Spring Distillery Tour

Close to finalizing the itinerary for my upcoming April Kentucky distillery tour. First time going.

Have a guide setting it up and arranging all the tasting/tours from our homebase hotel in Louisville. There will be 8-10 of us.

Any feedback appreciated especially from those who have done this previously.

Day 1 (Friday)

10:00 a.m. - 11:45 a.m.: Old Forester Tour & Tasting

12:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.: Lunch at Scout & Scholar Brewing

2:15 p.m. - 3:15 p.m.: Heaven Hill Whiskey Connoisseur Tasting

3:45 p.m. - 4:45 p.m.: Jim Beam Meet the Family Tasting

Day 2 (Saturday)

10:00 a.m. - 10:45 a.m.: Wild Turkey Premium Tasting

11:15 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.: Woodford Reserve Spectacle for the Senses Tasting

12:45 p.m. - 2:15 p.m.: Lunch at Goodwood Brewing

2:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.: Buffalo Trace Tour & Tasting

Posted Jan 25, 2022, 8:00 PM UTC

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xman65•4 yr. ago

If you are touring OF in Louisville, you may need more time to get over to Scout and Scholar, it’s about 55 minutes on a good day.

Otherwise looks like a full couple of days.

If you are interested in bourbon bars in Louisville, there are a number to choose from.

Old_Riff_502•4 yr. ago

Might be cutting it a bit close on time between Heaven Hill and Jim Beam, but the HH tasting shouldn’t take the full hour. I would suggest cutting your lunch a bit short if you want to spend time in the HH gift shop. Jim Beam has a restaurant now, if you don’t have dinner plans.

You’ll probably need to hustle a bit between Wild Turkey and Woodford Reserve. The Stave is a good restaurant in between Woodford Reserve and Castle & Key. You’ll want to to drive that route into Frankfort anyway to at least drive past Castle & Key, and snag a photo.

Louisville has a ton of breweries with good food. I also really like the rooftop restaurant and cocktail bar at Copper & Kings brandy distillery. Chef Josh was one of the original craft brewpub guys in town, always a pleasure to eat his food. Love their brandy old fashioned.

PowderKeg308•4 yr. ago

Ditto at least a drive-by or short stop at Castle & Key to see the grounds w/o time for a full tour. Amazing what they've done with an historic distlliery that (mostly) escaped the wrecking ball because it was well hidden in the overgrowth... You'll also drive by the (remains) of Old Crow - wish it could be resurrected someday like C&K.

bucketnative•4 yr. ago

I don't see any time for it, but for baseball fans the Louisville Slugger museum/factory is pretty cool.

TheIrishViking•4 yr. ago

Skip Goodwood and eat at Against the Grain.

Baldhippy666•4 yr. ago

While in Bardstown check out Talbot Inn, oldest bourbon bar in the country. The Blind Pig speakeasy is also in Bardstown. Toddy's liquor in Bardstown has got the best prices, and a lot of hard to find bourbon. In fact I would skip Louisville and stay in Bardstown. But, that's just my preference I travel down there every fall on a bourbon run

churnmoney•4 yr. ago

If you're going to Buffalo Trace expecting to get any kind of their daily allocation (WSR, Saz Rye, EHT Small Batch, Eagle Rare, Blantons - they pick one daily to have) then you're not going to get anything. They basically sell out within the first few hours of opening and it being a Saturday your chances diminish greatly. Additionally the tour is only about an hour + some time to shop in the gift shop afterwards.

Edit: I'd also suggest spending more time in Bardstown stopping at Bardstown Bourbon, Willett, 1792, seeing the town. Lunch/Dinner at Willet or Bardstown is highly highly recommended for both the vibes as well as the food/drink they offer. Also - make sure you have your reservations to all these distilleries and restaurants early as they sell out.

Top_Turn•4 yr. ago

I'm sure you'll have a great time, but having done a few of those tours, I don't think I ever really need to go on a distillery tour again.

ParasingularityOP•4 yr. ago

All pretty similar after a while?

PowderKeg308•4 yr. ago

The devil (and interest) is in the details - if all you barely pay attention to is blah blah oak, blah blah water blah blah mash than they'll run together pretty quickly. However if you focus in on the details presented, keep your head on a swivel looking at all the sights and equipment around you, and ASK QUESTIONS, then the differences between distilleries and approaches can be brought out and explored/explained. Tours can be as good as you try to make them or as dull as you let them be presented. That's IMHO at least.

sadistic_midget•4 yr. ago

Yes. I'm planning another trip down this spring also and other than "experiences" I'm booking tastings rather than tours. For the most part, it's blah blah limestone, blah blah oak.