2023-12-29 08:33:44
Yes, Kentucky is awash in bourbon — but it has plenty of wine, beer and other spirits, too: As in the 13 breweries on the West Kentucky Brew Hop, bopping along from Owensboro to Bowling Green to Paducah. Feeling moody? Ashland’s Tomcat Bourbons and Brew House presents two bars and two moods: spirited convo on one side, pool and darts on the other — bourbon and craft taps, patio and music for all.
If fruit is more your jam, Augusta’s Baker-Bird Winery offers superlative sips at the only winery to survive a Civil War battle. Logan County’s only winery since Prohibition, Auburn’s Carriage House Vineyards, tickles the tongue with strawberry, white peach and mandarin fruit wines.
Then there’s good ol’ Kentucky moonshine, (now) made legally at Sparta’s Neely Family Distillery, and a chance to see how barrels are blazed to impart flavor at East Bernstadt’s Cumberland Cooperage.
From Ludlow’s Second Sight Spirits to Franklin’s Dueling Grounds, from Maysville’s Old Pogue to Owensboro’s Green River, the Kentucky Bourbon Trail® and the Kentucky Bourbon Trail Craft Tour® span 950-plus miles, 42 distilleries and two time zones, creating the ultimate bourbon excursion.
See, taste and smell the legendary distilleries, each offering a distinct experience with behind-the-scenes tours and tastings — and some offering hands-on opportunities, like Bardstown Bourbon Co.’s Rickhouse Barrel Thieving.
Eat cuisine curated to complement finely crafted whiskeys and witness some of the most beautiful countryside this side of Ireland. Kentucky produces 95 percent of America’s Native Spirit in that old-fashioned, time-honored tradition.
Be the Bottle
Step into the role of Master Distiller and blend your own whiskey using different flavor profiles at Barrels & Billets in Louisville. Learn whiskey history during this custom bourbon experience, create a bourbon recipe, taste and blend six award-winning bourbons and name your creation. As an option, you can have your custom bourbon bottled onsite.
Small Town, Big Bourbon
In a town measuring a wee 1.6 square miles, the Augusta Distillery spreads over 45,000 square feet in a former carriage maker’s building. In this historic Augusta setting, pop a barrel bung and thieve whiskey straight from the cask during a hands-on distillery experience. Bottle, cork and label your own spirit, and sip a rare, award-winning bourbon.
Bourbon in a Barn
Steal away to a farm in rural Frankfort for a Whiskey Thief Uncut & Unfiltered Tour at Whiskey Thief Distilling Co. Tour the stillhouse, sample up to five bourbons and/or whiskeys straight from the barrel and fill your own bottle. A team of Stave & Thief-certified bourbon stewards guides visitors through the experience.
From Blankets to Bourbon
Once the home of Churchill Weavers, known for its signature couch throws and blankets, this historic Berea landmark, now called Churchill’s, houses the upscale Honeysuckle Dining and Bourbon House. Seasonally changing menus plate up Southern classics with hints of modern and world influences.
Cooperage Completes the Picture
You’ve been to the distilleries. You’ve tasted the bourbons. Now go behind the scenes at Lebanon’s Kentucky Cooperage to see how the barrels that age Kentucky bourbon are flamed to just the right char to impart flavor and color — the perfect way to round out any Kentucky bourbon experience.
“Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”
Nobel Prize- and multi-Grammy Award-winning legendary rocker Bob Dylan has co-created a collection of handcrafted American whiskeys, showcased as part of one of the country’s largest selections of American whiskeys, in the new Heaven’s Door Spirits brand center in Louisville. Co-founded by Dylan, it features the Last Refuge — a restaurant, whiskey bar and live music venue set inside a converted 1879 church.
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