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Lexington
Bourbon
Breeding &
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Each guest room has
an amazing view of
the Sound from its
room wide floorto-ceiling picture
window.
Craft brewing is going wild, with
brewing companies opening rapidly
Three Chimney’s
Caleb’s Posse
Main Image:
Three Chimneys
Individual Horse
Grazing Areas
Buffalo Trace Hand
Processing
Three Chimneys
Breeding Room
W
Right before we were due to leave
the Horse Museum, our IFWTWA
media group was permitted to view a
new addition before public display. It
arrived the day before from a Texas
donor. The Museum now has on loan
for a considerable period a Faberge
creation, a magnificent racing trophy
that is a punch bowl. This is the same
Faberge who is noted for his many
eggs created for Russian royalty.
Distillery and Brewing
Jimmy emphasized one key point,
“All bourbon is whiskey, but not all
whiskey is bourbon.” By law, liquor
must conform to certain
requirements to be labeled
“bourbon”: At least 51% corn
ingredients; no artificial color; and
aged in a barrel from 3 to 23 years.
Other well-known whiskeys are
derived from rye and wheat grains.
The name, “Buffalo Trace,” is derived
from buffalo herds that once roamed
the Lexington area, just as they
dominated the Great Plains. Herds
crossing a river would congregate
where, today, four Kentucky roads
join, routes 60, 460, 421, and 127.
Today, the distillery is close to
this intersection.
The Buffalo Trace Distillery is one of
the oldest continuously operating
bourbon distilleries in the U.S. Our
guide, Jimmy Johnson, provided a
fascinating history of this
institution. Even during the
Prohibition of the 1920s, the
distillery was allowed to prepare
Johnson mentioned that during the
Civil War, two establishments were
protected from attacks by either
Union on Confederate troops. These
were hospitals and distilleries, as
both were considered a necessity.
against heat and keeps the aging
bourbon at desired temperatures.
The process uses white oak barrels,
using wood from the Ozarks. The
phrase, “Shot of redeye ,” has always
meant a glass of bourbon. When back
in Phoenix, we were pleased to see
Buffalo Trace as one of the bourbons
being featured in the liquor cabinet
at a five-star hotel.
Johnson is part of three generations
of men who worked at the distillery.
His father was active in the
organization until age 92. Even
during racial segregation, the Buffalo
Trace workforce had a degree of
diversity, racial and sexual.
bourbon for “medical purposes.”
Dignitaries often gathered there to
discuss politics, dine on stew, and
nurse their ailments with bourbon.
Another distillery, the Town Branch
of Alltech (Distilling Company,
Kentucky Ale), doubles as a producer
of both bourbon and beer. It is
the first distillery to be built in
Lexington proper in nearly 100 years.
Our guide mentioned that bourbon,
as distinguished from whiskey, has
been legally defined in the U.S. since
1964. For bourbon stock, it relies
One area where Buffalo Trace barrels
are stored is heavily insulated
heavily on limestone water that
had been associated with bourbon
in the 1800s.
Town Branch considers itself the
largest Kentucky brewery. It makes
two beers, light and ale. The ale
variety is kept six weeks in barrels
originally filled with bourbon.
Kentucky has a lengthy Bourbon
Trail and Lexington has quite a few
distilleries on it. However, the two
we visited were not on the trail.
Distilleries near Lexington on the
Kentucky Bourbon Trail include:
Woodford
Reserve Distillery; Four Roses
Distillery; Wild Turkey Distillery;
Town Branch Distillery (in downtown
Lexington). Barrel House Distilling
Sixth Brewing, and Country Boy
Brewing that gave us a taste and
inside view of this booming craft
beer industry in Lexington.
(downtown Lexington) is on the
Kentucky Bourbon Trail Craft Tour.
Craft brewing is going wild, with
brewing companies opening rapidly.
Horses, Breeding
and History
The following 6 Breweries are now
open and part of the Brewgrass
Trail: West Sixth Brewing; Country
Boy Brewing;
Lexington Brewing and Distilling
Company (Kentucky Ale);
Blue Stallion Brewery;
Beer Engine; and
Rooster Brewing. Chase Brewing is
scheduled to open mid-summer. Its
taproom is already open, but they
are not brewing their own beers till
later this summer.
Three Chimneys Farm has seven
divisions, all related to various
equine functions, such as breeding
and others. It covers about 2300
acres and is home to 11 full blown
stallions. Jen Roytz was our
knowledgeable and enthusiastic
guide.
Each stallion is kept in his own stall
and pasture area. As with other male
members of the animal kingdom, the
aggressive nature of stallions
dictates that they be kept separate
In addition to Kentucky Ale
mentioned above, we visited West
1
from each other. Mares, on the
other hand, can congregate in groups
without undue dissension. Jen
pointed out several stallion toys to
us. These are, of course, larger and
more durable than those for dogs
and cats. But they serve the same
purpose, to keep the volatile
stallions contented.
into multi-million dollar annual
fees. The breeding room is large
and well padded. Attempts are
made to keep both stallion and
mare calm during the process.
Artificial insemination is never
employed. Usually, the union is
completed within 15 minutes.
When horses retire, they are
still well cared for and some
are adopted out to deserving
institutions or individuals.
West 6th Tasting
On average, horses live about 25
years. Racing life may last about 5
years, before they can be converted
to breeders.
There are approximately 450
thoroughbred farms in the Lexington
area, but there are only a few
that will allow visitors. You can
find a comprehensive list if you
scroll down to the bottom of the
above link. In all cases, you do have
to make appointments.
Breeding is big business. Each
offspring of these eleven stallions
has top notch genes. The Farm
receives a $35,000 fee for each
successful breeding. Since each
stallion can breed about 125
times per year, this translates
2
Summary
One common denominator we noted
in the owners and guides of these
establishments was their educational
and well-traveled backgrounds.
Another recurring characteristic was
the passion for what they did, along
with a deep affection for Lexington.
Since the population of Lexington’s
area is about 400,000, not gigantic
by U.S. metropolitan standards,
it seems further evidence of the
commitment of talented people
to Lexington.
In our brief tours, we saw how
Lexington’s nationwide fame for
bourbon, breeding and now brewing
is well deserved.
Disclosure: We were guests
of VisitLex.
We also visited the Kentucky Horse
Park. This organization is also home
to several prize stallions. For
example, Cigar earned almost $10
million during his racing career, even
though he was unable to breed.
Another new building on premises is
the Horse Museum. It illustrates how
horse sizes have been bred over the
centuries, ranging from dog size to
draft horses, the large Clydesdales
and the elegant Arabian variety.
Arabian horses were bred by
Bedouins for grace and speed, along
with durability. In battle, they
performed well against the heavier
armor-carrying horses of Europeans.
Variations of Arabian horses may
have been used by Hun and Mongol
PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARALYN D. HILL.
e explored what
Lexington is famed for,
bourbon brewing and
horse breeding, in an
area known as the
“Bluegrass Region.” The hint of
aristocracy that goes with these
two specialties seems consistent
with Lexington once being described
as the “Athens of the West,”
(west of the Alleghenies, that is).
Years ago, the trophy was smuggled
out of Russia, probably during the
Bolshevik Revolution. Such a rare
piece has a priceless value.
warriors, who for centuries were the
scourge of Europeans and Arabs too.
Country Boy Taps
By Norman Hill
Altech Town Branch Bourbon
Buffalo Trace Bonded Storage
3
4
History
Aristotle
A Man For All
Seasons And
Centuries
became his teacher and mentor.
After Phillip conquered all Greece,
the two became quite close.
Statue in
Aristotle’s Park
Stagira
When Alexander, becoming known
as Alexande r the Great, began his
military campaign to go east and
conquer Persia and the known world,
he carried Aristotle’s (by now)
considerable volume of written
works with him. For centuries,
Aristotle remained a prominent,
if not the number one, philosopher
and scientist, first in the eastern
Hellenic world legacy of Alexander,
and then in the Arab Islamic world,
centered in Baghdad and Damascus.
Crusading Christians, around 1100
A.D., discovered some of Aristotle’s
works, many of which may have been
in the form of student notes, and
returned them to Europe.
third of his total works have as
yet been recovered. He wrote and
researched prodigiously on virtually
every topic then known to man.
Besides his philosophical system,
he wrote on biology, zoology,
astronomy, psychology, botany,
esthetics and other topics.
A summary of his philosophical
system is:
Metaphysics
There is one universe and man can
potentially know it all. This universe
After Plato’s death, Aristotle
returned to Athens and founded his
own Academy, called Lyceum. When
word reached him that Alexander
was claiming divine status for
himself, Aristotle denounced him
for what he considered as a breach
of a reason and logic base.
No direct connection has been found
between this feud and Aristotle’s
hurried departure from Athens.
Evidently, some influential Athenians
accused Aristotle of irreverence
towards the Greek Gods. Potentially,
this could have been a capital
offense. But Aristotle said he had no
intention of becoming a philosophical
martyr like Socrates. He closed
Lyceum and returned to his native
northern Greece. Aristotle died
shortly after in 322 B.C.
exists independently of man, not
inside his head. Plato, on the other
hand, said that this world is only
semi-real and a reflection of true
reality, the World of Forms.
Epistemology
His greatest achievement is the view
that the universe can be known by us
through exercise of reason and logic.
Every human achievement, before or
since, scientific, artistic, or other,
stems from employment of reason
and logic. Plato, on the other hand,
said that knowledge of true reality
could only be obtained through a
mystical experience.
Ethics and Politics
Aristotle said that ethical guidance
should be obtained from observations
of wise Athenians. Plato, on the other
hand, advocated a strict dictatorship,
with a hierarchical structure to
society. On top would be the dictators,
the philosopher kings, and below them
would be the soldiers and farthest
down would be farmers and tradesmen.
Why, then, didn’t Aristotle’s
philosophical system prevail as
number one in the world? His views
contained weaknesses, some of
which may have stemmed from when
he was still aligned with Plato.
Metaphysics—An entity known as
the “Prime Mover” seemed to have
the function of holding the earth
together. This entity did not
interfere in earthly affairs and
did not possess what we consider
as God-like characteristics.
As Rome conquered Greece and
much of Europe, it is uncertain if
they even knew of Aristotle. In any
event, Romans and later Christian
philosophers, especially the latter,
adhered to Plato’s views.
When returning Crusaders brought
much of Aristotle’s works back to
Europe, one European monk studied
them in detail. Thomas Aquinas,
in the 13th century, concluded
that Aristotle could be completely
reconciled with Christianity
(he failed). Yes, there was one
world and it was knowable to
Man. Earth was the material part
and Heaven was the spiritual part.
Reason and logic could be employed
to understand all about Earth,
although faith was still required
for the Heavenly portion.
Epistemology—Later philosophers
attacked reason and logic as
qualities that could not be proven.
Evidently, Aristotle never invoked
the doctrine of self evidentially.
Reason and logic are not provable,
since any attack on them involved
the attacker’s acceptance and use
of reason and logic in his assertions.
By making reason and logic
respectable and not subject to
condemnation by the Catholic
Church, Aquinas paved the way
for the Renaissance. Once again,
after centuries of the Dark and
Middle ages, scientific inquiry and
artistic and architectural
achievements began.
Aristotle’s theory of Universals
was quite flawed. This pertains
to what is “man-ness”,
“horsiness”, etc.
Statue in
Aristotle’s
Park Stagira
In the minds of many, Aristotle’s
philosophy became tied to the
philosophy of the Catholic Church.
Later philosophers such as John
Locke and the Founding Fathers of
the U.S. all relied on reason and logic
in developing their great political
theory of individual rights. But they
didn’t give Aristotle his due. Today,
all of Western civilization relies,
usually implicitly, on his teachings
to reach current knowledge and our
standard of living.
Details of
Aristotle’s Work
By Norman Hill
T
IMAGES PROVIDED BY HALKIDIKI MARKETING
School of Athens
by Raphael, Plato
(left) Aristotle
(right)
As a Greek who worked extensively
in Athens, Aristotle was at the
forefront of the acknowledged
foundations of Western civilization.
These Greeks are credited as the first
to “think about thinking.” In the 5th
and 4th centuries B.C, Athens and a
few other Greek city states get the
credit for these achievements. But it
should be remembered that at least
one other Greek city state, Sparta,
was a very negative military
dictatorship, with similarities to
modern totalitarian models.
Aristotle was born in northern
Greece in Stagira in 384 B.C. He was
not a Macedonian, but initially lived
not too far from Macedonian Greeks
who would later play a key role in his
life. At a young age, he moved to
Athens and entered Plato’s Academy.
At that time, Plato was considered
the preeminent philosopher in the
Athenian world. Aristotle at first
adhered to Plato’s philosophical
system, but later broke with his
mentor and developed quite
different ideas.
Both Aristotle and Plato were
the first to develop philosophical
systems. These were a hierarchy,
consisting of views on metaphysics
(“What is it,” i.e. what is reality?)
to epistemology (“How do y ou know
this?”) to ethics and politics (“So
what?”). At some point, the Chinese
philosopher, Confucius, evidently
published many sayings and
observations, which, in their own
context, had some value. But he
never consolidated these into a
complete philosophical system.
Alexander the Great
He claimed that every living
entity contained two types of
literal material elements, a
“particular part” and a “universal
part.” Antagonists replied rightly
that, upon dissecting any living
entity, only particular parts
existed. In other words, the
entity’s species, sex, height,
weight, etc. were all unique.
After Aristotle left the Academy
and returned to northern Greece,
he came into contact with Philip II,
King of Macedonian Greeks. His
oldest son, Alexander, was
considered a prodigy and Aristotle
1
Filippos B Kozani
On a lighter note, Aristotle’s theme
park is located in Stagira. During the
summer, if the weather cooperates,
can see some of the monasteries on
Mount Athos. It prides itself in
including a series of instruments.
When they are properly played, they
reinforce the phenomena of nature.
The instruments include: solar, lens,
Pentaphone, Optical Discs, Pendulum,
Water Turbine, Inertia sopheres,
Parabolic reflectors and Telescopses
and they do make music.
It is estimated that only about one
oday, it seems that Aristotle’s
status and prestige in the
Western world are slowly
increasing. They are still,
regrettably, behind Plato’s.
Also, most academic philosophers,
as such, give short shrift to any
ancient intellectuals who developed
complete philosophical systems.
Nonetheless, his recognition seems
to be slowly improving.
Statue of Aristotle
(1915) by Cipri
Adolf Bermann at
the University
of Freiburg im
Breisgau
2
On ethics, Aristotle advocated
a “Golden Mean”, to result from
observing wise Athenians. In other
words, the right amount of golden
mean of “courage” was the mean
between two extremes, cowardice
and foolhardiness. Similar golden
means were developed for
all virtues.
3
His approach suffered from an
obvious lack of objectivity in defining
what were the ends around such
Golden Mean. Also, just who were
these “wise Athenians?”
These flaws all served to keep Aristotle’s
philosophy from dominance in the
Hellenic and Arabic worlds. He did,
however, retain prominence and respect.
There have been accountings
that Aristotle loved the honey of
Hakidiki. It is based on the climate
and edaphic conditions and flora of
Halkidiki. This region was also known
for its wine wine and still is. The say
Aristotle’s favorite was “limnio.”
All things considered, we owe a
profound debt of gratitude today
to that singular Greek, Aristotle.
4
History
The Society
Queen Who
Dethroned
Prohibition
To avoid turning off potential
members initially, they used the
word “Reform”, but Sabin and
her 11 original founding friends
were determined to achieve
complete repeal.
By Norman Hill
were being violated. For Sabin, this
was the last straw.
Throughout history, speeches have
been made that served to inspire and
stir audiences. In Shakespeare’s play,
Augustus inspires listeners to take
vengeance on Julius Caesar’s
assassins. In England, in 1940,
Churchill’s speech, “We shall never
surrender,” rallied the British people
from seeming defeat by Nazi Germany.
The next day, she resigned from the
Republican National Committee.
With other society matron friends,
they formed what was at first an ad
hoc group to look into combatting
Prohibition. Eventually, due in part
to Sabin’s nationwide organizing, the
little group grew to include women
from all walks of life and ethnic
backgrounds. The official name for
the group came to be “Women’s
Organization for National
Prohibition Reform “(WONPR).
In the U.S., on March 4, 1929, a
similar emotional reaction occurred,
but in the opposite way. In a select
audience in Washington, D.C., Pauline
Sabin, wealthy socialite and member
of the Republican Party National
Committee, waited hopefully for
the speech of the new President,
Herbert Hoover. Sabin had initially
supported Prohibition, thinking it
would brighten everyone’s lives. In
those days, the terms “Wets” and
“Dries” were fighting words, and
Sabin still considered herself a “Dry.”
But, throughout the 1920s, she had
seen Prohibition’s miserable failures,
breakdown of law and respect for
law, and an epidemic of criminal
behavior. She was gradually turning
into a “Wet.”
Sabin had supported Hoover in
the 1928 Presidential campaign.
Although he previously had made
some anti-liquor
remarks, she thought that he
couldn’t be a thoroughgoing
Prohibitionist—after all, he was
much more worldly and educated
than his two predecessors, Harding
and Coolidge. But Hoover’s speech
soon erased her optimism.
Everyone has said that Hoover was
a terrible speaker. But his remarks
on Prohibition were worse. He
criticized states for not enforcing
Volstead and related laws vigorously.
He went further by castigating
individual citizens for not only
associating with criminals and
bootleggers, but for looking the
“other way” when Prohibition laws
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Pauline Sabin, the Society Queen
who Dethroned Prohibition
Sabin’s strategy was similar in many
ways to those of the Anti-Saloon
League (ASL), called the most
powerful lobbying group the U.S. had
ever seen. Her approaches were
similar to those of the late Wayne
Wheeler, an unimpressive-appearing
Kansas lawyer, but a brilliant
tactician and relentless campaigner
for the prohibitionist goals of ASL:
• Emphasis on one issue, Prohibition
repeal, in this way, designed to
appeal to both Republicans and
Democrats.
• In the 1930s, when the Depression
really hit home, emphasis on jobs
that would be created by
resurrection of the liquor industry,
which had been fifth largest in the
country; AND generation of badly
needed tax revenues for
governments.
• Appeal to mothers about the
dangers to their children from
prevailing lawlessnes s and outright
contempt for the law.
• Appeal to mothers over what was
happening to their daughters—when
saloons were legal, respectable
women were usually afraid to enter,
due to social stigmas; now, they
openly drank with men and openly
entered known speakeasies, with
boyfriends or even alone.
• The ASL had advocated women’s
suffrage as a source of support. Now,
WONPR counted on women’s voting
power to help the repeal cause. Also,
Sabin’s leadership, clearly showing
her society, superbly dressed
credentials, seemed to inspire
women from the middle and even
lower economic classes, instead of
repelling them.
• Well organized letter writing and
telegramming campaigns to influence
elections at both federal and
state levels.
• Although WONPR didn’t stress the
point, they would admit, if pressed,
that states and local areas should
be permitted to remain dry, if
they desired.
One factor from the 1928
Republican (and “Dry”) landslide
undoubtedly fed Sabin’s disgust.
The victors interpreted their victory
as a mandate for a much tougher
campaign to enforce Prohibition.
They forgot that bigotry against
Catholic Al Smith and apparent
nationwide prosperity had been even
bigger factors than “Dry” sentiment.
The Jones Act changed many
violations of Prohibition laws
from misdemeanors to felonies
with minimum prison sentences.
Also, the enforcement budget for
federal agents was increased. But
this led to widespread resentment
over what is called today “Federal
overreach”, even from those inclined
to call themselves “Dries.”
Hoover continued to refer to
Prohibition as a “noble experiment.”
His Wickersham Commission, charged
with a thorough investigation of the
Volstead Act, seemed to recommend
leaving things just as they were.
Together with widespread
unemployment, bank failures,
and stock market collapse in 1929
and later, the campaign of Sabin’s
WONPR led to Democratic recapture
of Congress in the 1930 elections.
Then, her group contributed to
Franklin Roosevelt’s landslide victory
in 1932 with its endorsement.
But the enormity of what Sabin
helped accomplish shouldn’t be
measured just by a Presidential
endorsement. When the 18th
Constitutional Amendment was
completely ratified on January 16,
1919, its enforcement date was
designated as one year later in 1920.
In one celebration of ASL, on January
16, 1920, a spokesman said, “At one
minute past midnight…a new nation
will be born.” One implication of that
boast was that it was considered
impossible to repeal a Constitutional
amendment. After all, it took 2/3
of Congress and ¾ of the states
to ratify it, and the same super
majorities would be required
for repeal.
One eventual aid to repeal had
occurred in 1929. Congress had
apparently neglected its legally
required duty to reflect current
census figures in apportioning
Congressional districts. This led to
greater representation from urban
districts, who would eventually
reflect “Wet” sentiments over rural
areas that would tend to be “Dry.”
In February, 1933, the amendment
to repeal Prohibition, the 21st
amendment, first came before
Congress. On February 14 and 16,
despite one brief attempt at a
filibuster, both Houses of Congress
had voted for repeal by the required
2/3. Shortly after, when Roosevelt
took office, the Volstead Act was
drastically reformed, but made it
clear that states and local areas
could still stay dry.
Now, the state process,
formerly considered
hopeless, began in
earnest. By midsummer,
1933, 15 states had
ratified the amendment.
Even supposed dry
bastions like Arkansas,
Alabama and Tennessee
voted to ratify. Finally,
on December 5, Utah became the
36th state to ratify the 18th
amendment. The Prohibition era,
which had ended with what one
author termed “Tommy guns and
Hard Times,”
was over.
Pauline Sabin and leaders of WONPR
marked the occasion with dinner at
the Mayflower Hotel in Washington,
D.C. No liquor was served, but they
knew full well what they had
accomplished over the prior four
plus years.
In a superb book, Last Call, Daniel
Okrent describes all the events and
campaigns in both the 19th and 20th
centuries that led to the 18th
amendment and then, 13 years later, to
its downfall with the 21st amendment.
But for me, the most inspiring part of
the book is his description of the
stately society queen who, when
completely turned off by a miserable
speech, was inspired to work for
something positive that brightens
our lives today.
Norman
Hill
1940 – 2015