Kentucky wants you to get to know bourbon, and the state’s distillers have drawn up a map to help you do it.
Following in the footsteps of America’s vintners, eight of the state’s premier bourbon distillers — Jim Beam, Tom Moore, Heaven Hill, Maker’s Mark, Buffalo Trace, Woodford Reserve, Wild Turkey and Four Roses — charted the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, southeast of Louisville, Kentucky, in the heart of horse country. Like their wine industry counterparts, the distilleries offer explanations of the distilling process, plant tours and tastings.
There’s no way to hurry along this serpentine route, and you’d be missing the point if you did. Kentucky’s Bourbon Trail meanders along two-lane highways, past horse farms and beautiful country estates bordered by black wooden fences. Forests that once hid moonshiners’ stills from view provide the perfect romantic backdrop for an exploration of Kentucky’s modern distilleries.
The Bourbon Trail incorporates stops at Woodford Reserve, a distillery producing super-premium, small-batch Bourbon since 1812; Buffalo Trace, the oldest continually operating distillery in the U.S., which has been home to a working distillery since 1787; and Jim Beam, the world’s largest bourbon distiller. For visitors interested in learning detailed bourbon appreciation, including assessing the qualities of color, aroma, flavor and finish, Heaven Hill’s “Taste of Heaven” tasting room is a must. And at each stop, guests will learn what makes a bourbon a bourbon, and not simply a whiskey.