The Bourbon Trail, KY

Even if you don't drink... "still" fun.

The Bourbon Trail, in case you don't know, is a collection of distilleries throughout Kentucky. The distilleries showcase their bourbon, offer tastings, tours, and other swag. Basically you drive from distillery to distillery and enjoy, sometimes free, bourbon samples.

Tours need to be made in advance and we didn't see any that were free. They did all include a tasting room after. We didn't do any tours this time but judging from what we saw, you could probably only get in two maybe three distilleries if you do the full load, we did only tasting and swag and got in nine over two long days.

I'm not going to describe each stop - after the first two they kind of blended together. I did learn a lot about distilling bourbon. First, there a lot of rules about how bourbon needs to be prepared. It must be a certain % of corn, cannot be barreled if over 106 proof, cannot be distilled to over 120 proof, and the list goes on. Most bourbons are at their peak age around ten years. After that they start to absorb a bitter note from the barrel, which is not good. Also, Jack Daniels is not bourbon. They add a filtering process that disqualifies them. They are "Tennessee Whiskey" which is proudly displayed on their bottles.

This is Woodford Reserve's tasting room. The bottles behind Denise are only for sale by the shot and they are not cheap. We opted for the "pick three" flite, which I did with no hesitation. Denise got a Kentucky Mule (no alcohol, she was the DD) and really liked it. I think she is waiting for me to crack open a bottle so she can make one. Back to the bourbon - when you buy three shots you are not getting a full, one ounce shot. They are 1/2 ounce shots. I guess they don't want you getting snockered during what should otherwise be a sophisticated event. Also, being old or on vacation has advantages, if you go during the week the crowds are much smaller.

It was pretty easy, for the most part, to find our way around. The four we visited in downtown Lexington were more difficult due to traffic. The University of Kentucky is near the distilleries and if you can imagine driving right through campus, well, you get the picture. 

Many of the buildings around the Lexington distilleries area are ornately decorated and everything seems to be renovated old buildings. Not true for those outside of town. Woodford, for example, is on a horse farm. If you can imagine driving past rolling pastures, lined with wooden fences and filled with race horses, you get this picture too. Castle & Key is an old train station. The tracks run between the distillery buildings. They are farther apart but the drive is worth it. 

Eating on the tour. As for the Lexington area, not an issue. There is food everywhere of any type. Those outside of town not so much. Day one was McDonalds which is Okay because I love Big Macs. I can't have them but only a couple times a year, I'm trying to watch my waist and if I'm going give something up, it's not going to be bourbon. Let's not be silly. Day two was Halligan's Bar & Grill, awesome burgers.

Our Takeaway

We had a great time and are trying to plan another leg starting by Louisville Kentucky for next year. It would have been more fun in a small group, but hey, we enjoy each others company as well. Advice, bring money.

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