Join The American Table Culinary Tours, a non-profit devoted to supporting and celebrating the nation's unique vernacular foodways, in Kentucky for an in-depth exploration of our country's native spirit.

Government and good drink grew up together on the American frontier, with bourbon playing a key role in every election. The taverns that served the increasingly smooth corn whiskey, such as Abe Lincoln's Illinois establishment that history textbooks have since reinvented as a general store, lubricated the discussions on which democracy was built. (And if discussion didn't produce a favorite candidate, the jugs distributed at polling places usually did.) We'll celebrate this joint history by visiting the nation's oldest distilleries in the company of bourbon experts and partaking of the feasts served at local political rallies in these last weeks before the election. In addition to a training course in bourbon appreciation, our tour will include a cooperage visit and a sampling of bourbon cocktails created by local mixologists in honor of the folks at the top of the ticket.

 

Thursday, October 2 Our adventure begins at Bardstown's Oscar Getz Museum of Whiskey History, where everything from novelty whiskey containers to retired moonshine stills are proudly displayed. We'll reconvene for a bourbon-soaked dinner and orientation lecture at Heaven Hill Distilleries' Bourbon Heritage Center, which strives to make scientific, historical and cultural sense of America's native spirit.

 

Friday, October 3 A Kentucky pedigree does not a bourbon make: Federal law defines the stuff as American whiskey made from at least 51 percent corn, distilled to no more than 160 proof (if that number was higher, our trip might be shorter) and aged in new charred oak barrels. This morning, we'll examine bourbon's three critical components - water, corn and barrels - by wading through limestone streams with a University of Kentucky hydrologist, measuring staves with a cooper and tromping through ready-to-harvest fields with the farmer who keeps Maker's Mark in corn. Back in Bardstown, we'll sup on fried chicken in the company of a Kentucky politico who made the most of moonshine and prepare for our afternoon-long bourbon colloquium, at which we'll drink our way to expertise. And while we're tippling, dinner will be cooking. Thanks to the fellows behind the award-winning 610 Barbecue and Burgoo team, we're going to Burgin for a burgoo, a legendary chowdown featuring Kentucky's native stew, traditionally cooked down til the stirring paddle will stand up straight in the pot. While burgoo is usually associated with political events, we'll be feasting at The Barn, a live bluegrass joint down a long country road. But in honor of the dish's electoral roots, political scientist Tracy Campbell will say grace with a short discourse on voting fraud in Kentucky.

 

Saturday, October 4 Today we'll partake of the so-called "Angel's Share" as we step inside the world's most famed distilleries and inhale deeply of the phantom bourbon that inevitably escapes from their white oak aging barrels. But the malty, caramel-tinged aroma of the evaporated spirit only hints at the richness of the mellowing bourbon left behind: We'll meet with top bourbon alchemists on their home turf to learn how they mix water, grain, wood and time to produce their award-winning whiskies. Our sherpa for today's romp through bourbon country is Mike Veach, a bourbon historian who was recently inducted into the Bourbon Hall of Fame. "I learned everything I know from Mike," is one of the phrases most frequently uttered by discerning bourbon afficandos, who flock to his Louisville tastings and seminars. We begin with breakfast at Maker's Mark, where we'll carbo-load for a day of distillery visits. Our palate-training menu features a spread of breads made from mash bill grains, including corn, rye, wheat and barley. After our tour, we'll head to Woodford Reserve for another tour and a Hot Brown lunch prepared by Chef-in-Residence David Larson, who's prepared his whiskey-infused cuisine at the James Beard House. Our trifecta of bourbon tours will end at Buffalo Trace, the first distillery to ship whiskey down the Mississippi River. Since all elections lead to celebration (although sometimes not before a fair bit of brawling and caterwauling), we'll mark the end of our tour with a victory party featuring traditional bourbon punches and a primer on toasting, led by noted cocktail historian David Wondrich, author of "Imbibe!" Or as one popular verse put it: "When we get together and Kentucky whisky flows/ There is a kindred spirit no other state e'er knows."