Like I said in yesterday’s post, the next few blog post days (not counting the Valkyria Chronicles 4 and Wing Commander stuff) are going to be talking about my family road trip. There was a whole lot there, so I’m going to break it down to a bunch of posts.
Really, the trip down was pretty uneventful. The plan was to aim the van south-east and burn hard, then have most of our fun on the way back. The bulk of the credit for this trip’s success goes to MLGB, who literally pulled an all-nighter making sure that all of the laundry cycled through our slowly dying dryer so that everyone could have clean clothes for the duration of the trip. Fortunately, she was able to sleep through most of the first day’s drive.
The biggest highlight of the trip down came on the 2nd day. My brother and his bride had requested that wedding guests bring alcohol or food to the wedding in lieu of gifts. Since we were going to be passing right through the heart of Tennessee whiskey country, I knew exactly how I was going to take care of our wedding present.
Old Glory Distilling Co. lies just inside Tennessee in the town of Clarksville. They’re a pretty new distillery, and don’t have any major aged items for sale just yet, although you can see some of the casks that are just waiting for another year or two. They’re also a part of a stateline distillery group, where if you take the paid tours and get a stamp from all of the distillers on the tour (there’s only three or four, IIRC) then you get a nice little presentation board to go with your tour shotglasses.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have time for the full tour, since while I was “choosing a wedding gift,” MLGB was rolling through McDonald’s to get the kids some lunch. Say what you will about Mickey D’s, but when you’re traveling with a bunch of picky kids, having a reasonably priced meal option that everyone agrees on is a sanity saver. I try to save the exotic food explorations for times when I don’t have the entire Terror Team in tow.
But back to my bit of the story. While MLGB, The Terror Team and Rose (our 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan) were cruising through the nearest McD’s drive through, I was trying the five offerings currently on tap from Old Glory Distilling Co.: Jumper’s Stash White Rum, Tennessee Vodka, Smooth Shine Tennessee Moonshine, Pin-up Gin, and a blueberry lemonade moonshine.
I’m not really a gin guy, but at least their gin didn’t taste like drinking a pine tree. The rum was good, but again, not really my thing. The vodka and moonshine though, were excellent. They pass their vodka through a bourbon barrel filter before bottling it, which gives it a little bit of a different character than most vodkas. Most of that bottle disappeared in Florida, but I think I’ve got about one martini’s worth left. The blueberry lemonade moonshine tasted fantastic. I’d absolutely sit on my porch and drink a tall glass of that with a few ice cubes thrown in there. Then I’d fall out of my chair, because at 35 Proof (17.5% ABV) that stuff sneaks up on you. I gave a bottle of that to my brother. For me, I took home a bottle of their white lightning, which doesn’t quite have the same bite as normal moonshine, because they do a 50/50 wheat/corn blend. That’s why they call it “Smoothshine.”
After a day and a half in the van, that tasting, plus the fruity drink I tried at the bar after the tasting, really took the edge off. The rest of the drive was pretty mellow. We rolled through Atlanta late Monday night, wondering at the size of the freeways, then blasted into Tampa on Tuesday evening. It was time for wedding preparations!