to a little red shack with a little grey sign proclaiming Fred’s Smokehouse. Fred Noe is the seventh generation of the Beam family to work in the bourbon business. He is also a big fan of charcuterie and has opened this little food stand for the endless streams of visitors touring the distillery. Noe is not around when I visit, but his staff make me one hell of a fine ham sandwich. The tour ends in a tasting bar. Making
bourbon is a time-honoured, hands- on, traditional practice, but this bar is definitely 2014. A plastic key card activates digital dispensers that pour measured shots from assorted bottles. It’s a fun way to end a tour of the world’s best-known bourbon distillery, and when we’ve quenched our thirst the barman tells us to keep our glasses as souvenirs. Taste buds satisfied, I wander over to the two-story gift shop where Jim Beam hats, t-shirts and special bottlings are on sale. The sun shines brightly as I step outside, bottle in hand. Nit-pickers and know-it-alls will tell
you that bourbon can be made in any of America’s fifty states, from Alaska to Hawaii. Technically they are correct, but there’s a reason why almost all of it is made in Kentucky. There is something in Kentucky’s limestone water that makes it just perfect for producing bourbon. And there is something in these softly rolling hills that provides the perfect idyll for maturing bourbon. Glass in hand, I could wax poetic, but that would be something of a cliché.
Davin de Kergommeaux is an Ottawa- based writer. He is the author of Canadian Whisky: The Portable Expert.
www.bounder.ca
BOUNDER MAGAZINE 55
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