For Bourbon aficionados heading to the Bluegrass State to sample some of the finest brown spirits, there’s no shortage of Bourbon distilleries to tour. However, we know that shortlisting the best ones to visit can be tricky. Let Sipn help you get started with your tours. Here’s five of our favorites to get you started!
Buffalo Trace Distillery
If you’ve never heard of Buffalo Trace Distillery, it’s likely that you’ve heard of some of the brands they produce. Since 2002, the highly acclaimed and sought after Old Rip Van Winkle and Pappy Van Winkle Family Reserve labels have been produced at the Frankfort, Kentucky, distillery.
The distillery offers a few different tours, but the best thing about them is that all of them are complementary and include a tasting. Our recommendation would be the Trace Tour since it’s open to all ages and takes visitors past the bourbon barrels and inside Blanton’s Bottling Hall. The Hard Hat Tour is also worth checking out as you’ll see the entire bourbon-making process from grain to distillation.
Woodford Reserve
Situated at Kentucky’s oldest distilling site, Woodford Reserve is one of the most prestigious and recognizable names in the bourbon industry. This historic distillery has old-school distilling at its finest, and features copper pot still and 100-year-old cypress wood fermenters.
Woodford Reserve offers three tours, and each one offers a unique insight into the property grounds. The Distillery tour gives a broad overview and explains the history of bourbon and the process of making it, while the Corn to Cork tour dives into the process much more and lasts an hour longer. For history buffs, the National Landmark tour covers the more than 200-year history of the property and its impact on Kentucky culture.
Maker’s Mark
Another must-visit distillery for Bourbon lovers is the Maker’s Mark distillery, located in Loretto, Kentucky. It started operations in 1958 and was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1980. Tours of the grounds take about an hour, and you can pre-purchase your tickets on their website. For those 21 and over, make sure you take the opportunity to dip your own bottle in the iconic red wax! The whole place embodies that old-school/old-country feel of how bourbon used to be and how these facilities used to be. Truly a treat for all visitors.
Four Roses
Built in 1910 Four Roses Distillery is located on the banks of the Salt River near Lawrenceburg, Kentucky. Dating back to 1888, and operating legally throughout prohibition, Four Roses crafts a bourbon unlike any other. It was built in a very amazing Spanish mission-style, even though Kentucky had never been a main area of Spanish mission. You can even find the Four Roses Distillery listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
You can Tour the newly-expanded distillery along the Salt River in Lawrenceburg where the bourbon is born and then travel to Cox’s Creek to see the warehouse where it is aged to perfection before being bottled and sold to die-hard fans.
Willett Distillery
Willett Distillery, also known as Kentucky Bourbon Distillers (KBD), Ltd Produces bourbon and rye whiskey . It is an independent and family-owned business located on the edge of beautiful Bardstown, Kentucky, and Minnick, that does a great job of preserving old bourbon stocks. You can sample exclusive blends and to see Willett’s expertly restored facilities, in the “Bourbon Capital of the World,” as Bardstown is known, after you sign up for a tour. Guests receive access to the distillery, grounds and a signature glass to take home for a small entry fee.
Does this help you make your choice of where you should be headed to next? Over 95% of the world’s bourbon comes from nearly 70 distilleries in Kentucky’s Bourbon Country.
Sipn is here to encourage you to tap into the world-famous distilleries with generations of tradition. Celebrate the culture, heritage and pride with like-minded individuals and get Sipn!
