Along 66, July 2019: On Horseshoes

JULY 15--  How About a Horseshoe Trail in Illinois.  It seems that places all over have been going crazy with the ideas of Trails.  A road trip that involves several to many similar places in an area.  I mean, there are Bourbon Trails and BBQ Trails.

This one involves that Central Illinois gastronomic goodie called Horseshoes.  For those of you who don't know, a horseshoe is a thick-sliced toasted piece of bread loaded with various meats and covered with fries smothered in cheese sauces.

Credit for its creation goes to the LeLand Hotel in Springfield, Illinois, right down the street from the Illinois State Capitol.

A smaller version is called a Ponyshoe--  Get It!!  (I had to ask the first time we had one at Norb Andy's.  There are also breakfast horseshoes with hash browns instead of cheese sauce and gravy.

Writer to the Illinois Times newspaper Tony Leone is proposing this.

You Go, Tony.  Sign Me Up!  --RoadShoe

The Bourbon Belt-- Part 5: If You Go

Here is an interesting list of bourbon-related places.

**  MINT JULEP TOURS--  Considering what you're sampling, the best way to do it.  Full day tours $119 a person.  www.mintjuleptours.com

**  LOUISVILLE VISITORS CENTER--  Information of bourbon tours as well as the Urban Bourbon Trail featuring 19 local places featuring 50 or more bourbons.  301 S. Fourth Street   www.gotolouisville.com

**  OSCAR GETZ MUSEUM OF WHISKEY HISTORY--  Bardstown, considered capital of bourbon country.  www.whiskeymuseum.com

**  SILVER DOLLAR--  Funky bar with great chili, fried oysters and aged bourbons.  www.whiskeybythedrink.com

**  PROOF ON MAIN--  In 21C Museum Hotel at 702 W. Main Street www.proofonmain.com

**  BOURBON BISTRO--  more than 160 bourbons  www.bourbonbistro.com

**  HILLBILLY TEA--  www.hillbillytea.com

**  DRIVING--  From Chicago, Louisville is around 5 hours via interstate.

Like I Said, Sipping.  --RoadDog

The Bourbon Belt-- Part 4

Water is also a key to good bourbon.  Steve Dolinsky drove to Kentucky state capital Frankfort, about an hour east from Louisville.  He says the last few miles you go through a curving highway surrounded by towering limestone walls, nature's best water filter.

I have driven to Frankfort and agree about the scenery around the city and views, especially from Daniel Boone's grave.  If  you drive US-421 from Madison, Indiana, to Richmond, Kentucky, this is one of the best drives you'll find anywhere.

He was going there to visit Buffalo Trace distillery where he found a six-story rick house (where bourbon is stored to age)  which holds 24,000 barrels of the stuff.  Kentucky's cold winters and hot summers expands and contracts the barrels, enabling the bourbon to penetrate and absorb the tannins while also evaporating and concentrating itself.  Evaporation is called "Angel's share" and after a few years, some of the bourbon is gone.

Sipping, Friend, Sipping.  --RoadDog

The Bourbon Belt-- Part 3

Bourbon is a whiskey, but not all whiskeys are bourbon.  What?  Federal regulations sets in 1964 set the standards of bourbon to have a mash bill, or recipe, be made up of at least 51% corn.  Some of the better producers like Buffalo Trace and Woodford reserve use closer to 70% "enhancing the sweet, nutty and earthly flavor." 

"Other ingredients are rye (for a spicier, assertive bourbon) or wheat (for a little sweeter) plus malted barley to help jump-start fermentation.

The other rule calls for aging.  "White Dog" (moonshine) has to age in new, white oak barrels for two years. 

The barrel is every bit as much of an ingredient as the corn or rye.  Once used for bourbon, they are often shipped off to Sotland, Canada or Japan to produce Scotch and whiskey.

More to Come.  --RoadDog

The Bourbon Belt-- Part 2

"How is it that America's only native spirit, despite being hundreds of years old, has only recently become popular."  Perhaps Don Draper and his buddies on "Mad Men?"  Steve Dolinsky wanted to know.  Since more than 95% of bourbon produced in the US comes from Kentucky, he began his quest.  And Louisville (pronounced LEW-vull by locals, just don't call it Louis-ville).  Most of the nation's bourbon producers are within an hour's drive from there.

There are no bourbon distilleries in the city right now, but at one time there were.  However, plans are afoot to bring three of them back to the city core and occupy an area that is called Whiskey Row.

You can get Bourbon Trail brochures at the Louisville Visitors Center where you can also check out bourbon tours, where you're taken by bus to them, always a good idea considering what you're sampling.

Dolinsky went to Jim Beam in Clermont, about a 30-minute drive south of LEW-vull.  Jim Beam's grandson, Booker Noe, is a Kentucky legend.  His grandfather grew the little distillery into a worldwide player, but Noe "was responsible for the revitalization of the industry, ctreating small-batch bourbons and single barrel aging."

Smooth.  --RoadDog

The Bourbon Belt-- Part 1

From the february 3, 2013, Chicago Tribune by Steve Dolinsky.

Ever since stopping at a bourbon place in Elizabethtown, I think, (perhaps Heaven Hill) way back when with a road trip group, I have wanted to get back to some more, especially since I have taught myself to like bourbon and scotch now.  However, they were way too expensive in the tasting/gift store so didn't buy any and regretted it when we got back to our motel, the Wigwam Village in Cave City and found that county was dry.  Hard to believe a dry county in this day and age.  How quaint.

This article just reconfirms my desire to hit the trail again.

Not surprisingly, Jim Beam in Clermont, Ky., is the world's largest bourbon producer.  To take the 90-minute tour and do the tasting, it costs $8 and you get "a meager two-ounce taste."  And that, just one-ounce at a time which would be alright with me because in such places, I like to sample several different varieties.  But, you get a "keepsake plastic cup."  Steve Dolinskey tried the premium ones like Basil Hayden, Booker's and Knob Creek.  Well, I've heard of the last one.

For those of you who have never tried it or don't like it (as do many), Dolinsky describes it as having "the aroma of cooked corn bread that's been steeped in caramel, then somehow programmed to instantly heat up when it hits the back of your throat..."

Probably one of my favorite Jim Beam products now is Red Stag. 

Let's Get a Barrel On.  --RoadDog

A Kentucky Tour I Can Really Toast-- Part 2

The grand toasting opening was at the Barrel House Distillery in Lexington.

Others on the tour trail:

Limestone Branch Distillery in Lebanon
Old Pogue Distillery in Maysville
Willett Distillery in Bardstown
MB Roland Distillery Distillery in Pembroke
Corsair Artisan Distillery in Bowling Green
Silver Trail Distillery in Hardin

MB Roland Distillery is on track to produce two barrels a month, or 100 gallons.

Only problem with bourbon tasting, you can't do more than two in a day.

Mouth-Watering.  --RoadDog

A Kentucky Tour I Can Really Toast-- Part 1

From the Oct. 12, 2012, Yahoo! News "Kentucky craft bourbon distilleries get tourist trail" by Bruce Schreiner, AP

Hey, I like my bourbon, having developed a taste for it after I finally could handle Scotch without gagging.  Good stuff, especially when sipping or on the rocks with water..

Seven artisan distilleries have formed their own trail from Marshall County in the far western end of the state to Mason in the north.  As of October 12th, there is the Kentucky Bourbon Trail Craft Tour.  (There already is a bourbon tour featuring the bigger distilleries.)

This is an outgrowth of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail which has attracted two million people over the past five years and a half million in 2011.  (I went to Honey Hill on an American Road road trip once.)  The participating places give you an inside look at how their product is distilled, aged and bottled.

Of course, then there is always my favorite part of a tour, the sampling (either for free or a small cost).

Of course, the volume produced by these craft distilleries is just "a drop in the bucket" compared to the bigger ones (mostly in central Kentucky) on the main tour.

Feeling Like the Kentucky Colonel.  --RoadDog

"Bad Teacher"-- Antioch-- A Liquor Store-- The Problem with Bourbon

Continuing with June 30th.


A BIT OFF ROAD STUFF...BUT

After those dee-licious Charcoburgers and a little bit of root beer at Dog 'N Suds in Ingleside, I went to the Fox Lake Theatre and saw the movie "Bad Teacher." In these days of anti-teacher sentiment, this movie can hardly help our case even if the characters were definitely to the extreme.

One thing I can relate to with the lead character, was her not knowing her students' names. I had a BIG problem with that, especially toward the end of my career. Only, I really tried to learn their names whereas she didn't.


ANTIOCH ILLINOIS

One of the great local villages we have here in northeast Illinois. This one has a real downtown where every building is occupied and everyone appears to be doing well.


A LIQUOR STORE

I went to Antioch Liquors at Il-173 and Il-83, a favorite browsing place for me when I'm in town. Huge selection and some really good specials. I ended up buying an Old Forester Bourbon set put out in 2008 to mark the 75th anniversary of the Repeal of Prohibition. Old Forester got a special government exemption so they were able to continue producing bourbon for medicinal purposes during Prohibition. That's one slick owner!


THE PROBLEM WITH BOURBON

Personally, I didn't much like bourbon, other than those neat water towers in Bourbon, Missouri, along Route 66. Just thinking about those towers being filled with bourbon brings a smile to my face. Actually I got to liking bourbon on an American Road Magazine road trip to Kentucky back several years ago.

We stayed at the Wig Wam Village in Cave City and went to the Heaven Hill Distillery on the auto tour. Plus, at nights, I "had" to drink friend Denny's bourbon after I found out we were in a "dry" county. Had I known of its dryness, I would have toted my hooch in with me.

Feeling a Bit in Need of Some "Medicine" Myself. --RoadDog

Tank of the Year in Rosemont, Illinois

This just in, the unique Rosemont, Il, water tower has received the coveted "Tank of the Year" award from Tnemec Corp. of Kansas City. It is a painting and coating company. With a name like Rosemont, it is no surprise that it is a giant rose. I've seen it and that is one impressive paint job.

The Rosemont water tower is 185 feet tall, holds 500,000 gallons, and was built in 1982.

It was in competition with over 100 water towers around the US. Some of the Illinois ones were Calumet Citys twin towers with Smiley Faces on them-uggh!, Darien, Illinois' lighthouse, and Schaumburg's baseball (for its minor league team).

Others I'd like to nominate:

Bourbon, Missouri- viewable from I-44 and the old Route 66. It just has the town name on it, but what a thought.

Hebron, Illinois- painted as a basketball in honor of their 1951 high school state championship basketball team.

Atlanta, Illinois- giant Smiley Face- I nominate this for the ugliest tank. I hate Smiley Faces.

Some city on US-54 that has side-by-side towers. One has the word hot painted on it. Guess what the other one has?

Goldsboro, North Carolina- I'd nominate this one for the way it's decorated for Christmas with lights that make it look like a giant crown.

Tanks a Lot. --RoadDog