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Bourbon trail...
Posted on 5/16/22 at 7:52 pm
Posted on 5/16/22 at 7:52 pm
Going in late October and first week of November, finishing up with Breeders Cup at Keeneland. Any advice on tours and great place to check out and dine around Lexington?
Posted on 5/16/22 at 9:18 pm to Lasix
We did that exact trip last time the Breeder’s Cup was at Keeneland.
How many days are you setting aside for distillery tours? We did 2 1/2 days of tours and did 4, 4, and 2, so 10 total. Honestly, after 5 or 7 of them they all start to seem the same. This was 7 years ago so my info may be somewhat dated, but here are my rankings of them from best to worst.
1. Buffalo Trace
2. Maker’s Mark
3. Woodford Reserve
4. Four Roses
5. Willett
6. Wild Turkey
7. 1792/Old Barton
8. Jim Beam
9. Some new one(at the time)I’ve forgotten the name
10 Heaven Hill
Woodford, Buffalo Trace, Wild Turkey, and Four Roses are fairly close to Lexington if that is where you’re staying. The rest I listed are close to an hour away. I’d only do one of Jim Beam and Wild Turkey - they are very similar, and Jim Beam is kind of out of the way. Maker’s Mark is also kind of out of the way, but it’s a gorgeous property and their tour was very well done. Do NOT miss the drive into Woodford. When we went Four Roses had two locations - the distillery and the bottling facility. We skipped the bottling facility.
We didn’t stay in Lexington so I have no recs there.
How many days are you setting aside for distillery tours? We did 2 1/2 days of tours and did 4, 4, and 2, so 10 total. Honestly, after 5 or 7 of them they all start to seem the same. This was 7 years ago so my info may be somewhat dated, but here are my rankings of them from best to worst.
1. Buffalo Trace
2. Maker’s Mark
3. Woodford Reserve
4. Four Roses
5. Willett
6. Wild Turkey
7. 1792/Old Barton
8. Jim Beam
9. Some new one(at the time)I’ve forgotten the name
10 Heaven Hill
Woodford, Buffalo Trace, Wild Turkey, and Four Roses are fairly close to Lexington if that is where you’re staying. The rest I listed are close to an hour away. I’d only do one of Jim Beam and Wild Turkey - they are very similar, and Jim Beam is kind of out of the way. Maker’s Mark is also kind of out of the way, but it’s a gorgeous property and their tour was very well done. Do NOT miss the drive into Woodford. When we went Four Roses had two locations - the distillery and the bottling facility. We skipped the bottling facility.
We didn’t stay in Lexington so I have no recs there.
Posted on 5/16/22 at 11:39 pm to Lasix
Great time to be up there
We flew into Louisville so got to catch an Orphan Barrel tasting at the old Stitzel-Weller facility in Shively…walking those grounds was special.
The next day brought a Mint Julep Tours bus trip to Wild Turkey, Woodford and Castle & Key (which is on the grounds of the Old Taylor distillery). I would recommend all of these spots.
Have a great trip…you pretty much can’t go wrong up there
We flew into Louisville so got to catch an Orphan Barrel tasting at the old Stitzel-Weller facility in Shively…walking those grounds was special.
The next day brought a Mint Julep Tours bus trip to Wild Turkey, Woodford and Castle & Key (which is on the grounds of the Old Taylor distillery). I would recommend all of these spots.
Have a great trip…you pretty much can’t go wrong up there
Posted on 5/17/22 at 8:18 am to drockw1
One other tip. If you plan to buy bourbon there to bring home, prices are cheaper at the liquor store than at the distilleries. Some of them had distillery only releases - off hand, Maker’s Mark, Jim Beam, and I think Wild Turkey - but the core of their offerings were available at the liquor store connected to Kroger at much better pricing.
Also, there’s a place there that makes all the barrels for the distilleries and I think they give tours. I forget the name of the little town it’s in, but I want to say Lebanon. I thought that would be interesting but nobody in my group wanted to do it. We did drive by it one day.
Also, there’s a place there that makes all the barrels for the distilleries and I think they give tours. I forget the name of the little town it’s in, but I want to say Lebanon. I thought that would be interesting but nobody in my group wanted to do it. We did drive by it one day.
Posted on 5/17/22 at 12:09 pm to The Spleen
Thanks so much for the recs. Can't wait to check some of them out. Really excited to see the Breeders Cup at Keeneland!
Posted on 5/17/22 at 12:38 pm to Lasix
Keeneland and was great. I know nothing about horse racing and a friend of a friend got us free general admission passes and passes to a tailgate outside the track. It was the year American Pharoah won the triple crown and was there. A lot of excitement around the track that day, then he won that race.
Posted on 5/18/22 at 4:13 am to Lasix
The Spleen's list is very good, here are 3 additional tours that I would highly recommend:
Bourbon 30 Unique Experience where you get to make your own blend from several barrels.
LINK
Independent Stave is the place The Spleen mentioned that makes barrels.
LINK /
Castle & Key rivals Maker's Mark in the beauty of the property, it was originally designed by Colonel E.H. Taylor, Jr.
LINK /
Bourbon 30 Unique Experience where you get to make your own blend from several barrels.
LINK
Independent Stave is the place The Spleen mentioned that makes barrels.
LINK /
Castle & Key rivals Maker's Mark in the beauty of the property, it was originally designed by Colonel E.H. Taylor, Jr.
LINK /
Posted on 5/19/22 at 2:47 pm to The Spleen
quote:
One other tip. If you plan to buy bourbon there to bring home, prices are cheaper at the liquor store than at the distilleries. Some of them had distillery only releases - off hand, Maker’s Mark, Jim Beam, and I think Wild Turkey - but the core of their offerings were available at the liquor store connected to Kroger at much better pricing.
We just went to the Bourbon Trail for my father in law's 70th birthday this past weekend. I was pretty shocked about the exact thing you said. I left the Bourbon Trail without buying even 1 bottle of Bourbon
We only went to Bulleit, Buffalo Trace and Four Roses. I enjoyed the tour at Buffalo Trace the most. Although we didn't know until it was too late, Buffalo Trace makes some of the other bourbons available in the morning, but our guide said there were 400 people in line that morning and you don't even know what they are selling. That day it was Blantons something I would have liked to get
Posted on 5/19/22 at 2:58 pm to Lasix
quote:
Any advice on tours and great place to check out and dine around Lexington?
We stayed at a bed and breakfast in Versailles called the Story Book Inn, we rented the cottage with my inlaws and my wife's sister and brother in law. Highly recommend that place if you don't have anywhere to stay yet
We ate dinner at Heirloom in Midway which was excellent.
We only ate lunch in Lexington, but it was incredible. We just happened upon a place called Corto Lima; tacos and Latin influenced food. The chef is a James Beard winner or finalist.
We ate lunch at a bar/grill in Frankfort that was pretty good called Goodwood Brewing
We ate dinner at the Kentucky Castle in Versailles...only place we ate I wouldn't recommend. It was decent but overpriced and the service was horrible.
Posted on 5/19/22 at 2:59 pm to jchamil
Buffalo Trace has a few different tours. The hard hat tour gets rave reviews, but it was completely booked when I tried to book it. We did the Architecture/History tour, which was pretty interesting. It was certainly different than the bourbon making process tours we did everywhere else.
Posted on 5/19/22 at 3:06 pm to The Spleen
quote:
Buffalo Trace has a few different tours. The hard hat tour gets rave reviews, but it was completely booked when I tried to book it. We did the Architecture/History tour, which was pretty interesting. It was certainly different than the bourbon making process tours we did everywhere else.
That may have been what we did too; my sister in law booked everything. Our guide basically just took us to his favorite spots, and it was mainly history/stories about the buildings and very little on the bourbon making process and we went into the little building where they bottle Blantons and a few other single barrels.
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