I thought I’d try sharing a ride from northern West Virginia to neighboring Kentucky four of us just took. The theme was “bourbon and Corvette’s”, central Kentucky being the bourbon capital of the world as well as home of the Corvette factory. Besides this, Kentucky has some wonderful roads to ride and they’re very well maintained.
We left Sunday morning riding 350 miles to Bardstown KY where we based at The Old Kentucky Home motel for a couple nights.
Monday we rode up Rt 62 to Frankfort to visit the Buffalo Trace Distillery. Buffalo Trace is making some of the best bourbon including Pappy Van Winkle, Weller, George T. Stagg, Blanton’s, as well as others including my favorite under $30 750ml bottle, Eagle Rare.
Here they’re bottling Blanton’s in two versions one for domestic the other diuted down to 80 proof for export to Australia due to Australia’s very high tax based on alcohol content.
Bourbon must be made from at least 51% corn, and be aged in new charred white oak barrels. Most is aged for 4-15 years some over 20, if under 4 years it must be posted on the label.
Most use rye as the second ingredient but some like Maker’s Mark, Weller, Pappy’s, Rebel Yell, etc use wheat which produces a slightly “less hot” taste.
Naturally a taste was in order!
Tuesday we rode 80 miles or so to the Corvette Museum which is located near the factory in Bowling Green KY. In the entrance were parked new cars ordered for pick up there as well as one to be raffeled off for a museum fund raiser. I didn’t buy a ticket though.
A few years back a section of the floor in the museum collapsed into a sink hole ruining a number of cars. Thankfully it occurred at night when no one was present but some cars were ruined and they are there on display.
We stayed in Mt Vernon Tuesday evening and as our luck would have it was a “dry” county meaning no alcohol is allowed to be sold not even beer or wine and none of us had any along. We fixed that Wednesday at the Liquor Barn up near Lexington where I found the largest selection of bourbon I’ve ever seen!
Good thing too as Wednesday found us in another dry county but this time I had a bottle of Four Roses cask strength single barrel and man did it taste good after riding all day!
Here are a few pics taken Wednesday and Thursday morning depicting the type of roads and what you may typically see riding in eastern Kentucky. Thursday afternoon put us at western WV and a pleasant 5 hour ride home.
I was riding this Yamaha.
Many people raise tobacco along with vegetables.
I couldn't help but stop to pet these two little guys along the road.
It turned out to be a nice little ride and the weather couldn't have been much better, no rain and temps in the 80's.
We left Sunday morning riding 350 miles to Bardstown KY where we based at The Old Kentucky Home motel for a couple nights.
Monday we rode up Rt 62 to Frankfort to visit the Buffalo Trace Distillery. Buffalo Trace is making some of the best bourbon including Pappy Van Winkle, Weller, George T. Stagg, Blanton’s, as well as others including my favorite under $30 750ml bottle, Eagle Rare.
Here they’re bottling Blanton’s in two versions one for domestic the other diuted down to 80 proof for export to Australia due to Australia’s very high tax based on alcohol content.
Bourbon must be made from at least 51% corn, and be aged in new charred white oak barrels. Most is aged for 4-15 years some over 20, if under 4 years it must be posted on the label.
Most use rye as the second ingredient but some like Maker’s Mark, Weller, Pappy’s, Rebel Yell, etc use wheat which produces a slightly “less hot” taste.
Naturally a taste was in order!
Tuesday we rode 80 miles or so to the Corvette Museum which is located near the factory in Bowling Green KY. In the entrance were parked new cars ordered for pick up there as well as one to be raffeled off for a museum fund raiser. I didn’t buy a ticket though.
A few years back a section of the floor in the museum collapsed into a sink hole ruining a number of cars. Thankfully it occurred at night when no one was present but some cars were ruined and they are there on display.
We stayed in Mt Vernon Tuesday evening and as our luck would have it was a “dry” county meaning no alcohol is allowed to be sold not even beer or wine and none of us had any along. We fixed that Wednesday at the Liquor Barn up near Lexington where I found the largest selection of bourbon I’ve ever seen!
Good thing too as Wednesday found us in another dry county but this time I had a bottle of Four Roses cask strength single barrel and man did it taste good after riding all day!
Here are a few pics taken Wednesday and Thursday morning depicting the type of roads and what you may typically see riding in eastern Kentucky. Thursday afternoon put us at western WV and a pleasant 5 hour ride home.
I was riding this Yamaha.
Many people raise tobacco along with vegetables.
I couldn't help but stop to pet these two little guys along the road.
It turned out to be a nice little ride and the weather couldn't have been much better, no rain and temps in the 80's.
