When the ancient Celts dubbed their whiskey "water of life," they couldn't possibly have foreseen that their descendants would cannily adapt Native American grains to the old ways and distill their own amber elixir in the New World enclave of Kentucky.
Today we call it bourbon: liquid Southern hospitality. And while bourbon is distilled in other regions, Kentucky is the undisputed king, producing a whiskey river with dozens of labels from Ancient Age to Yellowstone.
A new Kentucky Wine and Spirits Tour, centered around Frankfort, helps travelers savor "America's Native Spirit," an honorific bestowed upon bourbon by Congress in 1964.
The route's central Bluegrass region contains four distilleries, half of Kentucky's eight that are still producing bourbon: Four Roses, Woodford Reserve, Buffalo Trace and Wild Turkey. Then, the route clings along two-lane curves to Lover's Leap and Equus Run wineries, too.
While all the distilleries are historic, Woodford Reserve, with its tiered campus of limestone buildings, is the only National Historic Landmark distillery on the tour. Elijah Pepper chose the spot in 1812, after brewing his bourbon in a small still behind the Woodford County Courthouse for 15 years.
The Wine and Spirits Circle Tour makes a large, 42-mile loop from Frankfort to Midway to Versailles and Lawrenceburg — if you're closing the circle back to Frankfort at the end, add another 17 miles.
For more information and a brochure, contact one of the three sponsoring regions:
Frankfort/Franklin County Tourist & Convention Commission, 800/960-7200. www.visitfrankfort.com.
Midway/Versailles, 859/873-5122. www.woodfordchamber-ky.com.
Lawrenceburg/Anderson County Tourism Commission, 502/839-5564. www.lawrenceburgky.org.