Kentucky Bourbon Trail: 5 Days Visiting 12 Distilleries

bourbon is known as america's native spirit and as such it has a rich history dating back for over 200 years while bourbon can be produced outside of kentucky the state is responsible for something like 90 of all bourbon sold in the world one of the main reasons for this is the limestone which works as a natural filter for the water there are over 60 different distilleries in kentucky and 18 that are on the state's official bourbon trail we didn't get to all of them but we spent the better part of a week visiting 13 distilleries and here's what we found also just a quick note this experience is intended for those 21 and older and we shot this in january of 2020 before the covet pandemic so be sure to double check any information in this video and note that many of the tours are currently suspended hopefully at least this encourages you to want to visit the bourbon trail when everything gets back to normal [Music] to start your time visiting the bourbon trail there are three main areas where the distilleries are located the first is bardstown the second is louisville and the third is lexington there are of course distilleries outside of these three areas but most of the main ones will be near one of the above towns when you visit the distillery most of them have tours that can easily last one to two hours plus driving between the distilleries can often take up to 30 minutes because of that you don't really want to plan on visiting more than two to three a day the exception for this is when you're in the city of louisville since many of them are close together in the downtown area now on to the distilleries and what we found during our one week on the bourbon trail to start our journey we went to the historic city of bard's town and visited a few of the distilleries there with the first being maker's mark maker's mark is one of the most well-known distilleries as it has the hand-dipped wax bottles that can be found all over the world the property was incredible with sprawling green open space and large historic buildings where the whiskey is produced do note that's about 25 minutes south of bardstown if you want to drive to it though the tour here is one that you should do since the property is so incredible to see on the tour we got to go into the rick houses and learn about how they rotate the barrels to maintain the aging process and that there's no specific time for aging as it's all done by a taste from there we saw the bottling line and even got to see them hand dipping the bottles before ending with a tasting of some of the bourbons it was a great first stop on our trip and if you're so inclined you can buy a bottle from the gift shop and actually wax dip it yourself as well moving on from makers we headed to heaven hill next since they still have a lot of construction going on we opted not to take the tour and just to do the tasting if you're a bourbon connoisseur then you don't want to miss this tasting it was pricey at about 20 each when we went but you got to taste many quality bourbons with one bottle even retailing for over 250 dollars it was a fun way to explore some of the more premium bourbons on the trail and it was a great tasting experience our next distillery in bardstown was lux row this is one of the more modern distilleries and it was on a beautiful property as well we didn't end up taking the tour here but we did taste a few of the bourbons and we walked around the property and store it was one of the ones we spent the least amount of time on while in bardstown but it's still a great stop on the bourbon tour when you leave bardstown and head to louisville you'll pass by both the four roses warehouse and the gym bean distillery we skipped the four roses warehouse because we planned to go to the actual distillery near lexington and just went to jim bean jim bean is one of the largest producers of bourbon in the world and their property is like a small town with a restaurant many rick houses and a huge processing facility we took the tour here and it's one of the better ones as it was relatively fast and gave you a great introduction to the spirit the tour went all over the property and even let us taste some of the whiskey before it went into the barrel you can also bottle your own bourbon here if it's something that you want to purchase and take home with you at the end of the tour there was a tasting at one of the bars and then after that we explored the gift shop that concluded our time in the bardstown area and next we headed over to louisville if you want to know what to do in louisville outside of drinking bourbon i have another video on my channel about the city louisville is home to a dozen or so distilleries with mini being urban properties for people who don't want to go out to bardstown and visit the actual distilleries such as evan williams and jim bean we started our time in louisville with a visit to stitzel weller which is a historic distillery run by bullet bullitt has a massive new facility about 40 minutes east of louisville if you want to visit that one as well but we didn't make it there on this trip stitzel weller was a great spot to tour since it's really close to downtown louisville and its history is part of the city's history the tour here was a lot more laid back than some of the others and it focused a lot on history but it did talk a little bit about how bourbon is made during the tour you get to see main parts like the rick house some of the stills and a cooper shop where they make the barrels not much production actually happens at this location though at the end we got to do another tasting and it was really well done with a sheet for tasting notes and some interesting bourbons like blade and bow next up in the city of louisville you'll find the evan williams experience right next to the ali center and the louisville slugger museum this is probably the best tour if you're not that into bourbon but want to experience something related to it while in louisville they don't allow video but they do allow photos on the tour and it's more of a multimedia experience than many of the others it has a lot of video elements and a recreated old city street from louisville that you get to taste at when you finish i have to imagine that most people would really like this tour and it's a great way to learn about kentucky bourbon [Music] next up is old forester old forester is located in louisville's whiskey row area with some fun bars and restaurants it's one of the most well-known brands and the location is interesting to see in the urban setting unfortunately based on availability we didn't get to take a tour while we were there and the tasting area didn't open till later on sunday so all we got to do here was walk around a little bit it's one of those spots that i wish i could have spent more time though as it was really pretty our last distillery in the louisville area was angel's envy angel's envy is a true urban distillery with the entire production process happening in the building i was excited to tour it because it's so different than the other properties and the tour was a personal favorite of mine again no video was allowed in the production facility only photos but we did get to see the big copper still that they had and look into the fermenters while learning about the history it ended with a tasting at a huge wooden log with a large window in front of it it's a cool tasting experience and there's a bar if you want to have another drink as well from here the distilleries leave the urban area of louisville and head out again to the sprawling properties surrounded by horse farms rivers and beautiful vistas these next few distilleries are some of the most well-known and some of the best on the trail as you make your way to lexington i would recommend visiting a couple on the way to lexington spending the night and then visiting a few more the next day buffalo trace was the first that we went to and they are second only to jim bean and bourbon production they're not part of the official bourbon trail but you definitely need to stop here as the tours and tastings are free and the property is a national historic landmark we took the standard tour but there is one that focuses just on history and even one that happens weekly and talks about the ghosts that supposedly haunt the property this place is amazing and they've been continuously running for over a hundred years as one of the few distilleries that made medical whiskey during prohibition we didn't get to see much here but one of the highlights was getting to see the blanton's bottling line which is all hand done blanton's is one of the more rare bourbons and it has a famous horse stopper on top unfortunately it wasn't available for purchase when we were there next up woodford reserve is probably the closest to buffalo trace and it's another beautiful property with lots of horses you will pass on your drive up note that this distillery is very well known and you probably want to secure a spot on the tour ahead of time if you want to take one we took the first tour of the day here and when we went it wasn't too busy this was one of the most beautiful properties on the entire bourbon trail and it's also a national historic landmark the tour took us through the limestone buildings through fermentation and past their stunning copper stills from there we entered into a rick house from the 1800s and we got to see a barrel that was signed by bill murray since he won on a tour a few months prior lastly the tour went into the bottling area before going back up to the main building for tasting the tasting was one of the better ones as well as the room we tasted was beautiful and they just have some great bourbons here oh and it also came with a chocolate to pair with which was never bad [Music] wood for reserve is definitely in my top three distilleries that i visited our next distillery was wild turkey in one of the afternoons while we were there we went to wild turkey and we were pleasantly surprised by how great the tour of this property was as well the property is serene and the central building has one of the most beautiful tasting rooms on the entire bourbon trail the tour goes all over the property and you take a shuttle to most of the locations we started in the fermentation area and got to walk around and see all the different tanks then from there we got to go to another part of the property and enter a rick house from 1894. this was really cool to see as it was so old and historic after that we were shuttled back to the tasting area and got to try bourbon looking over two historic bridges in a river also the bourbons here are pretty great with the wild turkey 101 probably being my favorite of the entry level price bourbons that i've tried our second to last distillery we visited was four roses by the time we got to four roses we were pretty tired of tours so we opted to just do a tasting here it ended up being a good call as our guide was incredibly knowledgeable and it was a nice 25 minute tasting experience we learned a lot about the history of four roses which dates back to the 1800s and they were also one of the distilleries that operated during prohibition also you can even see a sign for four roses in the back of this historic photograph as well the property here is the most different on the trail as it has spanish style architecture that we didn't see at any of the other distilleries let me know how this tour is if you get a chance to go on it the last distillery we stopped by was wilderness trail again we didn't want to take a tour as we had done a lot of them and they become relatively the same by the end but we did want to do a tasting here they're one of the newest distilleries with only three spirits to try but the people there were fantastic and the property was beautiful so amy and i were glad that we stopped plus they have a really nice ride that they let you sample with the tasting as well it was a good last stop on our bourbon trail journey [Music] this became a lot longer video than i thought hopefully it was helpful to you and let me know if you have any questions about the trail there are a lot of questions then maybe i'll do another video on how to plan your time on the bourbon trail as well

Channel: Through My Lens

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Id: LRoUvSMz6gY

Length: 11min 29sec (689 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 27 2020