THE COMPLEXITY OF ALCOHOL
FOLLOWING THE TRAIL IN
LOUISVILLE AND NAPA VALLEY
AUTHOR Tom James, MD
W
hat makes one bourbon better
than another? What makes one
wine superior to grapes of the
same varietal? It’s not really
about the alcohol, although
that does play a role. Instead,
it has to do with the taste, the
nose, the body, the look and the general expe-
rience one has with that beverage. At the most elemental level, the
process of making a bourbon or a wine involves yeast, fermentation
and storage. However, for bourbon the emphasis is more on the corn
percentage and the wheat or rye in the “mashbill” and the storage.
For wines, it has to do with the varietal of grape, the environmental
factors of grape growth and the sugar content. Therefore, it only
makes sense that the manufacturer of bourbons and wines highlight
those aspects of production that make its product unique.
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LOUISVILLE MEDICINE
The Kentucky Bourbon Trail and Louisville’s Urban Bourbon
Trail focus on displaying the process of fermentation and storage.
It involves the management of these processes that give bourbons
their individual character. Unlike with wines, the nature of the
organic substrate is not as important. No one would include a tour
of a cornfield or show waves of wheat or rye blowing in the wind.
However, in Napa Valley the highlights of the vineyard tours are
seeing the different varietals growing in unique sections of each
vineyard. Typically, the Napa Valley guides are effusive about the
subtleties of soil, drainage and climate in adjacent acres. These
basic differences help to frame the backdrop to Louisville’s Urban
Bourbon Trail and the Napa Valley Wine Trail.
Early this past summer, I brought a bourbon-naïve Pittsbur-
gher to Louisville. Traveling Main Street gave us the opportunity
to enjoy the experience of the Urban Bourbon Trail from different
vantage points—one of a local native and one from a bourbon-in-