Patti and I ended our tour of northern Kentucky’s Bourbon country in Bardstown. Settled by colonists in 1780, it’s the second oldest city in the state. But it doesn’t play second fiddle to anyone when it comes to Bourbon. Signs throughout town proclaim Bardstown as the World Capital of Bourbon. Founded a year before the community, the former stagecoach stop of Old Talbott Tavern (Court Square, 502-348-3494, talbotttavern.com), shown above, deems itself the oldest Bourbon bar in the world.
Bardstown supports its claim with Kentucky’s greatest concentration of distilleries. Eleven distilleries fan out in a twenty-mile ring from the gracious former courthouse that houses Bardstown’s Welcome Center. That cluster includes such pioneers as Jim Beam, which was established in 1795. But newcomers keep popping up, including some so young that their first whiskies are still aging in the barrels.
MAKING BOURBON’S NEW CLASSICS
Located on an historic tobacco farm, Preservation Distillery (426 Sutherland Road, Bardstown, 502-348-7779, preservationdistillery.comhttps://preservationdistillery.com, tours and tastings from $23) began operations in October 2017.
According to head distiller Matthew Jackson (right), it’s “the first distillery to be female founded and owned that does single pass pot distilling.” Marci Palatella had been blending her own brand of whiskey from rare barrels for several decades. As supplies of old barrels began to dwindle, Palatella launched a distillery to create the rich flavor that she craved.
Jackson describes the process as “farm-to-barrel.” He uses water from the farm’s well and buys grain from small, local farms. “We’re trying to showcase Bourbon in its truest form,” he said. He works in small batches of one to three barrels and reminded us that distilling once in a pot still before going into the barrel is the traditional way of making Bourbon. ‶It results in a spirit with a silky, buttery mouth feel and a more aromatic nose.″
He hopes to release Preservation’s first Bourbon in a couple of years. “But he cautions patience.
“We don’t tell the whiskey when it’s ready.”
In the meantime, Patti and I tasted several other products, including American and Canadian whiskies and ryes made from both summer and winter grains. We also tasted a 13-year-old Very Old Saint Nick Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey. “It’s got plenty of oak, caramel, and vanilla,” Jackson noted. “It’s everything you want in a Kentucky Bourbon.”
With his attention to detail and love of Bourbon heritage, I’m guessing that Jackson will be releasing a fine Bourbon from Preservation’s own stills. Perhaps Patti and I should plan to return to celebrate the first release.
RECAPTURING A FAMILY HERITAGE
And while we’re at it, I’ll also be curious to follow the progress of Log Still Distillery (225 Dee Head Road, Gethsemane, 502-917-0700, logstilldistillery.com, tastings $7-$9). The distillery takes its name from the hollowed-out log that family patriarch and Bourbon pioneer Joseph Washington Dant used to produce Bourbon when he opened his distillery in 1836. Kentuckians, it seems, didn’t let the cost of a copper kettle deter them from distilling spirits. Dant wasn’t the only one to resort to a log fitted with a copper tube. But he did become known for producing a good Bourbon. Within three decades he had graduated to a state-of-the-art distillery.
Log Still founder J. W. “Wally” Dant (left) is determined to “get the Dant name back into the Bourbon business.” In 2019 he purchased the site of a former distillery on a lovely tract of rolling farmland. In May of this year, he opened a tasting room.
As he gets up and running, Dant has been sourcing Bourbon from another distillery in Danville and operating a 50-gallon mini hybrid pot still on the premises. With a capacity of about 15 gallons of alcohol per run, Dant calls it a “good experimental still.” His cousin Lynne Dant is the distiller. “She’s the smart one,” Wally said.
BEYOND THE GLASS
Dant has big plans for what I can only describe as a Bourbon lifestyle destination. In addition to the tasting room, he opened an amphitheater over the summer so that visitors can sip Bourbon while listening to live music. Visitors are welcome to fish off the docks on the property’s lake. Hiking and biking trails are in the works.
A farm-to-table restaurant in a replica of an old boiler room is scheduled to open next summer. Dant is also building a railway depot in conjunction with the Kentucky Railway Museum in New Haven so that guests can arrive by passenger train. Some may even choose to spend the night in a presidential style train car. Or they can check into one of the bed and breakfasts located in historic buildings on the property.
“We’re building a mini-city out here,” Dant acknowledged. But he hasn’t forgotten the spirits. A large capacity distilling facility is also scheduled to open by early next summer. They plan to distill gin, rye whiskey, and wheated Bourbon. They will also produce high rye Bourbon. “That’s what our family was known for,” said Dant.