This area of Kentucky is most well known for the many distilleries that produce the product known as Kentucky Bourbon. In the last few years, bourbon has come back into favor as a popular spirit. It has become so popular that new companies are entering the market. In fact, this area has what is known as the Bourbon Trail. You can obtain a small passbook and have each page stamped as you tour each one. A very popular pastime.
We did two local Bardstown distillery tours and took a connoisseurs tasting at another one. Here’s a quick recap:
Willett Distillery
Founded in 1936, the Willett family continues to be a small boutique distillery with a strong demand for their quality product. In 2012, they installed a new copper pot still that one of their bottles is modeled after.
They produce several labels of bourbon and rye whiskey at differing price points, including Old Bardstown, Johnny Drum, Rowan’s Creek, and their Willett Pot Still Reserve.
Barton Distillery
While Willett is a very small distillery, the Barton operation, started in 1894, is a very large operation with over 2,000,000 barrels in their warehouses. They provided one of the best tours, even climbing up the stairs to the top of the fermenter. Once up there, our host provided samples of their white dog, the liquor right out of the distillery, before any aging and before any addition of water to reduce the proof level.
Heaven Hill
Another very large distillery who produces many different brand labels. This family owned operation has 1,300,000 barrels in their aging rickhouses.
Talbott Tavern
The Talbott Tavern is not a distillery, but an historic Inn, restaurant, and bar. We had eaten here in our last visit two years ago and returned again on this trip. The restaurant has some great food and the rustic dining room must look almost as it did back in 1779 when established.
The tavern served as the oldest western stagecoach stop in America. Many famous and infamous people have been here including Andrew Jackson, Henry Harrison, and French king, and Jesse James.
They allow restaurant patrons to go upstairs into the Inn area to see the bullet holes left by Jesse James after a tense card game.
We are in a Surprise Movie Set
We were staying in a small quiet RV park and our location was toward the far back corner, about 4 spaces from the back. On Thursday morning, we woke at 6am to all kinds of clatter! What in the world is going on? They were setting up a full on-location movie set!
There were about 6-7 large commercial trailers that moved in overnight. Next door was a large generator running and a large food truck all set up to serve breakfast at 6am!
There were maybe 50 people involved from the actors, directors, all kinds of technical support folks. They used a small pop up tent to cover the monitors where someone would review the filmed scene and give the okay or else a do over. And the 4 scenes that we observed were all filmed about 4-5 times each.
The set was a back corner of the campground and an old 1990’s model motorhome. The RV was all hooked up, plugged in and had some fencing around it.
Watching the process was actually kind of boring up until the final scene that I almost missed. In his last scene, the main character started up the motorhome, gunned the engine into reverse and backed out of the site with all the cords and fencing flying into the air.
After backing out (right in front of our camper), he again went full throttle forward, fishtailing on the gravel past us. What a sight to see. And it all happened to fast that I missed getting any photos of it. Dang It!
The interesting point is this scene was filmed with their camera directly aimed at our truck and camper. So, unless they remove us through editing, we will be in the background!
After some sleuthing, the movie company had been filming in Louisville, but needed a remote, wooded, RV park to film a few scenes. The movie is called “Becoming” and is about a young woman learns that her fiance has become possessed by an entity. Ok then….
Well, that’s it from Bardstown. It was a quick and enjoyable six days that included a Sunday visit to the Parkway Baptist Church. We always try to attend a good local church in each area that we visit. This church ranks near the top due to the quality of the sermon preached by their senior pastor James Carroll.
Pat will usually do the research by starting to look for a Presbyterian PCA church. If we find one close by , then we will attend. If not, then the search widens into a good southern or reformed baptist church. In the case for Bardstown, it was the Baptist church. It was a real gem. The pastor/church/values is in my top three of all we have visited. Our home church in Draper Valley, VA and the Faith Presbyterian (ARP) in Merritt Island FL are also in that group.
Thanks for riding along with us! Leave a comment if you wish. We are now back to our hometown in the New River Valley area of Virginia for a couple of weeks. While here we have scheduled our annual physical checkups, dental exams, vehicle maintenance, and of course visiting with family and friends. It will be a very busy time indeed, then we begin the 2018 Summer Tour!
Take care and God Bless.