For those who have been, we’re thinking about staying in Louisville and driving to some distilleries around Frankfort, Lexington, and Bardstown.

I’d like to hit up Buffalo Trace, Woodford, Four Roses, but would also like to go to Bardstown or other close by areas to see some craft distilleries. I may swing by Neeley Family Distillery in northern Kentucky and Leatherwood outside of Nashville.

Is there anything y’all would suggest to see or do in Louisville? It doesn’t have to be bourbon-based.

How would y’all set up a trip like this?

I enjoyed Willett, time it so you can eat there, the food is great. The new bourbon heritage center at Heaven Hill looks pretty great from what I've seen online. It was under construction a couple years ago when I was there.

Depends on how long you plan on staying and what days.
I would avoid Louisville early in the week and hit it later (Wednesday- Sunday ideal as most places closed early in the week) and mix your stay at Bardstown + Louisville if possible.

Here is what I did last time I went in Late January.

Mon-Wednesday stay in the heart of bardstown and then checked into another AirBnB in Louisville close to whiskey row Thursday-Sat morning. Michters is the only place you MUST have proof of vaccination just FYI

Monday: Buffalo Trace + Makers Mark
Tuesday: Heaven Hill + Willett + Barton 1792
Wednesday: Jim beam + Bar at Willett + 4 roses in Lawrenceberg
Thursday: Heaven Hill + Micthers Ft Nelson + Old Forrester
Friday: Rabbit Hole + angels envy + Michters Ft. Nelson

Things that are a MUST do if able to book are the bottle your own Michters (only 4-5 per day so gotta be there early), heaven hill bottle your own, and the bar at Willett. I wasn't able to get one of the single barrel tours from 4 roses but willing to bet its phenomenal. You can buy the SMBLE 2020 and 2021 at their bar as well as some of their barrel proof single barrels at their bar so would try that too. Makers mark has one of the nicest campuses, heaven hill has one of the best tastings (if you spring for the connoisseur) and Jim Beam gets into the nitty gritty with you on the whole process of bourbon making.  


You need to book EARLY and try and cluster your trips as much as possible. There is VERY LITTLE uber presence so you will need to get a rental to get around.

Based on what you want to see for distilleries why not stay in Lexington? Woodford, buffalo trace, Neely, and four roses are all closer to Lexington than Louisville.

I live in this area and am happy to point you to stuff to do. What are you into?

In on this.

We have a trip planned in March and will be staying in Lexington.

I've been several times.  I personally would not stay in Louisville - We stay in Lexington, Bardstown or Versailles.  A majority of the distilleries are all within a 30 - 45 min drive of Lexington.  There are a bunch of smaller craft distilleries that are cool, that aren't a part of the bourbon trail that you can hit up too around the same general area.

I preface to say that: it was a much better experience in 2013 & 2016.  You could drive to any of the distilleries and pretty much grab a tour within the hour.  Present day due to Covid and the explosion of "bourbon people", you will have to have reservations for tours.  If you plan on taking tours, the most you are likely to be able to fit into a single day will be 2 -3.  You will have to calculate the travel time from distillery to distillery, how long the tours last, time for meals etc...  Most of the distilleries don't open until 9 or 10 and close by 4 or 5.  So, getting all of your tour reservations to line up for a particular day is a pain in the ass.  You can still visit the giftshops of the distilleries without taking an actual tour - some will allow you to just do a tasting that is separate from the tour.

The food at Bardstown Bourbon Company was really good, and Willett gets rave reviews for their culinary experience, but it wasn't my cup of tea. (It is more of a fancy appetizer dishes, NOT a burger & fries or entre type of thing) The Old Fashioned was great though.



My Favorites for tours/scenery
Buffalo Trace
Wild Turkey
Woodford Reserve
Four Roses
Willett
Castle & Key
Jim Beam

Must Stops:

Keeneland - The grounds are open, and you can just wander around.  If you get there early in the morning, you can watch them exercising the horses.  It's beautiful  (This goes over really well if you are taking a spousal unit )



The Kentucky Castle - Amazing dining experience (They also have lodging if money isn't a concern)




A lot of places are still requiring masks, and the only one I know of that requires a vax card is Michter's in Louisville - so, I haven't been there.  You can also go to Churchill Downs and walk around - at least it was when we were there.  And then you'll wonder why the Kentucky Derby is held in that shithole (The TV makes it look a lot nicer than it is - Keeneland is 10X better, but they don't have the capacity that Churchill does.

In Lexington, the old Distillery District is really cool.  James Pepper Distillery is there, along with a damn good pizza joint and Ice Cream place (However, the Ice Cream place no longer gets my business - Check their facebook page for more info  Crank & Boom)  There's also an outdoor band area, and axe throwing place.  Across the street is the Burl, an old dive bar that is 'semi-notorious'

Spend some time traveling on the Scenic Blue Ridge Parkway  Absolutely beautiful!  



I'm sure others will add more info... That's what I got for now...I know I'm probably missing a lot!


Also, check out the Official Site https://kybourbontrail.com/

Oh, and check out Shaker Village  Really cool grounds, can go in all the buildings, has Shaker history..and the breakfast in the Inn was fantastic.  They also offer Lodging (We stayed there one of the nights - Wife Loved it)

Additional inspirational photo dump, because I absolutely love the area

We did the trail and stayed outside Louisville and then stopped at hotel along the way somewhere as we needed to get some rest. Was getting dehydrated !

BTW we took three days to run it.

Buffalo trace - cool to see all the old buildings
Four Roses - not much to see , but nice people and good bourbon
Woodford - the country club of bourbon makers , although beautiful horse country on the way
Bulliet - Kind of cool but kind of lame
Jim Beam - meh
Evan Williams in Louisville - pretty cool and good place to start to get some historical info
Heaven Hill - Meh
Makers - Always a good spot and been there a number of times. Although it has become more commercialized
Town Branch - was ok , we got there as they were closing but they stayed open and gave us more of a relaxed tour , which was very good
Wild Turkey - Very nice drive there and beautiful scenery, but takes a bit of time
Angel Envy - meh

Just my opinion though.

All the big names have been covered...some off the the beaten path/non bourbon stuff.

Copper and Kings in Luisville. Mostly brandy and gin. Really cool staff that doesn't pay super close attention to tasting limits. Been twice and left with a nice buzz both times.

Jeptha Creed. Ok bourbon, but what I really like are the craft bitters they make on site and the Paw Paw brandy.

Limestone branch. Again, ok bourbon, but their gin is amazing.

Sounds like something I would enjoy doing in the future.
As far as weather........what would be a better time of year to go ?
I prefer heat over cold, given the choice. Love all the green scenes in the photos.

As mentioned, go to Keeneland

You may need tickets in advance. Just a heads up. BT will sell out of tours and tasting.

I know that most, if not all, of the bigger distilleries require face masks indoors. Do any of them require proof of vaccine?

Michters is the only one

We like Spring & Fall.  We will usually try to arrange it around the Keeneland races.

Wife and I did the trail 6 years ago.  Last weekend we went to makers and got our ambassador bottles.  Make sure you do that so you can have an excuse to come back.

We stayed at the old Talbots tavern in bardstown.
Bardstown is a cool little town.  I would move there in a minute if money was no issue.

If I had to change the trail i would skip town branch and add Willett and Buffalo trace. They weren’t on it when we went 6 years ago.

Have fun.

Just waiting,  any day now for the email to come down and get mine. It'll be 6 yrs in June since we were down the 1st time. Looking to go back down in a few weeks.
Just had some surgery and looking to go down before going back to work. Hopefully get some of my liquor stock replenished. Will be staying near Bardstown this time, since the B&b we used to stay at is no longer.

Mmmmm Talbot's Tavern

Great food. Lots of cool history.