I’ve been looking at The Kentucky Bourbon Cocktail Book, a recently released bourbon bible of sorts written by food and drinks writer Susan Reigler and featuring the wonderful recipes of master mixologist Joy Perrine. Joy, who has been named Louisville’s Best Bartender, is a veteran of the iconic Equus Restaurant and Jack’s Lounge, is an expert on all things bourbon.

I’ve always been a fan of the Hot Toddy and figured The Kentucky Bourbon Cocktail Book would have a tried and true recipe. I’m planning to make one as soon as I get home.

Hot Toddy Mug

5 oz boiling water

2 oz Kentucky Bourbon

1 oz Simple Syrup

Lemon Twist

Pour hot water in a mug, add bourbon and simple syrup, garnish with a twist.

Enjoy the perfect fall drink.

Do you have a seasonal bourbon or whisk(e)y drink you enjoy? Share your recipe with us!

After a great weekend in Kentucky filming the Team Bourbon Launch and inaugural Bourbon Chase Relay our crew is back from the Bluegrass and editing is underway in the studio. If you missed the launch of Team Bourbon (we showed it live from Lexington Thursday) you can watch it JUST CLICK HERE

Toasting the launch of Team Bourbon.

The Bourbon Chase was, by all accounts, an incredible success. Torrential downpours Friday morning? No problem. Lightning? Didn’t miss a stride. Tornado warnings? No biggie. Our crew captured the ‘Chase—from the sopping wet start at Jim Beam all the way to the finish line in Lexington. We’ll have full coverage coming very shortly, and you can check out a few teasers from the race online now.

Many of the more than 150 teams went the extra mile (no pun intended) creating special t-shirts and accessories for the Chase.

“Team Winning Colors” heads for the finish line in Lexington Saturday.

Congrats to all the Bourbon Chase Runners for a brilliant inaugural event. Stay tuned to Singlemalt TV for full coverage coming soon.

Singlemalt TV crews are out location as a wet, albeit spirited relay is underway on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. The race started this morning at the Jim Beam Distillery in Clermont. I hear that despite the inclement weather the Bourbon Chase is going wonderfully and runners are taking the showers (and torrential downpours!) in stride.

A quick recap: Last night in Lexington the Bourbon Community congregated at the Hilton Downtown to toast both the launch of Team Bourbon and the inaugural Bourbon Chase Relay. Singlemalt TV covered the event live from the Hilton, as speakers including Kentucky Distiller’s Association President Eric Gregory, Bourbon Chase Founder/ Organizer Mike Kuntz, Kentucky Tourism Commissioner Michael Cooper and Lexington CVB VP of Marketing and Tourism Mary Quinn Ramer. Each of them discussed the importance of bourbon to the culture and heritage of the Bluegrass, while explaining the new Team Bourbon initiative which will focus heavily on innovative marketing of the Bourbon Lifestyle, a blend of Bourbon-centric culture and tradition that characterizes a way of life unique to Kentucky.

Through a variety of innovative marketing campaigns Team Bourbon, which unites numerous tourism groups across Kentucky, will showcase the Bourbon Lifestyle and the many attractions along the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.

If you missed our live coverage last night you can catch it all on the channel Monday. Stay Tuned throughout the weekend for video updates as the Bourbon Chase continues!

A statue of bourbon icon Booker Noe receives a tipple of Jim Beam as the Bourbon Chase begins.

There’s been a serious buzz about bourbon for a while now, and tonight it will all come together in the launch of Kentucky’s monumental “Team Bourbon.” The brainchild of a group of spirited Kentuckians—all invested in the tourism and economic stability of the state—Team Bourbon will combine the efforts and offerings of a number of agencies interested in promoting the “Bourbon Lifestyle.”

The logo for newly formed Team Bourbon, Singlemalt TV will bring you the launch live from Lexington tonight.

Having experienced astounding growth in the past year (the Kentucky Bourbon Trail is ticking off passports left and right, as is Louisville’s restaurant-based Urban Bourbon Trail) there is no better time for Bourbon to enter the limelight. Team Bourbon members include the Anderson County Tourism Commission, Bardstown-Nelson County Tourist & Convention Commission, Frankfort Tourism Commission, Lebanon Tourist & Convention Commission, Lexington Convention & Visitors Bureau Louisville Convention & Visitors Bureau, Shepherdsville/Bullitt County Tourist & Convention Commission, Woodford County Tourist Commission, Kentucky Bourbon Festival, Kentucky Department of Travel and (of course) The Kentucky Distillers’ Association.

Team Bourbon will officially kick off tonight at the Hilton in Lexington, and will be accompanied by a reception for the runners participating in this weekend’s inaugural Bourbon Chase.

…and Singlemalt TV will be there to bring you the event LIVE at 7pm (broadcast may begin shortly after 7 depending on actual the start time of the event).

You won’t want to miss this truly historic event, the who’s who of the Bourbon industry will unite catalyze an effort that will continue to celebrate and  promote America’s Native Spirit and the Bluegrass State. Look out Napa Valley, from all forecasts Bourbon Country is looking like the next hot destination, and we’re positive Team Bourbon has some great ideas in store.

Stay tuned to Singlemalt TV on Facebook and Twitter. For updates throughout the day—we’ll keep you posted on the happenings as Team Bourbon prepares to make it’s debut! And mark your calendars for a weekend rife with Bourbon Country fun—SMTV crews will be on the scene around the clock to bring you full coverage of the Bourbon Chase beginning Saturday morning.

It’s been a busy couple weeks at Singlemalt TV headquarters! By now you’ve surely had a chance to check out some of our video from the Kentucky Bourbon Festival (September 15-20), and if you’re ready for more you’ll be in luck this weekend.

A screen grab from the Maker’s Mark Booth at the KY Bourbon Festival Gala 9/19.

We’re sending a crew back to Kentucky to shoot the FIRST EVER Bourbon Chase—and we couldn’t be more excited.

In case you hadn’t heard about this innovative event, the Bourbon Chase is a 36-hour, 200-mile relay along the Kentucky       Bourbon Trail. Beginning Saturday teams of runners will head from Jim Beam east to Bourbon Capital Bardstown, through Heaven Hill Distillery and onward to scenic Maker’s Mark in Loretto. The route takes runners through some of Kentucky’s most historic and ogle-worthy regions. After leaving Maker’s Mark runners head past a famed Civil War battlefield and south through the Bluegrass’ second oldest city, Stanford. North to Danville and on through Harrodsburg—runners will pass through some of the most significant locations in the rich history of the Southeast.

Runners  will begin the Bourbon Chase at Jim Beam

This sign will greet runners at Maker’s Mark Distillery in Loretto.

Stops at Four Roses and Wild Turkey in Lawrenceburg are first as the route re-enters Bourbon Country. Runners will then cross the Tyrone Bridge suspended high above the Kentucky River as they head into Horse Country and some of the most gorgeous visuals imaginable. The natural progression lends itself to a stop at Woodford Reserve, the home of the Derby’s official bourbon.

Bourbon barrels at Woodford Reserve.

Onward to Frankfort, past the remains of the Old Taylor Distillery now relegated to nary more than a landmark. Through The Capital and on to Buffalo Trace Distillery, another gem in the bourbon history books.

Finally runners will head for Lexington—miles on exquisitely beautiful countryside will eventually giveway to the buzz of the city—and (of course) the finish line.

The famous water tower at Buffalo Trace.

The event has been HUGELY popular in its inaugural year—with over 200 12-person teams participating and a fantastic party to end the race in Lexington (trust us, the folks in Kentucky are some of the best hosts on earth) you WILL NOT want to miss SMTV’s coverage of the Bourbon Chase.

Cheers.

The bottling line at Heaven Hill in Bardstown, the largest family-owned distillery.

The best exclusive coverage of the Kentucky Bourbon Festival is available at www.singlemalt.tv—check it out!

Once you’ve seen our coverage of the Kentucky Bourbon Festival head on over to our facebook page and leave us your thoughts, as always you can reach us through the blog as well!

Cheers and enjoy the videos!

I write this from the heart of Bardstown, where Singlemalt TV has two crews on the ground cover Kentucky Bourbon Festival….

Singlemalt TV’s Ali Mutch (left) clinks a glass with new friends at Bourbon, Cigars and Jazz on Friday.

….I guess that was all I had time to write as it is now a full week after I began this post and the Kentucky Bourbon Festival has come to an end. Back at Singlemalt TV Headquarters we’re already reminiscing about the seven days we spent in Kentucky, and while the week was packed it is impossible not to have a great time in Bourbon Country. From the incredible hospitality (bakery fresh donuts anyone?) to the fantastic bourbon (Evan Williams Single Barrel was a true champion of our cause) to the Kentucky Bourbon Festival itself–there is nothing that quite compares.

Competitors at the Legendary Barrel Relay where distillery employees show their strength.

Our Bardstown outpost, the old library right in historic Court Square, looked out over the very heart of town. The cavernous space was offered up to us by the community, and it served us remarkably well. Though our efforts were centered around that old brick building, our cameras (we were informed) were seemingly everywhere.

Our daily live webcasts were promptly followed by hours of shooting—footage was constantly arriving from the crews as they returned from each location–only to venture out once again Niki (our editor and Parker Beam’s biggest fan) working tirelessly from her editing suite in the center of the massive room. Each night, bone-tired, we gathered around her screen to watch the night’s show. Time was captured on screen as all of the meticulous detail of the day materialized on Singlemalt TV. From the red wax-dipping at Maker’s Mark in Loretto on Tuesday to the red carpet at Saturday’s Kentucky Bourbon Festival Gala–the essence of Bourbon Country seems captured in every frame.

Singlemalt TV’s Ali Mutch chats with bourbon industry icons Jimmy Russell of Wild Turkey and Fred Noe of Jim Beam.

Singlemalt TV’s Ali Mutch talks with the Wild Turkey Barrel Rolling Relay team.

Then there were the people, each of them could perhaps occupy a blog post of their own. the Master Distillers—true geniuses of the drink in all of their laughing, good-natured glory at the Kentucky Bourbon All Star Sampler. Later we caught up with some of these icons of bourbon in their tuxedoes, a world away from their distilleries but smiling and carrying on just the same. The restaurant staff on the Urban Bourbon Trail–each with a little trick or special recipe that they happily shared with our presenter as cameras rolled. All the PR and media folks from each of the distilleries, eager to have Singlemalt TV visit, for the umpteenth time in some cases. The staff of the Tourist Commissions and Vistitor Bureaus In Bardstown, Louisville, Lexington and Frankfort–all elated to have our crews in town. We encounted the same struggle with drafting the credit roll for our last show, there are just too many to list.

Ali Mutch Shares a laugh with Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear at Saturday’s Bourbon Festival Gala.

We joked that the old library had become our home, but truly it is hard not to feel at home in Bardstown–where the locals embrace strange camera-toting interlopers with open arms–and the hospitality is (truly) as good as the bourbon.

Tom Bulleit makes his Master Distiller’s Hall of Fame acceptance speech.

If you missed Kentucky Bourbon Festival we hope our coverage will transport you to Bardstown–if you were fortunate enough to attend I hope you had a chance to meet our crew (or even appear on SMTV!).

Bourbon Lovers stay tuned to Singlemalt TV, Kentucky we hope to see you soon.

We’ve talked a bit about food and whiskey pairings….but after interviewing Franz Scheurer and Jared Ingersoll about the American Whiskey tasting dinner they’re hosting next week in Sydney I’ve been thinking a lot about the concept. With the Kentucky Bourbon Festival around the corner I’m sure I will have the opportunity to taste some incredible bourbon and incredible food. Needless to say I wish I could be in Sydney to see the magic happen at next week’s  dinner.

Australia’s premier food and wine writer Scheurer and celebrated Chef Ingersoll have put together one tantalizing menu:

With the crew back from Bourbon Country lots of great new videos will be online soon. Stay tuned for our latest video blogs AND great new footage from the Kentucky Tennessee shoot last week!

Last evening after departing the SMTV studio I headed to the grocery store (a relatively large chain grocer) intent on selecting  a bottle of bourbon to use in testing out a few cocktail recipes I’ve received in my inbox the past few days. Since I wouldn’t want to steer you wrong, I thought I better take one for the team (written as I suppress a chuckle) and quality test a few of these recipes myself. Alas, I felt enveloped by guilt as soon as I entered the liquor aisle, with our bourbon/Tennessee whiskey shoot almost finished I feel a loyalty to each of the five distilleries our crew visited. I hear that each  has been as fantastic as the next and honestly I would have bought a bottle of all five if I could.

Luckily I was able to eliminate Buffalo Trace on the basis that it’s just not available up heeya’ (that’s Mainer speak for those of you who may not know!).  I also shelved the Jack Daniel’s on the basis of my bourbon cocktail theme (JD obviously is not a bourbon), I’ve had a good run with Makers Mark (first bottle purchased in Kentucky ironically, on my way from the airport to visit friends in Ohio), ditto for Evan Williams (the only Heaven Hill selection available) .

Two lone bottles of Woodford Reserve sat perched on the top shelf beside the remaining four bottles of Knob Creek (the ensuing shortage means that those are probably the last four bottles of Knob Creek Camden, Maine will see until November when the maturing spirit is ready to bottle once again). I plucked a bottle of KC from the shelf, would this be the best purchase in the interest of journalist diplomacy? I wondered. Setting the KC back on the shelf, I lifted a bottle of WR for inspection. Fingering the smooth, minimalist glass my eyes fell immediately on a small label at the bottom.

“Approved by: Chris Morris” said the right-hand corner of the sticker.

“Sold!” said my brain.

I looked around the crowded aisle smugly, thinking about the reports I had heard from the day’s shoot with Chris, and the fantastic photos of WR’s barrel delivery system already uploaded to SMTV’s facebook page. It was thrilling to purchase something that elicited such an immediate personal connection. The ability to retain that “small world” feel is a unique aspect of certain bourbons and whisk(e)ys, many drinkers seem to have a tale that gives context to their preferred spirit. As Kate Hopkins says in the very beginning of 99 Drams of Whiskey, it’s really all about the story.

Cheers to a happy and safe Independence Day and a good weekend to all!

Keep your cocktail suggestions coming…and stay tuned for my cocktail testing and tasting. You can leave us a comment or email them directly to jenna@singlemalt.tv