All you bourbon fans will want to try this. Even those of
you who don’t consider yourselves bourbon fans will want to take a sip.
You may have heard about the signature bourbons that French
Lick Resort has unveiled: the Woodford Reserve Personal Select and the Maker’s
46 Private Select. It truly is “select,” when you consider that a team of
resort associates visits the distilleries to personally choose the flavor
profile. What makes these bourbons so special? Sit down, pour a glass and we’ll
tell you the story.
What goes into the
“selection”?
Almost 10 years ago when the resort was looking to join
forces and make a co-branded product, Woodford Reserve announced it was
starting a special select program. They said they’d curtail it after the first
100 partners.
“We were about No. 95 and we got on board just in time to
make this happen,” says Tom O’Connor, a Food and Beverage Manager at the resort
who got the wheels turning on the bourbon program.
And you can’t make quality bourbon without visiting bourbon
country in person, right? That’s where about 20 members of the resort food and
beverage team took a road trip to Woodford Reserve’s distillery in Kentucky
last July. They played mad scientist until finding the select blend that
everyone could agree on.
Longtime resort bartender Tomi Parker explains more about
the day, start to finish:
“We started about 10:00 in the morning and a group of staff,
a lot of fun-loving folks, jumped on a bus and took a trip to Versailles. If
you’ve never been to Woodford, they have an amazing area in the front where you
can see a little bit of the history of the bourbon. They you go in and take a
tour of the barrel houses, you see the process of the bourbon being made and
bottled, which is really interesting.
“You go and have a nice lunch, and the master distiller comes
in – he’s like a superstar, and he comes in and talks to everyone. We choose
eight folks from our group to go into the Pepper Room (named for Elijah Pepper, who first founded a distillery on this property in the 1700s), and they sat at a table,
they had several shot glasses setting in front of them, and the master
distiller brings out eight different bottles of bourbon from different places
in the barrel house. And that’s what’s so unique about it — with bourbon, you
can get a different flavor profile from being high in the barrel house to
really low in the barrel house. 
With the Maker’s Private Select, it’s not necessarily about
the bourbon. It’s about the wood.
“We get to select what flavor profiles that are used in each
one of these finishing staves,” Tom says. “These are charred and baked woods
that go inside the barrel, so they’re secured into the barrel to give the extra
smoky flavor and the sweetness.”
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| French Lick's old-school Pluto mascot is on the back every bottle of the Woodford Reserve Personal Select. |
What are the flavor
profiles?
The Maker’s 46 Private Select features a distinct citrus
tone and a smoky, toasty flavor inside each bottle that’s hand-dipped in red
wax in signature Maker’s style.
In the Woodford Reserve Personal Select, you’ll pick up on
honeysuckle and high spice tones like clove, cardamom and dark pepper with
cranberry/cherry/berry in the flavor and the nose. A lingering taste of toasted
sweet marshmallow comes in on the finish.
The goal is to wind up with a bourbon that makes everyone
happy. Men tend to want that bourbon “burn.” Women want something more subtle
and sweet. Compromise tastes pretty smooth.
Even Woodford’s master distiller Chris Morris finds himself
drawn to French Lick Resort’s flavor profile every time our team visits to
tweak the formula.
“He says it every time, he says ‘I don’t know what you guys
do, but every time you select yours, it’s more preferable to me than what we
put out every day,” Tom says. “They love it, and we’re going through over 475
bottles a year at the resort.”
Try the select
bourbons in:
Tom’s personal favorite for the Woodford Select is in a French Lick Manhattan — which includes a dynamite simple syrup made in-house using
fresh vanilla bean and Luxardo cherries.
The Old Fashioned and Bourbon Bliss have been popular. And a
lot of people are liking it “neat” — straight from the bottle, no rocks.
And, a little teaser for those of you attending the April 26
Mixology Class at West Baden
Springs Hotel: You’ll see and sample the “Private Jet,” our take on the Paper
Plane cocktail using the select bourbon. Even if you’re not a bourbon fan, this
drink might change your mind.
Where to buy it:
Ask for it by the glass or in a cocktail anywhere across
French Lick Resort — at the hotels, restaurants, golf courses and wherever
spirits are sold.
You can take it home, too, for yourself or as a gift. Buy it
by the bottle or get the Woodford/Maker’s set of both selects. Purchase it
through in-room dining at French Lick Springs Hotel, or at Ballard’s Bar in
West Baden Springs Hotel. The rack card below has more pricing and info
about both select bourbons that are a taste sensation all their own.
