To celebrate the 13th birthday of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail tour (and to give you more ways to part with your money in the Bluegrass State), the Kentucky Distillers’ Association this week unveiled a new online Kentucky Bourbon Trail Shop.

A record number of visitors completed the Kentucky Bourbon Trail tour last year, and many of them expressed a desire for something tangible to mark the experience, said Adam Johnson, tour director. Now they can purchase everything from hats (above, $19.95) and shirts to glassware and cheese boards ($49.95) that carry the Trail’s logo. A shot glass holder crafted from a barrel stave ($79.95) has a space for a glass from each of the member distilleries - Four Roses, Heaven Hill, Jim Beam, Maker’s Mark, Wild Turkey and Woodford Reserve - and one for the new Kentucky Bourbon Trail tour shot glass ($5.95).

Already popular, Johnson said, is a leather cover for the Kentucky Bourbon Trail passport that one must have stamped at each distillery to earn the coveted free T-shirt. The leather covers are $19.95 ($24.95 if personalized) and come with a passport ready for stamps.

Many people surprise their friends or spouses with trips to distilleries as gifts, and they wanted something to put in the box besides a brochure or a map, Johnson said.

“We envision people opening a passport on Father’s Day or Christmas and saying, ‘Oh! I’m going on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail tour!’ “

To start shopping (you must be 21 or older), click here.

Three Louisville distillers are the targets of a federal class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of residents who say the vapors from aging whiskey - the “angel’s share” - are covering their homes and cars with black spots.

The defendants, Diageo Americas Supply Inc., Brown-Forman Corp. and Heaven Hill Distilleries, say the blackening is due to a “naturally occurring common mold” and say they will contest the claims. Read more about the suit in The Courier-Journal, here.

Dizzy Dean (1910-74), Hall of Fame pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs

One year into its Single Oak Project to find the perfect bourbon, Buffalo Trace has released the fifth round of experiments. This round focuses on three variables: the recipe (rye versus wheat); the entry proof (105 versus 125 proof); and the wood grain size (tight, average or coarse).

The project began in 1999 when Buffalo Trace selected 96 different white oak trees with different grains and divided them into top and bottom pieces. The staves from these 192 sections were dried for either six or 12 months and then assembled into 192 barrels. The barrels were given either a No. 3 or 4 char and filled with either rye or wheat recipe bourbon in one of two proofs, 105 or 125. They are being aged in two different warehouses, one with wooden floors and the other with concrete floors.

Single Oak Project bourbons are being released every three months through 2015 until all 192 combinations are out there. The first were sold in 2011, and this fifth batch should be in stores by the end of May. The suggested retail price for each 375ml bottle is about $46.

Each barrel is identified only by a number (the fifth batch is from barrels 1, 17, 33, 49, 65, 81, 97, 113, 129, 145, 161 and 177). After you taste one, you can visit the Single Oak Project here to review it. Once you submit your review, you’ll be told the details of that barrel and can compare reviews. At the end of the experiment, Buffalo Trace will make more of the top vote-getter and release it under the Single Oak Project label.

A year in, what is winning? With nearly 1,550 reviews submitted so far, it’s a three-way tie among barrels 10, 106 and 184, says brand manager Kris Comstock. The only thing they have in common? In each case, the wood from these top barrels came from the bottom half of the tree.  

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently upheld Maker’s Mark’s right to exclusive use of its distinctive seal of dripping red wax. The decision came in an appeal brought by Diageo North America and Casa Cuervo of Mexico, which had also used a dripping red wax seal on special bottles of its Reserva tequila. The appeals court ruled that Cuervo had infringed on Maker’s trademark.

The case is a clear victory for Maker’s Mark, and it’s also a good opportunity to talk a little bit about one of the few women you hear much about in the history of bourbon-making: Marjorie Samuels.

It may have been her husband, Bill Samuels, who concocted the recipe for Maker’s Mark, but it was arguably Marjorie Samuels’ flair for marketing that led to its eventual rise as one of the world’s most recognized brands.

She came up with the name, first of all. A collector of pewter, she knew that it was only on the finest pieces that the makers put their mark. The “SIV” symbol was her idea, too - it stands for “Samuels - 4th generation” distillers. (This may lead you to ask why her grandson, Rob Samuels, the current chief operating officer of Maker’s, is referred to as the eighth-generation distiller. Apparently, Bill and Marjorie counted wrong - they were the sixth generation.) She created the brand’s distinctive typeface.

And perhaps most important, she came up with the idea of coating the bottles with that red wax. She also collected old cognac bottles, and she thought their wax seals were classy. Legend has it that she made the original wax coating in her deep fryer. Today, each bottle is still dipped by hand at Maker’s, which the Wall Street Journal once famously called “a model of inefficiency by choice.”

(Photo courtesy of Maker’s Mark)

Miss Lillian Gordy Carter (1898-1983), registered nurse, Peace Corps volunteer, activist and mother of President Jimmy Carter

Col. E.H. Taylor Jr. Barrel Proof

7 years old; 134.5 proof

This is the fourth release in the Col. E.H. Taylor Jr. Bourbon Collection, named for the founder of what is today Buffalo Trace Distillery. The uncut, unfiltered rye-recipe small batch bourbon was aged for seven years on the sixth floor of Warehouse C, which Taylor built in 1881. Buffalo Trace provided the Bourbon Babe with a sample of this bourbon, which will be released in June at a suggested retail price of $69.99 for a 750ml bottle. Let’s try it.

Aroma: Rich and heavy with fruit - cherries, currants

Taste: Yes, that does say 134.5 proof up there, so be ready. This is a powerfully spicy bourbon, with lots of peppery heat on the front. There’s also a bracing, fresh element - spruce, maybe? - as well as a bit of vanilla. You will feel this go all the way down, but the finish is rather short, leaving a bit of lingering rye and fruit.

Verdict: A nice bourbon, as long as you’re prepared for that initial fire. It’s sort of like a hot toddy all unto itself. I had a pesky allergy-related cough when I sampled it, and the Colonel fixed me right up. 

P.S. A toast to my husband as we celebrate our 21st anniversary today. Our marriage is now old enough to drink!

Perhaps I should say “old” rather than new: Heaven Hill Distilleries today announced a limited-edition release of Elijah Craig 20-Year-Old Single Barrel Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey. About 1,300 bottles will start appearing on shelves in 36 states later this month and in early June with a suggested retail price of $130 per 750ml bottle.

The bourbon was dumped from 80 barrels drawn from the same lot that provided a special bottling last year to mark the 20th anniversary of the Kentucky Bourbon Festival in Bardstown, Ky. That 20-year-old single barrel was subsequently named 2011 “American Whiskey of the Year” by Whisky Advocate Magazine.

To maintain warehouse stock levels, Heaven Hill will temporarily suspend bottling of its 18-year-old Elijah Craig Single Barrel, but the distillery said in a news release that it plans to release futured limited-edition extra-aged single barrels.

I’ll certainly give this 20-year-old a try if I have the opportunity, and I have tasted some extra-aged bourbons that I liked, but overall I can’t say I’m a huge fan of overaging. I find that many extra-aged bourbons get too oaky for my taste. What do you prefer?

Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)

Maker’s Mark is celebrating the University of Kentucky’s 2012 NCAA National Basketball Championship with a special version of Maker’s 46 dipped in blue and white wax. Starting today, 9,000 of these collectible bottles are on shelves across Kentucky - but they won’t last long, so if you’re interested in owning one, I’d suggest  making a fast break to the liquor store.

(Photo courtesy of Maker’s Mark)