Bourbon Trail Guide
Completing the Kentucky Bourbon Trail is no easy feat. It’s been on my bucket list ever since I acquired a taste for bourbon, but I always thought it was going to be a trip I did when I was older. I assumed it would be hard to plan and a pain in the butt to travel to all of the different distilleries. I’m glad I didn’t wait until I was creeping up on retirement to enjoy the beauty of the Bourbon Trail!
To be upfront, this wasn’t a relaxing nap-filled vacation. We had to wake up early to make certain tours and spent hours driving, but we also learned a lot about making bourbon and the history of Kentucky. For most people, the Bourbon Trail is a once-in-a-lifetime trip, but I feel exactly the opposite; I can’t wait to go back and finish my Bourbon Trail Passport! In order to cross the bourbon finish line and secure your spot as the ultimate “bourbon connoisseur,” you have to visit all 10 distilleries and get your passport stamped after every tour. We managed to finish five in three days.
I read so many blogs and reviews about the Bourbon Trail before planning this trip, but I found the information lacking. I hope to fill the gap and provide you with some tips on how to navigate this trip so the planning process isn’t overwhelming. After experiencing it myself, I think you can easily complete your passport in four days.
General Tips + Tricks
Don’t think you can hit all of the distilleries in one or two days–this is not wine tasting. Between the driving and the time it takes to get through the tour, you can really only schedule three tours a day max.
Renting a car or plan transfers a head of time.
Make reservations for tours ahead of time! During the busy season, they can book up several days in advance.
Reference the official Bourbon Trail website.
Day 1:
Jim Beam Urban Stillhouse
Price: $6 tasting
Favorite pour: Knob Creek Maple
Length of tasting: 30 minutes
Evan Williams
Price: $12 tour and tasting
Favorite Pour: Evan Williams Single Barrel
Length of tour: 1 hour
Angel’s Envy
Price: $15 tour and tasting
Favorite Pour: Signature Label
Length of tour: 1 hour 15 minutes
Day 2:
Maker’s Mark
Price: $12 tour and tasting
Favorite pour: Private Select
Length of tour: 1 hour 45 minutes
Woodford Reserve House
Price: $14
Favorite pour: Woodford Reserve Double Oak
Length of tour: 1 hour
Hotels
Seelbach Hilton - Louisville
The Campbell House - Lexington
Dining
Along the trail…
Wild Eggs
Please & Thank You
The Village Idiot
We landed in Louisville early in the morning and we headed straight for breakfast. After reading Yelp reviews, we determined Wild Eggs was the best breakfast spot in town and it definitely was a great start to our day. After breakfast, we checked into the Seelbach Hilton in the Fourth Avenue District. I saved up my Hilton points throughout the year so all of our hotels were free! The hotel was older, but the location was great because it was downtown and close to all the bars and restaurants.
I didn’t know about the reservation requirement beforehand, so we headed to Evan Williams expecting to walk in for a quick tasting. They were booked for the day, but we were able to secure a tour for the following morning because there’s nothing like whiskey for breakfast. The Jim Bim Urban Stillhouse was next door to our hotel and they don’t require reservations. We walked in for a $6 tasting and we even got a keepsake shot glass! This was the cheapest tasting, but I’m not a fan of their bourbons. Our whiskey guide recommended a local restaurant for dinner, but it was truly the worst dining experience of my life so I won’t even bother sharing that review with you.
DAY TWO
We woke up early and headed straight to Evan Williams for our morning tour. I’m not a big fan of Evan Williams either, but they had the coolest interactive tour. To start, you watch a short movie about Evan Williams. He’s known as Kentucky’s first commercial distiller. Did you know for whiskey to be considered bourbon it has to be made in America and contain at least 51% corn? I learned so many fun facts about bourbon, and if there was ever a trivia night I think I’d win hands down!
My biggest takeaway from this tour was that back in the day distillers would load whiskey barrels onto boats in Louisville and send them to New Orleans. When the whiskey was barrelled, it was clear in color and tasted much different. By the time it arrived in New Orleans, it was brown and had a completely different taste. The people loved it and bourbon became the drink of choice–hence the name Bourbon Street in New Orleans–maybe you’ve heard of it?
After Evan Williams, we made a pitstop at Please & Thank You for coffee and cookies. Angel’s Envy is also located downtown and easy to get to from Evan Williams. The Angel’s Envy tour was longer than the others but it was worth it. We had the best tour guide named Mike who explained their distilling process thoroughly and he let us try “white lightning” (moonshine) straight off the still! They have the newest tasting room downtown and it was definitely my favorite. They have a custom-made bar top that’s crafted from an old tree that fell down in a local park. The ambiance is great and I adored their bourbon balls. To my delight, each distillery serves bourbon-infused chocolate during the tasting and each distillery makes bourbon balls a little differently.
Next, we hopped in the car and headed towards Lexington, but we stopped at Maker’s Mark in Loretto on the way. I was especially looking forward to this tour because Maker’s Mark is one of my favorite brands of bourbon and I heard the grounds were beautiful. Despite the snow and freezing weather, the tour was amazing. The grounds looked like a Christmas village and they decorate everything during the holidays.
I loved learning about their quality control and why they spell it “whisky” without the “e.” One of the hardest jobs is working the assembly line dipping the bottles. Workers are required to dip 27 bottles a minute. Also, they have a board of tasters and their only responsibility is to taste each batch to ensure they meet the correct standards and profiles. My favorite part of this experience was hand-dipping my own bottle. Yes, it’s a little more expensive to buy a bottle at the gift store than at a local liquor store, but it’s just one of those things you have to do.
The drive to and from Loretto was all backroads, so be careful of the wandering goats and dogs! Also, make sure you’re stocked up on snacks and gas because there isn’t much out in the surrounding areas.
After we finished at Maker’s Mark, we headed to Lexington to check into our hotel and grab dinner. We stayed at The Campbell House, which is another Hilton property. It’s a Curio Collection hotel, so it’s supposed to be a little more upscale, but we weren’t overly impressed with the room. I also heard rumors that the hotel is haunted so I didn’t sleep well that night for obvious reasons! We used Yelp to find a restaurant in downtown Lexington near the University of Kentucky called The Village Idiot. We ordered bbq pork mac n’ cheese and a burger, keeping our healthy streak going. When we woke up the next morning, it started snowing at the hotel and it looked pretty magical!
DAY THREE
We made reservations at Woodford Reserve for early the next morning so we got breakfast to go. They have the most tours a day and it almost felt like waiting in line for a Disney ride. By this point, we had already heard four other tour guides so we understood exactly how whiskey is made. To be honest, we probably could’ve led the tour ourselves.
I did learn a couple of interesting points specific to Woodford Reserve. For example, they are the only distillery in the country that has active rickhouses made solely from limestone. Their mash bill is slightly different, meaning they use more corn than some other brands, and they age their bourbon in the barrels for longer which equals sweeter bourbon. Woodford was our last tour before driving to Nashville, and we were disappointed we didn’t make it to more. I heard Buffalo Trace has an excellent tasting that’s not technically on the trail, but worth visiting.
This about sums up my three days on the Bourbon Trail and I’m so grateful I was able to do it on a budget. I feel extra prepared and ready to plan my next weekend trip so that I can complete my passport and receive my free t-shirt–maybe next time I’ll go during a Kentucky Derby weekend!