used barrels go to Jameson’s in Ireland, and Glenlivet in Scotland.

We topped the day off with a dinner at Saul Good where we spend several hours having a fabulous time catching up with friends that we hadn’t seen in years – Chris and I had seen each other at conferences and such but Frank and Amy had seen each other since Madison! – and generally had a great time!

 

 

In transit

So I don’t have a great deal of experiences with long distance moves but this was not the first one. The last one was when we moved to VA from WI and the experience couldn’t be different. Last time we left the small house we still hadn’t sold to a larger house we had yet to buy. This time left the big house we hadn’t sold to the smaller house we already bought.  Last time we packed and loaded the rental truck ourselves with Frank driving the truck towing the Porsche and me driving the Taurus. This time we had professional packers and movers load our goods and two cars (and wine!) and take them away. Last time we had to transport two toddlers and a dog, taking three days and two nights in cramped hotel rooms. This time it’s just the two of us taking a few days to cover a similar distance staying in bed and breakfasts. A study in contrasts!

Today’s travel was uneventful and we covered lots of territory under beautiful blue skies. Through WV to Kentucky, we made good time getting to Lexington, our home for a few days. Although the Mercedes is very comfortable and we didn’t have to drive too long (6 hours or so) we were still very tired once we got here. But Lexington was partying as they apparently do each Thursday in the summer and we stopped by to enjoy. Not quite as impressive as the party
that Bergamo threw for us last year but fun nonetheless.

We stopped for dinner in a place with a great name (The Village Idiot) but only mediocre food. The evening was saved by the belated discovery of a lovely wine bar with live guitar music and CHOCOLATE COVERED BOURBON SOAKED ALMOND STUFFED FIGS. Holy amazing sweet tapas Batman – they were delicious!

So now we rest. The travelogue continues tomorrow. It’s not the Cannon Family Travel blog but I’ll try to keep to that high standard. Let me know if I don’t hit the requisite number of “yum” comments per post!

Purging, packing, and pulling out

What a week! We spent several days deciding what we were not taking, what we were taking and what we were going to try and sell and what we thought we should give away. Then we had our first foray into selling things on Craigslist – what a great sociological experiment! On one hand people will try to talk you down to next to nothing and on the other they will use stupid amounts of time and gas to chase down a deal.

For the next part of the purge, the adult children were charged with finally going through the boxes of crap in their closets. While we’ve only been in this house for eight years, we moved from a smaller house into a bigger house on the last move so there was no reason to clear things out. Therefore they had an accumulation of personal items both valuable and not so valuable from the entire duration of their lives. It was fascinating listening to the exclamations as they discovered a new thing that they hadn’t seen for years. A journal from our sabbatical trip, a favorite stuffed animal, all those science fair medals. Then came the painful decision of whether or not it should be kept. Given that the house we are moving into is much smaller than the house we are leaving I had to repeatedly remind them that we couldn’t keep all of their stuff indefinitely.

Then came the packing. Luckily we didn’t have to actually do it as we had professional packers come in and do it for us: two people, two days, 172 boxes. We did have to corral all the stuff that wasn’t going with us which led to three carloads worth of donations to the Salvation Army: clothes; more than 200 books, and everything else that wasn’t going to go in a box. (By the third trip, I was hearing comments like “back again?”)

And the final stage: loading the truck. One empty eighteen wheeler, five guys, hundreds of blankets and rolls of tape, 223 tagged items besides the boxes, and seven hours of schlepping and hauling led to a truck that was 2/3 full and a house that was completely empty.

With a carload of stuff that the movers wouldn’t take – including a dozen open bottles of single malt – we pulled out of the driveway for the last time. I can’t say goodbye; it’s too final. But it is time for a new adventure so I’ll say “until we meet again my friends.”

The List of “Lasts”

This week the “lasts” began in earnest: my last business trip out of DC, Frank’s last South County graduation, my last Bunco night, etc.  There will be many more of those before we begin to see the flock of firsts (Pointless aside:  I have a weakness for unnecessary alliteration and a fascination with collective nouns.  You have been warned.)

Transition always means we move away from something in order to move toward something else.  The importance of one is not diminished by the presence of the other but past and future cannot coexist; so is the nature of change. As I take a break from the din of the details that must be settled to buy one house (and figure out how the hell to sell the other), the reality of our impending life transformation can be overwhelming.  I am comforted somewhat by how technology has made the world a little smaller so that the increase in physical distance from those we love here will seem more annoying than painful.  I was reminded of that this week when having dinner with a friend that I have not had to occasion to see in person for many months and yet we were no strangers and our friendship no less robust than had he lived around the corner and I had seen him often.

I sit pondering my going away party at work tomorrow where I will try to be witty (still haven’t gotten that right – can’t seem to get past “sarcastic”) and show my enthusiasm for the adventure to come.  It is real and no less compelling than the ache I will feel for what we leave behind.  I suspect that I will put on somewhat of a brave face until that first glass of wine. Or the first tear shed by another. (Insert joke about who would be crying and why.  Make up your own.  Go ahead, I’ll wait.)

Here’s another “last” for the list:  last melancholy blog post.  I’ll go back to bragging about one house and complaining about another. It’s easier to make bad jokes that way.

Too many trees?

That is apparently the latest reason we’ve gotten why buyers aren’t interested in our house.  It has too many trees.  Really?  What did you expect for a home advertised as having a “wooded lot”.

We love our current house; it’s been home for 8 years and has hosted track sleepovers, theater cast parties, fondue nights, massive barbeques, whiskey tastings, pool tournaments and countless smaller events that make it hard to think of moving on.  But we will and we will build new memories in our new house.  I’d prefer to concentrate on that part than worry about when we aren’t going to own two houses.

The real estate purchase process is an odd beast.  Having been on both sides of it – simultaneously – I wonder if I’m a lousy buyer or a lousy seller.  When we went to Kansas City to buy a house, we visited 16 houses in 2 days, an exhausting and thrilling time that resulted in a contract on our new house.  We also saw houses that weren’t the right fit so I understand that.  We saw houses with rooms that you had to walk through to get to other rooms, master bedrooms without a private bath, full bathrooms that opened off the kitchen, yards that were completely decked over with no grass, and others that had peccadilloes that made them not be the perfect house for us.  I do recall having thoughts like “yard needs work” and “that room will need to be painted” as mental notes of changes that we would make rather than reasons not to buy the house.  And yes there were houses that would just require more TLC than we were willing to do no matter what the price. We told our realtor these things and expected her to pass them along to the seller.

Which is why I’m wondering about some of the “feedback” we are hearing on our house.  When we moved in the entire house was a either pale yellow or pale peach.  Ugh.  But we waited a year to decide what we wanted to do with it then hired a color consultant who created a beautiful color palate for us.  This resulted in a butterscotch hallway, blue kitchen, stone living room and family room on the first floor.  All well coordinated and beautifully painted.

entrance livingroom Master

We understood that the red sitting room, dill pickle green bathroom and seafoam bedroom may not be to everyone’s liking.  But most people never mentioned color.  In fact, we got very little feed back from our realtors other than “not the right fit” (that’s another rant for another day).  When we did get suggestions – landscaping is rough – we fixed it.  Some were questionable (well the trash cans are at the side of the house and that ruins the curb appeal.  WTF?) but we fixed it anyway. Then after more than 2 months on the market and watching other houses in the neighborhood being sold quickly by the same realtor, the suggestion that we needed to be more neutral was made.  (Doing yoga breathing to keep temper at bay.)

redsittingroombluekitchen picklebathroom

So gone is the blue kitchen, dill pickle green bathroom and red sitting room among others,  Hello beige and white.  Ugh.  Because we still live here, I refuse to lose my butterscotch hallway with the matching original artwork and the seafoam bedroom that I still sleep in. And now we don’t hear about color, landscaping or trash cans.  Now the reason we are given for buyers not liking our house is “Too many trees”.  Sorry, that’s just too damn bad.  I’ll carry two mortgages until we find someone who appreciates trees.

(Photos copyright MRIS and used without permission because it’s my house.)

First, buy a house.

Or should that be “first, sell your house”.  Well if it is, we did it backwards.  We bought a house in Kansas City and still have to sell our house in VA.  {sigh}

The house hunting trip was obviously a success.  We saw 16 houses in two days.  Not all of them were in the same condition.  One was obviously occupied by angry renters.  I can’t think of any other reason for the state of the house (dog shit on the kitchen floor, bath tub full of water, toilet not flushed, toys everywhere) because there was no way that anyone was going to buy it in the state it was in. Good thing that was the first house we saw so it had to get better as the days went on. Several were just not workable for us (no closet space or no en suite for the master bedroom) and others just needed more TLC than we have the energy to provide. Two of which were serious contenders and there was a third that would have worked out as well. We bought the best one – of course. It’s less than 6 miles from my work – a 15 minute commute – and walking distance to shops and restaurants.

Not only were we looking for a house, we wanted to see how Kansas City felt as home so we dragged Jesse-the-college-student-daughter-who-used-to-go-by-Gillian along with us.  She was a fabulous help keeping us sane and her set design skills were invaluable (“No mom, the dining room table will not fit in this room.”) But we also wanted to see if she liked the city itself.  We’ve decided that it’s a good fit for us (don’t ask if that decision came before or after we decided to move there) but how horrible would it be for the kids to come visit?

Apparently not too horrible.  We ate barbeque, walked all over several neighborhoods, went to the theater, had Christopher Elbow hot chocolate, eavesdropped on an open air heavy metal tribute band, had dinner with with a friend from the Bank and his family, visited the world’s largest furniture store (Nebraska Furniture Mart – holy big box store Batman), ate delicious gluten free pizza while guessing at old Trivial Pursuit cards, visited a few outlying towns and squeezed in a winery as well. All in all, not a bad weekend.

Now we have to figure out how to figure out what is going with us and what is not.  Apparently, you can’t fit the furniture from a 3600 sq ft house into a 1900 sq ft house.  Keep your eyes peeled for the furniture bargains once we get it all sorted!

/san/

Welcome!

While the Cannon Family Travel blog is not yet officially retired, we are now entering a phase of our lives where there are endless entertainment possibilities. Given my penchant for over-sharing, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to create a new vehicle to help keep in touch.

Come along for the ride!

First up – our house hunting trip to Kansas City!