Kentucky Bourbon & Sites (1 of 2)

Part 1 of 2:  Sites outside of Louisville:  A roadtrip from Colorado to visit Kentucky Bourbon distilleries.  I’m including other sites along the way since it may broaden the appeal for non-bourbon drinkers considering a trip to the Bluegrass State.  Part 2 will focus on our stops in Louisville.  I’ll also mention key sites that we skipped.  

ALL of these sites are popular and tickets sell out QUICKLY (especially the Buffalo Trace Distillery!); be sure to book them well in advance, especially as most offer cancellation options.  

I’m mentioning a number of Kentucky Distilleries in these posts, but there are many, many more!  Refer to the Kentucky Bourbon Trail for a more extensive listing and details.  Hopefully I’ll add many more to my blog in the future 🙂 

Note:  All photos were taken by Kevin Bleicher and are not approved for reposting or publication without permission.  © 2023 Kevin Bleicher

South-Central Kentucky

We approached Kentucky from the west, so we made stops at popular sites that would whet our appetites for distilleries later (pun intended).  Heading southeast from Evansville…

• Museum:  National Corvette Museum, Bowling Green, Tickets
  • The museum proudly displays Corvettes over the ages in a number of dioramas and settings.  Most of the cars are shiny and look new, with plenty of descriptive material and relevant video displays.  Unfortunately the Skydome was closed for final repairs and remodeling (opening the next week; our dumb luck), so we weren’t able to see the restored (and unrestored?) cars that had taken a plunge into the sinkhole.  Brand new ‘vettes are ready for owner pickup from the delivery area.  Guided tours, a restaurant, and factory tours are also available.  And of course there’s a huge gift shop at the end.

• Cave: Mammoth Cave National Park, near Cave City, Tickets, Tours
  • There are a number of cave tours, hiking, and camping options at Mammoth Cave. Tours start with an announced bus ride (or walk) from the visitor center. We opted for the ‘Cleaveland Avenue Tour’ (1 mile, 200 down stairs, 2 hours, moderate difficulty; more if the elevator is broken), which is a guided walk through a wide tube with amazing views and stops to view gypsum formations.  The former ‘Snowball Dining Room’ ends the walk with an elevator ride up to an awaiting bus back to the visitor center.  Other tours vary in length, difficulty, historical vs. geological, etc.  Be sure to book tickets early (they sell out!) and review tours for the best options for your group.  The visitor center is surrounded by woods, cabins, and picnic areas.  You won’t need to pay admission to enter the park, but you will have to pay for cave tours.

• Historical Site:  Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park, Hodgenville
  • We stopped by Abraham Lincoln’s birthplace late in the day.  After a stop at the visitor center (and a short film) we walked up the 56 steps (one for each year of his life) to the Memorial Building to see [a replica of] the cabin where Abe was born.  The ‘Sinking Spring’ was roped off while we were there.  All sites are free and don’t require tickets.  The Boyhood Home is about 10 minutes down the road, but we were too late in the day for a stop.

Bardstown Area

Bardstown is rich with Bourbon distilleries and supporting operations.  Historical sites are also abundant.  It’s an easy drive from Louisville (map) and there are plenty of restaurants, hotels, and shops.  Each of the sites below are an easy drive if you make Bardstown your home base.

• Distillery:  Maker’s Mark Distillery, Loretto, Tickets
  • Maker’s Mark isn’t my favorite Bourbon (far from it), but they have a beautiful campus and offer a comprehensive tour (‘Behind the Bourbon’) that’s great for walking through the steps in a calming setting.  The visitors center includes a Chihuly and other contemporary features that betray the rest of the campus, but I’m sure it serves their private functions well.  We were guided past open fermentation tanks, bottle labels being made on hand presses, bottling lines with bottles being hand-dipped in red wax, staves used for ‘46’, barrel filling, tasting rooms for private selections, and barrel storage.  We were given tasting glasses at the beginning of the tour and drank samples along the way, including ‘white lightning’ just before it went into the spirit safe and private selections housed in a special warehouse built into a hillside.  All Maker’s varieties are distilled from the same mash bill (70% corn, 16% wheat, 14% malted barley).  They offer blended varieties by adding different types of staves to the barrels near the end of aging and/or they adjust the amount of water to adjust the proof.  The guide told us that they don’t set aside the distillate heads / tails for redistillation; rather they blend it right in at high volume to compensate.  I’m not a Maker’s fan:  I prefer a rye-based Bourbon, and throwing in different types of staves near the end of aging seems artificial compared to other distilleries that offer non-blended options and brands differentiated by barrel charring, rickhouse placement, mash bill, redistillation steps, and barrel-type maturation options.  Perhaps that’s snobby, but as my late father-in-law “Chuckles” often told me at the beginning of my Bourbon journey:  “You’re going on about bad Bourbon that’s popular because they figured out how to dip the bottle in wax”.  But tastes vary, and if you enjoy a wheat-based Bourbon this may be the one for you.

• Cooperage:  Kentucky Cooperage (part of ISC), Lebanon, Tickets
  • Any distillery tour should include a cooperage stop to learn about the barrel making process.  At first glance barrels all look the same, but when you learn about wood variations, toasting, and charring, and the differences that can be made in the head (top / bottom) vs staves (sides) you gain an appreciation for how differentiated, proprietary, and secretive the process is.  Some distilleries have their own cooperage (exa: Old Forester), but most purchase or lease barrels from an independent cooperage like ISC.   Kentucky Cooperage doesn’t allow photos inside the factory, but you can take them in the visitor’s center prior to the tour.  From there you take a van across the street, and make walking stops to see barrels steamed, assembled, charred, and inspected.  Charring is fun because you can watch the flaming barrels rolling down the rails before they belch smoke onto the tourists.  The entire visit takes about an hour.

• Distillery:  Heaven Hill, Bardstown, Tickets
  • Heaven Hill offers a ‘Bonded’ tour but it conflicted with our cooperage stop.  Thus we settled for a ‘Whiskey Connoisseur Experience’ tasting and visit to the gift shop and museum.  Heaven Hill is the real deal: they produce a number of great Bourbons with different mash bills, etc. etc.   Fans line up early in the morning to raid the gift shop in hopes of purchasing from their limited allocations (hard to find bottles), and rave about how they’re the real Bourbon lovers compared to those blinded by the hype over at Buffalo Trace (Buffalo Trace fans say the same about Heaven Hill).  The visitors center also offers other tasting options and an opportunity to blend your own bottle.  The closest rickhouse across the street (there are many) includes a glassed corner for viewing the barrels on the racks (touristy, but still kind of cool).  Heaven Hill is a regular stop when I’m in the area.
  • Tasting:  The ‘Whiskey Connoisseur Experience’ included Elijah Craig Bourbon (‘Barrel Proof’ and ‘Toasted Barrel’), Pikesville Straight Rye, William Heavenhill, and McKenna Bottled-In-Bond.  I was already a fan of ‘Barrel Proof’ and Pikesville.  The William Heavenhill was rare and expensive.  And I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the McKenna.   Our guide told us the Pikesville was difficult to find so many of us purchased one of the limited number of bottles behind the counter. True? Don’t know; we saw plenty in Louisville a few days later.

• Restaurant:  Old Talbott Tavern, Bardstown
  • The Old Talbott Tavern is in Bardstown’s main town square.  It’s advertised as the “Oldest Bourbon Bar in the World”.  The bar selection is extensive and includes a choice of flights.  The food was fine; the service was suffering due a staffing shortage.  But the place has history, character, and great drinks.  Worth a stop!

• Other Options to Explore:  We didn’t visit this trip (they may have been closed on the days we were in town), but worth consideration.
  • Distillery: Bardstown Distillery, Bardstown
  • Distillery: Jim Beam Distillery, Clermont
    • Brands include Jim Beam and many flavored offerings
  • Distillery: Willett Distillery, Bardstown
    • Brands include:  Willet. Johnny Drum, Old Bardstown, Noah’s Mill, Rowan’s Creek, Pure Kentucky, Kentucky Vintage
  • Historic Site: My Old Kentucky Home, Bardstown
    • “Explore the 200 year old mansion and plantation of the Rowan family. Stories of deadly duels, horse racing, fortune, fame, demise, all alongside original fine antiques, & significant architectural spaces.  Our talented tour guides perform the song for which the house is named, “My Old Kentucky Home,” on every tour. No reservations needed.
  • Historic Site: The Stephen Foster Story, Bardstown
    • “The official outdoor musical of Kentucky”
    • From Wikipedia:  The park features an amphitheater that is home to the long-running outdoor musical … Many Foster songs are performed, with the actors dancing in antebellum period costume, in a retelling of Foster’s life.
  • Entertainment:  My Old Kentucky Dinner Train, Bardstown
    • Train excursions from / to Bardstown with meal, Bourbon, etc. options

Frankfort Area

Frankfort is the capital of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.  There is much to see, including my favorite distilleries!  The town also offers restaurants, the Capitol buildings (current and the original), a walkable downtown, bakeries, shops, and hotels.  It’s an hour drive to Louisville and even closer to Lexington (airport, University of Kentucky, Kentucky Horse Park, …).

• Distillery:  Buffalo Trace Distillery, Frankfort, Tickets
  • Buffalo Trace is my favorite distillery.  Why?  Blanton’s, Col E.H. Taylor, Eagle Rare, Elmer T. Lee, Buffalo Trace, and Pappy Van Winkle are among the many brands distilled here (Blanton’s is my favorite).  It’s a huge distillery that maintains history, charm, scenic views, and customer service.  You can roam the campus; plaques are posted everywhere.  It’s an excellent spot for photos.  You may even see a maze of barrels rolling down tracks.
  • Buffalo Trace offers a number of free tours with tastings, so book your tickets immediately upon availability or you will miss out!  We reserved the ‘Hard Hat Tour’ as soon as tickets became available and others were gone by the time I was done.  The website indicates the availability date and time:  take this seriously!
  • The gift shop offers an allocated (hard to find) brand each morning when they open.  The line starts to form more than an hour beforehand, however.  You’re allowed to purchase one allocated bottle per person every 90 days (your ID will be checked).  Other unallocated brands may be purchased at any time (‘Buffalo Trace’, for example).  The allocated selection will be announced shortly before the shop opens (you’ll see people leave the line if they already purchased it less than 90 days ago).  The distillery and fans will post the day’s selection once it’s announced, but expect the allocated selection to run out during the day.  If you have an early tour you may be called out of line to purchase early.
  • We took the 75 minute ‘Hard Hat Tour’ on this visit (an earlier ‘Trace Tour’ included the Blanton’s bottling building).  We didn’t actually have to wear a hat, but we were offered ear plugs since some of the areas were loud.  We saw each step of the distillation process in detail, as well as the mash recycling process (turning spent mash into animal feed).  The route was a maze over grated floors, up narrow stairs, down alleys, and through broad fermentation areas.  The guide adjusted to alternate routes when delivery trucks blocked us.
  • Tasting:  Wheatley Vodka, Buffalo Trace, W. L. Weller, Col. E.H. Taylor, Bourbon Cream, and Freddie’s Root Beer (for mixing with the Bourbon Cream).  I’ve been a fan of these Bourbons for years and the tastings were as expected.  This was my first taste of Bourbon Cream, however, and I understand why people use this for topping their ice cream!

• Distillery:  Woodford Reserve, Versailles, Tickets
  • Okay, Woodford is my 2nd favorite distillery.  Why?  I love Woodford Reserve:  It’s my go-to selection more times than not, and my regular recommendation for people starting their Bourbon journey.  Their campus is beautiful and nestled between horse farms.  The staff is super-friendly.  I always stop by the gift shop when I’m in the area in hopes of finding a limited selection (not often, but it has happened).
  • The tour starts with a walk down the road to the fermentation room (open-aired wooden tanks), followed by a grand entry into the distillation area where six huge pot-stills sit on either side of the room.  These rooms always impress me even though I’ve seen similar ones at other distilleries.  From there you move into a rickhouse for a whiff of the ‘Angel’s Share’ and more stories from your guide.  You’ll see the bottling area on the way back up to the visitor’s center for your tasting.
  • Tasting:  Straight Bourbon, Straight Rye, Double-Oaked, a cocktail, and Bourbon Ball.  Again, these were all familiar to me and welcomed!  The tasting tables wrap around the room to give everyone a good view of the guide for their bottle descriptions.  From the tasting you move into the gift shop and exit.

• Distillery:  Castle & Key, Frankfort, Tickets
  • Added as of 10 August, 2025
  • Castle & Key is 3 1/2 miles down a windy country road from Woodford Reserve (passing ‘The Stave‘ restaurant along the way; great whiskey bar and BBQ). It opened on the grounds of this historic Colonel Taylor distillery which was quite the thing in its day (closed during Prohibition). Tours review that history and walk you past several buildings and the former party grounds in various states of restoration and ruin.
  • This was one of my most interesting tours since the place didn’t sparkle like most other distilleries. We wound down sketchy stairs, walked over pipes, and passed through random doorways. It would have been fun in any circumstance, but even better that it was a distillery!
  • Tasting: 3 drams across their range with a bourbon ball. Some were good; all were fine. Our tasting was in a cozy tasting bar with good instruction. A perfectly good tasting after an interesting walk through the years.

• Other Options to Explore:  We didn’t visit this trip (they may have been closed on the days we were in town), but worth consideration.
  • Distillery:  Four Roses, Lawrenceburg
    • I was here for an excellent tasting a few years ago.  I wanted to book a tour for this visit, but they’re closed on Monday and Tuesday.
  • Distillery:  Wild Turkey, Lawrenceburg
    • I wanted to taste some of their less common brands, but bummer:  they’re also closed on Monday and Tuesday
  • Restaurant:  The Stave, Frankfort
    • On the road less traveled between Woodford Reserve and Frankfort.  I’ve been here twice in the past:  they have an extensive (and expensive) Bourbon list and many meat-related dishes.  A reservation is a must at any time, but it may be limited for vegetarians.
  • Bakery: B’s Bakery, Frankfort
    • Excellent donuts!  Enough said 🙂
  • Historic Site: Kentucky State Capitol, Frankfort
    • Tours may be booked; see the website.
  • Downtown Area:  Frankfort:  Walk the streets and do some shopping between the old Capitol and B’s Bakery along St. Clair Street. 
  • Entertainment:  Kentucky Horse Park: Lexington
    • A wee drive from Frankfort, but an excellent place to get close to champion horses and learn about the breeds via live shows, a museum, and walking the grounds.  It’s beautiful here!