Jim Beam

"All Bourbon is Whiskey - not all Whiskey is Bourbon"
Bourbon has many rules regarding it's creation - it's not necessary that it is
made in Kentucky like many people think.

The Jim Beam grounds were among the most beautiful - with some amazing old buildings.

The visitor center

This mural in the visitor center and
is a depiction of the distillation process.

Bourbon is 51% corn - the rest is a mixture of rye, malt or possibly wheat - depending on who is making it.

I just thought this was a cool picture - very visual.
The "pac-man" is the yeast...



They let us all have a taste of this "white dog" - liquor that hasn't been aged and therefore can't be called bourbon yet. In my opinion it's way too strong.

The bottling process - this happened to be Knob Creek
(which is a product of Jim Beam).

Scott placing his thumb print on the bottle - we bought that one...

They store two bottles from each run in case there
are any quality questions that come up.
This area took up 1/2 of a warehouse.

The rick house - or "rickhouse" - depending on who your asking. This is where the bourbon is aged in the barrels - in the heat - and cold of Kentucky. Some (makers mark) rotate their barrels - most others don't. Even the material the rick house is built from factors in - wood, tin, brick - each varies the temperature inside - which changes the bourbon.

Difficult to see in the picture but this shows not only the heat but that air movement matters within the rick houses.

The longer bourbon is aged more is lost to evaporation - about 6-8% per year.

At each distillery we tasted about 2 oz of liquor - Jim Beam had the most efficient - but least entertaining way. We were each given a card with three servings on it - we put these cards in this machine and then picked the liquor we wanted to taste. Scott and I would usually pick different flavors to taste and then share. I discovered that I hated the taste of the Jim Beam Honey Whiskey (it can't be called bourbon because it's had a flavoring added to it).

Another rick house - with another old building. As I'm remembering this adventures I'm thinking about the smell - it's called the "angels share." Because of all the evaporation going on it smells like a really nice bourbon.