Kentucky bourbon distilleries tours

Bourbon whiskey, or bourbon, is the only spirit native to the United States. Unlike Champagne or tequila, which must come from specific regions, "bourbon" is not a protected name in the usual sense, and bourbon can be made anywhere in the U.S. Yet 95% of bourbon comes from a 90-mile region in the center of Kentucky. This is attributed to an abundance of corn (the primary source of grain in bourbon), limestone in the ground producing pleasant spring water, and alternating hot summers and cold winters, which help the bourbon seep in and out of the barrels to age quickly. Touring bourbon distilleries can take you from urban centers to the scenic Kentucky countryside, let you brush up on a bit of history and science, and gives you a chance to enjoy some of Kentucky's liquid gold.

Understand
Pretty much all distilleries offer tours, most lasting about an hour, where they teach you about how they make their bourbon. The process is nearly the same at each one; it's subtle differences that give each its distinctive flavor. The tour guides will explain the basics of bourbon, but they also love answering detailed questions, especially if it gives him a chance to explain why they think their bourbon is better than everyone else's! And of course, tours invariably end with a tasting of their products. For most people, this is the highlight of the tour, as you finally get to experience the complex flavors the tour guides were talking about.

The Louisville Convention & Visitors Bureau runs the Bourbon Country website and printed guide, which has up-to-date listings of essentially every operating distillery in Kentucky, as well as suggested itineraries and recommendations for restaurants and bars. The Kentucky Distillers' Association promotes participating bourbon distilleries on their Kentucky Bourbon Trail, which is just an advertising name with a officious trademark; distilleries not on the Trail are absolutely worth a visit, while two stops on the Trail are actually just showrooms with small artisanal distilleries, not the actual production headquarters.

These days, due to massive consolidation in the industry and consumer demand for a wide variety of premium products, quite a lot of "craft", "heirloom", or "small batch" bourbons — including many that you may not think of as such — are actually industrially-produced bourbon (many from a factory distillery in Indiana) that's blended, sometimes with finishing touches like additional aging in special barrels, and labeled as unique brands. A few of these labels intend to or have used this as a stepping stone to starting their own distillery, but most do not. Even after doing so, they may continue to mainly use the industrially-produced whiskey to keep up with demand. This is not to imply that those brands are bad; if you enjoy a particular bourbon, by all means, drink it! But for the purpose of touring distilleries, this article only lists working distilleries that mash, distill, and age at least some amount of their product.

Read

 * Bourbon Country visitor guide
 * The Bourbon Review magazine

Get in
Lexington and Louisville are the two easiest cities to get in to; both are well-connected by airport and highways.

Lexington is, in some ways, a better choice, since four distilleries (Town Branch, Barrel House, Bluegrass, and James E. Pepper) are downtown and five others are within a 45-minute drive.

On the other hand, Louisville could be said to be the superior starting point not only because it's home to several distilleries and showrooms (which run small artisanal distilleries on site) but also because it originated many bourbon cocktails and has a strong connection to bourbon and bourbon lore.

However, an ideal home base for touring Bourbon Country might be Bardstown. Whereas Louisville's connection to distilling in modern times is mainly economic, Bardstown is home to five distilleries that have been open since Prohibition was repealed, and many others have their large-scale distilling plants or aging warehouses nearby. Its central location between Lexington and Louisville puts most distilleries within 1 hour's drive. With all that, it's easy to see why Bardstown calls itself the "Bourbon Capital of the World".

Get around
If you're planning on visiting the distilleries on your own, you'll need a car. All but a few are well out in the open country. You won't be bored by the drive, though, as Kentucky's scenic rolling hills are beautiful at any time of year. Only the most lightweight of drinkers will need a designated driver; the samples given at distilleries don't add up to more than one drink, and by the time you drive to your next stop and do their tour, it will long since have worn off.

There are also several tour and limousine services offering packages for visiting distilleries.

There are maps for getting around by bicycle, but it's quite a long trip.

Except for clusters in some cities, few distilleries are near each other. Even with the best planning, it would be impossible to visit more than four in a day due to tour schedules. Two per day is quite easy to achieve; you can usually manage three if you're dedicated, but probably not for the most remote ones.

Distilleries




Kentucky Bourbon Trail
The promotional Kentucky Bourbon Trail comprises 18 distilleries — or rather, 16 distilleries and 2 showrooms. You can get a passport book at any of them, in which you can collect stamps from each distillery you tour. Once you have all the stamps, you can get a free official tasting glass from any of the three trailheads in Lexington, Louisville, or Bardstown, or by mail. Passports never expire, but you have to have completed all the current stops at the time you redeem your passport, even new ones, which go in the "notes" section.



Two of the "distilleries" on the Trail are just showrooms; the actual product is distilled elsewhere. Both do run small artisanal distilleries on site, although what they do with the spirits they produce there is unclear.

Kentucky Bourbon Trail Craft Tour
For the true bourbon enthusiast, the Craft Tour showcases 19 micro-distilleries with an emphasis on innovative and handcrafted bourbons. Like the regular Trail, a passport is available; this one costs $3, but comes with lots of information, cocktail recipes, and more. The reward for completing a regional group of distilleries is a challenge coin, and for the whole passport, a tasting glass plus a barrel stave to display your coins. Like the regular Trail, you have to have completed all the current stops at the time you redeem your passport.


 * Northern region
 * Central region
 * Western region
 * Bluegrass region
 * Central region
 * Western region
 * Bluegrass region
 * Western region
 * Bluegrass region
 * Western region
 * Bluegrass region
 * Western region
 * Bluegrass region
 * Bluegrass region
 * Bluegrass region
 * Bluegrass region
 * Bluegrass region
 * Bluegrass region

Cooperages
A cooperage is a workshop that makes wooden barrels and casks. This old profession, while largely replaced by plastics and metals in the 20th century, is indispensable for aging liquor as most of the flavor comes from the charred wood on the inside of the barrel.

While there's no whiskey involved at these locations, tours may be interesting to those who enjoy a modern factory tour and want to learn more about this specialized occupation and the effects it has on bourbon and other aged spirits.



Buy
All distilleries allow you to purchase bottles of alcohol to take home. While convenient, prices are the same or even a bit worse than the average retailer as distilleries don't want to undercut them. (And by law, sales have to go through an independent distributor, so there's no middleman being cut out.) If you want to stock up (e.g. because your home state has high taxes or limited availability), you'll get a better deal from a liquor store. Most products are readily available, and the airports in Lexington, Louisville, and Northern Kentucky/Cincinnati have bourbon shops inside security so you can make last-minute purchases. However, if the distillery has a limited release, those are either hard to find or not available at all through normal retailers, so you should definitely purchase it at the distillery if you liked it.

If you're flying home, alcohol under 140 proof (70% ABV) is allowed in your checked baggage; do not carry it through security, as it will be confiscated (even if unopened)! Alcohol purchased after security can be carried on the plane.

New laws allow shipping liquor out of Kentucky (for both individuals and retailers), but only a handful of states allow receiving interstate shipments of alcohol. You must use UPS or FedEx, since the U.S. Postal Service doesn't allow alcohol.

Drink
In the same vein as the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, the Louisville Visitors Bureau promotes their Urban Bourbon Trail, an advertising list of several dozen bars and restaurants mainly in downtown Louisville, all of which stock their bars with anywhere from 50 to 150 bourbons. Making a purchase (which needn't be bourbon or even liquor) at any of them gets you a stamp in your "passport", and with 6 stamps you can redeem your passport for a T-shirt and a certificate.