National Bourbon Heritage Month and the Man-cation

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from Kevin Erskine. You can read more of his articles at the popular TheScotchBlog.

In college you and the guys would pile into the biggest/most highway worthy car; chip in for gas; load up on cheap beer and Doritos and head out on that most guy of guy events – the “road-trip”.

Now you are (somewhat of) an adult and have a little scratch to spend. You don’t want to jam in with 4 smelly dudes in the back seat while they spill PBR all over your crotch every time you hit a pothole.

That’s where the “Man-cation” comes in – taking the all guys road-trip get-away to the next level.

Chicks do it with alarming frequency. Usually involving a spa of some sort followed by dancing, cosmos and morning-after pills (usually, but not always in that order).
So why shouldn’t you enjoy some quality time with other people who share the Y chromosome?

C’mon, you know you deserve it. You just got through a summer filled with family duties & kid-friendly vacations – why NOT cash in on all that goodwill you’ve earned by attending never-ending swim-meets; excruciating family reunions and pretending to like your neighbors and co-workers at barbecues.

Get a group of buddies together and get out of town on an “adult” road-trip – but make sure it’s somewhere that guys can have a good time. Someplace that reeks of manliness – like Vegas or….Kentucky?!? That’s right Kentucky…where the vast majority of American whiskey is produced.

Look at it this way – Your wife/fianceé/girlfriend knows that you’re going to get hammered if you go away with the guys for a weekend – but won’t they be more likely to let you off the leash if they can rest assured that a deadly combo of hookers and gambling isn’t in the equation?

The kind folks at Knob Creek have created an insider’s guide to Bourbon Country along with a “man-tinerary” – and with September being National Bourbon Heritage Month, it’s the perfect time to go.

A guy who knows how to have a good time, Fred Noe (seventh-generation Jim Beam family member and native of Bardstown, KY) says:
Men like to hang out with their friends and sip a little bourbon. Add some great food, maybe some sports, and history, and Kentucky’s Bourbon Trail adds up to a perfect guys’ getaway.

Apparently Louisville and the surrounding Bourbon country have all the stuff guys want on a man-cation (except for hookers and gambling). Among the highlights of a Louisville-based man-cation:

• Muhammad Ali Center
• The Louisville Slugger Museum
• Churchill Downs
• Kentucky Derby Museum
• Fourth Street Live! and the uber-hip Maker’s Lounge

Then get outside Louisville a bit to visit the distilleries:

• Jim Beam Distillery (Clermont)
• Maker’s Mark Distillery (Loretto)
• Heaven Hill (Bardstown)
• Four Roses (Lawrenceburg)
• Wild Turkey (Lawrenceburg)
• Buffalo Trace (Franklin County)

And if you can swing it, try to get to the The Kentucky Bourbon Festival – September 16-21, 2008
In 1964, by an act of congress, Bourbon was officially declared “America’s Native Spirit”. Jim Beam pays homage to that momentous event with a nice interactive site named cleverly, uh America’s Native Spirit.

If you can’t make it to Louisville on your mancation; have no friends; or you are afraid to ask your significant other/warden for a weekend pass, you can go to the site and pretend that you are on a man-cation; have friends; or aren’t whipped.

photography by neil alejandro