Kentucky Bourbon Trail
I’m a middle aged dad which means two things: I can no longer drink beer like a 25 year old without discovering the gastrointestinal effects of ramming that much gluten into my system in a short amount of time. And it means I now collect bottles of bourbon like a 9 year old collects baseball cards. Both of these facts suggested a trip to the Kentucky Bourbon Trail was in my future.
The bourbon trail is pretty much an actual trail (well, sorta) connecting you to most of the major distillers of bourbon throughout Kentucky. Primarily located in a triangle that connects Louisville, Lexington, and Bardstown, there are dozens of major, midsized, and small batch distillers. I went into the trip with high expectations and somehow those expectations were exceeded. The hospitality, the history, the chill vibes, and the great weather (go in May after the Derby!) led to an amazing trip. And something I told my west coast friends joining me on the trip: this is some of the best the South has to offer. I’m a southerner who spent the first 40 years of his life living in Texas and Georgia and what I learned is that if you really want to experience the south, get out of the big cities. Find something small and unique like Charleston, SC, Savannah, GA…..or the Kentucky bourbon trail. Almost everywhere we went we were met with so much kindness and hospitality (and free stuff) that we were blown away. It was too awesome.
Where to stay
There’s really three options here: Louisville, Lexington, and Bardstown. We chose Bardstown because of its proximity to several smaller and midsized distillers that were on our list. It’s also a quaint town with several bars, restaurants, coffee shops, and other things to keep your attention. You’re about 45 minutes (give or take) from Louisville and Lexington from Bardstown so it’s not a bad day trip to either town.
The challenge with Bardstown is the lack of lodging in downtown. The only option we could find right in downtown was the Bullit Winery Airbnb. It sits above a restaurant so if you’re an early to bed type person, the noise may get to you. I can confirm that if you want a pizza and a beer after the restaurant is closed, the staff will be super friendly and accommodating to you.
If you’re staying in Bardstown, everyone will tell you to eat at the Old Talbott Inn. Calling itself “the oldest bourbon bar in the world”, the place looks old and cool and something that would fit better in Charleston or Savannah. And the bourbon selection was good (not great) but the food…the food was like if you took Cracker Barrel and added a 30% cost premium to it. Do not recommend.
I created this map with locations and how we scheduled our 3 day trip. Keep in mind it’s designed for people flying in and out of Cincy. If you’re driving up from ATL for example, you can probably ignore that leg that leg of the trip.
What I wish I’d known before going…
I live in Seattle which is very clearly a beer and wine town. About 25 minutes north of Seattle sits Woodinville, WA, where many of the wineries on the east side of the state have their tasting rooms. We have a brewery on pretty much every corner of this town.
What we do not have is good access to bourbon. The liquor stores have all the usual suspects and on the rare occasion you find a liquor store selling more unique bottles, they’re charging exorbitant amounts of money for them (the liquor store near me has a bottle of pappy for $900. NINE HUNDRED DOLLARS). So when my buddies and I decided to head to the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, one objective was to get our hands on bottles we can’t really find in Seattle. Here’s what we learned on this quest for unique bottles and where to find them
The major distilleries are terrible places to find rare bottles. The Buffalo Trace store sells one bourbon — Buffalo Trace. Stitzel-Weller just sells Blade and Bow. Don’t go in thinking you can buy rare bottles.
That said, most of the distilleries do have rare bottles you can buy but the supply is super limited, rationed, and kept out of sight. Get there first thing and head to the gift shop to see what they have hidden behind the counter. See the distilleries section below for what distilleries have (as of May 2022).
If you’re looking for single barrel bourbons or bourbons you can only get at the distillery, avoid the big boys. The smaller to midsized distilleries all had bourbons you can only get there (not to be confused with rare bottles I guess).
Most places have pretty good cocktail lounges. So even if you’re not a bourbon fan and you’re just tagging along with friends or a spouse, they’ll have something for you to drink
Always ask the bartender if they have a special or unique pour. We got to try some pretty rare stuff just by asking.
I highly recommend doing at least one private tour. It’ll cost around $200 / person but it’s worth it. The orphan barrel tasting at Stiztel-Weller was the jam. Each distillery has tours that are not listed on their websites. Just email or call them and they’ll let you know what’s available.
If you’re flying from the West Coast, fly into Cincinnati. It’s only about 1:15 to both Lexington and Louisville and 2 hours to Bardstown. It’s also near New Riff, one of my favorite spots that we hit
Distilleries
We hit 12 distilleries in all, some for as short as 30 minutes, others for as long as 3 hours. One think to note is you don’t really need a reservation for a tour or tasting at most places. We only had one tour / tasting booked for our entire trip but we were able to find our way into a tour or tasting with relative ease. Most (if not all) places have a way to purchase a tasting or flight and you don’t need a reservation for that.
This list is more or less ordered by preference from most to least favorite.
Buffalo Trace — Probably the biggest distillery we hit. The tour was great, lead by a salty 70 year old woman named Rae (“look around you. see all this expansion? it’s not paid for by loans or private equity. It’s paid for by college kids guzzling Fireball” 😂). We learned that Pappy Van Winkle, a somewhat mythical bourbon that everyone is always looking to get their hands on (sorta), is really just Weller, a much more accessible, and reasonably priced, bourbon. The story, as it was told to us, is that each year Julian Van Winkle, the grandson of Pappy, comes in to taste a barrel of Weller (I think a 12 year). If he thinks it has Pappy potential, they send that one barrel to a committee of 20 and if they unanimously agree, it becomes Pappy Van Winkle. Protip: we showed up the day of without a tour and despite being sold out on the website, were able to join right up. Since this was our first distillery, we weren’t wise enough to ask if they had any special bottles hidden behind the counter.
Stitzel-Weller — I’m not sure this would rate so highly if it weren’t for the private tasting that we did of the Orphan Barrel series. This was the only place we paid for a tasting and tour and in my opinion it was well worth it. We had a great guide who showed us around and the tasting was in this small building on the grounds that has been refurbished for private events. Super cool. Protip: They sell one orphan barrel and one Blade and Bow 22 year each day. It’s a first come, first serve kinda thing.
Willett — mostly for the bar upstairs which was extremely awesome. And if you compliment the bartender’s playlist making abilities, she might let you try a Jefferson’s Presidential Select from 1991. Protip: get the egg salad sandwich at the bar upstairs. It’ll change your life
Bardstown Bourbon — fantastic bar and access to bourbons you can only buy at the distillery. Protip: the restaurant is huuuuuuge and is a great place to stop for lunch. They have a bunch of random limited edition bourbons you can only get there.
New Riff — not technically on the bourbon trial, New Riff sits in a suburb of Cincinnati. It has a pretty nice cocktail lounge upstairs and about 8 different bottles you can only buy at the distillery. New Riff is also super hard to find on the West Coast making it a little more unique than most distilleries on this list. Protip: Ask nicely and they’ll let you try Balboa Rye. They also had about 3 single barrel bourbons and 3 single barrel ryes that you can only get at the distillery.
Castle and Key — I really liked this one not because of the bourbon (they actually didn’t have any. they only sell Restoration Rye which is…not good) or because the cocktails were great (they were good) but because the distillery is old and on some really nice grounds. Go there to have a snack and chill in the English garden with a mint julep (can’t get much more Southern to be honest)
Rabbit Hole — we got there too late to enjoy the bar upstairs, but the vibe of the place (located in downtown Louisville) felt cool and modern, a departure from the old school distilleries you usually try
Lux Rowe — our objective with hitting Lux Rowe was to get our hands on a bottle of Blood Oath. Any bottle really. Alas, they didn’t have any. But they did have a rare single barrel Lux Rowe bottle for purchase. They also had a few other rare finds. There’s a lot of construction going on and the tasting room was relatively small. Protip: they do sell Blood Oath there but it’s on a fairly limited release schedule. Highly recommend that if you’re going to look for it, check their release schedule. They seem to change what they have in the gift shop pretty frequently so it’s hard to tell what will be there when you decide to go.
Preservation — we got there too early (they don’t do any pours until 1130am on Sundays) but it’s small and has a variety of whiskeys you can’t get on the west coast. So I’m only putting this at #9 because just didn’t get to spend much time there. I do want to go back though to see if I can nudge this one a bit higher on the rankings. Protip: I don’t think they actually have any bourbons. Most of their whiskeys are finished in french oak.
Woodford — I really love Woodford, specifically the double oak. But you can buy that at damn costco so to haul your ass all the way out to their location near Lexington, you better get some bang for your buck. And we didn’t really get that. The place feels very corporate and sterile. Protip: The cocktail bar is located across the street and is not really a “cocktail bar”. They serve a very sweet Old Fashioned and Kentucky Mule. Protip #2: They have a tasting of the Double Double Oak but for $65 you have to ask yourself if it’s worth it? (the answer is no)
Maker’s Mark — Ok, the grounds are pretty cool. But Maker’s mark makes just….Maker’s Mark. Which is a fine bourbon…if you’re wanting to mix it with something. For some reason this place just didn’t vibe with me. Protip: If you’re into dipping your bottle into a vat of wax, they’ll let you do it. We just watched and moved on.
Heaven Hill — The first thing you see when you walk in is the gift shop and they are selling you tshirts, coffee mugs, bbq sauce, some god awful pre-made Old Fashioned, more tshirts, some cooking sauce…everything but bourbon. I mean they had some but it was the same shit you can buy at a grocery store in Washington State. One of my friends who went said it reminded him of walking into a Megachurch. I agree with this description. Thumbs down.
Where to buy bourbon
The trick we learned early on in our trip is to hit up the distilleries for tours or info or the experience or whatever. But if you want to buy bourbon, find a liquor store or tasting store. The concept of a tasting store (I’m not sure what else to call it) is new to me because virtually everywhere else I’ve ever lived, you can taste alcohol (a bar or restaurant or whatever) —or— you can buy alcohol (liquor store, grocery store, etc) but you cannot usually do both. We visited two of these place in Louisville, both of them being really great experiences:
Justin’s House of Bourbon — this place is full of some REAL bourbon geeks. They have a number of rare and hard to find bottles. They also let you taste most of what they have ranging from the usual stuff to pretty much the full line up of Pappy Van Winkle. Keep in mind that this is a secondary market so don’t go there to buy any ol shit you can buy elsewhere. There will be a premium to what you a pay. Website: https://thehouseofbourbon.com/ (note: they have two locations, one in Louisville and one in Lexington)
Taste — located in a hipster neighborhood in Louisville, this great little shop is run by two super helpful guys with great recommendations and affordable bourbons you don’t see everywhere. We walked out with a bottle of Monk’s Road that we took to a public park and sipped on for an hour. Website: https://www.tastefinewinesandbourbons.com/ (their website looks like it was built in 1998). They have seating, snacks, and wine if you’re not there for bourbon.
