Programming made possible by Team Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development.

Shepherdsville Bullitt County Tourist & Convention Commission Kentucky Lake Tourism Danville Tourism.

Historically bold.

and Harrodsburg Mercer County Tourist commission.

Thank you for your support.

this production was proudly prod in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Did you know Kentucky has more navigable miles of water than any other state in the U.S. except Alaska?

Is Alaska still a state?

There's 9000 miles of streams and dozens of rivers.

It's also quite famous for some other liquids, those which flow from a barrel.

That being beers, bourbons and wine.

Many of the world's best known distilleries can be found right here in the Bluegrass State.

And interestingly enough, pretty darn close to many of our lakes, rivers and streams.

We're here to take you on an expedition of the secrets and histories of our intricate waterways while visiting Kentucky's distilleries, breweries and wineries.

I'm Cory, and I'm Kyle.

And we are two Kentuckians who are pretty proud of our state.

We share a sip of what the Commonwealth has to offer.

That was a lot of fun.

How much fun was that?

That was a lot of fun.

How much fun was that?

Oh, right.

Yeah.

So, you know, we're in Bullitt County, so.

What better way to start off than shooting some bullets.

Bullets in Bullet County?

I love it.

It's so much fun.

And I'll tell you the people here are all professional, super safe.

Follow the rules.

Stay behind the yellow line.

Your ear protection.

Your eye protection.

I mean, it is all about being safe with this.

These are not boys, but this is so much fun.

I feel like a kid.

Yeah, that was super fun.

And you know what?

I think I might be a better shot than you, Kyle, I. Oh, maybe.

Maybe.

Yeah, that's possible.

Our target are comin so we can see.

Oh, yeah, that's probably mine, I think.

I think I know mine.

Now here comes yours, Kyle.

That's.

That's, you know, that's somebody.

I thought I was shooting high and to the left.

I knew that that's what was going.

Oh, hey, look, there's something on the back of this What is this?

the bullet holes in it.

Yeah.

Can you read that?

Okay.

It's one of those riddles.

Yeah.

Bullitt County version.

It says you can take a long lick in an old tub to find this German immigrant's legacy.

But you can't try his medicine.

Oh.

Any idea what that means?

Old tub.

Long licks.

Medicine.

German.

Aren't you kind of German?

You should know this.

Probably I.

Am.

And you know I am going to go visit Bernheim Forest today to learn about the watershed.

So maybe someone there will know.

Bernheim forest.

Well, while you're doing that, it just so happens I'm going to go meet up with our good friend, Mr. Brent Elliott, the master distiller for Four Roses.

Check out the rick houses and do some barrel tasting.

You And then I think we're just going to do a quick little jaunt around four four four wineries in Bullitt County because you know what Bullitt County is?

It's all about wine and whiskey.

You mentioned Bernheim I'm pretty sure that near there or even I'm just really really close Jim Beam beam's distilleries there they have a new restaurant do they?

That sounds maybe worth checking out from what I hear.

You want to meet up there?

That sounds like a great plan.

All right, let's head.

Out.

Have fun with the trees.

I'm going to go drink some wine.

Brent, quite the facility you've got here, my friend.

Lots of good stuff.

Good to see you.

Glad you could Good to see you.

Yeah, I wouldn't miss it.

Wow.

What is going on here?

I mean, tell me a little bit about this.

You guys are a little unique.

I can drive around the wonderful state of Kentucky and you'll see these giant barn looking places.

And I say giant.

I mean giant.

Some five stories tall there store and barrels of bourbon just like we are here.

But this is just a single level.

Tell me about this.

Yeah, it's very unique to the four roses, but the idea is to minimize that height.

So you minimize the temperature variation from bottom to top, right?

Because there is a variation, right?

I mean, yeah, significant.

Yes.

Heat rises.

So of course, at the top tiers, the higher you go, the hotter it's going to be, the more of that variance there's going to be from the bottom to the top.

And that's why they have to rotate all the time.

And when you talk about rotate, I think, you know, on these multi stories, it's quite the process.

I would think it is.

Yes, very time consuming.

And some people still rotate, I believe because of that variation you're going to see it's different quality from the barrels, the bottom to the top, and that quality isn't better or worse, just different.

You're in five different different styles.

Yes.

So they can actually take barrels from different sections of the warehouse and create totally different products because the flavor profiles can be different.

But if you look at temperature, it's very important.

The aging, because several things happen in the barrel.

You know, they're all charred.

So the first thing that happens is that liquid goes in and out of the activated carbon of the charcoal kind of acts as a filtration mode.

So that's the first thing that happens.

Then you also have just the extracts that are also a function of the temperature, the pressure, and how deeply and how often that liquid goes into the wood.

Because as the temperature changes, it expands, correct?

I mean, according to whether it's cold versus hot, things like breathing in and out.

Right.

And especially in the summer, it's basically the head space, the head space in the barrels where the expansion takes place.

Yeah.

And that'll push down the liquid pushed into the barrel and then when it cools off the exact opposite so it's breathing into and out of the barrel.

So that's a function of temperature.

And then the other thing happens, the reactions, which are also a function of temperature.

So it's the mellow reactions, things that, that create the unique flavors, the layers, the complexity and soften up the, the overall flavor.

These two barrels, they were same liquid went in the barrel the same day.

But you crack those too open.

Okay, some they could be totally different.

Totally different.

Not totally different.

But you can.

Yeah.

You know what you're doing when you taste bourbon, there's going to be some.

Yeah, that's right.

And in many cases it's subtle proof as well.

But I mean, the proof can be, oh, yeah, that's definitely true.

This one versus that one at about ten years of age.

And as the proof changes, the the balance of water and alcohol changes and then the extracts change.

So the way it age is sort of like a chicken or the egg, you know, because every proof really drives the final flavor.

So you start changing the proof.

You can start changing how it's age.

The profile is going to change a lot.

Now, as master distiller, I assume it's your responsibility.

What probably monthly to come out here and pop the bun on each one of these barrels and sample each one.

That's a one day's job, I guess.

400,000 barrels.

I typically knock it out in the morning before lunch.

That's good.

That's good.

And that's where that quality comes from.

People.

There is a lot of sampling that goes on.

All you do have a little like a pen or okay.

Right here.

Yeah, yeah.

And you can take a lot of the plug that we put in there.

We drill it, take the samples, and it's a lot of sampling each one of these or each batch, which is about one day's production, is roughly 280 barrels.

Okay.

So that's kind of how we track the inventory and the quality days production.

Okay.

Yeah.

When it goes in there, roughly, it's one day's production.

So say for example, this right here, if these all represent one of these barrels, here were one particular batch of what we do is we would sample like second tier chart.

You're not going to go through all of that because they are all the same batch.

So all these barrels, you're telling me that some of our fine retailers from I guess all over the world.

Right.

Can come out here country.

Yeah, they can come in check these out.

You'll roll out some barrels.

Literally roll out the barrel.

Literally, yes.

There we go.

Check it out.

Of course I do.

Go.

Let's go.

Here we are.

Barrel selection, private selection.

As we talked about just briefly, you've got several barrels laid out here.

What's getting ready to happen in this room?

Ten barrels.

Each one is one of our ten recipes aged somewhere between eight and 12 years old.

What we're going to do is we have a group coming in.

We're going to go through and I█m goin to thief from each barrel, a sample for each person.

So each person at the end of that sampling will have ten different recipes of different ages and from.

And then when the fun begins, everyone just tastes through and the group decides how they want to decide which barrel is.

They want to take home.

So how does this work?

I'm familiar with the device, this copper device sitting here, the whiskey thief.

We've learned about that in episode.

So what do you how do you do this?

What do you do when they come in here?

What's your what's your process?

Well, you take the glass and I'll do this.

I'm going to submerge it.

Let it fill pull it out.

And this is a messy process.

Yes, it is messy.

No way to do this cleanly.

But there you go.

Check out the color on that.

And you can even smell it just it really can.

Let's see.

I'll tell you which recipe this is.

You know, it just happens.

This is my favorite recipe.

It's number four and it is fantastic.

All right, wait, wait, wait.

I've got another riddle.

You remember that riddle thing last time we get to do well, we got one for Bullitt County.

That's just a doozy.

So it goes something like this.

You can take the long leg in an old tub and find this German immigrant's legacy.

But you can't sample his medicine.

Does any of that make any sense to you and all of your wisdom and knowledge?

Medicine?

Yeah, you could get prescription whiskey during the right medicine.

Four Roses was prescription one point in time.

It was a legitimate medicine and whatever it might be, it's still a legitimate medicine I think we know this.

This is this is the elixir right here.

Amy, Bernheim is absolutely gorgeous.

Thank you for inviting me out today.

Will you tell me a little bit about the history of Bernheim?

Sure.

So we were founded in 1929 by a German immigrant named Isaac Wolf Bernheim, who came over from Germany, kind of was a peddler all up and down the East Coast and then found his way to Kentucky, made his fortune in the bourbon industry, and then wanted to thank the people of Kentucky for the kindness he was shown in helping him and achieved the American dream.

And so he bought about 12,000 acres of land in 1929.

And to get back to the state of Kentucky and now here we are, a few thousand acres bigger, but we're still here, you know, honoring his vision to have a place of of rest for all people.

Wow.

Tell me a little bit about what goes on.

You have so many different things in this park.

We do.

We have a big part of that park that's for visitors.

So they hike, they bike.

We have fishing sections.

They come out for many educational programs.

They can enjoy art in nature.

You see some of our sculptures right behind us.

So we have art scattered throughout the park and then we have a part of the park that's not really open to visitors that we do research projects in.

And we save it just as conservation land and protect our clean air, clean water for all of the surrounding communities.

So we are just about 25 minutes south of Louisville.

Our entrance is in Bullitt County, but our property actually is in Bullitt and Nelson Counties.

It's a really lovely natural oasis next to a big city.

It's really easy to get to and there's so many different things to do here.

I understand you have 40 miles of hiking trails.

We do have 40 miles of hiking trails and they range in difficulty and in length.

So you can hike a quarter of a mile all the way up to our 13 mile millennium Trail.

So there's a little something for everybody here.

It's a long hike.

I don't think I'll do that one today.

Some other time.

Well, tell me a little bit about the art and nature program here.

That's one of the things that makes Bernheim so special and so unique, is you have these beautiful pieces of artwork, large, small.

We do only about that.

So our Arts and nature program, Isaac Wolfe Bernheim envisioned a rich art program here.

So we continued to do that.

To this day, we have an artist in residence program that's 42 years old.

It was established in 1980.

So we continue to collect these artists from all over the world, really.

And we keep their pieces on site when it when it's possible.

So we have art kind of scattered throughout.

So it's a lovely surprise when you're out hiking here to kind of stumble upon a piece of art.

They are certainly beautiful pieces.

They're surprising, like you said, when you're walking, you expect to see the plants and the trees and then you come you come across this lovely chair.

Can you tell me about her?

Sure.

So this is one of three forest giants in a giant forest we have on site.

This is Mama Lou Marie.

They were created by an artist named Thomas Gambo, who is a Danish artist.

So his studio is in Copenhagen.

And we kind of discovered his pieces that had been hidden in other places.

They we did not have a lot in the United States at the time.

So we commissioned him to come here and he built these three magical creatures.

So we have a mom and two children and they're kind of about two miles apart from each other in the park.

They are all built out of recycled and repurposed wood.

So and most of it really honors Kentucky tradition.

So we have bourbon barrel staves that you can see on Mama's dress.

There is some ash wood from the cores of Louisville Slugger bats.

And then we also have recycled pallet wood from a factory in Shepherdsville And then their structures are created out of fallen trees.

So we really, really tried to honor the local, local landscape and also we just really wanted to show the importance of repurposing recycling and get people to appreciate what they can do to give something a second, third, fourth life.

That's so creative.

I would have never I would never think of that.

Yeah.

All those different components to it.

As much as I love trees, Amy, I'm really into water too.

And I understand you've got a lot of water here.

We do.

We have four lakes and then we also protect the headwaters of 13 streams.

So we have water everywhere here.

You see Lake Nevin, when you first arrive and you can fish on Lake Nevin and then throughout several different trails, you can also do lots of creek crossings.

And one of my favorite trails is the rock run trail.

It is also a visitor favorite.

You get rock run creek that goes right through the middle of it and a lot of limestone all around.

It is a really beautiful trail, so I highly recommend that you visit there as well.

That sounds like a great idea.

I'm going to go head up there.

Thanks!

Hi, you must be Dr. Wourms.

I am indeed.

Hello.

Welcome to burn.

Yes.

Well, this is Rock Run Creek.

It is.

It is one of my favorite places in all Bernheim for me.

What makes it so special?

Well, you're immersed in a beautiful, ephemeral creek and enclosed by limestone cliffs in a beautiful forests of beech maple.

And it can't be better.

Well, there's not a lot of water right now where does it go?

Well, after a rain, this can be a torrent.

It is a you know, can be flushed with water.

However, what happens is over time, the water drops into the water table under the ground.

This can be bone dry up here and there's still water flowing through the ground.

And that's important.

It's important for the health of the water.

It's important for long term storage of water, and it's important for the quality of the water and that limestone filtered water is why the bourbon trail exists.

Why why Jim Beam and all of those other distilleries exist right here.

So I know Bernheim plays a really important role in making sure that watershed is clean.

You have a lot of water in this park.

Can you talk about how much water comes through this park and all of the different ways that you make sure that water stays good and clean?

Sure.

So in our 16,140 acres, which is about 25.5 square miles, think of the island of Manhattan in New York.

And instead of millions of people, we have millions of trees.

When rain falls on all that land, we've estimated something like 22 billion gallons a year.

Billion?

Billion are absorbed by this forest.

And that is what then is recharging the creeks, the streams, the lakes and the groundwater.

And because it flows through this beautiful limestone all around us, it is calcium rich, which makes it great for making bourbon, great for building strong horses as well.

Beyond your your creeks, you have a lot of other types of water here.

I know you have lots of ponds, a huge lake.

Can you talk about all of those other water features and their role as well?

Well, Bernheim actually protects 72 ponds and they range from a 16 acre lake Nevin, to tiny little pockets.

But those are important because that surface water is available to wildlife of all sorts.

So if you're sitting quietly, you might see birds coming in, you might find beaver, you might find bobcats at, you know, all kinds of beautiful creatures.

Use that surface water, including humans.

We also protect 91 miles of streams.

And again, those streams act as corridors for life.

Well, I don't think there is any where better to be on a hot day like today than down here in this creek bed?

One of my favorite things to do as a kid was to walk in the creek, and I don't think I've outgrown it.

Let's go off.

Let's go.

Doctor Wourms This has been fantastic, but I have to go to meet Kyle at Jim Beam.

But before I do, I have a riddle I have to solve.

Okay.

You can take the long lick in an old tub to find this German immigrant's legacy.

But you can't taste his medicine.

Oh, I think I've got part of that.

Do you?

Amy gave me part of it?

I think she told me your founder was a German immigrant.

Absolutely.

Isaac Wolf Bernheim and I think his medicine is bourbon that he started called i w harper.

That makes sense.

Thank you so much.

Well, you enjoy the rest of your afternoon.

Very good.

Nice seeing you.

You too.

All right.

Forest Edge Winery.

First stop on the gauntlet in Bullitt County.

Oh, and you read my mind.

This is I'm going to toast before because I may forget by the by the end.

This has got to be this is run and gun tasting, trying.

And you know what?

I heard you all had so many types of wine that it's just...in fact I can't even believe it.

How many types of wine do you have?

That's roughly 25.

25.

And you have it in cans to.

Have it cans, some pretty unique.

Ones.

And hop vino, wine.

Oh colada we've got some Kentucky cab franc here.

Bluegrass blend, of course.

Sweet white wine and you've got a forest fire.

Wine.

I do add a Thai chili pepper too, and it lights up your life.

I gotta try that!

Java Vino at his wine and whiskey all over and how do you I mean, it really is something to have this many types available.

Tell me about the fun and why you all have experimented and tried.

All of these.

I really love the R&D.

I like coming up with crazy stuff because wine can be very fun.

Now, when it comes to the wine, Red Vinifera is I'm a purist.

I like to make them the way they're supposed to be made.

But wine can be fun.

When you start getting into sweet wines and flavored fruit wines, you can make cocktails out of them.

You can do a lot of stuff.

We make wine, slushies, so wine can be a lot of fun.

And if you take it with that in mind, then you can make some really fun, great wines.

The first stop on the gantlet and already we try to set the bar is enough here where I don't need to go to the other three, but I will, I will will do it and it'll be great.

And oh, by the way, so before I leave and drink all these wines in the next 30 or 40 seconds, we've got a riddle.

I need some help with about Bullitt County.

Here it is.

Here it is.

Okay.

You can take the long lick in an old tub to find this German immigrants legacy.

But you can't sample his medicine.

Any idea what that is?

What that means, who that is?

I think there might be a hint in the name of my winery.

Yeah, whatever.

Before you.

Go.

I'll give you a sample.

And I swear to you, if you.

If you can't handle it, here's a slushy to kill.

Oh, is this a wine?

That's a wine.

Slushy sangria.

Oh.

This is the place I need.

We don't need to go any other wineries.

This is.

We stay here and we could sleep Oh, you can smell the pepper.

It's going to be sweet up front.

Then it will start to build.

Oh, wow.

As soon as it hit my throat, Its got, oh man!

That is really cool.

You got to go for this spot here.

Oh, boy.

I love it.

Stop number two, Brooks Hill Winery.

This is beautiful.

How are you all doing?

We're doing.

Great.

Quite well, thank you.

Oh, I can't imagine how you couldn't be coming out here.

This is so nice.

Beautiful drive out and you've got some wonderful things sprouting and turning green in the vineyard here.

What all are you growing?

Well, we have a grape, called Limburge also known as Blaue Frankish.

It's a wonderful grape, red.

So Vinifera native to Austria and Hungary and we make it in two different styles.

We make it when we're aged in American Oak Oak, and then we'll make it where we don't aged in oak comes right out of that stainless steel container and quite good.

Oaked and un-oaked.

And this, you know, this is calling out to me.

I'm just going to assume this was from fantastic.

What got you all into doing a vineyard here in Bullitt County?

Well, course, we love Bullitt County.

My family is from Bullitt County.

And we found this property when actually when I got ready to retire from practicing law, we found it, we renovated it and put the vineyard in.

Now, Karen has retired from the state government and so both of us are out here.

Now, tell me about what's unique.

What kind of varieties do you have?

Obviously, that that grape is a unique in itself.

I believe it is.

I know what all you all put in the bottle.

So its all done one at a time.

That's probably our real uniqueness.

Okay.

We don't have any big machinery.

We don't have a bottling line that you just send it through.

It's all one at a time.

All the grapes are picked one bunch of the time when they come out.

When it comes out, right, a bottle filled up.

One bottle time court, one bottle at a time.

All hand-made, Family run.

I bet if you took your shoes and socks off your feet would be am I right.

Oh, yeah.

Okay.

What's the what's the most fun about creating these blends?

I think one of the things that we enjoy most is giving it names.

Okay, tell me about the names.

I think there maybe I may have come across someone who's right over here name that may be part of one of your bottles here.

We started out with our first dog, Lilly, and we named two after Lili Lili Red and Lilly White and then Annie came along and she now has Annie's autumn apple.

And like the apple, you know, the apples.

What do you think she does eat apples?

Yeah, you go.

And after our granddaughter, if we need to enjoy.

Doing, I would think naming it and tasting it.

Yeah.

All right.

Well, this is wonderful.

We will go check out the inside of the tasting first.

You all are.

This is beautiful out.

Here you go.

Check out the inside.

Yep.

Come on Annie.

So, Mike, you got a lot of German grapes around here.

You know anything about a German medicine?

I know.

After sampling some four roses, Berlin, visiting two wineries and spending a day at Bernheim Forest, we pack so much into Bullitt County, so we're going to have to spend the night tune into the second half of Downstream in Bullitt County, where we'll visit two more wineries out of the Salt River and stop in at James Bob to sample food and drinks.

Until next time, we'll see you downstream.