Category: trips
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Buffalo Trace: A Second Visit to the Distillery
On my last visit to the Buffalo Trace distillery in Kentucky, I took a very cool tour of the property that you can read about at that link. On a visit this past February as part of the Bourbon Classic event in Louisville, I had another tour that was completely different and I learned all…
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How to Pack Liquor in your Luggage
I travel an awful lot and most of the time I'm bringing packing at least one bottle of liquor with me. (My record was 7 full bottles.) You can read about how much liquor you can pack in your luggage here, which differs per airline. I've never had a bottle of wine or spirits break in…
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Jim Beam’s Newish Distillery Tour
I've been to the Beam distillery three times now. I wrote about my first visit in 2008 here, with an additional post about the bottling line. Then I stopped by for another brief visit in 2012 where I got a preview of some of the outdoor displays as part of the new visitors' center. In early…
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Four Roses Bourbon Distillery: A Second Visit
In 2008 I first learned about Four Roses Bourbon and its history. Then in 2010 I had the chance to visit the distillery and wrote it up here. In early 2013 on a trip to the Bourbon Classic event in Louisville I had a chance to visit a second time. These are some notes from…
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Distillery Visit: Town Branch Distillery in Lexington, Kentucky
In early 2013 I visited the Town Branch Distillery in Lexington, Kentucky. At the time it was the newest addition to the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. My visit was part of the Bourbon Classic, a great event that is taking place in 2014 on Jan 31 and Feb 1. The distillery goes by a lot of…
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A Doubled Jameson – A Return Visit to the Midleton Distillery in Ireland
A couple of months ago I returned to the Midleton distillery in Cork, Ireland, for a party they were throwing to celebrate the newly-expanded facility. I wrote a one-page story about it for November's issue of Tasting Panel magazine, which you can read here (digital magazine, go to page 149), but I have more to…
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Making Absolut Vodka: A Trip to Ahus, Sweden
Absolut vodka is made in southern Sweden, in the town of Ahus in the Skane region. I took a trip there this winter to learn how the vodka is made. The distillery can produce 650,000 bottles of vodka per day and I had about that many questions for the producers. I think it's best to…
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A Visual Guide to Herbs Used to Make Vermouth
This summer I visited Turin and Pessione Italy with Martini vermouth. The distillery hosts the Martini visitors' center and museum, and in this post you can read about how Martini vermouths are made. On one particularly lovely day, our group piled into cars and drove around the countryside to see the local herbs used to…
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How Martini Vermouth is Made: A Trip to Pessione, Italy
This summer I took a trip to Pessione, Italy, the home of Martini vermouth. Pessione is a small town just outside of the city of Turin, in the northwestern part of Italy. The distillery site was chosen as it is close the the railroad, though it is also close to both wine-growing and herb-growing regions.…
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(Re)Introducing Noilly Prat Extra Dry Vermouth
Last year I had the pleasure of visiting the Noilly Prat vermoutherie in Marseillan, France, where I learned about how it is made. Shortly after the visit, I wrote a blog post about the differences between Noilly Prat Dry (aka Original Dry), Noilly Prat Ambre, and Noilly Prat Rouge. It took a year, but they are…