Barrel House Coffee Co. in Ball Ground, Georgia

Ball Ground is a quintessential small southern town. It's charming and Hallmark movie worthy. But it's an easy town to miss. A wanderer would likely happen upon it by chance while on the way to somewhere else.

I am thrilled I happened upon it on this particular fall day, and I can say with certainty I will purposely visit in the future, if only to drop by Barrel House Coffee Co.

Unique and inviting, Barrel House Coffee Co. offers a menu of coffees that combine bourbon with coffee. No, I'm not talking pour your secret sauce from your flask into your mug. The owners place unroasted coffee beans into freshly used bourbon barrels, allowing the beans to laze around in their barrel spa soaking up the rich, oaky, vanilla-y essence of the bourbon. 

Mark is a big bourbon guy, so I will definitely bring him for a visit someday. 

As for me, I am more of a not bourbon gal, so I simply ordered the coffee of the day, a roast from Papua New Guinea, topped with oat milk. 

I also ordered a pumpkin muffin. 

As I peered into my muffin bag, I was very puzzled about why they would automatically provide me with a knife and fork. Typically, that's a I'm-kinda-weird-about-eating-things-that-are-meant-to-be-eaten-with-my-fingers-with-my-fingers kinda person, so May I please have a fork kind of request. Right? 

But then I dug into the muffin. 

And I totally understood why I got a fork.

This pumpkin muffin had the ooey-ist, gooey-ist topping on it. And the muffin itself was the most moist muffin I've ever had (forgive me if you dislike the word moist). The pumpkin-y flavor sent notes of the perfect blend of spices to my tongue and then to my brain, and I sat for a moment lingering over that first bite. It was delicious. Beyond delicious. Especially for a lowly muffin!

I savored each sumptuous bite knowing this was one of the best accidental encounters I'd ever wandered into!