A super cool vibe. The guide Ron was phenomenal at everything. The Great Depression was at its peak, the family had no whiskey at the time, and no brand of their own. and developing your own unique bourbon, fun, educational, and inspiring. Michter's Fort Nelson Distillery A short walk down the block from Ground Zero of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail is Michter's Fort Nelson Distillery. You can grab several Old Fitzgerald Bottled-in-Bond expressions, Parkers Heritage pours, and the main expressions from Elijah Craig, Larceny, and, naturally, Evan Williams, plus a few true gems youll have to be savvy enough to ask about. Buy Tickets Now. You can get a serious cocktail while contemplating that $500 bottle of Old Crow from the 1960s. The lineup is very high-end and includes Old Foresters famed and fleeting Birthday Bourbon. See our privacy policy here. Youre only allowed one bottle per person but youll walk away with a great bottle of whiskey you wont be able to get anywhere else (not for retail prices anyway). Fast forward to 1984, when the Kulsveen couple purchased the property from the Willets and brought the Willet Distillery back to life. Its a great hotel, not a luxury resort. Visit the distillery to take a tour of the distilling process and learn some mixology skills as you mix up two craft cocktails. They are very proud of it and believe so highly in their family-owned business that they regularly turn down investors. Its also massive. Seeing the Jim Beam distillery is seeing a business that began two centuries ago. Whiskey tours cost $20 to $25 and run on Mondays and Wednesdays through Saturdays from 10 am to 5 pm and on Sundays from 1 pm to 5 pm. First of all, theres a Girl Scout cookie factory nearby, and the smell of sweets wafting is intoxicating. Our guide, LeeAnn, was fantastic. We throw parties for horse races and pronounce Louisville like weve already had a taste of bourbon. Kentucky Peerless Distilling Co. offers three distillery experiences: Kentucky Peerless Distilling Co. is located just off of Museum Row, about a block from The Frazier Kentucky History Museum and The Louisville Slugger Museum. The Nothing Better In The Market Tour ($70) has the best tasting when it comes to Old Forester whiskey. You dont need to venture out to the Bourbon Trail to taste bourbon or take a distillery tour: there are plenty of distilleries in Louisville! Today, Peerless produces top-quality bourbons and ryes in classic single barrel expressions. I can'tmore, We came to Kentucky from Chicagoland with the intention of visiting a few distilleries. With yellow pole banners and directional signage around every corner, you can sip and stroll while navigating your bourbon experience with ease. Copyright 20042023 Yelp Inc. Yelp, , and related marks are registered trademarks of Yelp. Angel's Envy distillery is one of the youngest on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, as it began in only 2011. Make sure to sample the barrel picks from behind the bar, especially if youre looking for a special pour from Wild Turkey or Buffalo Trace. But the small batch, award-winning 1793 Bourbon line takes things up several notches to an elevated, premium bourbon. The distillery is very modernist and expansive with one of the most interactive experiences on Whiskey Row. This delightful and sometimes hard-to-find bourbon owes its rareness to barrels that are toasted before they are charred, which helps to expose deeper layers of the interior of the barrels, offering greater levels of flavor to the bourbon, per Cocktails and Bars. The whiskeys can be tasted on one of several tour options: The distillery also offers a tasting-only experience and a chocolate tasting experience. Master distiller at Green River Distillery, Jacob Call explains that making good bourbon doesn't require a magic bullet. Playing with those two factors can result in vastly different bourbons. A few choice barrels are aged on-site as well. You cant get it outside of Kentucky and it might be their best expression. Highly recommend this activity. It's not just a distillery in Kentucky. Rabbit Hole Distilleryopened in NuLu 2012 when its founder risked his twenty-year psychology practiceand took a plunge down the Rabbit Hole (get it?!) The moment you walk into the place, you can smell the grains fermenting in the back. Top 10 Best Distilleries Near You in Louisville, Kentucky. Second, theres the amount of toast or char on the barrel and the amount of time the bourbon spends in it. ADMISSION. Dont skip these delicious Central Texas wineries during your tour de vino. The distillery is where everything happens for Peerless whiskey from mashing to distilling to aging to bottling. But Copper & Kings doesnt stop there. This company cares about their staff and it shows. We booked a tour of the distillery and received a plethora of information about the prohibition. As with all of these tours, the final stop is the destination of choice its where the tasting is. The tour covers all of the things you'd get on a full distillery tour, but without the hazards or noise of walking around a working distillery. *Disclaimer: Some of my bourbon visits were comped.*. A fully immersive. Its a town that suits secret speakeasies. Theres nothing else quite like it in America. The tours range from taking you through the cathedral which overlooks the distilling floor to a tour on the floor where you can feel (and see) the whiskey getting made. Finished bourbons are often smoother, sweeter, and better for sipping especially when paired with chocolate (which youll find at many bourbon distilleries)! Were also suckers for their classy, round oak barrel glass bottles (listen: every Louisvillian has a collection of bourbon on display at home, and yes, the look of the bottles absolutely matters). The Butchertown-basedCopper & KingsDistillery producesbrandy, absinthe, gin, and a variety of liqueurs, all made from American-grown grapes and apples. This is a real working distillery (thats not 100 percent true of a lot of the other whiskey experiences on the Row) and youre likely to see the Master Distiller actually making the whiskey youll taste after your tour. At this moment, there are more than 20 working bourbon distilleries in Kentucky that make more than 200 of your favorite brands. Heaven Hill Brands writes that the family was taking quite a risk. In the 1850s, Louisville was home to a strip of downtown on Main Street known as Whiskey Row, full of distilleries and speakeasies. Evan Williams also makes specialty flavors and seasonal bourbons, like Evan Williams Honey, a bourbon blended with honey liqueur resulting in an incredible smooth spirit with a taste of sweet honey, allspice, vanilla and slight smoke. The classic Evan Williams Bourbon is extremely palatable with notes of oak, brown sugar and caramel, and wonderful in mixed drinks like a Mint Julep at Kentucky Derby time. Bourbon law says you must age the whiskey at least two years for it to be considered bourbon. Be sure to go to Garden and Gun upstairs for snacks and great drinks. It was truly a fun way to start the day! Distillery tours cost between $15 and $28 and run Monday through Saturday at 10:30, 11:30, 12:30, and 2:30. It wasn't until the 1990s that Michter's found its home in Kentucky, after a long history of dealing with issues such as prohibition, bankruptcy, and the near disappearance of the Michter name. You can visit Michter's distillery along the Bourbon Trail in Louisville, right across from the Louisville Slugger Museum. Basically, youre getting a chance to both sample a $200 pour at any high-end whiskey bar and walk away with a bespoke bottle from the distillery. This renaissance has sparked a new wave of bourbon tourism. On topof that, they give 1% of their sales to environmental causes. All rights reserved. This post covers all nine incredible distilleries in Louisville! The Evan Williams Experience offers two tours: The Evan Williams Bourbon Experience is located on Museum Row, about a block away from the Muhammad Ali Center as well as the contemporary 21C Museum Hotel, which has an awesome free art gallery you can visit 24/7 just look for the giant gold David statue and small crowd of red penguins, you cant miss it. The Volstead Act (AKA prohibition) did include two exceptions for the production of alcohol: It could be prescribed by doctors for medicinal purposes, and it could be used for religious sacraments by priests, rabbis and ministers. How about that. Required fields are marked *. She made the reservation for the tour online - quick and painless process. You can also get a pour of some serious whiskey ranging from old-school Pappy to modern gems that flew under the radar. Today, you'll find the distillery in downtown Louisville, as the first. From New Orleans, bourbon would be loaded on ocean-going vessels for delivery to eastern seaboard ports like Philadelphia, New York, and Boston- a route that was much faster and less expensive than taking goods by wagon over the Appalachian Mountains. Louisville is full of hidden bars behind no-descript doors. In Louisville?! Each tour comes with a tasting at the end. Bulleit's claim to fame is their higher use of rye in the mash. It certainly does. And if you want to get real extra about it, try the barrel-finished version (because everything is better barrel-aged)! This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Bulleit This Thursday bourbon tour includes guided transportation, 3 distillery stops for tours and tastings, and a local lunch. You can see the old tracks where they transported bourbon barrels all over the site, and the buildings are SUPER old. Today, there are seven Downtown Distillery experiences. In 2014, the descendants of that very owner decided to resurrect the once-great brand, and Peerless moved into an enormous115-year-old building on 10th street in downtown Louisville, where it has been crafting grain-to-bottle spirits ever since. What youll want to do at Fort Nelson is fill your very own bottle of Fort Nelson Michters Barrel Strength Bourbon straight from a barrel. The tours last one, one-and-a-half, and two hours and cost $20 to $100, depending on the tour. You can visit by appointment only or on pop-up days, which vary. The aging of the high-proof distilled mash inside of the toasted barrel is what produces the sweet syrupy taste and caramel color of bourbon, as the spirit breaks down the sugars from the toasted oak. That means all the seafood from each coast stops in Louisville before it goes everywhere else in the country. This micro-distillery and gift shop is located in one of downtown Louisvilles best preserved historic buildings. Also, Rabbit Hole Distillery is just around the corner if youd like to hop on over! Wild Turkey prides itself in using only non-GMO corn in their mash bill (which is kept quite secretive). At their downtown Fort Nelson location, the micro-distillery offers three tours : Michters downtown location is on Museum Row, right next to The Frazier Kentucky History Museum and The Louisville Slugger Museum, and a block away from 21c Museum Hotel. When it comes to innovation today, Green River Distillery is at theforefront. A shot of Pappy at a bar, if you can find it, runs around $100 a glass. Its also a dive bar so its incredibly cheap to drink here. The decor is an uber-dive bar with chalk graffiti everywhere, pinball in the back, a funky pool table, and neon everywhere. Distillery Tours - Bourbon Country We took the really scenic drive to Versailles, Kentucky, to check out Woodford Reserve for another breathtaking distillery. Again, these are not cheap, but if youre a collector/investor, this is probably going to be the place where you spend the most time (and money). Fast forward 48 years and the family not only moved to Kentucky to take advantage of government incentives that were offered for farming corn, but they also Americanized their name as many immigrants did back then, to Beam (via JimBeam.com). Thats a steal. It was difficult to accomplish in a two day trip, especially with a five hour drive both ways.more. Logan is an excellent tour guide. 18 Best Distilleries Along the Kentucky Bourbon Trail Awesome! Louisville Board of Trade + Wine and Spirits Bulletin Offices, Bardstown Bourbon Company: 730 W. Main St (Summer of 2023). Seriously, this guy is a fucking legend. Its housed in a super cool industrial building in the heart of NuLu off Market Street. Their whiskey list goes so deep that they have a section for undisclosed whiskeys that cannot be categorized. Yep, we are a multi-faceted bunch of drinkers, yall. He was so fun and engaging. If you are looking for one of the smoothest bourbons in the world, you'll be in the right place at Angel's Envy. From there, you might want to consider your bank account before you dive into the 20 and 25-year pours of Michters. Not only is their bourbon good (from a non-bourbon drinker), but the history was amazing. Old Forester Distilling Co. Angel's Envy Distillery Rabbit Hole Distillery Evan Williams Bourbon Experience Michter's Distillery Stitzel-Weller Distillery Kentucky Peerless Distilling Co. Kentucky Artisan Distillery Copper & Kings Holi Gin Map of Louisville Distilleries Looking for more boozy inspiration? The distillery was built into a historical warehouse where the team at Angels Envy created an industrial cathedral to all things whiskey. 6/10more, ToursDistilleriesAmerican (New)$$Louisville, After walking the distillery floors and even getting a peek at the graphics department where a photomore, and it wasn't sourced (sourced = having been bought from a bigger distillery and bottled by them).more, My brother and I had booked a tour at the main distillery and their staff recommended, that if wemore, DistilleriesCocktail BarsWhiskey Bars$$West Main, The Fort Nelson Distillery for Michter's is more of a showroom than it is a full-blown activemore, This site has a lot of historical significance in distilling although it is not an active distillery.more, refill our mugs with (mugs from our kitchen) for the ride to our first distillery, this was amore, What an amazing trip here the owner is awesome. Louisville's Whiskey Row is where the big kids who love whiskey go to play. I think youre sold. The distillery is as gorgeous as the romantic rose label and can be toured along the Kentucky Bourbon trail in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky. They provide a recommendation based on answers to a series of questions, which was pretty close to what I ended up making. Youll get to pick a handful of bottles and youll be guided through a historical tasting of some of the best bourbons ever made. The lobby is a small art exhibit attached to a larger installation/full-on museum that rotates through art seasonally. Since Evan Williams is part of the larger Heaven Hill family, youll be able to find serious pours behind this bar. You cannot sleep on Merles fried chicken. This is after hours with bands, karaoke, and bacchanal every night, but especially on the weekends. Rabbit Hole is another brand new distillery experience right in the middle of the city. In addition to bourbon, Rabbit Hole also distills a straight rye whiskey, as well as an imported gin which is finished in the rye whiskey barrels. It was an experience I will never forget. Each distillery offers its own unique bourbons to taste, as well as distillery tours starting from as low as $12. Hes basically a rock star in Kentucky. Big Bite Out From hoodrat to high class. Which we totally get; once upon a time, Lets Go Louisvilles founder had a stable corporate career before shethrew it all away to be a travel blogger. You'll find a historical marker (#2445) in his honor in Louisville. Hell or High Water is a well-known and well-hidden speakeasy right on Main Street. The festival is celebrated each year all around the world in April, just before Derby Season! The best bet is to get a flight of whiskeys. Whether you're a Louisville native on an afternoon stroll, in town on business with a couple hours to spare, or a bourbon connoisseur looking to expand your palate, our Bourbon District distilleries will transport you through generations of history, community, and passion. Heaven Hill Distillery explains that the business began in Bardstown, Kentucky by a gentleman named William Heavenhill. This Lawrenceburg distillery was built in 1910 and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Visit Castle and Key in Frankfort, Kentucky. Oh, and the citys nickname? Here are our picks for the best Louisville distilleries: . You can get drinks from Repeal and sit in the overstuffed chairs in the lobby and chat if you like. The end product is a deliciously complexintroductory bourbon with notes of fruit and vanilla, perfect for both sipping or mixing into cocktails. Keep in mind we are a small blog, not a news site, and it sometimes takes us a while to work our way through comments and fact checking Weve updated our post to be more clear: there is indeed a Heaven Hill production distillery in downtown Louisville, but their tasting room is in Bardstown at their original distillery. Walk our streets, sip our bourbon, and enjoy this city for as long as you like. Bourbon Tasting 101: A Kentuckian's Guide. The Frazier History Museum is located on Museum Row in the West Main District of Downtown Louisville, Kentucky, and is the official starting point of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. But, what I will say is the tasting flight and then cocktail experience is worth it. Green River believes in doing things correctly because bourbon is bourbon. Next, they make their own huge blocks of ice and process them into various-sized cubes, orbs, and crushed ice in the back. Thats unbeatable. This is the version of our website addressed to speakers of English in the United States. You don't need to venture out to the Bourbon Trail to taste bourbon or take a distillery tour: there are plenty of distilleries in Louisville! This place, just like Four Roses, is also on the National Register of Historic Places and also operated during the Prohibition. It claims to be the oldest continuously operating bourbon distillery in the United States, and its rumored distilling began on that site in 1775. It also distills gin, vodka, and rye whiskey. From leading to the history to the tasting and answering every question that was thrown at him. If you want to keep drinking and have some nighttime fun, Play Dance Bar is right next door its the perfect place to see a drag show! Forum posts were selected by looking for forum titles asking specific questions and taking the top showtopic page by total pageviews as the optimal topic. But outside of that, it's kind of a bummer to have a single showroom tour. Theres a full-sized golden statue of David outside, which tells you that this is a place to be seen. Theres a killer bar with a great staff who can sense what your orderis going to be as the night wears on. It's a must stop on a bourbon tour. Sure, its technicallyKentucky that invented bourbon, but Louisville has embraced it, built upon it, and created a drinking scene honoringit. Today, something people often don't realize about Heaven Hill is that it's the largest, independent, family-owned distillery in the world today, making 19 different bourbons and whiskeys, including Evan Williams and Elijah Craig. Rabbit Hole is located in NuLu, so after your tour, you can grab a bite to eat from Royals Hot Chicken or pop by for a beer at West Sixth Brewing, one of the best breweries in Louisville. Old Forester is located on Whiskey Row, the historic home of the bourbon industry in Louisville. They also provide other recommended recipes or you create your own unique blend! This is where you get all the bottles you cant find at home or arent willing to stand in a two-day-long line for. Cheers! It's known for caramel, vanilla, and oak notes, yet each bottle is unique, carrying different tastes, aromas, and surprising finishes. Understanding a little bit about bourbon will help enhance your experience bourbon tasting in Louisville and of course, you can learn all about bourbon on a distillery tour! The tours operate daily and hourly between 10 am and 5 pm. Facebook . Because chocolate and bourbon are a match made in heaven, yall. So I guess you could say bourbon is kinda our thing! It originally opened on Derby Day in 1935 and was only reopened to the public five years ago. Beyond the bottle shop, theres also a very unassuming-but-great bar in the middle of it all. Before you go, be sure to check out these other posts: Psst: Did you find this post informative? Ahhh, the good old days. It's probably the most beautiful distillery I have ever visited. A great bar with free whiskey in the lobby? Those handy loopholes meant that some distilleries in Louisville didnt cease making alcohol during prohibition! So, thats some provenance! As for the rest, the rooms are slightly corporate but plush with great amenities. The founder, George Garvin Brown of Munfordville, Kentucky, created the first bottle of Forester in 1870, according to the brand's website. Bourbon and other types of distilleries began popping up in Kentucky and Louisville as early as the late 1700s. But Im going with the Iceberg Wedge as the pick (though the French Onion Gratine soup is also killer). The whiskey tastings at the end are the real treat here. This is a chill bar with a touch of Belle Epoque meets Lost Generation vibe in a very comfortable setting. Hes in the Whiskey Hall of Fame, has written several books, and has been with Four Roses for more than 50 years. The actual distillery is a small operation with three small, wooden mash tanks and two stills. What is mind-blowing is the bar cart you can get delivered to your room. The bar cart will have everything you need to pour the perfect dram or mix up the perfect cocktail, but its going to cost you. When I visited Louisville, Kentucky, I definitely went to a plethora of different watering holesfrom an underground speakeasy to a drag bar. For that, youll need to take the Legacy Tour ($100), which is two hours, and includes a tasting with Michters 20-Year Single Barrel Bourbon (! Of Solo Travel, Hotels We Love: This Barbados Property Changed My Mind About Luxury Travel, A 20-Somethings Advice For Your First Trip To Paris The Touristy Stuff And The Underground. People also searched for these in Louisville: What are people saying about distilleries in Louisville, KY? Peerless was a fantastic visit! A fun tidbit about Old Forester is that it is the only bourbon that has remained in the same company before, during, and after prohibition. And then theres the tasting room which leads us to. There are certain processes that have to be followed and the right ingredients have to be used. It was one of the few bourbon producers who still operated during Prohibition with a medical licensethink medical marijuana today! Tiffany our mixologist was amazing. While this sounds pretty straightforward, Evan Williams Bourbon Experience has some serious variety when it comes to the tours and tastings. A walkable trail through Downtown. That's right even the water is perfect. By the way, Kentucky already had 2,000 distilleries by the early 1800s, so selling a barrel of a new one you've made was no easy task. Theres also a great bar and plenty of space to savor the juice. In a beautiful, full-circle kind of way, in 2018 Old Forester moved back into the same building they inhabited from 1882 1919, reclaiming their former space. Naturally, all of this ends with a tasting and cocktail experience. In the evenings, this place can get hopping as well. These are the 10 dishes that have stuck with me all year long. And, you guessed it she wore four roses. 7 Guess what, y'all? Feel free to visit them all, but if you find it tough to choose, read on as we look at the best distilleries to visit along Kentucky's Bourbon Trail. Distilleries include: A tour and tasting at Kentucky Artisan/Jefferson's Reserve, tasting at Whiskey Thief Tasting Co. & a tour and tasting at Bulleit Frontier Whiskey. He also would let us dip our hands into pretty much every step of the process to taste the mash and clear moonshine straight from the bubbler. Lore has it that General George Washington visited the distillery and purchased whiskey to fortify his men during the brutal winter at Valley Forge during the Revolutionary War. Which places provide the best distilleries in Louisville for groups? Get general assistance on planning your day at one of the regions centers. Louisvilles Whiskey Row is where the big kids who love whiskey go to play. Tasting both offers a unique opportunity to see the difference in quality that aging can produce. Like Justins above, this is open to the public. The differences in the way bourbon tastes comes from two primary factors. Whats a finished bourbon, you ask? Then the story continues with a change in name to Austin Nichols, since the Ripys merged with that distillery, and finally, in 1940 we see the first bottle that's named Wild Turkey, which Austin Nichols came up with while hunting turkeys. Angel's Envy distillery is one of the youngest on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, as it began in only 2011. Home | Kentucky Bourbon Trail We can't end without discussing the dripping red wax that seals the bottle. The bar up too has so much sunlight and allows you to look out around the city. This is a boutique hotel with another great location right in the middle of the action. And although the price point is a decent one at around $50 a bottle, Woodford Reserve is considered a premium bourbon. The red wax makes Maker's Mark stand out on the shelves and consumers can't help but be curious. Whether youre a Louisville native on an afternoon stroll, in town on business with a couple hours to spare, or a bourbon connoisseur looking to expand your palate, our Bourbon District distilleries will transport you through generations of history, community, and passion. If you are in town at the right time, youll be able to buy some of the most sought-after sourced bottlings in the game right now. It should be noted that Whiskey Row is part of the greater downtown Louisville area, so there are tons of other venues, restaurants, and bars outside of the Row. Unlike most absinthes that get their green color from dyes or steeping plants, their absinthe is clear. All the whiskeys are here and ready to pour meaning its a great chance to compare various styles. The distillery houses several different brands of bourbon. Getting Around Walking the Bourbon District has never been easier. According to Four Roses Bourbon, Paul Jones, Jr. fell in love with a Southern belle and had to have her. The hotel is right in the middle of Whiskey Row, making everything in this guide within walking distance. Another brand made under the Kentucky Artisan roof is the Whiskey Row Bourbon, a small-batch bourbon line crafted in a pre-prohibition-era style. This creative distillery creates a gin blended with masala spices, elevating the popular Prohibition-era botanical spirit to a rich, warm sip that perfectly blends thefounders Kentucky upbringing with his Indian heritage. So, in that way it's nice. Weve made it to the official end of the whiskey tour and were technically off of Whiskey Row (but it still counts!). Guide was informative. Evan Williams is Distilled in Louisville at their Distillery around 13th & Breckenridge Streets. My girlfriend and I went here for our Valentines Day Gift this year. Kentucky Bourbon Trail, Bourbon Trail and Kentucky Bourbon Trail Craft Tour are trademarks of the Kentucky Distillers Association.