Hiking The Bourbon Trail

This reflection focuses on another kind of trail found in Kentucky, the famous Bourbon Trail. We spent much more time enjoying the natural attractions of Kentucky, but what trip to Kentucky would be complete without checking out The Bourbon Trail. No hiking boots required. A friend of mine recently explored this trail bravely by bike, but we toured the hilly countryside instead by car. Most of the distilleries are located in a generously drawn triangle with the cities of Louisville, Lexington and Bardstown at the 3 points. We visited 6 distilleries. Our first and last distillery visits included tours, the first one a Craft Distillery and the second a Signature Distillery. While putting together our itinerary for this trip we attempted to include reservations for a tour at one or two distilleries, but online reservations were booked out for weeks. So, instead we decided to take our chances and simply show up checking to see if there were any cancelations. We got lucky twice.

After our stay at Natural Bridge State Resort Park was complete while on our way to the second stop of our Kentucky tour, we made two distillery stops. Our first was to James E. Pepper Distillery. It is located in an industrial section of Lexington that appears to be making a comeback with the popularity of craft distilleries leading the way. Our tour guide defined a craft distillery as one that is a smaller producer of whisky. This tour began with an informative history of the Pepper family brand of whisky. It initially was produced during the American Revolution and continued until the late 1960s. They were so successful that they had two distilleries, one in Lexington and on the site where Woodford Reserve is today. But in the 1960s the bourbon industry hit upon hard times and these distilleries closed for about 50 years. Eventually the Pepper Brand was resurrected, the distillery in Lexington that had fallen into disrepair was restored and in 2017 the distillery began distilling whisky again in the same original building that is now a National Historic Landmark. The long history of the Pepper brand was fascinating to hear. After the background information we headed to where the distilling and fermentation takes place. It was a mix of agricultural and chemistry lesson.

We learned the ABCs of bourbon. All Bourbons are Whiskey but not all Whiskeys are Bourbons. To be considered a Bourbon there are specific criteria the distiller has to follow: A– It can be made anywhere in America, but must be made in America B– Bourbon must be made in new charred oak Barrels & C – Corn must make up at least 51% of the grains used. Other grains that can be used in the making of Whiskey are rye, barley and wheat. The choice of grains will influence the taste of the finished product. And alcohol content plays a part as well. Even if you’re not a Whiskey or Bourbon drinker, I recommend going on a distillery tour, it was fascinating learning not only about the history of the distillery, the science behind making this product is interesting. The guides at James E Pepper take great pride in their product and are warm and welcoming.

Our second stop of the day took us through the most beautiful Kentucky landscape. The rolling hills and open fields of horses was impressive. From Lexington we popped over to Versailles to see the Woodford Reserve distillery, which is, not surprising with it being located in the heart of horse country, the Official Bourbon of the Kentucky Derby. There was no tour available to us but we did a little shopping in their large gift shop and sampled one of their featured cocktails before hitting the road to the Mammoth Cave area. The famous name of Woodford Reserve seemed to draw in larger crowds and the feel of the place seemed far more commercial driven than our first stop.

We squeezed in 4 stops on the Bourbon Trail, and two natural hiking opportunities in one day while in the Bardstown area. Bardstown is the home of several distilleries and since Bourbon making began there the city markets itself as the “Bourbon Capital of the World.” We began the day with a very brief stop at Barton 1792. This distillery was established in 1879 and is the oldest fully-operating distillery in Bardstown. Not finding any tour times available we quickly moved on down our list of stops to make.

Makers Mark was the most spread out and pretty distillery areas. Markers Mark is the Bourbon known for the dipped red wax on their bottles and they invite guests to dip their own purchased bottles. G. & R. took advantage of this interactive activity and created a fun souvenir. We had a lovely walk through their property, enjoying the old buildings and natural scenery. Despite there not being a tour available, this was a memorable stop along the Trail.

Another brief stop we made was to the Heaven Hill Distillery. They have many recognizable Bourbon brands as well as other products such as rums, vodkas etc. They had the largest and most diverse gift store so after a little shopping once again we were on our way.

The final distillery we visited, The Bardstown Bourbon Company, we actually stopped in twice because we were able to secure an early evening tour during an earlier stop so we circled back to it for an early dinner and tour when finished with our other stops. Unlike our first tour of a craft distillery, this distillery is huge! They have multiple buildings housing thousands of barrels. They are a very new distillery, and at this time bottling blends of whiskeys and bourbons creating Fusion Series while most of their barrels age. Because two tour buses didn’t show the four of us were treated to essentially a private tour! We felt free to ask as many questions as we wanted, and our knowledgeable guide provided great answers to help our understanding of the distillery process. We had a “classroom” session then were provided headsets and moved into the fermenting processing area, then headed outside and visited the inside of the huge rickhouses where the barrels are stored horizontally. On the day we visited it was hot outside, but the inside of the rickhouse was quite cool. Our guide explained that there is no heating or air conditioning in these buildings and that the cool air we felt was left over from the winter months. He noted that if the temperature didn’t warm shortly on its own they would start opening windows to let warm air in. This system is what makes Kentucky an ideal area to store barrels, the weather is moderate enough, it doesn’t get too cold or too hot, but we learned that the natural temperature variations drive the whiskey into and out of the wood of the barrels helping to reach maturation and affects the flavor. We were given a taste of whiskey straight from a barrel and we were able to walk around this massive building with barrels stacked very high. This tour was a perfect bookend to our Bourbon Trail adventure. So many new memories made, and much learned about this age-old distillery process.

I can’t wait to see where our next adventure takes us!