American whiskey for July 4th

I just got this on Facebook from Eric Gregory, president of the Kentucky Distillers' Association. The Kentucky Bourbon Trail will be open for the holiday weekend: a great chance to tour the places where Americans make America's whiskey. (Er, the workers are American, that is...some of the owners of the companies are not: Wild Turkey's owned by Italians, Four Roses is owned by Japanese. But the distilleries are right there in Kentucky.)

Anyway, here are the schedules for tours; all times are Eastern.

Buffalo Trace, Frankfort – open Friday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., closed Sunday.

Four Roses, Lawrenceburg – open Friday and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., last tour at 3:00 p.m., closed Sunday.

Heaven Hill, Bardstown – open Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday noon to 4 p.m.

Jim Beam, Clermont – open Friday and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Sunday 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Maker’s Mark, Loretto – open Friday and Saturday, 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Sunday tours 1:30, 2:30 and 3:30 p.m.

Wild Turkey, Lawrenceburg – Tours Friday at 9 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. Gift shop will be open from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Closed on Saturday and Sunday.

Woodford Reserve, Versailles – Tours Friday at 10 a.m., 11 a.m., 1 p.m., 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. Closed Saturday. Tours on Sunday at 1 p.m., 2 p.m. and 3 p.m.

Visit www.kybourbontrail.com for more information on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.

The Fall of the Corn Curtain: Go Tour the Tom Moore Distillery

A somewhat momentous date tomorrow: as of October 1, the Tom Moore Distillery, formerly known as the Barton distillery, is open for tours.

For the longest time, Barton was the Tibet of distilleries, tucked away down a quiet, thickly tree-lined street in Bardstown. They didn't give any tours, even guys like me didn't get in very often. You had to have a reason. Barton sold Ten High, Very Old Barton (that's six years very old), and some other similar "value" brands -- don't knock it, VOB is some damned good bourbon for the price -- mostly in Kentucky. They had their business, they did it, and outside of kicking up their heels a bit at the barrel relay races at the Kentucky Bourbon Festival, they kept a real low profile.

1792 put a crack in the armor. That's their premium bourbon that has done right nicely for them. When it did well, and "Barton" started getting some respect, the folks at Constellation Inc. (the world's largest wine company, the importer of Corona for the U.S.) started to realize that they could be getting in on some of the wild adoration popping up for bourbon distillers. So after a bit of sprucing up -- not too much; you can still see deer in the edges of the woods around the warehouses -- they decided to let you in to see what they do.

"There’s no flash here," master distiller Greg Davis told me (that's him in the picture). "You’ll see a true operation. If you’re a gearhead, you’re gonna go off on this. That’s one of the great things: it is designed to produce bourbon. It's not about touring, not about making things pretty. This is how it’s done, period." That's okay, Greg, there's a place for nuts and bolts, too.

If you're looking to take a tour, they're by reservation only, at 9:30 AM and 1:30 PM. Call Pam Gover (502-348-3774) at least a day in advance to make your reservation. And be sure to ask them what's aging in the bottom three floors of the warehouse; kind of a surprise, there.