Woodford Reserve scoured the country for the single-most well-crafted Manhattan in the nation. Just recently, Woodford Reserve bourbon and Esquire magazine have crowned Jeromy Edwards from Louisville, Kentucky and his “Cider Manhattan” as the “Master of the Manhattan” for 2009.

Seems only fitting that Jeromy is from Louisville - home to Woodford Reserve.

Jeromy’s cocktail was reviewed by a distinguished panel of experts along with the seven other bartenders creations from across the country. Edwards and the other participant’s cocktails were critiqued on creativity, ingredients, presentation and taste. The judges included Woodford Reserve Master Distiller Chris Morris, Executive Chef Christopher Lee, Mixologist Julie Reiner and Spirits Journalist Jack Robertiello.

The Cider Manhattan along with the other seven recipes will be featured in a Woodford Reserve advertisement in the January edition of Esquire, but you, dear readers, get a sneak peek at Jeromy’s Cider Manhattan:

Cider Manhattan crafted by Jeromy Edwards

• 2 oz. Woodford Reserve® bourbon
• ¾ oz. Cider Reduction
• ½ oz. Antica Vermouth
• Dash Angostura® bitters
• Grand Marnier flambéed cherry (preferably Rainier Cherries)

Flambée cherry in the martini glass, allowing it to caramelize. Place drink in shaker and turn - don’t shake. Pour into glass after it has cooled.

Much like fine wine, there’s a lot that goes into good bourbon, and it’s a pretty precise science.

Back in November of 2008 the fine folk at Maker’s Mark flew me to Louisville (Lou-a-vull if you want to pronounce it like the locals) and let me spend about 4 hours with Kevin Smith, the Master Distiller for Maker’s. The Master Maker if you will.

Maker’s Mark has a long and varied history starting shortly after prohibition in 1933.  One thing lead to another, and the Samuels family - the very same that owns Maker’s now - bought the brand in 1943.

In 1954, Bill Samuels Sr. started playing with ways to make the bourbon smoother around the edges, and replaced the rye with red winter wheat. After much trial and error, the formula that is today’s Maker’s Mark was born.

Bill’s wife, Marjorie (and this is one of my favourite parts of the story) has left her mark all over the Maker’s Mark bourbon - she was a fan of classic pewter pieces, which always carried the mark of their maker. This led her to create the SIV symbol, that stands for Samuels, 4th Generation, which is still used today. She also created the type face and was the one to begin hand dipping the corked bottles into red wax, which is something else that continues to this (day and it’s really cool to see).

By the fall of 1959, after a six year maturation, Maker’s Mark is finally available for market. The first bottle was  4 fifths of a quart and sold for $6.79 a bottle. In the first year, Maker’s sold 250 cases all of which happened to be in Kentucky. Too bad those prices aren’t the same today!

Kevin took me through everything there was to know about Maker’s Mark - from trying the neutral spirit, which essentially amounted to moonshine - all the way through dipping my fingers into the ageing bourbon.

We walked into the fermentation room, and all I could see were eight huge, open fermentation tanks, all seething and bubbling under a crust of yeast as the alcohol fermented. Kevin walked up to one of them, gestured for me to join him, and broke the crust of yeast, swishing his fingers around in the tub.

“Come on over here and try this! This one is about four days old.” All in all, I think I tried about 4 or five different ages of bourbon, all from 2 days old up to 6 or seven days old. It freaked me out at first to have him tell me just to shove my hand in there, but it was really freakin’ cool!

We stopped at the small building they print and die cut all of the labels for the bottles, and then onto where they hand dip every single bottle. They work in a team of four, and each person has a pretty distinct style, to the point where you can actually tell (provided you know the people and see the bottles often enough of course) which person has dipped which bottle.

The entire Maker’s Mark operation is - quite honestly - one big family. There’s not a ton of people working there, and everyone is friendly, joking and just plain fun.

If you ever get an opportunity to go to Louavull, make it a point of going to Maker’s Mark. It’s a gorgeous distillery, and you’ll get a tour like no other.

More images from the tour:

Mmmm. I want to get all of my furniture from these guys. Not only is this stuff gorgeous, but I bet is smells amazing. May as well carry my love for good bourbon throughout the entire house!

The furniture is made from reclaimed bourbon barrels from Bardstown, Kentucky. Usually, the used barrels are only used once to age bourbon, and then they’re either sold to Scotland for scotch or they’re turned into planters, or firewood (sob! how wrong!!).

Uhuru is instead taking this gorgeous charred white oak and has created the Küpe line. Heck, they make gorgeous furniture, period. I want all my stuff to be from here!

(Image source: Uhuru Designs. Hat tip to Liquor Snob for the heads up)