The Field Guide is your passport to exploring the people and the places behind the Bourbon. Generally, the default size of the map can be 8.5 By 11 inches. These last one to two hours and cost more than your typical tour, but you get a hands-on lesson on how to mix a craft cocktail. To view it on your phone or computer, open Google Maps, click the menu button, go to Your Places, click Maps, and you will see this map on your list. Sleep in Louisville. Say goodbye to Louisville and head south to Bardstown. Foaling begins in late January and will continue through May, so visit in the spring if you want to meet the youngest future racehorses! During the aging process, a small percentage of the bourbon evaporates per year, what is referred to as the angels share. If you want to take home this aroma, many gift shops sell bourbon-scented candles. These regions are broken out by geographic location. It depends on the time of year that you are visiting, and whether or not you been touring over the weekend. If you want a hotel with an awesome location and one that gets great reviews, the Homewood Suites is one to consider. Are the distilleries open now? Eating is important, of course, and luckily, there are tons of local restaurants where you can get a great meal to soak up some of the liquor. It is also possible to save the map in a PDF format. Sleep in Louisville. This distillery is located in Shively, very close to downtown Louisville. The tour includes a walk through their cooperage, where you get to see how the barrels are made. Rooms are modern and trendy and there is an onsite restaurant. Located in Bardstown, the Old Talbott Tavern dates back to the 1700s. Enjoy the nightlife in Louisville, drive through scenic bluegrass Kentucky, watch a horse race at Churchill Downs, visit the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln, or spend the night in a historic tavern. Woodford Reserve has a historic, upscale feel to it. Also in Lexington is the Barrel House Distillery, which makes small-batch bourbon, as well as moonshine, vodka and rum, which makes it worth a stop. As one of the largest sellers of bourbon in the world, their tour seems to reflect that in having one of the more interactive tours. Renting a car gives you the most freedom to explore, but it's not necessary. But how big should the maps be? You do not have to take a tour at each distillery. Our website uses cookies. Take a late afternoon or early evening tour of Michters Distillery. You will drive through scenic bluegrass Kentucky, with horse farms as far as the eye can see. HISTORIC: Jailers Inn Bed & Breakfast. If you are looking for a highly rated hotel and dont want to spend a lot of money, this is a great option. It's no secret that all American states can legally produce bourbon, but Kentucky is the spirit's undisputed . Sleep in Louisville. This itinerary is organized into seven different daily itineraries. From the Brown, you can walk (or call a rideshare) to distilleries along the citys historic Whiskey Row by the Ohio River, such as Angels Envy, Old Forester Distilling Co., and the modern Rabbit Hole Distillery in Louisvilles artsy NULU district. Each of these bourbon distilleries must be a member of the Kentucky Distillers Association, which requires paying a fee. Summer and autumn are busy months to visit the Bourbon Trail, so I also recommend booking your tours in advance at these times, even on weekdays. Its centrally located, so you can walk to many of the sights and distilleries on Whiskey Row. If you want to see the entire bourbon distilling process from start to finish, including the making of the barrels and the bottling of the final product, take the Old Forester Discovery Tour. Buffalo Trace, located in Frankfort, is one of the most famous bourbon distilleries in Kentucky. Cheers, Julie. For more information about the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, we have two more articles that will help you plan your trip: The Ultimate Guide to the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, Best Distilleries on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. Click the star next to the title of the map to add this map to your Google Maps account. Next, work off that bourbon tasting with a quick visit to the Louisville Slugger Museum, to see where professional baseball bats are made. Lexington Brewing Company. Consider Lexington and Louisville as practical bases for your trip: most distilleries are within these cities, or in the small towns orbiting them, and both cities have vibrant downtowns full of hotels, restaurants, and notable sights. These distilleries are located within 110 miles of Louisville, mostly clustered between Louisville and Lexington. Is May a good month to do the Bourbon Trail? And the smell is amazing! Have a classic, refined dinner at the hotel restaurant, or opt for a more funky choice in town (Latin farm-to-table, asian fusion, or BBQ and oysters). Tours last approximately one hour, ending with a tasting. Several distilleries now offer cocktail or mixology classes. Cheers, Julie, Your email address will not be published. Bulleit Distilling Company. So, its nice to break up distillery visits with other experiences. Some of them include the distance to view and the subject. Below is a map of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. The whiskey cannot be distilled higher than 160 proof, enter the barrel higher than 125 proof, and it must not enter the bottle less than 80 proof. Plus, if you save your ticket from the distillery tour, you can tour their warehouse operation, located in Cox's Creek, for free! You will also notice that on some days I have included more than just distillery tours. NEARBY DESTINATIONS: Asheville, North Carolina makes a great weekend destination. It's not a part of the Kentucky Distillers Association's official Bourbon Trail, but they are, however, open for tours and tastings. It's one of the biggest in Bardstown, which is certainly worth seeing. However, people under the age of 21 are not permitted to do a tasting (of course!) For information on how to plan your visit, dont miss ourKentucky Bourbon Trail Itinerary. Best Distilleries on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. The 1 hour Discovery Tour ends with a tasting at their bar on the second floor. If you want to print a different dimension, choose an alternative size from the drop-down list , then alter the size of the page. A long weekend is a good amount of time to spend on the Bourbon Trail, but if you plan to combine your trip with other area activities, a week is definitely doable. In 1999, the Kentucky Distillers' Association formed the Kentucky Bourbon Trail tour to give visitors a firsthand look at the art and science of crafting Bourbon, and to educate them about the rich history and proud tradition of Kentucky's signature spirit. To ensure you benefit from our products Contact us for more details. USA TRAVEL INSPIRATION: For more great ideas on where to go in the United States, check out our article Best USA Road Trips, which has 18 sample itineraries for your next big adventure. During this one-hour class, we mixed two cocktails: the Kentucky Mule and the Sazerac. A visit to Buffalo Trace is definitely worthwhile when you are in the area, even if it is not officially on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. There are eighteen distilleries on the official Kentucky Bourbon Trail. If you've got a sweet tooth, definitely also try the bourbon cream (it's perfect if you're still not sold on straight bourbon) and bourbon brittle. You take a tour, learn about the art and science behind the distilling of bourbon, and end with a tasting. Near the end of this article, I will give you suggestions on how to group these days together in order to have the best experience. It is a National Historic Landmark property and they offer several different tours depending on your level of interest. The Kentucky Bourbon Trail Craft Tour is organized into four regionsplease toggle through the drop down menu for official groupings. Custom-printed maps are perfect for parks departments, companies, and recreational complexes. KENTUCKY BOURBON TRAIL: Pick out which distilleries to visit in our article Best Distilleries on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. You can elect to skip the tour and just do a tasting instead. Distillery Trail is the place to start your distillery tour experience. There are some other very cool things to do in this part of Kentucky and I didnt want to leave those out. Dinner: Proof on Main. The list is ever growing. Louisville and the rest of the bourbon trail are located in the Eastern Time Zone. Optional Detour: Abraham Lincoln Birthplace. The best time of year for a road trip down the Bourbon Trail: Summer is high season along the trail, so you'll have more crowds to contend with, and hotels will be slightly more expensive. Why not? The distilleries are grouped together in four general areas. Before heading out of Lexington, check out the citys historic Distillery District, home to the recently revived James E. Pepper Distiller (and several other restaurants, bars, and breweries), one of Kentuckys first bourbon brands originally created during the American Revolution. Note: This post contains affiliate links. And many distilleries offer longer, behind the scenes tours for a more detailed look at the distilling process. In Louisville, stay downtown at the Brown Hotel, a city landmark full of history and romance. Both times we visited the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, it was the weekend before Thanksgiving. In 2019, it was much busier and had we not scheduled everything in advance, we would have missed out on a lot of tours. Afternoon: Louisville Slugger Museum and/or the Muhammed Ali Center. You can still tour the distillery, but you might not get to see the fermentation and distilling process. The blue markers are restaurant recommendations, Buffalo Trace Distillery, and other notable experiences to add into your Kentucky Bourbon Trail itinerary. This is a beautiful property with a lot of tour and tasting options. Even the most enthusiastic bourbon-lover can't just barrel through and sample bourbon at 9 places all in a rush. Make sure you do this Tuesday through Saturday before 5 pm, when the cooperage and the bottling line are in operation. Get suggestions on how to plan your trip, whether you just have a few days, a long weekend, or an entire week. You'll avoid most crowds, enjoy off-season hotel prices, and the scenery along Kentucky's rural roads is unsurpassed in autumn. Next, hit up Wild Turkey Distillery, which has been crafting Kentucky bourbon since 1869. Follow day #4 and #5, sleeping in either Bardstown or Louisville. Roadtrippers helps you find the most epic destinations and detoursfrom roadside attractions to natural wonders and beyond. In the Bourbon District, you're never more than 5 minutes away from the next attraction, so planning that group tour or birthday celebration just got a lot easier. Cheers, Julie. Now, you can stay in a colonial style room in this very same building. The Kentucky Bourbon Trail is a collection of eighteen whiskey distilleries. You can bookmark this post on your browser. In addition, for a fee we can also make the maps in specialized file formats. Please enjoy like a true Kentuckian Responsibly. A combination of ideal weather, limestone water sources, and a long history of the craft make Central Kentucky the bourbon capital of the world. All of the distilleries are listed inside, with space for your own notes and a stamp from each distillery. Then head to The Woodford Reserve Distillery. This Bulleit facility offers a handful of different tours, tastings and cocktail classes. These include Willett, Pogue, Boone County, Neeley Family Distillery, Kentucky Peerless, Kentucky Artisan and many others. Some of them are new kids on the block, and others have been around since bourbon's inception. Our favorite experience on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail was the cocktail class at Bardstown Bourbon. It's located next to a field full of giant rickhouses, which is what the building where barrels of bourbon age are called. With so many great distilleries spread across the rolling hills of Kentucky, planning a trip on the Bourbon Trail can feel a bit overwhelming. To maximize value, do not get too big or small. Whether you're a bourbon snob, or you just like drinking, the Kentucky Bourbon Trail is a must-visit. Explore the Kentucky Bourbon Trail experiences and find what youre looking for in our map below. Cheers, Julie, We are thinking about making this trip in an RV in early November.. are there nice places to stay and how does the pandemic affect things, Hello Jan. As far as to where to stay with your RV, I am not sure, since we had a car and stayed in hotels. From beautiful fall foliage, to pumpkin patches and farm cider, this is the best time to experience the Bourbon Trail. PRO TRAVEL TIP: Most distilleries do not offer tours seven days a week.