It’s just after midnight, and I’m relaxing on the second floor porch of Talbott’s Inn in Bardstown, Kentucky.  The inn is smack dab in the heart of the town, where the main road turns into a roundabout where the traffic constantly flows throughout the day and evening.  Below me, one of the popular bars in town–the Bourbon Bar–attracts a respectable crowd.  As the locals come in and out all night, the sound of the wood door banging shut is a reminder of the 200-year history this town has.  Earlier, the “one man band” musician drew a great crowd, and now it’s on to rock n roll tunes.  The drunks are calling their friends to come on down and get even more drunk with them.  And it’s ladies night, so you could imagine it’s one of the busiest nights of the summer.

Today was a great road trip day.  We left the Super 8 Motel in Lexington, Virginia early this morning after a continental breakfast, drove through the morning fog into the Appalachian Mountains, and eventually ended up in Loretto, Kentucky, home of Maker’s Mark Distillery.  Our GPS device took us on some unusual single lane back roads to get there, but we made it in time for their last distillery tour.

This is the time of the year when production is not in full swing, so we didn’t see the workers cooking the grain, fermenting the yeast, toasting the inside of the barrels or filling the barrels for years of storage.  But we did see the assembly line where the bottles are labeled, bourbon is poured, the top of the bottles are dipped into wax, and the cases are packaged for shipping.  Afterward, we had complimentary samples of both the clear and the rich bronze-amber colored bourbon.  We learned how to smell and taste the bourbon, and both had completely different effects on the tongue, throat and taste buds.  Only the bronze-amber bourbon is classified as a bourbon because it was stored in wooden barrels.

Maker’s Mark has always been my favorite bourbon, so visiting the distillery was a real treat for me.  We walked away with tons of souvenirs, and I was able to dip my own bottle in red wax!  I also took a great picture of the backdrop to the bar to use as my phone’s wallpaper.  We also signed up to be Maker’s Mark ambassadors, which means our names will be on a barrel as it’s stored here, and we can come back each year and taste test the bourbon.

We drove to Bardstown afterward and checked into our room at Talbott’s Inn. There’s a lot of history at this inn, including their claim to fame that Lincoln stayed here when he was a child.  We stayed in that very room–a suite with a sitting room, bedroom and bath. The bedroom features the antique Lincoln Bed and bath features an antique claw-footed tub with shower.

We drove around the town, which took all of 10 minutes, then ate at a Mexican restaurant where I was served a burrito as big as my head and a large margarita.  That on top of the bourbon earlier in the day knocked us out, and we crashed in our room for a couple hours.  I took a shower, then came out on the porch for the night, watching the locals come in and out of the bar while the intermittent rain cooled down the evening.

Now it’s 1:00am and closing time at the bar.  The music just ended abruptly, and the bouncer is yelling at everyone to get out.  Last minute hookups taking place as I write–just another summer night in Bardstown.  We’re planning on sleeping in tomorrow and spending more time here before driving to Southern Illinois, where we’ll visit Lindsey’s old colleagues at WSIL-TV before ending up in our hometown St. Louis tomorrow night.