In Louisville, what distillery tour?

[Nrengle]

I'm in town for a bit to relax, and what distillery tour gives the best bang for your buck? Willing to travel to Lexington, Bardstown, or Frankfort if need be.

[Lant63]

I'm traveling to Lexington soon, would be great full of information as well.

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-Stogie Boy

[JohnS]

The upcoming Forecastle Festival looks interesting...

http://www.forecastlefest.com/

[Ken Gargett]

never been so this is of little use, though it would be fascinating - i had heard that as these distilleries are in 'dry counties', you can do the tour but not get a sample or buy anything. anyone know if that is true?

[Nrengle]

never been so this is of little use, though it would be fascinating - i had heard that as these distilleries are in 'dry counties', you can do the tour but not get a sample or buy anything. anyone know if that is true?

I believe that goes for Jack Daniels or Jim Beam, can't remember. The way they get around it is they sell a commerative glass or bottle you have to drink empty before leaving.

[ShortFatHokie]

Two of my friends did the tour back in January, I'm almost positive they had tastings at every distillery.

Here is some info...it states you can sample at all nine of the Bourbon Trail distilleries...

http://kybourbontrail.com/frequently-asked-questions/

[Nrengle]

So just back from two distilleries. Here's my take on them.

Woodward Reserve, nice grounds, and our guide had a lot of information, and you seen a lot of the inner workings. The tasting was only the distillers reserve and the double oak. $10 bucks for the tour, and souvenir. But you can buy their products and lots of glassware and bar ware.

Four Roses. Shorter tour, and don't see everything's their warehouses and bottling are done at a different location from their distillery. Guide had some info, but knew what most people were there for, the tasting. The tasting here was much better. Got to try the yellow label, small batch, and single barrel. All large pours, and you kept the rocks glass at the end. $5 for the tour. It is of note that today was the last day of distilling at the site due to temperature. Since they do all open top fermentation (eg some natural yeast), so the yeast doesn't like the higher summer temps. Tours and tastings still happening though.

Friends told me to skip both Buffalo Trace and Wild Turkey. So we did.

Doing Willet and Heaven Hill tomorrow I think. Will chime in with my experiences there.

The Urban Bourbon Trail is all about going to bars and getting some cocktails, so it's fun, but also can be skipped.

[Nrengle]

Ok so time for today's entry. Today was a shorter day for this trip as we had to get to Nashville. Anyways on the way we stopped at Willet a Distillery. We literally drove through Heaven Hill Distillery to get to it. Both of these places distill for a lot of other companies that just bottle and barrel (more on this in a bit). Willet has their own flagship and aged bourbons and Rye, but also make Old Bardstown, Noah's Hill, Johnny Drum, Rawsons Creek (I believe that was it) and a few others. It's set on a 120 acre farm at one of the highest points in Bardstown. It reminded me quite a bit of growing up on my grandparents farm actually. They weren't distilling currently as they are down for upgrades to their boiler system, but should be back up next month. The tour was about 20-30 minutes and you walked through a few of the original buildings from the early 1930's. The tasting was great though, worth the price of admission which was only $7 unless you wanted to keep the glass which was $12 then. Our guide let us try any and everything they had a bottle of for tasting. None of the super aged stuff, which is understandable when you have a 25 year old rye.

Now the part about the barrel and bottling only. These guys didn't start distilling again till 2012, and shut their still down in early 80's and were one of the barreling and bottling operations exclusively. So any of the aged stuff they have available they didn't distill, but rather bought through another distillery that was close by. With the closeness of Heaven Hill I'd say it was probably them, but our guide didn't say. It doesn't matter too much though as most of the magic is in the barrels and aging process. Still a little shady, but at least they aren't hiding the fact. Very much worth the trip for me to try some smaller micro distilled stuff.

Second stop was at Jim Beam, we only stopped to hit the gift shop for my father in-law. If you Like Jim or any of its products (Booker, Bakers, Old Grand Dad, Old Crow) this place has everything imaginable with their logo plastered on it. Very much hail corporate by the feel of it. I also heard the tasting isn't worth it too much as they were trying to push Red Stagg recently.

As for smokes in the Louisville area too, it's a smoke free city, except for some patios, and a lot of those frown on cigar smoking. I'd suggest going across the Ohio River and stopping at Riverside Cigar. Ample selection in the humidor, and the guy that runs it is as much of a cigar need as all of us here. They also have a bar attached that you can smoke in and try about 50 different bourbons and a bunch of craft beers, no macro stuff there.

All in all its been a great trip, now I'm in Nashville to hang at my cousins recording studio for a couple of days and meetup with some friends.

[...]

Very cool travel notes, thanks for sharing!

[Duxnutz]

I did the 'hard hat' tour at Buffalo Trace in April and found it quite good. Loved Four Roses but was mainly there for the Gift Shop selections. Their wooden fermenters were really neat tho.

Willet, sorry KBD annoyed me with the prices on their store bottles (coming from Oz they got me tho),

I actually drove down to the spot (south from Bardstown) where Abraham Loncoln was a child, sat at Knob Creek for a bit and enjoyed the stillness of the area.

Pretty country to drive around and goddam I love Bourbon!

[TM-US]

Willett doesn't just buy from Heaven Hill. From what some insiders have told me, they have whiskey from nearly every major bourbon distiller in Kentucky. It is more accurate to say they blend and bottle Johnny Drum, Rowan's Creek, etc.

They do procure the barrels as freshly barreled new make and age it themselves, so they are not dissimilar to Cadenhead's, Gordon & McPhail, etc. from the scotch side of things.

Due to confidentiality agreements, there is no disclosure of the source of their Willett Family Estate bottlings, unfortunately. That being said, stuff like the older (18+) wheated bourbon is some of the best bourbon ever, IMO.

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[Nrengle]

Umbzp I'd say the newer stuff is made on site now that their still is active again, but to be legally considered bourbon I think most of the stuff is still in the warehouse that they're making. Either way; what I had was awesome, but I couldn't justify the price of their family reserve stuff. Just like I can't justify the price of Pappy V and Old Rip, and it's pretty awesome.

FYI Johnny Drum is great in an old fashion (bourbon, sugar, bitters, no soda water)

[TM-US]

Umbzp I'd say the newer stuff is made on site now that their still is active again, but to be legally considered bourbon I think most of the stuff is still in the warehouse that they're making. Either way; what I had was awesome, but I couldn't justify the price of their family reserve stuff. Just like I can't justify the price of Pappy V and Old Rip, and it's pretty awesome.

FYI Johnny Drum is great in an old fashion (bourbon, sugar, bitters, no soda water)

The actual Willett made bourbon and rye are only 3 years old right now.

I'm not talking about their pot still swill that comes in the weird bottle. The WFE stuff is what I'm talking about. It's worth every penny. Now some are mediocre, but the good ones can be spectacularly good.

The 21 and 22 yr wheated barrels they've released over the past two years are awesome. Far better than PVW and cheaper. Gift shop price is $250, which is the same as PVW23. Far better bourbon, though, and at cask strength.

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