Kentucky Bourbon Trail

Can you Bourbon Trail from Corbin?  Yes you can!  We do it all the time.  When you are travelling in an R.V. it is convenient to take your house with you but we would prefer to take a day trip or two and maintain our home base rather than go through the bother of moving our whole rig when something is within an hour or two of us.  Plus, we are a bit partial we know but… we think our little camp ground is nicer than those you find closer to the trail.  We have tons of trees, our sites are far from cookie cutter and we give a good bit of space to spread out and not be on top of each other. So make us your home base here at the Corbin/Laurel Lake KOA.  Check my other blog posts for tons of things we are within a two hour drive of “home”.  

We have done quite a bit of touring but we have by no means hit them all.  I’m going to include a few of our favorites with highlights.  At the end there is a table that includes drive times from us here at the Corbin KOA as well as the distance to the next closest distillery.  You can often hit a few in the same general area.  I strongly encourage you to check each distiller to check tour availability and hours open.  Many are not open daily and some only offer 1 tour a day.  So you will need to plan your route accordingly.  Many tours and times sell out so I would also recommend advance reservations.

My favorite distillery by far has come to be Maker’s Mark.  We didn’t discover Maker’s until we were a bit deeper into our bourbon journey.  Ironically this is why I love it so much.  Once you have been on a few bourbon tours you have kinda been on them all.  For a local girl you need something a bit more unique to hold your interest.  Maker’s has the typical tasting tour but they offer so much more.  Maker’s is set on a farm.  They call it Star Hill and strive to put the flavors of their farm into every glass of Bourbon.  They have expanded their tour offerings to include Bourbon and honey pairing tours.  This is one of my favorites since I am a bee keeper myself.  We got to chat with their master bee keeper who manages over a hundred hives scattered all over the farm.  That chat took place next to the creek that feeds their lake that they pull their water from to make their bourbon.  They gave us a charcuterie box filled with all sorts of yummy cheeses and meats that were of course made locally if not straight from their farm to munch on.  We were sitting on a patio dappled in sunlight next to their babbling creek looking at a frame of bees behind plexiglass (they couldn’t get out for those of you nervous about bees) listening to this master bee keeper chat about all the ways the bees aid in the production of bourbon.  Then we moved into one of their tasting rooms.  This is one of the more exclusive rooms deeper into the production area.  We had 4 snifters of bourbon as well as 4 samples of different honey varieties.  We were invited to taste and try and distinguish the different notes that came out in both the bourbon and the honey.  It was fun to test your nose and taste buds over what you picked up over the distiller and the bee keeper's knowledge of where each was actually harvested.  For example, could you taste the flowery notes of the varietal that was harvested in a meadow of wildflowers?  Could you taste the grass from the one that was in a grassy meadow?  Besides great pairings we got swag.  A jar of honey as well as glasses hand blown from the recycled Maker’s bottles and a packet of native wildflower seeds.  

Maker’s offers several tours that go beyond the norm.  For those of you that are familiar with Chihuly glass they have a permanent installation in one of their rick houses that is stunning.  Periodically they have art installations that aren’t permanent and offer tours around those that offer a sip and stroll to drink bourbon and look at great art.  They offer a tour based around the mushrooms they grow and so many other fun quirky bourbon tie-ins.  

We love to plan our travels to Maker’s around when their restaurant is open.  They specialize in farm to table cuisine with veggies and meats raised on property as well as hand crafted cocktails.  You are invited to savor them utilizing their ample indoor seating or if the weather is pretty, I’d invite you to take advantage of their large outdoor patio set in the middle of their farm/distillery.  If you have folks with you that want fries and chicken tenders then this is not the restaurant for you.  Check their menu online as they offer a few staples that don’t change but there are daily specials that showcase what is in season.  My Mom calls it foodie food.  It makes my palate happy.  There is of course a large store where one of the highlights is you can dip your own bottle in the traditionally iconic Maker’s Mark red wax.  You are welcome to wander around the grounds and take in all the pretty or sit on the back deck and enjoy a cocktail or two.  All in all Maker’s is a pleasant stop and you should allow enough time to explore it fully.

Jim Beam has also worked its way into our heart.  Don’t come for me Jim Beam but… the regular label is not our fav so we didn’t visit right away.  It wasn’t until we hosted a bourbon tasting party and I bought a poster of the different distillers and who makes what label that we discovered that they are also responsible for Knob Creek, Basil Hayden, Old Grand Dad and a bunch of others that just might be YOUR favorite.  They are all available to purchase at Jim Beam.  When you look at tours be sure and pick the one featuring your preferred brand or be adventurous and try something new before you have to commit to a whole bottle.  Jim Beam is one of the big guys and they have tours on busy days almost every 15 minutes.  You can almost always get on some sort of tour there.  It may not be your top choice but if you arrived in Kentucky and had no idea we do bourbon and decided on the spur of the moment to take a tour, Jim Beam is where I’d send you for the greatest chance of actually getting a tour.  That said, like Makers, Jim Beam offers many tours that go beyond the typical tastings.  Our favorite was the rick house barrel tour.  On this tour we got to sample straight from the barrel.  The point was to showcase what a difference to the flavor profile it makes as to where in the rick house the barrel was aged.  Up high produces greater temperature swings which forces the bourbon in and out of the oak more often.  This produces a more complex caramely profile.  We enjoyed the deeper dive into the science behind the bourbon.  While every bourbon basically starts the same, the water, the aging process etc. produces vastly different flavors.  

Jim Beam also has a restaurant on site.  It has limited days and hours open as well so always check before you go.  They offer live music sometimes which has been a lovely way to pass an evening.  Most often they set up on the patio outside so you can look out over their fields and rick houses while you enjoy their brussels sprouts.  Yes I said brussels sprouts.  Seriously…. Soooooo good.  You will not be sad if you order them.  Unless of course you are a consummate Brussels Sprouts hater like my hubby.  He’d rather have an old fashioned and their fried chicken.  I’ll just have my sprouts and a banana pudding please.  During bourbon week Jim Beam puts on the best selection of events in our opinion.  They even go so far as to host dinners in the Jim Beam family home that is still occupied today by descendants of the original founder and they are still responsible for the flavor profile of Jim Beam.  We had a great time last year and took home a bottle only released for the party signed by both Fred and Freddie Noe.

Woodford Reserve is another of our favorites.  I think their set up offers the best look behind the scenes and allows you to fully grasp what it takes to make a bottle of bourbon.  They are very Hemingway inspired in my opinion.  Dark woods, sleek and elegant.  You kind of expect to see the man himself in the corner puffing on a cigar and sipping a glass of bourbon, neat.  Their tours finish with a tasting and they pair theirs with chocolate.  YUM!  One of the bourbon ball offerings is made exclusively for them.  Woodford is also one of a handful of distilleries that allow minors on tour but allow you to purchase a discounted ticket so they do not get tastings.  They also offer a designated driver ticket that allows the full tour but no tastings.  Both ticket options must be signed up for in advance.  For the designated driver, you can only get one per group purchase. We like to hit Woodford in the morning and then cruise over to the Stave restaurant which is only about 2 miles down the road for lunch.  Buffalo Trace would be the logical next stop for your distillery tours since it is so close.

Castle & Key would be our next recommendation.  It is a new, old brand.  The distillery has been there since 1887 and was the Old Taylor Distillery.  Colonel Taylor is thought of as the grandfather of the current way we do bourbon. He built a castle and a sunken botanical garden.  He envisioned people coming to spend the day in beautiful surroundings AND sipping bourbon.  then…Prohibition hit it hard. He lost the distillery.  It passed through ownership changes until it was left vacant from 1972-2014.  It was then bought and the revival began.  When we visit here, we visit the grounds mainly.  It is surrounded by a beautiful creek that they draw from to make the bourbon.  I like to pack a picnic.  They allow outside food but not alcohol.  That they would prefer you purchase from them.  You are allowed water and soft drinks.  There is security and they check fairly thoroughly.  That said, there are tables and benches scattered all around and after your tour you can enjoy your lunch or snack and take in the scenery.  The history on this tour is cool.  They have revived much of the old equipment and share all they can about the past of this unique distillery.  It is different, unique and fun. 

Angels Envy is one of the more city based tours.  Their tasting room is in the heart of Louisville.  It is sleek and sexy.  They do a good job of providing an overall experience and was the first place that introduced us to the “angels share” of bourbon.  That is the bourbon that is lost to evaporation or to the oak staves during maturation and is said to be the angels' share.  People then envied the angels for getting to drink fantastic bourbon and a bourbon brand was born.  Angel's Envy, Old Forester and Michter’s are close, logical stops.  You could easily do all three in one day if you scheduled your tours correctly.  None of these distillers have extensive grounds that require more time to see. This loop is a nice “introduction” to bourbon since all of these distillers offer the basic tasting tour but all three put a unique spin on things.  You’ll leave with a great understanding of how bourbon is made and likely a favorite bottle.

If you have other questions please don’t hesitate to ask.  We love the bourbon culture that can only be found in Kentucky.  We are happy to share our insights and get you on the path to a great time enjoying our bourbon trail.