The Thoroughbred Club of America

December ~ A time when we do our best around here to slow things down a bit all in the honor of friends, family, and traditions. Over the years we’ve come to know what we like best. What brings back the fond memories, what makes us the most comfortable, and what makes us the most grateful.

December is also a time to celebrate & shine. This year the Thoroughbred Club of America here in Lexington was ready to bring a fresh look to their treetops, tabletops, and time-honored traditions. I am honored that they asked me to bring that fresh look to their beautiful club for Christmas.

It was an absolute pleasure!

With my photographs & the sentimental prose of Edgar Albert Guest ~ I'm happy to share the results with you!  

 

"When Friends Drop In" 

It may be I'm old-fashioned, but the times I like the best

Are not the splendid parties with the women gaily dressed,

And the music tuned for dancing and the laughter of the throng,

With a paid comedian's antics or a hired musician's song,

But the quiet times of friendship, with the chuckles and the grin,

And the circle at the fireside when a few good friends drop in.

Though I sometimes like an opera, there's no music quite so sweet

As the singing of the neighbors that you're always glad to meet;

Oh, I know when they come calling that the fun will soon begin,

And I'm happiest those evenings when a few good friends drop in.

 

There's no pomp of preparation, there's no style or shame or fuss;

We are glad to welcome callers who are glad to be with us,

And we sit around and visit or we start a merry game,

And we show them by our manner that we're mighty pleased they came,

For there's something real about it, and the yarns we love to spin,

And the time flies, Oh, so swiftly when a few good friends drop in.

Let me live my life among them, cheerful, kindly folks and true,

And I'll ask no greater glory till my time of life is through;

Let me share the love and favor of the few who know me best,

And I'll spend my time contented till my sun sinks in the west;

 

I will take what fortune sends me and the little I may win,

And be happy on those evenings when a few good friends drop in.

Edgar Albert Guest

Many thanks to everyone at the Thoroughbred Club ~ I wish you all a very Merry Christmas & a joyous new year!

  Merry Christmas & thanks as well to

Joseph & Shannon Hillenmeyer for the fireside chats in the pouring rain, beautiful Christmas trees & heavenly greens!

Photo | Longshadow

A very special thank you to my assistant Taylor for making the hustle & bustle so much fun! 

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Woodford Reserve

Kentucky is a place where men carry on about the soil, being married to the land and being buried in it. It's also home to the world's finest burley, the cradle of the best Thoroughbreds and birthplace of MR's favorite bourbon.

A year ago my daughter mentioned that she had been invited by a gentleman friend to visit The Woodford Reserve Distillery. MR. recalls watching one of my eyebrows raise from across the room. He told me that he admired the way that I casually gathered all the pertinent information – who, what, when, where, and "WHY on earth would you want to visit a distillery?"

This one said it sounded like fun and wanted to go too - of course, he did. We took MR. for Father's Day and we all loved it! Some of us more than others.

All Kentucky distilleries are steeped in tradition; Woodford Reserve is a showplace of the distiller's art and Kentucky bourbon heritage. This small, picturesque distillery is nestled along Glenn's Creek at the site where Elijah Pepper, one of the famous early Bluegrass distillers, set up his distillery in 1812.

The L & G on the smokestack goes back to 1878 when James Graham and Leopold Labrot bought the property. 

In 1995, the distillery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and designated a National Historic Landmark in 2000.

As the founding member of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail®, the Woodford Reserve Distillery gives visitors a sense of what bourbon-making was like in the 1800s.

On our tour, we learned about each aspect of the bourbon-making process, starting with fermentation. Making whiskey at this stage is a lot like making bread. Woodford uses its own unique yeast strain which is added to the mix to start the fermentation process. The average fermentation time for bourbon is three days, but Woodford Reserve ferments for a full 6 days, one of the longest fermentation in the industry.

According to master distiller Chris Morris, Woodford Reserve has its roots as a 500-acre working family farm with cattle and grain. Here he breaks down five sources of flavor in whiskey to grain, water, fermentation, distillation, and aging.

After fermentation, Woodford Reserve is distilled three times in these massive copper pot stills.

Woodford then ages their whiskey in stone rack houses that date back to 1870. They use a process called cycling which involves heating and cooling the warehouse to manage the maturation.

The summertime heat expands the whiskey, pushing it into the charred layers of white oak. During winter the cold weather draws the liquid back into the barrel. 

These cycles give bourbon its characteristic color, flavors, and aromas. 

Woodford is aged for an average of 7 years before it’s blended and hand bottled.

That's why it's called "small batch."

At the end of the tour, we sampled two of Woodford’s offerings.

and a bourbon ball ~ sweet!

Followed by some golf and a nap. A good Father's Day indeed!

The Woodford Reserve Distillery

The Kentucky Bourbon Trail

Don't forget to mind your manners & drink responsibly.