Angel Share

This past weekend has been my only chance to visit some of the attractions surrounding this part of Kentucky. My friend R and I decided that this was the perfect weekend to take a trip on the Bourbon Trail. The trail is a route that visits six of the ten distilleries located in Kentucky. Each distillery has a unique tour of it's facilities. We chose to visit Woodford Resrve, the oldest and smallest distillery that traces it's origins to 1797 when Elijah Pepper began distilling in Woodford County. The building and ground are a national landmark and it is the official bourbon of the Kentucky Derby...

Woodford Reserve Visitor Center

The 100 mile drive from Cave City winded through farmland and pastures pocked with weathered grey barns and silos. A hint of fall was already in the air and a few of the Poplar tree leaves have begun to turn. A two lane twisty road leads along a creek to the distillery grounds with a three foot tall fence of stacked limestone flanking the pavement. The visitor center for the complex is a grey siding building with a wrap around porch furnished with blue-black painted rockers in need of occupants. The inside of the visitor center has whitewashed pine ceilings and large exposed trusses. A dozen displays describe the history of woodford reserve and the process of making bourbon. A gift shop in the corner is filled with wares of every sort and plenty of adult beverage for purchase.

Distillery Building

The facilities had been abandoned in the sixties then purchased and rehabilitated by the same company that owns Jack Daniels in 1990.  There are several limestone buildings on the property that dated back to 1812 and were painstakingly renovated. There is one warehouse onsite that stores 5000 barrels which seems quite alot but in comparison Jack Daniels distillery has 34 warehouses with up to 52,000 barrels in each, hence the wood reserve. (and the higher price). Each barrel contains 52 gallons of the 158 proof whiskey to be aged.

the 3 copper stills

We were taken to the distillery and shown the vats of sourmash and the fermenting process. The mixture of corn, malt, and rye, along with the calcium rich Kentucky water makes for a heck of a smell.  The mash is cured in 10' diameter by 15' deep vats that bubble with the co2 gas created during the fermenting. Woodford is the only distillery that uses copper stills in it's distilling process. 
The guide then led us to the warehouse that stores the barrels for aging. What a interesting aroma, the bourbon in it's charred white oak barrels, the humid Kentucky air.....the barrels are stacked clear to the ceiling in racks, a system of steam pipes runs along the warehouse floor allowing the master distiller to heat and cool the warehouse as needed. The thermal changes are necessary to let the whiskey into the charred oak as it expands and shrinks. This letting gives bourbon the amber color and select taste enjoyed by many. During this process about 40% of the whiskey evaporates, this is called the "Angel Share"

Back to Abe'sCabin

After a couple of busy days I'm back to blogging. Hopefully I can remember the last several days....

Last Friday was a short day and work ended about noon. I had thought I would attend the nearby "newgrass" festival on Saturday to see Sam Bush and Grayton Beach's Dread Clampett.  But as much fun as that would have been, I was missing more fun with my wife and kids. I mean 550 miles doesn't seem that far....
So quickly checked out of the hotel, through dirty clothes in the suitcase, and headed South with Bowling Green classic rock blasting. The hour plus to Nashville went quickly and once out of the metro area, I got ready for the long leg of the trip. There just ain't much to look at between Guitar town and B'ham.
7 hours of driving and for the first time in my life I was wishing my family lived in Flomaton. Tired and seat sore, I opened the front door and surprised my lovely wife. Every mile and minute was soon forgotten.
I was able to spend two nights in Pensacola with family and had a great meal of BBQ shrimp. Man, do I miss running to Maria's for seafood.
The drive back to Kentucky was made easier with an audiobook from the library. "Goodnight, Texas" ,it was an interesting story of a coastal Texas town and it's citizens dealing with a dieing shrimping/fishing industry, a beached monster of the deep, tourists, and a hurricane. If i could write a book, it might read a little like this book.


Work on the Abe Lincoln, or ABLI project has been focused on finishing, since the Park will be opening the Memorial on Friday before Labor Day. A crew is completing the cleaning and polishing the "Tennessee Marble" wainscot and floor borders. This 'marble" is actually a limestone quarried from Knoxville, Tn.. I was able to put  previous experience in the stone industry to use, finally. This stone is so American in it's beauty. It's used on both the exterior, as a veneer and the interior, as a finished wall, flooring, and as surrounding trim on the front and rear doors. The stone also is the baseboard throughout the building.
Tomorrow will be an site inspection from a few NPS personnel to hopefully accept the building for beneficial occupancy. I'll let you know how things go....
d

Project Abe - Day 1

I have always said "it is always best to live East of where you work" because, typically it will keep you from driving into the sun to and from the workplace. Why don't I take my advice? Now I face a daily miniature jet lag twice a day and my iphone doesn't know what time it is anymore. Do I go to lunch now or did I already go? argh....

I made it to the jobsite shortly after 7AM with minor problems and a major amount of coffee. The contractor and  I jumped on the Lull(a hydraulic lift) and inspected the newly completed roof while it was still relatively cool (80 degrees).  The new roof is a modified bituminous on insulated panels with densglass, rolled-up the parapet with a 2 piece copper flashing (described for you roofers). sweet... In the center of the roof is a copper framed skylight that was designed to illuminate the memorial in the days before electricity.

Wow, text AND photos!!
After reviewing the roof the contractor and I went down a ventilated hatch to the skylight plenum that is between the concrete ceiling and the concrete roof. The space is about 48" tall and surrounds the shaft of the skylight. The skylight has a venting system that recirculates the air to minimize moisture all of which is monitored and tested with numerous sensors located around the plenum. Two separate fans draw air through slots located in the framework of the milk glass panels that diffuse the sunlight into the memorial space below.

 

 The skylight also has a sensor that determines the amount of sunlight and on cloudy days turns on a string of fluorescent fixtures to enhance the natural light. Yes, I agree that these should be LED, but that would be a discussion for the Architect of record not me. not yet...
The rest of the day was spent meeting the NPS staff and pushing paper. Tomorrow I'm back at Mammoth Cave and Wednesday I return to Abraham Lincoln.
Stay tuned
d

Mixing work and sport

Saturday, I decided to take advantage of my time here and spend a little time enjoying the Mammoth Cave Park. I rented a Trek bike from the park camp store and spent an hour riding through the woods on one of the several trails around the park. These trails are a crushed gravel type about 8 feet wide and the trail I took runs parallel to the road to the park about 8 miles one way. I went about 5 miles miles to an old stone fireplace that had been a part of the homestead to one of the families that settled in the area. Along the way I investigated an old cemetery, a limestone lake, and a scenic overlook.
After the bike ride, I proceeded to drive to Abe Lincoln and do a site visit since a couple of the people I will be working with were on site supervising the roof contractors. I did get off track on the way but thankfully the lady at "Fred's Smallmart" set me in the right direction.
Winding through two lane roads flanked with all sorts of crops and pastures, I located the Memorial park entrance and went to the NPS visitor center. The park area surrounding the memorial building is beautifully maintained with several small cabins and the staged to mimic the times of Abe's youth. I hope to spent some time with the park rangers and get a personal tour of the facility.
A short drive down the service road that lead to the back of the memorial building and I was on the jobsite. I met the contractor's superintendent and Alpha's roofing specialist in the basement of the 100 year old building. After our short introduction, we started to tour the exterior of the building. The building has some of the features of the more famous Lincoln Memorial in DC but at a much smaller scale since this building is only 40 feet by 60 feet. There are 56 steps that lead to the building and represent the 56 years of Lincoln's life.
Inside is a log cabin exactly like the one Abe grew up in, his original log cabin was dismantled and reused in a barn that was lost in a flood 100+ years ago. (I did do a little research).  The work inside the memorial has required the scaffolding and tenting of the cabin.  I did get the chance to climb the scaffolding to exam the small area on the wall that is still plagued by a mysterious moisture problem that can't seemed to be cured.
Monday I will be on site all day and have a better understanding of the project and how we can be completed by Labor Day.
More tomorrow,
d

The end of the first week

Sunday morning and I have made it through the first week. There was a lot to learn in a short amount of time, names of people, locations, methods, communication, and how to get from here to there.
The 8 hour drive to Bowling Green, Kentucky was made easier by Mile Davis, John Coltrane, and a compilation CD made by kids. It was enough time to let me contemplate why I was on this adventure to the Mamoth Cave National Park and the historical Abraham Lincoln Birthplace Memorial. It has been along time since I left my hometown Pensacola in search of adventure and fortune. It  was about 27 years ago that I left to work in Atlanta and DC as a project manager for a curtain wall contractor. (curtain wall is a type of veneer for high rise buildings that contains granite and glass panels) I always enjoyed the management aspect of construction and the monitoring of a project from beginning to end.
I've been so localized for so long in Pensacola that I have forgotten that another world is out there. My East Hill neighborhood can be such a microcosm, that we think the rest of the world is the just like it. (and we secretly wish it was) insert smile. The Lake Wobegon of the Florida Panhandle.
The opportunity to come to Kentucky to work as a construction manager began about 6 weeks ago when I realized that the Oil Spill had stagnated the very slow recovery that Pensacola was starting from the 2 year recession. I decided to send and email to my friend,who was working at the Mammoth Cave project, and ask her to see if any other positions availiable with the construction managing firm that employed her.  Soon after, I received a email request for a resume from one of the managers of Alpha Corporation.
After a series of phone conversations and emails, I accepted the prospect of a month long commitment to assist with the construction management of both the Mammoth Cave Visitor Center and Abraham Lincoln Birthplace Memorial Building Projects.  How many times does this type of opportunity come around? 

Well, here I am getting packed to leave my Bowling Green hotel for a hotel in Cave City that is located 6 miles from the Mammoth and a mere 50 miles from Abe. A long commute to Abe, especially since I cross the time zone and lose 1 hour on the hour drive to work.  I have to leave by 5 to be there by 7 and I get back to the hotel about the time I left the jobsite.
Cave City has several attractions like, Hukkleberry Hound Fun Spot, Guntown Mountain, and Kentucky Down Under (an Australian themed animal park) I'm not making this up......
Time to get packing for the move, I post photos soon...
thanks
d