Marked for Life: On the Bourbon Trail with Jay Jones Pt 1

Being an ambassador to a brand is an incredibly significant relationship. Signing your allegiance to a label or company is a very personal thing for an ambitious Bartender, as it speaks volumes to your personality and integrity (or lack thereof).  Supporting Maker’s Mark is requited love indeed – the redheaded bottle has silently given us more credit than perhaps we deserve. When local fellow Barkeep and friend Ron Oliver stepped out from behind the wood to become Maker’s Mark Distillery Diplomat for Canada, we were all incredibly proud and jealous. When he stepped into our Bars two months ago and invited us to Kentucky for a week, we were speechless.

Four cocktail crusaders: Trevor Kallies (Granville Room), Shaun Layton (George), Simon Kaulback (Boneta) and yours truly (Voya) – off on a pilgrimage to our personal Holy Land. Apparently our devotion to Maker’s Mark had not gone unnoticed. We counted down the days like kids before Christmas – as visions of Old Fashioneds danced through our heads…

The road to Kentucky began with one eye open, while coffee and energy drinks provided distraction from the weirdness of waking up at five in the morning. The early launch time for our expedition trumped the usual pre-flight terminal drinking session that usually goes along with these kinds of trips – part work, mostly play, but easier to tell the customs agent it was a “business trip”. We would need our livers in top form for the road ahead, far more than we could imagine. This was a foursome of Vancouver’s finest professional drunkards, each of us confidently armed with trench-earned certification in hard-core binge drinking; though it was us who would be Kentucky’s next notch on its bedpost.

A pit stop in Chicago lets us find our first Bar, and our first shot of the trip (Maker’s Mark of course – this is a business trip after all). The sweet nectar starts to make things feel right in the world. There is a distinctly different feel to an American Bar – whether it’s an iconic monument to the rich history of cocktailing, or a cookie-cutter airport way station, they all have a certain brazen sense of place. A Boilermaker later, and it’s back to the friendly skies.  Four hours of numb-bum and insipid coffee brings us to Louisville, and our next pit stop: The Woodford Reserve Bar at the airport. Our old friends Darryl MacDonald (ex Ocean Club) and Bryant Mao (ex George) are there to greet us – hugs and Boilermakers ensue, as Team Canada is complete. Team England lands shortly thereafter; six of London’s finest Bartenders, and our traveling companions for the week. It’s encouraging to see the Londoners looking as rough as we feel. Introductions are made, and we are all whisked off into to our shining, white, twelve-seater, econoline chariots – headed for downtown Louisville.

I’m not sure any of us knew what to expect from the city. We are dying to get to the hotel, full of vigor now, ready to hit the next Bar. The 21C Museum Hotel is a stunning surprise: a gallery of risqué paintings and creative instillation art, wrapped in a minimalist, contemporary boutique hotel. The service is smart and efficient, with a stylish and European feel– very bold and very cool. We all take a few moments to soak it in before unloading in our rooms and heading back down to the Bar: Proof on Main – our first official stop on the ‘Urban Bourbon Trail’.

The Back Bar is fully loaded with a massive range of Bourbons; not to mention huge selection in every other major spirit category. We settle in for local beer and shots – a trend is beginning to emerge. The Bar fits right into the style of the hotel. The Bartenders are great, with a casual and quiet confidence. So far we are most impressed with Louisville.

After a couple of rounds, our motley crew heads outside and off to soak up some nightlife. We stroll past the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory and its eight-story high baseball bat – en route to dinner at the Maker’s Mark Bourbon House & Lounge. We enjoy just enough Whisky and meat to keep us going for a few more hours. I’ve discovered over the years that heavy drinking is the best cure for jet lag. The next stop on the trail is the Old Seelbach Bar; buried in the heart of its namesake hotel. This Bar reeks of pre-prohibition swagger, with a gorgeous stretch of mahogany to lean on, and a sea of bottles to ponder. We instinctively ask the Bartender for Old Fashioneds and Manhattans, as the room captures our geeky reverence for classics. A sneaky wander into the bowels of the hotel reveals gorgeous, dimly lit catacombs; marked with marble archways and peering gargoyles that speak of the century gone by. The Seelbach has character beyond words, and we feel whisked away to the period it was born in.

We are not done with the night however, miraculously wandering our way to the Brown Hotel, to lean on its beautiful Bar. The Bartender, Rebecca, has a smile as broad as her knowledge of Bourbon. Like little kids, we stare and point at the bottles behind the Bar, asking questions faster than she can answer. She makes time for every drunken query, and we begin to understand what Southern Hospitality is all about. Feeling schmarter, we wobble home. Vindicated and lubricated, we are grateful that our hotel is stumbling distance away. ~ Jay Jones

Part 2 – A visit to Maker’s Mark distillery