In this seventh (and final) part of My Amazing Bourbon Trail Road Trip, we leave for Savannah, GA and then make our journey home along the gulf coast and wrap up our adventure. In case you missed them, check out the previous posts here:
My Amazing Bourbon Trail Road Trip – Part 1
My Amazing Bourbon Trail Road Trip – Part 2
My Amazing Bourbon Trail Road Trip – Part 3
My Amazing Bourbon Trail Road Trip – Part 4
My Amazing Bourbon Trail Road Trip – Part 5
My Amazing Bourbon Trail Road Trip – Part 6
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Our last stop before the journey home officially began was Savannah, GA. First time there. Since it was a short drive from Charleston to Savannah, we arrived at the hotel around lunch time. We stayed at the historic Marshall House on East Broughton Street, right in the heart of Savannah. It is a beautiful hotel, and since we have learned so much about the pineapple on this trip, it was delightful to see the pineapple on the doors and the tile floor of the hotel.
We dropped off our luggage and took a short bus ride over to the area where we caught the trolley for our hop on hop off city tour on Old Savannah Tours.
As you can imagine, there was a lot to see on the tour, and I recommend if you go there for the first time to book one of these tours to get the full experience of being in Savannah. You will get to experience the beautiful architecture of the homes and buildings, the myriads of parks and statues, and the waterfront district.
After our trolley tour, we exited at the waterfront and took a long walk along river, and eventually found a nice outdoor restaurant (Chart House) with a balcony overlooking the river and the waterfront. Service wasn’t great there, food was decent, but the view was excellent.
After lunch we started making our way back in the hotel’s direction and wondered through the city market. We found a place for wine tasting and behold several of the bottles were from the Biltmore! It was a long but good walk back to the hotel. We freshened up and went downstairs for the complimentary wine and cheese in the lobby. We didn’t stay for the trivia night, but it was an option.
Our evening location was The World of Beer. What a great place. Beer and food were definitely necessary.
The next morning, we had a terrific breakfast at the hotel (included) then back into our vehicle for the drive to Jacksonville, FL. and our return home. From here on out, we were primarily focused on a relaxing drive home with some adventures thrown in, but nothing super exciting.
Jacksonville was fun and different. We had a nice lunch at the Ragtime Tavern and Grill, then spent some time on the beach, followed by pool time at the hotel.
Tallahassee was very different, as we stayed outside of town at a motel and spent the entire afternoon in the pool as it was very, very hot that day. My wife and I gave swimming lessons to a young boy there with is grandmother.
Driving along the coast we stopped and stayed at Gulf Shores, Alabama. We had a great meal accompanied by live music at Doc’s Seafood and Steaks, but not before spending a couple of hours in the hotel pool, which we had completely to ourselves. The weather wasn’t great, and we had some rain, but all in all it was a great place to stop.
From Gulf Shores, we made our drive the next day to New Orleans, LA for a day / night of fun. What can I say, it is New Orleans, and we visited Bourbon Street and the surrounding area. Our hotel was only one block away, so that wasn’t too difficult. It rained most of the day, but we made it through. For dinner, we ate at the Acme Oyster House, which was a great experience. Now I know why lines form outside for dinner! And of course, then some time on the town and back to our hotel for what I will consider our final night on our tour.
The next day was simply a drive to Beaumont, TX where we stayed with relatives, and the next day the final leg home to San Marcos. Our amazing Bourbon Trail Trip was officially over. Total Sad Face!
Trip Summary
What a trip this was! If you followed along with a map, you could see just how much of the United States we traveled on this journey. Of course, the main purpose of the trip was bourbon. We have started producing some good bourbons in Texas but what I can confirm is that we are still way behind Kentucky and Tennessee as is all the other bourbon producing states (which I think by now is every state in the country)!
While the making of bourbon is essentially the same, the scale of production in Kentucky and at Jack Daniel’s Distillery is mind blowing. It is still hard to comprehend the size of just one 100,000-barrel rick house at Jack Daniels’ let alone the many they have.
One of the things I loved about the Kentucky distilleries was the spirit safe. The spirit safe is a locked, glass-fronted box where the distilled spirit (whiskey, in this case) flows through after it has been distilled. Distillers can monitor and control the distillation process without directly accessing the spirit, ensuring that all production and taxation requirements are met. The spirit safe is crucial for separating the different fractions of the distillate, like the heads, hearts, and tails, which is an essential part of the whiskey-making process.
I saw them at several of the distilleries, and the one at Old Forester and Angel’s Envy were the coolest though. Below is a video of the one at Angel’s Envy.
Another surprise for me was just how good the inexpensive bourbons are. I would have never considered buying an Evan Williams or an Old Forester before this trip, and I am now sold on them. These are solid bourbons, and something our Texas distillers should strive for. Of course, they have the benefit of decades of experience and the ability to age their bourbons longer than we have in Texas. But I hope the Texas distillers will consider putting some of their better bourbons aside and age them for 12 years to start building a more refined bourbon market in Texas.
Overall, this was a tremendously educational experience, and I expect it to really assist me in bringing my readers some even better articles and reviews when it comes to Texas (or otherwise) bourbons. I hope you have read all 7 parts of this journal and that you have found it interesting and educational. Here’s a toast to you, my loyal readers!
About the Author
A native of Texas, Ken “Texan” Pierce is a renowned alcohol aficionado with decades of experience in the Texas wine, whiskey, and beer industry. With a vast number of alcohol production resources right in his back yard in the Texas Hill Country, Ken has made it his mission to promote and advance the Texas winemaking, distilling, and brewing industry across the country. Ken holds certifications from the Wine and Spirits Education Trust (WSET) for wine and is a Certified Texas Wine Ambassador. His ability to identify tasting notes and pairings makes him a respected authority within alcohol enthusiast circles. When he’s not reviewing the latest craft spirits, you can find Ken playing his guitar, trying to sing, and sipping on a Texas libation.