It’s 6:30 am and I’m probably like many of the revelers in
Music City . . . just ending the day. Ok
that’s not really true. I’m just
starting my day but this is a city that’s alive with music.
Got up bright and early on Saturday morning (flights were so
much cheaper than Friday night!) and arrived early Saturday morning. I was coming in for an event hosted by the
Nashville Rescue Mission called Music for a Mission.
The best thing about this weekend is that I didn’t come
alone. Whereas last weekend I was
working my way through California Wine Country, this weekend I’m in Music City.
This city has earned its name.
I have a confession to make.
I’m not a huge country music fan. Frankly I’m not a fan at all. It goes way back (over 35 years). I used to be an avid fan but then one fateful
day a song came on where the chorus included: “there’s only two things that
money can’t buy. That’s true love and home grown tomatoes.”
Really?
Over the years I’ve
had folks tell me that country music is different today. I guess it is but I’m
not sure with songs over the years like “Do you think my tractor’s sexy?” Perhaps not so different.
I changed the station at that moment and never went back. That’s
a bit unusual since my musical tastes are quite eclectic from classical and
opera to rock to heavy metal and back to all forms of Jazz and the blues. No
rap. No country.
Until this weekend. Maybe.
But I digress. Since
we weren’t able to check into the hotel early, we went over to an old favorite
– Noshville – for a quick breakfast. Noshville is a great New York deli in
Nashville. The quality of the food and the choices (great lox and bagel) are
reminiscent of the fare you’d find in the Big Apple not Music City.
I picked up a magazine that listed all the best places in
Nashville. Since I don’t always plan my trips, it provided a little direction
for the day. The only thing on the docket was a dinner reservation at
Whitfields with a dear family friend.
So a quick drive out to the community of Franklin. This cute
little community on the outskirts of Nashville has a little for everyone. We
even got in to see the Franklin Farmer’s Market. And, you guessed it; there was
live music to entertain the marketers.
Even though there’s a wine road in Tennessee we decided to
try something different – we took the whiskey trail.
From Franklin we headed to Lynchburg, Tennessee for a visit
to an American institution. As American as apple pie, mom and Harley Davidson,
Jack Daniel’s distillery is a must see.
Now here’s a unique twist – the distillery is in a dry
county of Tennessee. Yep. Dry. As in no tastings. No regular purchases. Only
commemorative bottles are available at the distillery. But we arrived just in
time to take the tour – and a few weeks before their BBQ festival.
I was eager to learn what made the difference between
Whiskey and Tennessee whiskey (not to mention bourbon etc.) When we arrived
there was just one tour ahead of ours and before our tour began, they were
taking reservations for tours seven after ours.
While we have some photos, there were no photos in the
distillery. Here’s what we learned. Tennessee whiskey has a minimum of 80% corn
in the mash whereas bourbon has to have more than 55%. What separates Tennessee
Whiskey from all the others is the charcoal filtering that takes place just
after the distilling.
The tour begins with a short movie and then we load up on a
bus and they take us to the Rick Yard. This is where they make the charcoal for
the filtering from ricks of sugar maple. From there we get a bit of a lesson on
the distilling of whiskey.
It’s a tour I would suggest you take and the best part of it
is that the price is right. Yep. It’s free.
After the tour and our free lemonade we went to Lynchburg
for a quick lunch. We stopped at the BBQ Caboose Café for a pulled pork
sandwich. Pulled pork was good but our side of red beans and rice was
disappointing as the rice was not fully cooked. Still crunchy.
After lunch we wound our way to the George F. Dickel distillery.
Just in time, as it turns out, for the last tour of the day. The name itself
conjures up all kinds of inappropriate advertising slogans. Very similar to the
Jack Daniel’s tour only they don’t do the bottling on site anymore.
Both distilleries are owned by huge conglomerates: Jack
Daniel’s by Brown-Forman and Dickel by Diageo. Not necessarily bad but it’s not
the same when you can visit with the family/owners like those of the Sonoma
County wineries.
After the tour it was back to Nashville for a brief nap and
to get ready for dinner. We met my dear friend Sue for dinner at Whitfield’s
where her friend, Mark Sorrells and his trio, was playing. Whitfield’s is
another gem in Nashville.
Seated in the bar so we could hear the music – again, it’s
Music City after all – we began with a bottle of Francis Ford Coppola’s
Director’s Cut chardonnay. I’m normally a red wine drinker but the Director’s
Cut chardonnay was intriguing.
After my visit in July to the Coppola winery, I’ve had the
opportunity to pick out a couple of his wines to go with various dinners. This one went with an appetizer of their
mussels.
A truly delicious
pairing.
This gave us time to just catch up and for Sue to meet
Roxanne for the first time. After the first set, Mark joined us for a few
minutes on his break. What a great opportunity to meet him. Smooth jazz.
Standards. Even a little rock and roll. A very eclectic mix.
This is a place where the hours can drift away over good
food and wine with friends. Dinner included a couple of their Saratoga Ribeyes
and I had the Crab and Chorizo ravioli. The ribeyes were done to a perfect
medium rare and the ravioli was delicious.
Dessert?
Absolutely. The perfect end to the meal was their donuts.
Easily shareable and incredibly good. What’s wrong with dough dropped into hot
fat and then rolled in sugar? A perfect
ending to day one in Music City.
Check back next week for day 2 and some really fabulous music.
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