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By Blake
As of today, it has been 126 days since my last posting. To all of the wonderful distributors and promoters who have sent us bourbon to review, thank you for your generosity, and thank you for your patience. To all of our wonderful readers, if any are left, I sincerely apologize and I look forward to making it up to you in the forthcoming articles and bourbon reviews.
A lot has happened in the past 3 months, perhaps too much to include in one blog posting. I’ll do my best to recap the highlights (in chronological order): Pruitt and I have both changed day jobs, however I was lucky enough to get to stay in Raleigh. Pruitt’s new job temporarily relocated him to Boston, which has, at the very least, given him the opportunity to get the good bourbon word out to all those “city slickers” up north (no offense if you happen live above the Mason Dixon). The Bourbon Journal BBQ cooking team (Geoff, Shay, Todd, Kevin, and myself) won 1st place in the Cary BBQ Classic for our delicious pulled pork BBQ paired with a Shiver family secret sauce. Geoff, one of my best bourbon buddies, quit his job to go apprentice as a web developer with some of the technical bosses at Groupon. My wife and I celebrated our 1-year anniversary on the beautiful St Simon’s Island, complete with a bottle of Noah’s Mill and a genuine shrimping boat excursion. But most notably, my good old Clemson Tigers pulled it together and won the ACC Championship this year (FINALLY)!
It has been a busy 3 months, but there is no excuse for such a long sabbatical from the Bourbon Journal. I have been working to build momentum by drafting some new bourbon reviews, including Angel’s Envy, Willet, Noah’s Mill, and several variations of the Woodford Reserve Master’s Collection. All are phenomenal bourbons that were quite a pleasure to review! I also have a long list of topics that I am very excited to write about.
By Blake
It’s the second Saturday of the month and you find yourself hungover, sitting at the breakfast table, wondering what you’ll get into today. Perhaps you have some friends visiting from out of town or you are looking to show a family member around the local Raleigh scene? Maybe you are just a beer drinking, buzz loving socialite looking for a good deal on something fun to do? Regardless of your motivation, I suggest you make it a point to drag yourself out of bed before noon on a 2nd Saturday and head down to the Big Boss Brewery for the free tour. Trust me, you will not regret waking up “early” on a Saturday for this one! Just head towards downtown Raleigh on Atlantic Avenue until you reach the brewery off of Wicker Drive (just before the Waste Management recycling center).
Between the masses of people and the surplus U.S. Army vehicles parked outside the facility, you really can’t miss this place. It is the largest brewery that we have toured in the Triangle thus far, and no doubt the most popular. My best guess is that there were 300-500 people waiting out in front of the brewery for the Saturday tour when we arrived. Although the line appears long, they move people into the building for beer and tours fairly quick. I am guessing that because of this popularity, they had to stop giving out free samples at some point. Don’t fret though, you only have to pay $1 for each beer that you drink on the tour. If you decide you like their beer, they have a tap room that sells retail pints, growlers, and kegs just upstairs from the main brewery floor.
As for the tour, the staff members all give an excellent walk through of the brewery, accompanied by a very informative talk about the Big Boss brewing process. The tours begin at 2pm, but if you get stuck in the long line out front, it is not a problem. They break everyone out into smaller groups (about 50 people per group) and take each through the tour separately at 15 minute intervals. It takes about 30 minutes to complete the tour, so as always, make sure you have a full glass of beer before your group starts. While on the tour, we took the liberty to look over everything we could inside and out, which was welcomed by the brewery staff. I have listed some “helpful hints” below to make sure you get the most out of your brewery tour experience:
- Show up about 15-20 min before 2 so that you aren’t in the back of the line.
- Bring your ID and at least $3 cash for purchasing samples.
- When you finish your tour, go sit in the back of the U.S. Army truck at the loading dock. Trust me!
- Hungry? Not a problem, they have food vendors set up in the parking lot.
So what is all this Army truck talk about, right? Well that is one of the rather unique portions of the Big Boss tour that you definitely don’t want to miss out on. After you have achieved a nice early afternoon beer buzz, the good people who staff this brewery have been known to take their patrons on a good old fashioned tailgate ride in a real U.S. Army truck! There is no specific agenda for the truck ride, but it is a pretty cool part of the tour.
This is a fantastic brewery tour experience, but it has become rather popular amongst Raleigh locals. Be prepared for a friendly crowd and maybe a little standing in line, but rest assured that it is a wonderful Saturday activity!
By Blake
I want to briefly follow up on my previous article about Maker’s Mark 46. If you are interested in a nice article about how they actually make this stuff, Forbes has a good one. Still not bourbon in my book, but at least they put a lot of thought and effort into making it.
Keep sending us your comments and questions. We love to hear from you!
By Blake
Every now and then, we post tid-bits of bourbon related information on our Twitter page. Feel free to follow us so that you can stay in the loop! @bourbonjournal
By Blake
I love discovering things that naturally compliment each other. Don’t get me wrong, I respect the purist, but sometimes two things can combine together and create an entirely different experience than if they were enjoyed individually. It just so happens that my discoveries in this department typically have a top shelf bourbon as the common denominator, fancy that! That being said, go ahead and add golf to the list of things that go well with your favorite bourbon (i.e. cigars, steak, bourbon chocolates, political debates, etc.)!
It may seem a bit counter intuitive that straight brown liquor compliments a game of mental dexterity and focused concentration, but I have hard evidence that it indeed does. Those of you who also enjoy golf are probably surprised to hear me baulk at the idea of consuming alcohol on the course, but hear me out. I do understand the long standing tradition of downing a couple of beers throughout eighteen holes, but I am suggesting something just a bit off the beaten path of tradition when I replace beer with bourbon. Packing a bottle of hard liquor on a round of golf is a new concept for me, but I have learned that it has some very powerful benefits!
This all started a few weeks ago while I was on a bachelor party trip in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Instead of the typical burlesque hounding adventures into the doldrums of one’s moral compass, this bachelor party weekend was one for a gentleman. Just good old friends congregating on the East Coast for some good clean fun and world class golf. As one would expect, I showed up to the golf course on day one with a fifth of Knob Creek bourbon tucked into my golf bag. By the fourth tee box, I had the cork out and was taunting the rest of our crew to join me in a swig!
Before I opened the bourbon, I had lost two balls to a nasty slice straight into the course’s only water hazard, four putted every hole from less than 20 feet, and removed an estimated acre of carefully cultivated grass from the rough/fairway. I was not having a great round and figured what the hell, at least the bourbon will add to the excitement as I guess which tree my ball is going to smack into. So I took a swig, grabbed my driver, and stepped up to the fourth tee box with a sense of confidence that I had been lacking all morning. When I nailed my ball for a 270 yard drive straight onto the green of the short par 4, I began to think that there might be a little more to this bourbon than I had previously expected. To verify that it was more than simple coincidence, I repeated the experiment on the next hole to find nearly the same result. At this point, I had piqued the interest of my fellow gentlemen in company, who then decided to join in on my intoxicated pursuit. The results were outstanding and undeniable! We began nailing long, straight drives and sinking unbelievable puts like we were training for the PGA. It was as though we had found our muse and could do no wrong!
Our trend remained consistent through the front nine, but things soon fell apart as we rounded the turn for the finish line. By that point, we were all a bit toasted and the sun was starting to heat things up. Even still, my game never digressed back to the piss-poor level that I started on! I shot a solid 90 on the eighteen (not great, but I will take it any day), with two birdies to brag about back at the club house. As far as I am concerned, bourbon on the golf course can turn a bad game of golf around in seconds! Ever since my discovery, I always carry a bottle of Knob Creek in my side pocket just in case things start to take a turn for the worst.
By Blake
Just like bourbon, all good things take time to create! After much planning and small talk over fine bourbon and smooth cigars, I am proud to announce the birth of great resource for bourbon lovers abound! Whether you are a bourbon fanatic or just a curious observer, we hope to compile a wealth of information related to the exploration of bourbon and all of its glory for you to browse through.
The goal of this blog is to collect and distribute resourceful information to its readers. This means that in addition to our original content, we always appreciate topic suggestions and feedback from our readers. If you are interested in becoming an author, please email some credentials and an abstract of a post to jobs@bourbonjournal.com.
We are glad you decided to stop by and hope that you will add us to your favorites and subscribe to our RSS feed so that you can keep up with us. We also look forward to hearing from those of you who wish to contribute.
Sincerely,
Blake Shiver
Co-editor, The Bourbon Journal
This site was inspired by fellowship and good bourbon, two things that each gentleman must, at some point, ascertain a taste for! We hope that you will find what you are looking for while you enjoy your time with us. Feel free to drop us a line if you care to say hello or if you feel like something is missing.