Best Experiences Aren’t Always Planned

By Bob White

When I first began my own tour company, I wasn’t a transportation company, so I’d drive whatever vehicle my guests would provide, making each day unique.
Having driven everything from tractor-trailers to fire department ladder trucks with rear-steering, rarely was a privately-owned vehicle challenging, but some vehicles are more fun than others.

Most rides are typical – modern sedans, SUVs and a few quad-cab pickup trucks.
So far, so good. No beaters, nor unsafe vehicles and all have been licensed and legal to operate in the state of Kentucky.
Then, there was Veruca.

Veruca wasn’t a guest. Instead, Veruca was the name Cincinnatian Jennifer had given to her recently-bought 4-door Jeep Gladiator.
Planning well in advance, Jennifer contacted me early last summer to put a 2-day excursion together for her husband and another couple.

Jennifer told me I’d meet Veruca once they arrived at Brown Hotel, one of Louisville’s classic lodging facilities along Fourth Street. It’s also the birthplace of the Kentucky Hot Brown, but that’s another story.

She’d told me that the guys were enormous fans of Weller and Taylor brands – both made today at Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort.
So, along with a tour of that place, I also provided Jennifer a map to the gravesites of “Pappy” & William LaRue Weller, in Louisville, and allowed time in our Frankfort day to visit E.H. Taylor’s resting place in Frankfort – overlooking the Kentucky River and State Capitol.
We hit a few other well-known distilleries, and a few unknown smaller producers which are always a crowd favorite.

The group got a kick out of sampling from, then fill bottles from, the barrels at Three Boys Farm Distillery in Graefenburg. The site’s been rebranded as Whiskey Thief Distilling Co. since then.

Finding they enjoyed off-the-beaten-path sites was encouraging, since my work as guide happens during the rides between distillery gift shops and visitor centers.

The group loved the history and oddball sites just off the Official Kentucky Bourbon Trail.

Day 2 took us southbound, through both the Dixie Highway and Bardstown Spur whiskey corridors, to the largest barrel-making factory in Kentucky – Independent Stave Company’s Kentucky Cooperage.

After some Bourbon Bacon Bloody Marys at Limestone Branch, then a walk around Maker’s Mark where they dipped bottles in the brand’s iconic red “wax” we headed toward the new facility in Gethsemane – Log Still Distillery.

We’d originally had plans to visit Heaven Hill in Bardstown, but Union workers had been on strike, causing the visitor center to shut down.

So adjustments were needed.

They loved the winding country roads that took us to Log Still.

Our last stop that day was planned to be a ride through Jim Beam’s massive Clermont facility.

From the direction we were in, the Interstate would be fastest, but knowing my group’s interests, I tossed in an option for them to consider.

“We could drive through the backside of Bernheim Forest and cross the Harrison Fork of Wilson Creek, if you like,” I inquired with the group.

With two full days of distillery touring behind them, and a few drinks in them, they decided they were ready to mix things up a bit.

So we left Log Still and passed through Boston, Ky – home to Beam’s Booker Noe Distillery, then to County Road 733.

From that country road, we turned right onto Mount Carmel Road.
The pavement turned to gravel. The gravel turned to dirt.
After a mile or two on the dirt road, we were enveloped by forest.

Kentucky forests in October are something to behold. While our grass is known to be blue, the fall color is a vibrant mix of oranges, yellows and deep reds.

I looked down at Veruca’s odometer. The gladiator only had 5K miles on it and I was behind the wheel on a dirt road.

“Are you sure you want to cross the creek,” I asked Jennifer.
“Absolutely,” she answered. “Veruca needs a Baptism!”
So splash after splash we introduced Veruca to the religion of off-road wheeling.

The first crossing was simple, only driving through a foot of water.
The second crossing was wide.
The third was simply gorgeous and that’s where they decided to stop, take a break and get their feet wet in the pristine waters of Wilson Creek.

The group waded the creek, sipped on some whiskey and picked up some refuse left behind by previous visitors to the area.

This unplanned stop culminated into the highlight of our 2-day tour.
With water being any whiskey’s No. 1 ingredient by volume, the educational aspects came around, full-circle back to my Bourbon 101 spiel I’d given on Day 1: water, oak grain and mother nature.

Of course, we also snapped some great shots of Veruca crossing the creek, and splashing water into the air as if we were in a commercial for Jeep.
It was the perfect finish to a perfect tour.
I look forward to the next guest who names their vehicle.