It’s been a little while since we’ve heard from the lesser known member of Pop Culture Cuisine, so I thought this week would be a good opportunity for my husband Adam to tell you once again about one of his favorite things…bourbon.
Hello faithful PCC readers; and welcome to another installment of the ‘Bourbon Diaries’ as I’m now calling them. Yes, I know that is a bit cheesy…but work with me…I’m not the blogger in the family. 
So last November we were down in Louisville for Thanksgiving with Katie’s family; and regardless of the time of year, I always look for an excuse to visit a bourbon distillery when we are down in that part of the country. So, on the day after Thanksgiving, my father-in-law (Art), bro-in-law (Christian) and I made our way down to the Mecca of bourbon…the Home of Jim Beam and Visitor Center in Clermont, KY.
For Art and me, this was our second journey to the bourbon trail to experience where bourbon comes from first hand, the first being our excursion to The Woodford Reserve Distillery (which you can read about on PCC here). Right away there is a big difference between visiting Jim Beam and our other distillery visits…they do not actually have a distillery tour. This is changing this coming summer when the folks at Beam will open up the distillery for official tours for the first time (can’t wait!). But on this trip it was…well…I’ll let the good folks at Jim Beam who explain it best tell you…
Start your visit with a guided Heritage Tour of the historic T. Jeremiah Beam home where three generations of Beam distillers lived overlooking the scenic landscape and towering rack houses. You can then step inside the Stillhouse Exhibit featuring our authentic 1800’s copper still, believed to be one of the oldest in America.
Then it’s time to venture inside our oldest rack house, Warehouse D, built by Jim Beam after Prohibition. You’ll find yourself surrounded by the unmistakably rich and warm smell of Kentucky’s finest bourbon aging in 20,000 oak barrels. It’s the perfect warm-up for a sample of one of our Small Batch Bourbons in our tasting room. And finally, commemorate your visit with a purchase of a variety of Jim Beam® merchandise—including apparel and our world-famous bourbon candy—at our gift shop.
The whole tour only takes about an hour and has quite a few high notes. First, it’s kind of awe inspiring when you look out across the hillside and see all the aging warehouses or rack houses as they are called. Whereas most distilleries have just a few aging houses, Beam’s houses pepper the countryside. I don’t know exactly how many there are, but it’s a bunch…easily in the 20 or more range! Another neat thing about the view is you’ll notice that all the trees are black…stark black! I don’t know if you’ll see this anywhere else but around an area where they are distilling spirits, because what happens is that the “Angel’s Share” or portion of distilled spirit that is lost to evaporation during the aging process eventually resettles on the surrounding bark as a dark black fungus. It is both an ominous sight and very neat at the same time.
The tour of the old home of Jeremiah Beam is not much of a tour, just a look at some old pictures and distilling equipment in one room and then a (promotional) video about Jim Beam. Thankfully, this is just a short stop, because it doesn’t really add much to the experience. What does, however, is the walk through one of the oldest rack houses in the bourbon world. This thing is enormous…and full of yummy sweet bourbon! The first thing you notice is how cold it is…temperature controlled for optimal aging. The other is the sheer number of barrels. You can easily see how Jim Beam is the largest distiller of bourbon in the entire world. You know, I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of the sight of all those barrels in one spot.
Well, although you don’t get an official distillery tour, they do know how to send you out with a smile on your face at Jim Beam…by ending the tour with two tastings of their bourbon. On this day we were served Red Stag (not my favorite) and were fortunate enough to get to try one of the highest-end single barrel bourbons made today…Booker’s, named for former master distiller and 6th generation Beam, Frederick “Booker” Noe.
Booker actually re-introduced small batch bourbons back onto the landscape some years ago and in 1992, he introduced his own signature bourbon, Booker’s® True Barrel Bourbon. Inspired by a 200-year-old tradition, Booker’s is the first bourbon bottled straight-from-the-barrel, uncut and unfiltered (single-barrel); and let me say it here…this is the real deal! After aging from 6-8 years, Booker’s is bottled anywhere from 121-127 proof, which is very strong; and on this day, we tried a batch that came in at 124 proof. Whoooo! It was just as smooth as it was strong…and it was hella-smooth! 😉 Let’s just say this is definitely a spirit that you sip slowly…or beware the burn, but definitely tasty and worth the trip in and of itself.
SIGNATURE DISH: Jim Beam is the largest producer of bourbon in the world. Not only is bourbon the signature of Jim Beam, but Jim Beam is the signature of bourbon around the world.
TASTE: Jim Beam has a whole family of bourbons, some tasting far better than others. While Jim Beam White Label (standard 4 year aged product) is better as a mixer and not what I’d prefer straight, many of their other products from Devil’s Cut to Knob Creek to Booker’s I’d be happy to sit and sip with you any day of the week!
AMBIENCE: Although they lose points for not having an official tour of the distillery, the surrounding countryside comes close to making up for it. Between the rack houses throughout the hillsides and the black stained trees, it’s a view you’ll appreciate and remember.
PRICE: You can’t beat the price of this tour…free!
SERVICE: Our tour guide was very helpful and informative. You could tell she was a bourbon enthusiast which I appreciated, and her knowledge and love of Jim Beam enhanced the tour.
All in all, I definitely got a little geeked out about visiting the pinnacle of the bourbon world; and although they didn’t have an official distillery tour that day, I’m excited at the prospect of returning to Clermont in the future to see Jim Beam made first hand. But for this trip, I give the Visit to the Jim Beam grounds 4 ‘Little Piggies’
While I often poke fun at my new home state, Indiana has truly become a place I am proud to call home; and I’m really enjoying learning many of the little quirks that are unique to this part of the country. But if you are like me and didn’t grow up here, there’s probably a lot of “traditions” that would be new to you, including a culinary staple in these parts…the breaded pork tenderloin sandwich.
This particular sandwich is something that people from around here RAVE about and I for the life of me had never heard of it until moving here. I mean it really isn’t anything all that complicated…, a piece of pork, pounded EXTREMELY thin, battered, fried, and placed upon a bun; and as simple as they seem, everybody has their own way of dressing them up from mustard, to pickles, and cheese. And while they are on almost every diner menu in the state, there are certainly places that do them better, most certainly bigger (some so large it is comical!), and ultimately more notably than others. One such place, and this week’s PCC feature, is Edward’s Drive-In, a popular root beer stand on the outskirts of Indianapolis.
We first saw Edward’s on an episode of Travel Channel’s “Man vs. Food,” and seeing it featured like that coupled with Adam’s love for the sandwich, I knew I would be trying this soon.
The thing is, we have plenty of places in town that serve their version of the sandwich…and some are downright yummy! (nod to Miles Lab in Elkhart) Still, none of the local favorites have been featured in popular culture, so I guessed that Edward’s must be legit. So, on a trip down to Louisville just after our daughter was born, we figured a drive-in was the way to go (with her asleep in the car) and opted to hit up perhaps the Hoosier state’s most famous tenderloin spot.
While Edward’s is like your typical drive-in (something I also found are more popular in Indiana than anywhere else I’ve ever lived), they also have a restaurant you can dine in. Still, we opted to eat outside in the car for experience sake and with the baby it was a lot easier.
Having seen how large these tenderloins were, we decided splitting one and an order of onion rings would be a smarter choice and it ended up being the perfect amount, even more than enough. This thing was no joke…the bun looked ridiculous on this huge piece of meat! However, with the first bite I knew this was not really my cup of tea. While I wouldn’t say it was bad, it was just really bland to me, and nowhere near as good as one of our local favorites version of the sandwich (once again a nod to Miles Lab…whose thicker peppery seasoned version has become what I measure all others by). Adam explained that that is typically how traditional tenderloins are…, very very thin and mostly relying on the flavor of the pork.
I realized then and there that this “traditional” version is not my favorite. I ate a few bites of my half, but instead honed in on what were truly delicious…, their onion rings. Perfectly crispy yet with one bite the coating didn’t all pull off, and a nice sweet flavor from the onions and batter made these truly delicious; and as much as I love onion rings, I’d come close to saying they were some of the best I’ve ever had!
Adam, who’s had a few tenderloins in his day, said he enjoyed it, but admitted it was far from the best he had ever had. He agreed it wasn’t bad, just didn’t rank up there as the BEST (so far we both reserve that for Miles Lab version). However, we both also agreed that the onion rings were pretty fantastic and would order them again in a heartbeat!
SIGNATURE DISH: While like any drive-in Edward’s has many other basic American classics, their pork tenderloin sandwich is the big attraction and true to its Indiana heritage.
TASTE: While we both agreed it was edible, and Adam enjoyed it more than I did (he’s a true-blue Hoosier), neither of us were sold on this being the best. We are certain there are better versions of this, so for one featured in popular culture as being a standout in this category, we just weren’t all that impressed.
AMBIANCE: This was another area I was a little bit disappointed with. Edward’s is in a very industrial section of town and it just wasn’t as nostalgic as many of the local drive-ins I’ve come to enjoy. It seemed to have gone through an update within the last few years, so it just felt too new for me. I know that sounds nuts, but part of the thing I love about going to a drive-in is it feels old timey, like something you did 40-50 years ago and that is the feeling you want to get when you visit.
PRICE: For at sandwich as huge as this one, costing less than $5 is a deal! And their sides are all less than $2, so we were able to split a meal for around $7…, quite a deal if you ask me.
SERVICE: While I wasn’t necessarily sold on the flavor, we received really great service; fast and very friendly.
Overall, I was a little disappointed with my first “traditional” tenderloin experience and can’t believe this is the best my new state has to offer. Even my Hoosier husband agreed that this sandwich was not his favorite; so with that I give Edward’s Drive-In 2 ‘Little Piggies’
You all still with me? Well if you’ve been waiting for the results of our favorite Detroit Coney with bated breath, today is your day. However, if you are just joining us, two weeks ago we began with part one of a two part review of these famed D-Town dogs in competition where the focus was on one of the much loved originators of this dish, Lafayette Coney Island. While I won’t go into great detail about the history, since we have already discussed it in part one, I will mention again just how unique these restaurants are. Both owned by the same family who decided to go their separate Coney ways back in the day, literally just splitting the restaurant down the middle and birthing two very well loved Coney spots, literally right next door to one another; and while I mentioned last week that they are both beloved and each have their own set of fans, I thought it would be fun for you to see a clip of just what we mean…
You don’t have to watch the entire clip to see just how crazy each spots fans are for their signature dish, and with that love comes great competition and heated discussion. So we figured that being right in the heart of Detroit for a weekend last summer, what better way crown our favorite than to taste-test them both…back to back!
You can read all about what we thought of Lafayette. But after that initial Detroit City Coney experience, it was off for round 2 at American Coney Island…the originator of the dish. Of course it didn’t take us long to arrive at the next destination, being that it was literally right smack dab next door; and I must admit I felt a little silly eating a hot dog at one spot and then just picking up and walking a few feet to order another….silly but fun.
The first thing I noticed different was how immediately more welcomed I felt upon entering. It was clear that in the past decade American had made not only huge décor changes and updates, but their staff seemed significantly younger and…well I hate to say it…more friendly. It was clear that American, unlike their counterpart, had grown over time…in all sense of the word… and embrace some of the more modern customer appeasing touches.
We ordered immediately after being seated…2 traditional Coneys…dog, coney sauce, onions & yellow mustard. My mouth just begins to water listing off the ingredients!
Now this being our 2nd Coney experience of the day, I was really trying to take each bite in and make sure I really examined the difference in flavor. It was pretty hard to discern a huge difference, but American’s chili was a bit sweeter, something I really enjoy in a Coney. Well, we gobbled those suckers down and at this point I knew I was Coneyed out for the day…, Adam on the other hand was still looking for possibly one more at the game. 
Because I’ll be the first to admit that first impressions are almost a make or break in the whole experience for me and that I can get pretty turned off pretty quick by a place that isn’t really trying very hard to win me over, I knew I already had a different feeling about the whole Coney situation when we walked into American. However, trying my best to keep all that aside, this is really about the food, so I made sure to keep an open mind…which I’ll share shortly.
SIGNATURE DISH: Coney’s are still the name of this game and if you stuck around from last week you know we are going to share which was actually our favorite at the end of the day!
TASTE: First and foremost, very good! Detroit Coney’s are an easy 2 for 2 after this. On the taste, however, American’s Coney sauce is distinctly sweeter…very much like a Greek-style chili. All the flavors come together very well and it is a very crisp taste.
AMBIANCE: I liked the modern updates American Coney Island had to offer and it is definitely bigger than its neighbor. Also, another thing I liked was the natural light with all the windows…great in the city.
PRICE: Possibly a few cents different, but still not a bank breaker…definitely worth it!
SERVICE: This was where American stood out. They were friendly, helpful and downright chatty…interested in where we were from, what we were doing, etc. It was clear they took customer service seriously and didn’t just stand on their popularity to keep people coming back.
I give American Coney Island 4 ½ ‘Little Piggies’
THE COMPARISON & VERDICT
Alert the critic authorities…we have a split decision in the way of differing opinions in the PCC family! When it was all said and done, Adam was a fan of Lafayette Coney Island while my favorite was American Coney Island far and away. The deciding factor for him was that he felt the sweeter Spanish onions and vinegar mustard worked better for the overall taste of the Coney. Also, he liked that it still had that same early 20th century appeal.
I, on the other hand, much preferred the sweeter Greek-style chili. Also, I just enjoyed my entire experience there a whole lot more, which may or may not have made that Coney taste a whole lot better…you be the judge.
In the end, I guess you will have to try both (in one day if you are daring) of these spots to make your own decision. For me it will always be American when I return (I guess Adam will have to go next door!), but I really enjoyed the entire experience of visiting both back to back and so glad we were able to experience this almost century old feud first hand.