The 100 Best Affordable Vacations (24 page)

In the last 20 years, bourbon distilleries have opened their doors to the touring public. That coincides with renewed interest in bourbon, which has buffed its image with new single-batch and ultra-premium products.

At most distilleries, visitors see granaries where corn, wheat, barley, and rye are stored. (By an act of Congress, bourbon has to be at least 51 percent corn liquor.) They also visit mash tanks where the grains are mixed with Kentucky limestone filtered water. When the fermented mixture is ready several days later, it’s a clear liquid called “white dog,” which is poured into white-oak barrels, with the insides charred, and left to age inside warehouses for a half dozen years or more. All this fills the air with wonderful smells of toasted bread, yeasty beer, and a rich vanilla-honey scent.

You can get a good taste for the spirit by basing in historic
Bardstown,
which calls itself the “bourbon capital of the world,” and is about an hour south of Louisville.

A great place to start your bourbon pilgrimage is
Heaven Hill Distilleries
(1311 Gilkey Run Rd., 502-337-1000,
www.bourbonheritagecenter.com
). Its multimillion-dollar Bourbon Heritage Center offers several tours ranging from a quick video and museum run-through to bus tours and a $25 behind-the-scenes tour that lasts 2.5 hours. It includes guided tastings of ultra-premium brands and finishes in the “Taste of Heaven” room that seats 20 and resembles the inside of a giant whiskey barrel.

“This is really Bourbon Tasting 101,” says tour guide Lynne Grant. “If you’re really nice to me, we’ll let people taste William Heavenhill.” The 225-bottle limited edition runs $500 a bottle and is sampled by the thimbleful.

KENTUCKY BOURBON TRAIL

The major bourbon distilleries have teamed up to create a Kentucky Bourbon Trail, linking six distilleries in the region. Bourbon fanciers can get a free passport and have it stamped at each site they visit. Fill the book, and send it in for a free T-shirt.
www.kybourbontrail.com.

 
Buffalo Trace Distillery,
113 Great Buffalo Trace, Frankfort, KY 40601, 800-654-8471,
www.buffalotrace.com
. Not officially part of the Bourbon Trail, but offers tours.

 
Four Roses Distillery,
1224 Bonds Mill Rd., Lawrenceburg, KY 40342, 502-839-3436,
www.fourroses.us
. Mon.–Sat. 9 a.m.–3 p.m. Tours start on the hour.

 
Heaven Hill Distilleries,
1311 Gilkey Run Rd., Bardstown, KY 40004, 502-337-1000,
www.bourbonheritagecenter.com
. Tues.–Sat. 10 a.m.–5 p.m. & Sun. 12 p.m.–4 p.m. March–Dec. The last tour starts one hour before closing.

 
Jim Beam,
526 Happy Hollow Rd., Clermont, KY 40110, 502-543-9877,
www.jimbeam.com
. Mon.–Sat. 9 a.m.–4 p.m. & Sun. 1 p.m.–4 p.m.

 
Maker’s Mark Distillery,
3350 Burks Spring Rd., Loretto, KY 40037, 270-865-2099,
www.makersmark.com
. Mon.–Sat. 10:30 a.m.–3:30 p.m. & Sun. 1:30 p.m.–3:30 p.m. March–Dec.

 
Wild Turkey,
1525 Tyrone Rd., Lawrenceburg, KY 40342, 502-839-2182,
www.wildturkeybourbon.com
. Mon.–Sat. 9 a.m.–2:30 p.m. No tastings.

 
Woodford Reserve,
7855 McCracken Pike, Versailles, KY 40383, 859-879-1812,
www.woodfordreserve.com
. Tours run $5 and include a shot glass.

Also popular is Heaven Hill Distilleries’ $3
Spirit of Bourbon bus tour,
which visits Bardstown sites like the houses of Distillers’ Row, William Heavenhill’s original limestone spring, and Jim Beam’s home. You’ll hear about the antics of moonshiners, like the one who was chased by agents into a church. But when they caught him, his moonshine had disappeared. Only later did someone discover where he had hidden it: the baptismal fount.

Also in Bardstown, the
Oscar Getz Museum of Whiskey History
(114 N. 5th St., 502-348-2999,
www.whiskeymuseum.com
) features old stills, vintage bourbon bottles, and artifacts from pre-colonial days to the present. You’ll learn about medicinal whiskey, the only thing distilleries were legally able to make during Prohibition.

Bardstown has a range of chain and small motels. If you’re interested in bunking down in a place with a more interesting backstory, check out the
Jailer’s Inn Bed and Breakfast Inn
(111 W. Stephen Foster Ave., 800-948-5551,
www.jailersinn.com
), where you’ll pay from $80 a night to sleep in a former poky.
[$
PLURGE
: For a splurge, dine aboard the 1940s vintage dining cars of
My Old Kentucky Dinner Train
(602 N. 3rd St., 866-801-3463 or 502-348-7300,
www.rjcorman.com
) while it makes a two-hour excursion through the Kentucky countryside; the meals run $74.95 for dinner, and $15 less for lunch.]

LOUISVILLE’S URBAN BOURBON TRAIL

Kentucky’s largest city has a concentration of restaurants and bars devoted to bourbon. Its new Urban Bourbon Trail highlights nine bars and restaurants that have more than 50 different labels available to taste, and trained staff to help visitors detect the different notes and flavors. You can even sample bourbon-flavored cuisine from chocolate truffles to grilled shrimp.

One spot, the
Old Seelbach Bar
(500 S. 4th St., 502-585-3200) is a cozy retreat in a hotel F. Scott Fitzgerald mentioned in
The Great Gatsby,
while
Maker’s Mark Bourbon House & Lounge
(446 S. 4th St., 502-568-9009) has more than 60 bourbons on offer. If you visit all nine stops and get a passport stamped, you can send it in for a free T-shirt. But don’t try to do it all in one day!
www.justaddbourbon.com
.