I gotta say, I love it!

VeganMenu fixed up this tidy pizza for a daughter that was home for the summer.

Yeah, Tofu. I KNOW! But with BBQ sauce made with a Bourbon.

All good things come to end, and today was the end of our daughter’s summer vacation. To ease the sting, we combined two of her favorite meals: BBQ tofu and pizza topped with Daiya Cheddar.

Recipe here:
I may have to fire this up, just to see what’s going on! My on-again, off-again days of vegetarian are winding to a close as the farmer’s markets are winding down. Fresh, locally grown veggies are getting hard to find.

(Note: my vegetarianism is totally by accident: Asparagus, mushrooms, sweet corn, tomatoes make a very nice meal. But I need meat.)

Now they need help to make the trails attractive for the people who might be visiting for the World Equestrian Games.

Work days will be held Saturdays, Sundays and Thursdays, between now and Sept. 16, according to a news release from Buffalo Trace.
Work will be done Saturdays, from 8 a.m. to noon and 4 to 8 p.m.; Sundays, from 2 to 6 p.m., and Thursdays from 4 to 7 p.m.

Workers should meet at the trailhead at the back corner of the Building 200 Fair Oaks parking lot, which is located off Lewis Ferry Road. Tools and training will be provided, and participants are asked to wear long-sleeved shirts, gloves and closed-toed shoes, preferably boots. Work will include improving trail pathways, completing ditch bridges, regrading portions of the trails and removing trash.

My good friend Yasemin sent me these two recipes for me to try as an alternative to my normal “Rocks or Water” and Maker’s Mark…

A++ Yasemin!

Summer Breeze

1 part Maker’s Mark

1 part Ginger Ale

A splash of Cointreau

1 orange slice

Directions: Muddle an orange slice in an old-fashioned glass with a splash of Cointreau. Add in equal parts Maker’s Mark Bourbon and ginger ale. Stir gently. Top off with ice.

Char No. 46

Recipe courtesy of Ward III (New York, NY)

2 parts Maker’s 46

Muddled fresh peaches

1 part Averna Amaro

Dash of fresh orange juice

1 egg white

Bitters

Directions: Muddle peach in shaker and add all ingredients except the bitters. Shake vigorously for at least one minute. Strain into a chilled rocks glass. Drizzle bitters on the foam and garnish with fresh peach.

Leo and John Resig launched Jenny yesterday with this slideshow.

Today they announced their hoax.

On their website they closed with…

We couldn’t have pulled this one off without the help of this adorable young woman. You’ll see in the coming days she’s as smart as she is sexy. Leo and I will now return to our bottles of Jim Beam and enjoy the rest of this wild ride…

Chive On,

John

Later they clarified their position on bourbon, saying…

Leo Resig emailed this comment, which he says he wants attributed to both brothers (I double-checked with him before I published):

“Although we like Jack Daniels whiskey, we prefer Jim Beam because bourbon is better.”

The bourbon is a cask-strength, non-chill filtered wheated Bourbon, meaning it uses soft winter wheat instead of rye as the “small grain” to produce a less spicy, rounder Bourbon.

The new release marks the first in the Parker’s Heritage Collection to depart from the traditional Heaven Hill rye-based Bourbon mashbill. Instead of the more commonly used corn/malted barley/rye recipe, the newest edition uses corn, malted barley and Kentucky winter wheat. This recipe was first used at Heaven Hill in the spring of 1999, after the company acquired the wheated Old Fitzgerald line of Bourbons. This new bottling of Parker’s Heritage Collection will mark the first release of Heaven Hill made, extra-aged wheated Bourbon. And it will delight whiskey connoisseurs because not only is it non-chill filtered, but it also is being released in two very small batch dumps at barrel proof.

Only 52 barrels, kept in high storage in open rick warehouses, were dumped for this edition, yielding approximately 4,800 bottles for the United States and limited international distribution.

Price at $79.99, is priced considerably lower than previous releases, which carried an average national retail price of $150 for last year’s “Golden Anniversary” bottling and $200 for the 27-year-old Bourbon released two years ago. Whiskey aficionados will also appreciate that the natural esters and fatty acids, which are by-products of whiskey distillation and aging, are not stripped away from the Bourbon in a process known as chill filtering, but are left in the whiskey to provide a fuller taste profile and richer mouthfeel.

Packaged in the same upscale 750ml bottle as the previous three editions, the Parker’s Heritage Collection Wheated Bourbon is available in a three bottle case that should start hitting retail shelves during September, nationally recognized as the start of the Bourbon season.

“I am genuinely excited to introduce a nicely aged, cask-strength wheated Bourbon for this next version of my Parker’s Heritage Collection. At this age and barrel-proof, is how a wheated Bourbon shows best…it has the caramel and smoke notes that only ten years in the top floors of our rickhouses can produce. And it has the long, smooth finish that I always look for in a Bourbon, with that softness that wheat brings to the recipe. I am very pleased that we now have wheated Bourbon that I feel has aged long enough to wear my name on the label.”

…noted Heaven Hill’s Parker Beam.

Jim Beam is placing their new bourbon, Jim Beam Signature at travel retail shops.
The press release says…

“This product is a result of us mingling different Bourbons together. Each were made from a standard Bourbon recipe (high percentage of single grains). For instance, we distilled a high wheat, small grain Bourbon; a high triticale, small grain Bourbon; and a high brown rice, small grain Bourbon. Each were barreled separately and then mingled together prior to bottling.

Jim Beam Signature is six-year old Bourbon, and has been bottled at 89-proof.

The taste profile:

Nuttier tasting than most Bourbons. And there is a cereal taste that pokes through. Drier in the mouth than you get with most Bourbons. Faint notes of root-beer. It is a sophisticated taste not just something novel.

COLOR: Rich Amber
AROMA: Oaky and spicy with sweet vanilla undertones
TASTE: Lively spiciness, mature cooperage notes
FINISH: Clean and dry

“Since its launch, each distiller has boldly marked those bottles that meet their high standards with personal signatures. We continue to celebrate this proud tradition, which features the signature of Fred Noe, Jim Beam’s great grandson and our current family distiller, on this latest and extraordinary Jim Beam bourbon.”

Kentucky is pushing tourism hard as the state gets ready for an influx of international visitors for the 2010 World Equestrian Games.

The Great Kentucky Scavenger Hunt is one of the big pushes, and a very clever and intriguing game for visitors and residents alike.

Check out this prize package: one of five!

• Three consecutive- night stay at the Seelbach Hotel, Louisville’s 4-diamond luxury hotel on the National Register of Historical Places
• Breakfast for two three mornings in Otto’s Café, the Seelbach Hotel’s 1920’s-style café
• Tickets for two to the Kentucky Derby Museum and the Behind the Scenes Tour of Churchill Downs
• Two complementary passes to the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory, the Frazier International History Museum and the Mohammed Ali Center
• $100 Louisville Originals Gift Card valid at participating Louisville Restaurants
• VIP Tour and Exclusive Tasting at The Jim Beam Distillery in Clermont
• An elegant dinner for two aboard My Old Kentucky Dinner Train in historic Bardstown.

The Bourbon and BBQ MusicFest celebrates the great entertainment heritage of Lebanon, its unique bourbon industry and great food.

It all begins with a concert blowout on Friday night with free bourbon tastings (must be 21) followed by a day of sights, sounds and savory barbecue.

There are arts and crafts, live entertainment, cars, trucks and motorcycles, a cornhole tournament and a barbecue competition with a Peoples Choice Award and first-second- and third-place prizes.

Sample Lebanon’s very own Maker’s Mark and Maker’s 46 along with nearby Jim Beam products at the Friday night concert. Come in early Friday and tour Kentucky Cooperage, Lebanon’s barrel-making factory right on Main Street.

For more information, call 270.692.9594, 270.692.6002 or email smattingly@marioncountykychamber.com.

This article was written by Tim Bryan, for guardian.co.uk on Friday 2nd July 2010 23.05 UTC

It’s a thirsty, two-hour drive on wide empty roads, through the rolling bluegrass hills and horse farms around Lexington, through the genteel pioneer town of Harrodsburg, past the civil war battlefield of Perryville, then south-west to Mammoth Caves national park, home to the world’s biggest cave system. That’s where I’ve booked a clapboard cottage and I’m looking forward to a few beers, given that I’m here in the middle of a record 31C spring heatwave.

There’s a tiny problem. The state park doesn’t sell alcohol. It’s dry.

“Ah, where’s the nearest bar?”

“This whole county is dry, sir. But at Bowling Green, near the Tennessee border, there’s a liquor store.”

It’s 30 miles south, a long way at home but not in America. It’s different.

“Welcome to the south, sir,” smirks the man at the liquor store when I arrive. “Reckon a man can’t eat without a beer.”

Did I need my Kentucky Ale so badly? Yes, siree; I’m on holiday, on a 10-day tour, 1,000 miles of easy driving through the home of Colonel Sanders, of bourbon and horses, of bluegrass music and hillbillies; visiting battlefields and distilleries, chic hotels and B&Bs in old jails; and taking in the wonders: the Niagara of the south at Cumberland Falls, the catfish-filled lakes, the mountains and, surprisingly, the people.

Kentucky is full of surprises. It should be: it’s somewhat off the radar for foreign tourists, but it’s a great way to see the hidden, real America.

Bourbon is a major draw. About 95% of it is made in Kentucky, at distilleries such as the family-owned Heaven Hill, near Bardstown, the bourbon epicentre, open for tastings. Earlier in the week I was staying at the local Jailer’s Inn, a B&B in the old jail, with walls a foot thick and cells with barred doors for rooms. Breakfast is taken alfresco, by the old gallows.

Bardstown is also the home of the Chapeze House, where “Colonel” Masters and his wife, Margaret Sue, offer southern cooking lessons and bourbon tastings. The affable colonel – he’s more of an uncle type – is a TV regular, teaching Americans how to sniff bourbon or make a mint julep, drink of choice at the Kentucky Derby (sprig of mint, cane sugar, water, bourbon).

Lexington is the horse capital. Everyone seems to be in the industry: jockeys, trainers, vets, breeders. It’s also home to Keeneland, perhaps America’s Ascot – albeit without the hats – host to the world’s largest horse auctions, and spring and autumn race meetings. It’s a family affair, very child-friendly, although the same can’t be said for the plethora of bets: I get confused by “show” and “place”, and ignore “trifectas” and “superfectas”, but somehow still manage to win .

For a university city of nearly 300,000 people, Lexington has a very small downtown: a few skyscrapers surrounded by quaint Victorian brick-and-board homes, all with porches. The bars here, all within a block or two of my hotel, the Gratz Park Inn, are lots of fun on race weekends. The parties at Mia’s (120 South Upper Street; great for brunch), the Tap Room (135 North Broadway Road; think Cheers) or Molly Brooke’s (109 North Limestone Street; friendly Irish) go on till 2am, so I limber up with a sirloin patty burger and fries (.95) at the indie-aura Sidebar Grill (147 N Limestone).

The countryside around Lexington and the state capital, Frankfort, is stunning, making driving a joy, especially in spring. The undulating green hills are carved up by the horse farms, bounded by drystone walls or white picket fences, and dotted with old wooden barns, sentried by blossoming tulip trees, flowering cherry trees or red dogwoods. Enthroned in the middle of each are the mansions of the Kentucky colonels – titles bestowed for military service during the American Revolution – whose sweeping verandahs prompt some serious rubbernecking. Old Frankfort Pike is the best scenic drive, boasting Wallace Station, an organic diner in an old railway station that serves giant sandwiches using freshly baked bread, and local drinks such as Ale-8-One, a fruity ginger beer.

This rural idyll gradually meets urban chic a 90-minute drive west along the old Shelbyville road, past Valhalla golf club and some of the hugest houses I’ve ever seen: new condo-clusters with garages for six cars. I spot one named Notting Hill.

Louisville, a city of a million people abutting Indiana on the vast Ohio river, is fast regenerating and gaining a reputation for its art, restaurant and bar scene. It’s weird – in a good way. Low-key, laid back, with a smalltown feel and very friendly folk, it’s known for its chain-free centre and Victorian architecture.

I miss the two-minute Kentucky Derby (1 May) at the Churchill Downs track, and the two-week city-wide party it spawns, but I do get to stay at the 21C Museum Hotel, last year voted America’s best by readers of Condé Nast Traveller. Valet parking costs a night so I use the car park next door (). The hotel is modern, swanky and funky – full of contemporary photography, installations and paintings. Set on West Main Street, it’s right by Museum Row (once Whiskey Row, before prohibition) and the Muhammad Ali Centre, a must-visit shrine to the boxing legend.

Classic joints nearby include the five-diamond (think Michelin star) Seelbach Hotel, mentioned in The Great Gatsby, and where Al Capone ate (using a secret door to evade the cops).

Old Louisville hosts whole districts of beautiful Victorian townhouses and mansions, with more picturesque porched homes in the Highlands district. In less salubrious Butchertown and Germantown you’ll find small, detached “shotgun” homes built from the end of the American civil war up to the 20s. They comprise three or more rooms with no hallway, and the name derives from the idea that you could fire a shotgun through the letterbox into the garden without hitting a wall, as the front and back doors line up. There are also “camelbacks” (shotguns with a second storey at the rear of the house) and “double-barrel shotguns” (semi-detached).

Indie bookshops, bars and boutiques abound on the Bardstown Road and Barret Avenue, an alternative nexus. The best vintage store is Nitty Gritty (996 Barret Avenue), where I just manage to resist a light blue 70s prom tuxedo (). There’s also the Oprah-featured Leatherhead (1601 Bardstown Road), making leather goods and whips to order: Orlando Bloom and Johnny Depp are customers, apparently.

Wherever you drive (it’s best to drive in Louisville; until the downtown fully blossoms, its attractions are rather scattered), strangers smile and say “hello”. It’s enjoyably unnerving, and also infectious.

Kentucky is where north meets south, a pleasant cross between northern sensibilities and southern hospitality. Historically and geographically, it isn’t quite either. It stretches 400 miles from east to west, a six-hour drive, bounded by Ohio, Indiana and Illinois to the north, Missouri, Tennessee and Virginia to the south. The locals prefer “gateway to the south” – Kentucky is more Sea Biscuit than Mississippi Burning, although it gets humid in summer, hence the porches.

Food is pretty southern, too: grits, fried catfish, smoked country ham, hickory barbecues, skillet-fried cornbread, burgoo stew (now with mutton rather than squirrel). And, yes, fried chicken, either the delicious homecooked version at Kurtz’s, in Bardstown, or KFC. Now, I’m no KFC fan, but when you pass the first ever link in the chain – still Sanders Cafe – near Cumberland Falls at Corbin, in the mountains, you have to pop in, at least to check out its small museum.

Kentucky’s other famous export is bluegrass – the foot-stomping, banjo and fiddle-led country offshoot – spawned by Scots-Irish ancestors who settled in the Appalachians, home of the “hillbillies”, where folk care less than the colonels about appearances and park rusting cars on their lawns. The town of Hazard (yes, the Dukes of Hazzard) is a short drive from the Falls. Bluegrass on the radio is the perfect soundtrack for driving here.

There’s one last thing you notice on the drive: the roadkill. Every few hundred yards there’s a victim. Sadly, you get used to it: squirrels, raccoons, possums, coyotes, deer. But look out for skunks, the stench of which will permeate the car for five malodorous minutes with windows and sunroof open. They alone are enough to drive you to drink.

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010