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Did you know Kentucky has more navigable miles of water than any other state in the U.S. except Alaska?

Is Alaska still a state.

Whose 90,000 miles of streams and dozens of rivers?

It's also quite famous for some other liquids, those which flow from a barrel, that being beers, bourbons and wine.

Many of the world's best known distilleries can be found right here in the Bluegrass State.

And interestingly enough, pretty darn close to many of our lakes, rivers and streams.

We're here to take you on an expedition of the secrets and histories of our intricate waterways while visiting Kentucky's distilleries, breweries and wineries.

I'm Carrie.

And I'm Kyle.

And we're two Kentuckians who are pretty proud of our state.

Share a sip of what the Commonwealth has to offer on all my.

So it's good to see everybody.

It's been, you know, lonely, locked up all these months.

Seems like a year.

What are you guys doing?

I'm good, man.

Hey, Sorry.

We got to figure out how to navigate Zoom, right?

I guess that's been probably the most interesting thing at this social distancing.

It's been one of my great words intentions throughout this whole thing.

You know, it's very easy to social distance while fishing on the on the creek faced with a seven foot rod.

So it's really easy to make sure that I'm keeping my proper distance from everybody else.

You got it with you the whole time.

So but that's that's what I've been up to.

I've been doing a lot of front porch sitting just hanging out, doing some reading, working in my gardens in the orchard and working on some home brews myself.

Nice.

Nice.

Very nice.

Yeah.

Out there.

It's pretty easy to distance, isn't it?

I mean, you know, you're in the middle of nowhere.

Hey, if I had a front porch look.

Like that, I'd be sitting on it, too.

That's awesome.

So I've been hanging out.

You know, I learned about this new thing called the Infinity Bottle.

Actually, I don't know if it's new or not.

It's new to me because I learned about it, But it's basically this whole concept where you take, you know, your decanter pouring the last the blast pore of each bottle in this together.

Now, you wouldn't want to it can be any spirit.

You can do this with rum, with gin, with tequila.

You know, obviously in Kentucky I decided to do a bourbon bottle.

Yeah, you.

So you get, like, your bottle when you get down to the end of it here, and then you pour in here and you do that with each one of them.

So it kind of has this crazy concoction of flavors that is infinity.

You're not mixing bourbon, vodka, tequila, rum, scotch all together, are you?

You know, I started that bottle, and it's for you, D.H.

I've seen stayed here.

I tasted it.

You love it.

I think we can.

That maybe a flavor that you can put in one of your concoctions there.

Okay, Well, that would be.

I don't know what you call it, but.

Well, Kyle, it sounds like you've been trapped at home for too long.

I think you need to get out.

Why don't we do a show?

A show?

Yeah.

Downstream show.

I hear that there's a distillery in Bourbon County that's making some hand sanitizer.

Kyle, you can check that out.

Can you drink it?

No, I wouldn't.

I do know a pretty sweet spot, Bourbon County.

It's got an awesome view.

Cool little covered bridge, nice little creek with some cool access.

We can kind of this vision there.

Nice.

And, you know, Kyle, I've really been missing my friends at the Bluegrass Water Association.

They usually do a spring clinic in June, but we checked it out a couple of years ago, and I know we have some great footage.

And you seem to remember something about rapids and such down in eastern Kentucky.

I'm just saying, we've been cooped up.

We need some fresh air.

We need some sunshine.

I can't think of anything better than to do a show right now.

Yeah.

And, Kyle, if you behave yourself, I've got some homemade apple wine that needs bottle.

You can come out and help me, and I might give you a sip.

All right.

Well, who?

Wine, some fishing, some hand sanitizer.

Ah, who?

Sounds like we're.

Folks.

And get behind it.

Let's do it.

All right.

All right, Let's go do a show.

I'm a I'm game.

Let's do it.

But before you go, I got to know one thing.

Oh, yeah.

Okay.

Do you have on pants?

Don't answer that.

Is that required?

I'm going to put some pants on, and I'll see you guys out on the six feet away somewhere.

Let's go.

Easy, Andrew.

Sorry.

What did you say?

Oh, Kermit Hartfield and Company, finally.

Yeah.

You know, if we're going to do shots, we just.

I can't do it with a mask on.

Are we.

Are we safe?

We're six feet apart.

Six feet, man.

All right, good, good, good.

Looking Great.

Well, we found Hartfield and company here, and parents.

Andrew, it is good to see you, my friend, And learn a little bit about what you guys have been doing.

I mean, we're in Bergen County.

We are.

So that was kind of the idea really.

More than anything.

We wanted to bring.

Bourbon back to Bourbon County.

So we started in 2014.

It had been 95 years since anyone had made bourbon.

In bourbon County.

And we're very careful about this part.

Legally, we work with smaller barrels, mostly again, just to be able to help tailored our distillation process, to be able to work with the influence that small barrels can have.

And what is it?

How does that make a difference?

Because that's something we sure talked about.

There's a drastic difference between the surface area inside the barrel versus the liquid that goes in oak.

So there's a whole lot more influence from the wood per gallon than a big 53 gallon barrel.

Now combine that with our difference in starting point for the distillation, this white whiskey is already smooth and has tons of character and body to it.

So what we're putting into these barrels already taste great.

We're not expecting the barrel to fix the flaws of a much higher proof distillation.

So naturally it can work quicker.

All right, so we're rolling along here.

We've got our special craft five gallon barrels here cranking out good stuff.

People are coming in, they're visiting, They're trying their taste in their by.

And next thing you know, over 90.

Right to be totally honest, we go from.

A.

Meeting trying to figure out how we're going to make it through to my wife having an idea about doing some bourbon scented hand sanitizer and.

Bourbon scented hand sanitizer that is.

Fan.

So if you want to smell this is oh.

It's like a tiny shot of healthiness.

Just don't drink it.

Yeah, it's tempting is in.

The span of about a week, learn how to make hand sanitizer, sort of a hand sanitizer and start filling bottles.

We've got to see how this works.

I mean.

All right, let's let's go find some more.

Well, that converts bourbon's.

Amazing.

But all right.

So we learned a little bit of the history of Heartfield and company and why they're here, where they came from and what they normally are making.

Now.

We're going to find out about some special stuff they're making from Germany here and it's not potable.

Jeremy, tell me what's going on behind us over here.

Yeah.

So we've making a ton of hand sanitizer over the last couple of months, since March.

It's a little bit of a detour for us, but makes sense because my blood alcohol, it.

Does have alcohol.

You all make some alcohol and you add some stuff you needed to do something with.

Right.

You know.

Ethanol or ethyl alcohol is one of the main ingredients in hand sanitizer.

That's what comes off of the still before we put it into a barrel.

And obviously the mash goes a little bit different for bourbon or for some of the other beverages we make.

But, you know, it's essentially the same stuff.

Alcohol kills germs and the coronavirus.

So we're actually standing in what used to be our craft cocktail bar.

So we converted this whole space into a hand sanitizer factory.

And so, yeah, that big tank you're seeing back there, that's a 1500 gallon tank, It's just easier for us to make the sanitizer and put it up there.

That feeds the bottling machines, bottling, labeling, and then we boxes and then out the door.

Now, do.

You all provide anything locally at any local businesses or hospitals or groups or donations or nonprofits or anything like that?

Yeah.

To talk about, Absolutely.

We're you know, I grew up here in Bourbon County, Andrew, and I, you know, been a part of this community our whole lives.

And and so that's been one of the best parts of this is being able to give back to the community.

And so we've been donating nursing homes and hospitals and businesses around for sure.

And so we also have a lot of people from the community that support us and have come to buy bottles.

Sanitizer now is talking about the bourbon.

Are you talking about sanitizer?

Don't.

Yeah, no free bourbon.

Come on down.

Prefer with every bottle of sanitizer you purchase.

Come on.

Man.

German, This is awesome.

Like, it's so cool to see a success story where you've taken literally, you know them lemons and made lemonade and bourbon and made hand sanitizer.

Our plan is just to continue to sell sanitizer and provide fill it, fill in for the the demand that's been created by the coronavirus.

Absolutely.

That's what it's all about.

Yeah.

That people is the American dream right here in Kentucky on downstream.

This has been fun.

Yeah, man, it's been good to talk to you.

Absolutely.

What's up?

My buddy from Country Boy Brewing here in Bourbon County today, we're at the Coalville covered bridge that spans across Kingston Creek on this absolutely phenomenal Kentucky day.

You know, this is the last covered bridge.

It's in Bourbon County, one of the last few remaining in the state.

And when you take a walk through it, you just feel like you're being transported through time.

We've been staying at home.

We've been social distancing.

We've been keeping safe.

Today we got to practice and solo fishing.

Come join me.

Well, this is my first time fishing this creek.

But, you know, any time I'm creek fishing, I like to look for, obviously, just like most types of fishing, the fish are going to hang around some types of structure.

And the thing about the creek is the structure.

Unlike some of the bigger lakes we have here in Kentucky, the structure is always changing, you know, with different flow rates and, you know, different kinds of debris coming in water, whether it be trees, brush piles and things like that.

So number one tip I would say is parts of structure, like we've got some nice down trees over here.

I think just about any type of fishing, whether you're ocean fishing or creek fishing or like fishing or farm pond fishing.

Morning, I think is always, always the best time to do so.

But also that's the most beautiful time to be on the creek is watch the sun come up, kind of see the world, wake up around you and maybe get a little.

A nice mist on top of a water morning on a creek is always the best, in my opinion.

Well, it's not my grandfather's.

We're big fishermen and I think my love of fishing comes from, you know, just in my blood.

I grew up in Northern Scott County, in North Statesville, on Eagle Creek, so I was always playing at the creek, always was in the creek.

I always was fishing in the creek, swimming in the creek.

Something anybody can do, you know, you don't have to have a lot of the fishing gear or, you know, years of experience.

Anybody can grab a pole and get on the water.

And to me it's just a way to reconnect with who I am.

And in nature, yeah, if I had to pick one bait that was going to fish with the rest of my life, you got to just pare it all down to one on the track.

A lot later, I will use the red on Red Rooster tag, any type of water situation, just about any type of fish.

Simple, cheap, easy cash.

Retrieve the Red Rooster tail available all your local fine fishing stores, establishment all across America.

I bet I've spent $10,000 on rooster tails in my life.

Most of them now reside on the tops of trees, bottoms of rock, banks and stumps.

You know, the age old thing, artificial baits here, much more active.

You're you're increasing your chance of catching more fish.

You cover more territory.

You're going to the fish, not le And I think you just get bigger fish.

At the end of the day, this is a creek that does have there are some challenges.

You know, you've got a lot of there is a lot of structure.

You do have the canopy trees over top of you.

You got to use those side casts and all that kind of stuff.

You can't get skunked on a creek pretty easy have many that we've gone out and not done any good, bad bunch of days.

We've done excellent as well.

So there's something over there.

He's not taking this.

So we're going to throw the tried and true rooster tail and see if we can get him.

Yeah.

Fish Wildlife has regulations on like what they recommend of the fish that you can't harvest, what you what you can and can't eat out of the creek.

To me, you know, I've always been a catch release guy.

If I'm far upon fishing or we're somewhere catching bluegill or catfish, something like that.

I have a nice farm pond.

I love to have a good fish fry, but when I'm in the creek most time, obviously I'm in the kayak, so it's hard to hard to keep anything.

But I'm first we just catch and release.

I'll type a little fry minnows and stuff over here, which usually little fish means there's a big fish around Howdy doody little guy.

I think it might be a state record, but I was telling you earlier, state is true.

You can catch anything on a Red Rooster tail in the creek.

We've got a nice little sunfish here.

And when I say little, I mean little.

I promise you all I can catch bigger fish.

But this is what we got to work with today.

We say, Guy, Beautiful color, though often for the ocean fish.

Because Seen your granddaddy back up here.

Hey, we got one.

It's not really about catching the big quantity of fish.

It's not really about, you know, catching the biggest fish days like today, about getting out, join nature, forgetting about everything, you know, meditating a little bit, self reflection, thinking about yourself, losing your mind and fishing and just appreciating the resources that we have in Kentucky.

So remember that if you are fishing and you don't have the best day, that's just a small part of it.

This spring, I really missed my friends from the Bluegrass Wild Water Association, especially seeing everyone at the Spring Beginners Clinic on the Russell Fork Reamer.

I've attended the annual event which has been going on for more than 40 years, several times, and I've always come away with new friends and improved my kayaking skills at the clinic.

Beginners and even not so new paddlers like me are paired with expert Whitewater kayakers who volunteered to spend their weekend helping others hone their skills and build their confidence.

Well, the Bluegrass Wild Water.

Association began in 1976 in Lexington, Kentucky, and almost immediately they began working with new paddlers and beginners who started that?

So this is probably the 40th.

Year for the BWR, a Bluegrass Wildlife Association.

Spring Clinic, and this year is being held at the Russell Fork River, the break here on State Park.

Well, what makes this river so special?

Why do you do it here?

This river is special because it's the crown jewel for Kentucky.

It's it's a world class resource.

And the fall brings paddlers from all over the globe.

The beginners clinic is primarily what we have here is primarily for beginners.

And there's a number of people who have never.

Been in a kayak.

In their life.

And just start today.

Yes, Really, You can come out here with.

Absolutely no skill, just a determination to learn and you're learning from a wet exit how you get out of the.

Boat the very first time.

To maybe fairing and kitchen and any other day or the weekend.

I always get really nervous running whitewater.

There's just something so humbling about being in a tiny boat, in a giant peach, engorged with all that fast moving water.

That just puts everything into perspective.

Taking on the Russell Gorges Class three and Class four.

Whitewater is thrilling and terrifying each and every time.

This year.

My goal was to stay in my boat and avoid a bumpy, wet exit and ping pong.

Having spent the weekend adjusting some techniques based on input from my teachers, I was really confident that I could nail it.

The encouragement of the other boaters on the water and the cheers of when I succeeded made it even more special.

It was definitely a ride to remember.

It occurred.

So when did you start boating?

Oh, last year.

One of my friends got a car and my wife fell in love with it.

We bought her a kayak.

We like a week.

So we got these in February and started going to row Clinic yacht rolled down and used it for the first time at this clinic since they got up here.

This week is awesome.

Strong live action role.

Your first Whitewater.

Yeah I actually I turned over three times yesterday, rolled all three times I got back up.

I never swam.

So I saw you come through a meat grinder today, which is our class for Rapid First.

I mean, this is your second day on white water.

First run through meat grinder.

What was that like coming into that rapid?

That was insane.

Like, you just put your front end on that, you know, keep these up, you know, all this stuff.

And then I go over, I hit the line pretty good, and then you're like, take a big power stroke through the bottom of it to get you out of it.

And I did.

And my left hand slipped off my paddle.

So that's when I turned left over.

My line was actually supposed to be a little bit further rattling that bothered me.

And so I saved it.

Coming down at that last piece with Iraq is a design that was actually supposed to be on the other side of that rock.

But since I lost the final when I ended up, you can't straighten it back up.

You go left if you don't hold it on the left.

So yeah, So it looks like something I will do.

I'm glad I did.

I saw after an exhilarating day in the water, relaxing around a campfire, sharing a meal and some laughs with new friends and old was just a perfect way to end a weekend.

The paddling community is truly just one big, crazy family that welcomes anyone and everyone who wants to join.

But we have a lot going on here tonight.

I see tents everywhere.

There's food on the smoker.

Tell me about what else goes into the weekend besides just finding people to teach people to paddle.

It's not just about teaching people to paddle.

It is about introducing them to a lifestyle because kayaking really is a lifestyle, especially coming from Kentucky, where there just there aren't that many whitewater runs.

We have to travel a lot.

So you kind of travel together and you develop a culture.

So the dance parties, the talent show is hilarious because of the spectacular lack of talent involved in it.

People just do all kinds of crazy stuff to get the prizes.

I love the people.

It's just an amazing group of people from different backgrounds, and there's something kind of unique, I think about people who are drawn to the sport, so you just get this amazing people.

So what would you say to people out there who might be a little nervous about coming out to the clinic?

I mean, it's a hard sport to get into.

There's a lot of equipment.

It is.

But this is the absolute best way to get into it, because about half of our students didn't have any equipment.

It was borrowed.

Oh, the the the members all have extra.

And so everybody puts up a lot of gear for students to borrow.

As far as being nervous about the sport, that makes a lot of sense.

It's a new thing.

It is kind of an extreme sport.

A little bit of nerve.

Seems like it might be a good thing when when you're dealing with big whitewater like this.

Yeah, I think the personal challenge of it is really rewarding.

The people are really rewarding.

So even if you don't take to it really quickly, you know, we're going to take care of you and you're going to have a good time and just stick with it and it's worthwhile.

Well, I can say that for sure.

This is my second beginners clinic and I'm still learning.

Yeah.

Oh, there's a lot of learning.

You'll be learning, you know, ten years from now.

There's new things to learn.

So I can't wait until next spring to see everyone and just spend a great weekend in one of the most beautiful places in Kentucky.

Paddling.

Yeah.

Hey, Jerry.

Hey, Kyle.

I found it.

Welcome to my little paradise in Elliot County.

Wow, this is fantastic out here.

I always said I wanted a place you had to get lost to find.

Well, as you can see, I'm being socially responsible.

This is very hot.

Okay.

Are we safe?

I think you're all right.

Kyle thinks that.

Well, I was told you had something for me to sample out here.

As far as a beverage.

Is that true?

I do.

We're getting ready to bottle some of my homemade apple wine.

Would you like to help and try some?

Now, let's do it.

Well, Kyle, here you go.

This is a batch of our homemade apple wine.

We call it Appalachia.

Fantastic Appalachia.

I like that.

You know, this is great.

Well, if you could help me load that in the car, I'll be on my way.

Well, not so fast, Kyle.

I thought maybe I could pour you a nice cool glass after you help me bottle it.

Is there some science involved in this?

There is a little bit of science.

All right, I'm down for some science.

Well, we started this batch last fall.

How many apples do you get on your trees?

Like I say, we have five mature apple trees.

So usually we get about five or six bushels.

So you can do two bushels for one of these.

Well, one bushel.

One.

Bushel, five gallons.

Then why you just throw them in this thing or you got to put them in a blender.

I mean how does that what's the process.

Well, first you have to cut out the course of the apples.

So you cut out the core and the seeds and apples have a lot of natural yeast if you leave the peels on.

So typically you just cut them into large chunks and put them in a mesh bag and you mix five gallons of water with £10 of sugar and you're £40 of apples and you let that kind of bubble and ferment for about a week and then you strain out all that leftover fruit and put it in here.

We put the five gallons of water in and we will cover it with plastic and put the lid on and just kind of let that bubble and ferment for about a week.

So you don't cook it.

You just stick it all in there and let it.

All in there together.

The raw fruit and the sugar and mix it up.

After about a month, we will switch the car, boys.

You know, you put it into another one.

It's called racking the wine and you move it from one to the other and you leave some of that sediment on the bottom.

Okay.

And then we do that at month one month, three, month six, and then usually around month nine.

I think it's ready to go to bottle.

Well, let's see what this bottling is all about.

If you need my help, I'm happy to direct, you know, and watch you do it first.

It most important step is sanitizing all of your equipment, including sanitizing your bottles and your workplace, as well as your hands.

Next, cool off the airlock here.

And the airlock is what makes sure we end up with wine instead of vinegar because it keeps the air out.

So we're going to go ahead and take that out.

What I'm going to do next is I'm going to test the alcohol content of our apple wine with this fancy tool called a hydro emitter, and it goes in to the wine and it will tell us kind of what our alcohol content is.

All right.

And then next, what we're going to do is use this fancy tool to get the wine flowing out of the bottle and into our individual bottles.

Right, Carrie, don't spill it.

You go, Oh, that's fantastic.

It smells good, too.

I'll give you credit for helping to make it.

That's good.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Here, I'll get you another bottle.

Ready.

Kyle, I told you I want you to work.

This is great.

This is really a pretty a very pretty wine.

Like, turned out really nice.

I thought you could use a break and we might sample.

Oh, absolutely.

It smells good.

It's got some legs to it.

Well, you're not legit, and it's clear.

It looks really nice.

Does.

Wow.

If it.

Tastes good.

Good for you.

Let's try this out.

And until next time.

We'll see you downstream.