Kentucky Bourbon Trail Recs

Louisville link

My review from last year:


My buddies and I spent a long weekend in Louisville and Friday one day was spent on hunting down bourbon. LSUcdro recommended Mint Julep Tours and John was recommended as our driver if he was available. I talked with Jeannie who books the tours and she was able to put together a custom package for the day. It was explained that we wanted something unique. We knew good pours were not something commonly handed out for tastings so we worked with that we were delt.

We started the day at Buffalo Trace, had about an hour tour of basic bourbon stuff and the history of the distillery. We wanted the hard hat tour, but it had sold out prior to us even picking the date of our trip. The tastings was Eagle Rare and Buffalo trace with some white dog thrown in for good measure. John was able to walk us around a little of the property that the tour did visit. It was a good tour to start the day.

Second stop was 4 Rose for just a tasting and to hit the gift shop. All they had was OBSK at the gift shop, it was nothing special and the tasting wasn't much better. The tour guide was not good and John agreed that it was lacking the day we visited.

The next stop was 3 Boys Farm Distillery. They are laying up around 60-80 barrels a year. We didn't make it in the gift shop, only the barn with the operation. The owner is orignally from Lousiana, but he was not in when we visited. They have been around 4-5 years and everything they have is young but pretty tasty. We sampled 4 barrels, some bourbon, some whiskey, all were 119-121 proof and all of them were pretty good. More for the experience I bought a bottle straight from the barrel. It isn't manicured lawns the tasting was great like some of the large distilleries, this place isn't winning any beauty pageants, but I would take this stop over 4 rose.

The last bourbon stop was Jeptha Creed. This is a very new operation, with a lot of attention to detail. Everything here is young juice. They are using an heirloom red butchers corn grown onsite. The owners are a husband/ wife daughter and they were all there. We had a private tasting in the rickhouse. They are laying up 500 barrels a year and making a bunch of vodkas and moonshine to cover expenses till the bourbon has enough time to age. They pulled a corn/rye batch from the barrel. This stuff is young and around 122 proof, drank pretty damn well. We had a blast here and it was a great experience.

I'm going to defer to the guys who've done more thorough bourbon trail tours. I've done Woodford reserve, Buffalo Trace, wild turkey, and makers. Woodford is beautiful. Wild turkey has a nice scenic overlook, but the rest of it isnt great. Makers is a manicured experience, but I prefer the natural surroundings and smaller tours of Woodford. Buffalo Trace is a must for the scale and history.

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Heaven Hill - no reason to go here. They only show you a rick house, not the distillation process. Waste of time.

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All the distilling is done at the Bernheim distillery in Louisville. It’s a pretty cool hard hat tour, and cool to see such an industrialized setup. But I don’t recall if they offer the tour to the general public.

I did the trail for my bachelor party I visited. I never had a bad time at a distillery, but here are some specifics

buffalo trace: It was ok, but really wish I had booked far enough in advance to do the hard hat tour

four roses: Had the best tour guide of any of the other distilleries, which is the main thing that stood out to me here

woodford: By far the most scenic and beautiful distillery I visited

jeptha creed: Very different...a down home family run operation that makes some interesting stuff...they have a full bar and food at the end of the tour.

Peerless: The dude distilling here is clearly the future of bourbon... you'll see what I mean... AMAZING tour

makers mark: a really cool and scenic place as well....and one of their warehouses is actually a cave carved into the side of a hill...awesome!

Bulliet: def goes deep into the history of bourbon. got to sit (Unknowingly) In tom Bulliets office before the tour. May have used one of the lobby coffee cups to take a pour out if his decanter....maybe

Evan Williams speakeasy experience: This is in downtown Louisville and it is set up to make you feel like you went back in time to a speakeasy where you sample a few prohibition ear styled stuff...great time

Ate at against the grain which is a killer craft brewery/smokehouse downtown

Favorite bar by far was Mr. Lee's.... its very hidden away and once you walk in, you feel like yours in a scene from mad men

Since you are going to be in Nashville, I you should also hit up Corsair distillery and belle meade… they are in Nashville and literally next door to each other.

have a blast man!

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wickowick

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If I recall we went about a week apart...I was so bummed I didn't have the same set up at Jeptha yall had. I wanted to post my post, but the pictures won't load anymore

My bachelor party...a three day trip down the bourbon trail!

Hey baws... thought I'd post some highlights from my pilgrimage through the bourbon state

Started with an old fashioned at 30,000 ft.


First distillery was Bulleit...



Stopped by the Evan Williams speakeasy experience....a really cool step back in time that featured some great bonded and cask strength bourbons



Then hit peerless.. the most ahead of the game and forward thinking distillery I have seen. I could start a whole thread on what these guys are doing!



The Jim Beam urban stillhouse...the urban stillhouse select which is exclusive to this location was pretty solid... a 100 proof non-chill filtered surprise! Also...there was bookers


The ever fancy woodford distillery



Four roses



The mighty buffalo trace...place was huge..like a bourbon disney world



Deep in country...Jeptha creed distillers. A family run place doing great moonshine and soon to be great unique corn bourbon



Makers Mark.. and their unique rickhouse carved into a limestone hill..in case you were wondering where 46 comes from



Some of the great pours I had at one of the coolest bars I've ever been to.. Mr. Lee's. Not pictured are a few different wellers and angels envy rye




If you're going to order an old fashioned here, make it an old fashioned served in a glass that's smoked over a piece of charred oak


A four roses single barrel on the way out

Woodford Reserve and Makers Mark are the required stops.

Also, I like Lexington more than Louisville for a home base.