.jpg)
Trip Inspiration
Almost seven years ago, I signed up for the Maker's Mark ambassador program, a free email list which comes with the novel kicker of being able to follow a barrel of Maker's Mark whisky through their production process. At six years and eight months of maturation, I got a notification that my barrel was ready and would be in the second season batch for 2025. While it might be a bit of a gimmick, I just had to go up to Loretto, KY for the free tour and specially labeled bottles (TBD on if it tastes any different than regular Maker's). A buddy and I decided to make a long weekend out of it, stopping into a handful of other distilleries nearby.
Itinerary Overview
While we chose to stay in Bardstown, the bourbon capital of the world, I believe Louisville is increasingly the home base for most bourbon trips. That being said, I quite enjoyed the quiet and small town vibes of Bardstown. The drive from Atlanta, GA took about six hours on mostly state highways but was relatively uneventful.
- Day 1: Departed Atlanta around 8:45am - arrived at Bardstown 3:30ish pm, ahead of schedule. We snuck in the standard Jim Beam Tour before dinner at the bar at Willet. Checked-in to the Bardstown Motor Lodge where we roomed for the duration.
- Day 2: Buffalo Trace - The Taylor Tour, about a 1 hour drive from Bardstown. Lunch at a random Mexican Spot. Cocktail Class at Bulleit at 2:30 followed by their standard production tour. We ate dinner at the Old Talbott Inn and relaxed by the pool for the evening.
- Day 3: Rickhouse Barrel Thieving and standard production tours at Bardstown Bourbon Company, Four Roses Cox Creek Aging Facility Tour at 1pm, and Heaven Hill's "You Do Bourbon" tour at 3:30pm. Dinner was at Scout and Scholar followed by more pool.
- Day 4: Maker's Mark Ambassador Golden Ticket Tour at 9:30am and then driving back to Atlanta.
After doing three experiences on Saturday (day 2) and four on Sunday (day 3), I think that three tours/classes/experiences is probably just about perfect. With four tastings, two of them being all barrel proofs, we were starting to get fatigued of drinking. Everything is spaced out enough or volume limited, so it's not necessarily a matter of sobriety - more plain enjoyment. Woodford, Four Roses, and Wild Turkey were all participating in their annual maintenance otherwise we probably would have tried to fit in two of those instead of Bulleit, but we both had a great time out there. We didn't make it up to Louisville and I think that will be my next trip. Rabbit Hole, Peerless, Michter's, and more make Louisville their home and I think overall the one town experience there is probably more complete, not to mention having access to the food scene of a much larger city.
Our Hotel - Bardstown Motor Lodge
The Bardstown Motor Lodge is a recently renovated motel which has been re-done with a mid-century modern theme and "adult summer camp" styling. Check-in is at the pool bar and you can find some locals coming by to buy a pool pass on weekends in the summer. Our room was clean and well kept though it is a motel, so expect some parking lot noise. They have firepits in the evenings and you can ask the font desk for s'more materials. It's probably a quarter mile walk into town and there is sidewalk the whole way though you'll have to cross the street once (the crossing button actually does work for changing the light).
Around Bardstown
Many will mention the Old Talbott Tavern as a historic spot for a solid dinner and we enjoyed it though a few of the sides were an order of magnitude too salty. We did grab dinner at Scout at Scholar brewing company which ironically didn't have any of their own beers on tap and was a bit expensive for what it was (though it was tasty). Hadorn's Bakery was popping at breakfast and has some fantastic breakfast pastries and donuts. If I was to do it over again, I would probably emphasize more of the distillery restaurants. Lux Row, Bardstown Bourbon, Willett, and Jim Beam all have well regarded restaurants - most just close a bit too early so plan accordingly. No Bardstown article is complete without mentioning the Egg Salad Sandwich at Willett - note that it is more about the aged gouda cheese they shred all over it than it is the egg salad itself. It's GREAT and their cocktails are also solid. We ordered probably half the menu family style and everything was delicious. NEAT the bar and the blind Pig Speakeasy are two other good spots if you have the mouth and the funds for exploring rare or vintage bourbon.
Visiting the Distilleries
While this trip was inspired by Maker's Mark, we did our very best to cram a weekend full of other distilleries. It was very interesting to see the differences between both the tours offered and the distilleries themselves. Each company is on its own production journey with respect to automation and technique as well as trying to make their visitor experience stand out in a crowded landscape. While we did some specialty tours, I do recommend doing the flagship production and process tour as well. Some info will obviously be repeated, but I found the more targeted experiences to be a little light on context. None of the dates lined up with this trip, but a few distilleries offer small and accordingly priced experiences where you get a half-day tour with the master distiller. Would love to do one of those at some point. We went the last full weekend in August, a week before Bourbon Fest, which is a pretty slow time for bourbon tourism. Peak season is actually fall starting after labor day before things slow down for the winter (many experiences being primarily outside).
Jim Beam
Though it wasn't on our original itinerary, extra smooth travel on Friday left us with time before our dinner reservation at Willett so we popped up to Beam, expecting mostly to just poke around the giftshop for a bit. Fortuitously, a tour was about to leave so we decided to hop aboard. Our tour guide, Holden was probably the strongest we would have over the weekend and there were only five others on our particular jaunt. The tour starts with a short bus ride down to just outside the mash and still house where they have a reception area for your first tasting and some basic history. You'll walk through the mash house, still house, and some more visitor information areas. I got to partially fill a barrel with White Dog (one person per group) and you'll get to wash your hands with the same (smells great). At the end, you have an opportunity to "bottle" some Knob Creek Single Barrel which entails washing the bottle with whiskey and putting your fingerprint into the sealing wax. I passed but my buddy picked one up. You get to keep your cute little nosing glass, a great souvenir included in the tour cost.
Tastings: Jim Beam White, Jim Beam Black Label, Choice of Knob Creek 9 or Rye, Choice of Basil Hayden Bourbon or Rye.
Gift Shop: The gift shop is well appointed with a solid selection of tees, branded Carhartt apparel, and glassware. They had the last four releases of Booker's and a number of Little Book editions in addition to a smattering of offerings from their other brands. There are some distillery exclusives though they're typically north of $150. Pricing was around SRP or slightly above.
Restaurant: There is a full restaurant which is not a given with these visitors centers. We didn't eat there, but I've heard good things.
Buffalo Trace
Though it meant driving an hour, we did stop by Buffalo Trace. All of their tours are free, but you'll need to sign-up as soon as spots open, eight weeks in advance. The best tour is allegedly the "Hard Hat Tour" which is a very small group and goes deep into the production process and buildings, but it filled up immediately despite my refreshing the page at the moment the tours went live. We settled for the "Old Taylor" tour which focuses on Colonel E.H. Taylor and his contributions to the distillery. Upon arrival, expect a somewhat intimidating looking line leading up to check-in. They will call tours to the front of the line based on tour departure time. We arrived about 30 minutes early and got to gleefully skip to the front. The Taylor tour itself was very historical but a bit dry.
Tastings: EHT Small Batch, EHT Rye, EHT Barrel Proof
Gift Shop: Understandably the most well appointed gift shop, Buffalo Trace offers a rotating selection of allocated products daily in addition to the always available flagship, Wheatley vodka, Liquor, Sazerac Rye, and Traveler whiskey. There is a daily predictions website if you are so inclined. You are limited to one allocated bottle per brand per quarter (10 bottles of Buffalo Trace flagship). Expect plenty of glassware options for all of the house brands along with a variety of apparel. They do also have tastings of Traveler, Bourbon Cream Liquor, and Root Bear in the gift shop. I was a bit sad to not see any Benchmark or Ancient Age stuff. Pricing is all at SRP.
Restaurant: There is a BBQ Sandwich place onsite but they haven't re-opened since the flood.
Bulleit
With Four Roses and Woodford participating in a late summer shutdown, we elected to instead pop over to Diageo's Bulleit distillery about 30 minutes northwest of Buffalo Trace. The visitor center is beautiful and well appointed, styled in what reminds me of a Grant Teton lodge with leather seating, large windows, and sharpie autographed barrels lining the entryway. They had some passable coffee for free when you walk-in which I greatly appreciated. Bulleit being a favorite on bar backs everywhere, we did a cocktail class in addition to the standard distillery tour. The cocktail class was fun if not revolutionary and the tour fairly standard, but I was glad to have done both. One differentiating item is that they provide scent bulbs as part of the tasting at the end of the tour (I believe you can separately just book this tasting to save $5). If you haven't done a tasting with scent prompts before, it is a pretty fun experience and does show how much of your taste is smell related. I'm not sure this is a "must visit", but there are many worse ways to spend an afternoon and I absolutely love the facility. Also Bulleit's 10-years and cask may be some of the more slept on bottles on the market, fantastic age or proof for sub $50 is nuts.
Tastings: Bulleit Bourbon, Rye, 10 Year Bourbon & Rye, American Single Malt, Cask Strength
Gift Shop: Solid variety of items with the cheapest large bar mat of any of the places we went. They don't have a huge lineup of bottles and all are available at SRP. Apparel was attractive.
Restaurant: No Food Onsite
Bardstown Bourbon Company
Founded and financed by the former CEO of Earthlink, Bardstown Bourbon combines modern industrial processes with historical know-how to produce expertly crafted in-house brands as well as contract programs to rival that of MGP. Their Napa Valley style campus is just beautiful, complete with one of the better restaurants on the bourbon trail. Master Distiller Steve Nally, the "King of Wheat" brought more than 30 years of experience from Maker's Mark to play at BBC and is one of the few Bourbon Hall of Famers still in an active production role. Nick Smith, the head distiller, is one of the new blood rising stars of bourbon, having jumped to distillery supervisor at Jim beam in just four years after graduating from Kentucky. You can have a very intimate tour with both for less than $100 though spots are infrequent and extremely limited.
We did both their Rickhouse Barrel Thieving and Core Four Tour. Barrel thieving is one of the earliest tours available on a Sunday, starting at 9:30am. It is a small group format tour where you spend most of the time in the rickhouse, sampling whiskey thieved straight from the barrel. As an intimate tour, overall quality will be highly dependent on your guide, though you'll enjoy the whiskey for sure! Their standard tour is solid and starts with the tasting. My highlight was getting to sample some mash from their open fermenters, yummy bitter oatmeal.
Tastings:
- Standard - Origin Bourbon, Bottled-in-Bond, High Wheat, and Double Barreled Rye
- Barrel Thieving - Bottled-in-Bond Cask Strength, High Wheat, Rye Cask Strength, Misc Single Barrel.
Gift Shop: Fairly small but featuring a number of their limited releases, distillery exclusives, and bottles from their sister distillery, Green River.
Restaurant: An absolutely fantastic menu with daily specials and upscaled curation
Four Roses - Cox Creek Warehouse
Famous for their barrel codes and single-story rickhouses, Four Roses has a large aging facility just north of Bardstown. One of the cheapest non-free tours, this quick tasting and rickhouse tour will set you back just $15 and includes a steepled rocks glass to keep. Compared to an overall production tour, it is pretty quick. We were the only two on our tour.
Tastings: Yellow Label, Small Batch, Single Barrel, and Small Batch Select
Gift Shop: A compact selection of Four Roses merchandise, they have a number of single barrel and limited edition products for sale.
Restaurant: N/A
Heaven Hill
Heaven Hill's "You do Bourbon" tour has you go through a tasting of barrel proof whiskies before optionally selecting one to bottle and label yourself. All batches are distillery exclusives and separate from the standard recurring releases. Exact bottles may change year-to-year and season-to-season. Filling the bottle and hand writing the label are for sure the high points. The tasting itself was sparse on information and the "Lab" access was just a few stations for DIY exercises that partially worked. For me, Heaven Hill's bonded lineup is the strong point of their portfolio, but I'll admit it was fun to try all the BPs side-by-side.
Tastings: Bernheim Barrel Proof, Larceny Barrel Proof, Elijah Craig Barrel Proof Bourbon 2025Y, Elijah Craig Barrel Proof Rye 2025Y
Gift Shop: A good balance of home goods, apparel, and bottles. They have JTS Brown and JW Dant which are Kentucky Exclusives. I got a taste of the Grain to Glass Rye at checkout. No sign of the Old Fitz 7-year or any of their other hard to find products. Snagged a full size Rittenhouse Rye bar mat on clearance for $8, a deal indeed.
Restaurant: The onsite restaurant has a solid menu. In general, the Bardstown distilleries have greatly upped their restaurant games.
Maker's Mark
After a long trek down the infamous one-land backroad, we arrived bright and early on a Monday for the Ambassador edition tour. Maker's Mark is easily the prettiest campus of those we visited and you are immediately struck by the charm of the black and red buildings, manicured landscapes, and striking art installations. They currently have a number of pieces from Chihuly in addition to works by local artists. If you're not familiar with the Maker's Mark Ambassador program, it is is simply their email list plus some fun perks to make it more worth your while. After signing up, you are assigned a barrel that you can follow through the aging process. Once it is ready, it will be dumped into that season's ambassador batch and you are entitled to a free "graduation" tour. Unfortunately, you don't get to see, buy, or buy bottles from your specific barrel, but it's still fun. They also do sponsored events in many markets, most of which are free to attend if you are fast enough to sign-up.
The ambassador tour closely mirrors the regular one, though you'll start with a tasting of your Ambassador batch and may benefit from smaller group sizes. We also spent a good amount of time in the cellar and got to taste cask strength straight from the barrel (true single barrels without finishes are somewhat rare from Maker's). They were unfortunately participating in production shutdown though the bottling line was going strong. Across the board, the grounds are fantastic and it is great seeing the contrast between Maker's more "hand-crafted" approach to making whisky and that of ultra modern facilities.
Tastings: Maker's Mark Ambassador Batch, Marker's Mark Cask Strength - Single Barrel, Maker's Mark 46, Markets Mark Private Selection (Distillery Exclusive)
Gift Shop: You don't need to be an ambassador or go on a tour to dip a bottle! Most varieties for purchase can be dipped after you quickly don some protective equipment.
Restaurant: Star Provisions serves food starting at 11:30am and has a lovely patio.
Reflection
What an absolutely great way to spend a Weekend! I do think it is worth having the four days, particularly if you are driving. Including bottle purchases (9 for me) the weekend was just over $1000. Hotels in Bardstown are quite reasonable at this time of the year and skipping the plane ticket will always save you a ton. Two of our tours were free and most are quite affordable. I do think if you tend towards bigger cities and fancier accommodations, you are probably better off staying in Lexington or Louisville, but Bardstown is quaint and quite close to many of the heritage distilleries. While we did encounter a few people bourboning solo, brown liquor is best shared and I'd encourage everyone to at least take one friend. Even on this off weekend, we saw a good number of Bachelor parties. Since everything closes relatively early, you have plenty of time to kick back and relax in the evenings. I miss it already.
My overall ranking of activities is as follows, though I enjoyed doing everything:
- Maker's Mark Ambassador Tour
- Jim Beam - Standard Tour
- The Egg Salad Sandwich at Willett - Cheesecake is also killer
- Rickhouse Barrel Thieving - Bardstown Bourbon Company
- Tasting the Mash - Bardstown Bourbon Company
- Breakfast Donuts from Hadorn's Bakery in Bardstown
- Bourbon Smash Cocktail Class at Bulleit
- "You Do Bourbon" Tour - Heaven Hill
- Sensory Tour and Tasting at Bulleit
- Four Roses Cox Creek Aging Facility Tour
- The Old Taylor Tour at Buffalo Trace
My Next Trip
In a few years, I'm definitely coming back to Bourbon Country. I'll probably base that trip around Louisville and focus on distilleries with an in-town presence there. I will also look for the limited tours with the master/head distiller and try to adjust timing accordingly. Those seem like they're both very interesting and a great value. Long term, I would love to do a barrel pick but that will be very dependent on getting a group with the capital for such an event. There is definitely plenty to see and do where bourbon is concerned in Kentucky, don't rush to try to do it all in one trip!