On our second day of the latest trip on The Bourbon Road in Nashville was going to be an early one. We have certainly recorded earlier episodes, one after I had gotten off a night shift and we started to record at 6:30 in the morning. I will tell you that it’s hard to start drinking bourbon that early. This time we wanted to make sure we were prepared as our interview stated at 10:30. How do you make sure you’re ready? Well you better get some breakfast in you that early in the morning so we headed to Big Bad Breakfast just West of downtown of I40.
The Bourbon Road Media Player
Press play above to listen to this episode
This place was amazing and our wives loved it so it was a win win for Jim and I. Finding a breakfast joint in downtown Nashville can be a hassle. The Honkey Tonk crowds flood places like Biscuit Love, Cafe Roze, Pinewood Social or Puckett’s Grocery & Restaurant so driving just outside of downtown Nashville is always worth the time. What you will find at Big Bad Breakfast is a James Beard award winning Chef John Currence. He certainly surprised us with an outstanding menu.
I had the Big Bad Breakfast Skillet and a biscuit with Red Eye gravy. What’s red eye gravy you ask? It is a thin sauce often seen in the cuisine of the Southern United States and associated with the country ham of that region. The gravy is made from the drippings of pan-fried country ham mixed with black coffee. Other names for this sauce include poor man’s gravy, bird-eye gravy, bottom sop, cedar gravy, and red ham gravy. A common practice is to dip the inner sides of a split biscuit into the gravy in order to add flavor and keep the biscuit from being too dry when a piece of country ham is added between the two halves, sometimes called the Southern “ham biscuit”.
That’s exactly what I did and oh my what a treat. What did everyone else eat, I’m not rightly sure. What I do know is they all had empty plates and that’s all that mattered right? We still had some time to kill so Jim and I wanted to check out a couple Liquor stores before our interview. A place we would recommend is RED Spirits. They had several store picks, a great staff and some amazing prices. We were also able to find something that we had looked high and low for to sip at the Jeptha Bend Farm creek side fires. A bottle of Sugarlands Butterscotch Moonshine.
With no time to waste we raced to our interview at Pennington Distilling Company. We were met by Carter Collins, the Head Distiller and the distillery dog. You haven’t heard of Pennington, well you’re about to as we believe they are on the rise. In this episode we sat down with Jeff Pennington and Carter to sip on their whiskies, both Bourbon and Tennessee, which is called Davidson Reserve named for Davidson County Tennessee (Nashville). From their Rye to their birthday whiskey (Genesis) and not one of them were a disappointment. Truth be told we were almost in shock that more people don’t know about this budding distillery.
If you haven’t had a chance to try their whiskies we suggest you rush out today and grab it. Any expression will do. Now if you can find one of their single barrels that would be even better. Craft distilleries like Pennington Distilling should not be overlooked. Supporting them and spreading the word about their artistry will only help others understand how truly special their whiskies can be. Cheers
So grab that glass, a bottle of your favorite craft whiskey and listen as Jim and I stay on The Bourbon Road in Nashville, Tennessee with Pennington Distilling Company.
Mike (Big Chief)
https://
Leave A Comment