In September 2020, I had to plan a backup trip for our originally planned Ireland trip. After some time and discussion, we decided to do a Kentucky Bourbon Trail trip. I had looked up many of the local distilleries to figure out which ones were opened to the public either their gift shop, tasting rooms, or for tours. We started this trip in Louisville, Kentucky.
Evan Williams Bourbon Experience
Our first distillery of the trip was Evan Williams. Evan Williams Bourbon Experience is in Louisville, Kentucky on the historic “Whiskey Row.” For any Bourbon Trail trip, this is honestly the best place to start your journey. The tour not only tells you the how the bourbon is made but also takes you through an immersive experience in old Louisville. While on the tour you travel back to 1783, to the very early days of bourbon and the area. At the end of the tour, you sample three different bourbon whiskeys in one of their tasting rooms.
Old Forester
Though this one was on the list to visit by the time we arrived in Louisville, Kentucky they had closed again for COVID reasons.
Angel’s Envy
Angel’s Envy is a bit newer distillery. We also got a breakdown of how the bourbon is made as well as a tasting. It was a nice more personal feeling for this tour.
Smith Berry Winery
Whoops….we found a winery. This winery is located in Campbellsburg, Kentucky. We were making our way to where we were staying and wanted some place to stop for a bit. After a quick look at the map I noticed this winery. It was fairly small and had very friendly dogs. My favorite wine from them was their Riesling. The winery ended up ranking as C-Tier on our list.
Equus Run Vineyard
Another winery, this one of the few wineries I had us visiting while on this trip. They are located in Midway, Kentucky. Their property was huge, and we ended up walking around after our tasting and lunch. The staff was friendly and was super excited to hear that we were visiting them from Missouri. We enjoyed the whole experience here and so they got the highest ranking on our list of S-Tier. We bought 3 different wines from them.
Talon Winery
Okay so another winery. They are located in Lexington, Kentucky. Our favorite wine from them was a Mango wine that we were excited to pair with our Butter Chicken once we got home. They are ranked in B-Tier.
James E. Pepper Distillery
Look we finally found the Bourbon Trail again! We had tour of this distillery located in Lexington, Kentucky. We were shocked when they told us that they only have nine employees including the ones in the gift shop. We got an even closer look at how bourbon is made at this distillery than the other ones we had visited. This tour gives you the history of Pepper brand and at then lets you taste various whiskeys. While on the tours they showed us old bottles some of which I recognized from my dad’s collection.
Four Roses Distillery
This was one on our list that I was excited to visit but sadly at the time of when we went, they weren’t doing tours because of COVID. Their gift shop however was opened. We looked around their gift shop. I noticed some of the historic bottles they had on display and commented to Michael that I think my dad had better bottles than the distillery had.
Stonehaus Winery
This winery is located in Crossville, Tennessee. So, we really lost the Kentucky Bourbon Trail this time. We stopped here as we made our way back into Kentucky after visiting the Great Smoky Mountains for a few days. We needed a break from driving so stopped in for a tasting. We ranked them in B-Tier.
Jim Beam Distillery
As we were getting ready to head out for our vacation this one also closed because of COVID but we got to see the Jim Beam barn located next to Bernheim Arboretum in Clermont, Kentucky.
Forest Edge Winery
Sad that we weren’t going to a distillery we found a winery. We stopped in for a wine tasting and each got a glass of wine to sip on to discuss the ranking, this winery came to A-tier. We also discussed where we were heading afterwards. We had two choices a distillery or the Bernheim Arboretum. We picked the Arboretum since this winery is right on the edge of it.
Bluegrass Vineyard
We are towards the end of our trip and wanted some place to stop at for a little bit so found this vineyard located in Smiths Grove, Kentucky. We were confused when we pulled up because at first, we thought we arrived at a house not a business. The glasses for the tasting were really cute, they were port style wine glasses. We rated them in B-tier.
Carriage House Vineyards
Another winery that we decided to stop at randomly. We were starting to wonder if we were ever going to get there since it felt like it was in the middle no of nowhere. The service was wonderful, and we really enjoyed hanging out discussing the wines. Located in Auburn, Kentucky. We rated them in A-tier.
Purple Toad Winery
This winery was one of the wineries that was planned for the trip. It was one we heard about at home and heard frequently at the many wineries stops. So, we were looking forward to the visit as we made our way into Paducah, Kentucky.
However, our excitement for this winery was very short lived. As this was during COVID, they were only allowing few guests in at time for a tasting. This wouldn’t have bothered us if it wasn’t for the fact that no one was watching the door. More and more people came in and we were no longer six feet apart in this small entrance way.
Another guest came out of the restroom to inform us that some employees were standing in the backroom. Michael made is way to let them know while I used the restroom. Michael told them politely that there were a bunch of guests waiting and wanted to know what to do. A staff member said it wasn’t their problem that there should be someone up there. Turns out that the staff member in charge was also in the restroom. As I got out of the restroom, Michael was told by a staff member to let the guest forward. He was getting annoyed. We made our way to the bar. The tasting is unlimited. They have quite a large selection of fruit wines which is their specialty. The fruits seemed to be strawberry, blueberry, raspberry, and blackberry. The wine was overly sweet and not much variety at that. We overheard a guest ask if there was a wine that was like Chardonnay or at least something that didn’t have just some fruit in it. The bartender looked at them very confused and took quite some time answering.
We were so unimpressed with each wine we had and very annoyed with the service that we ranked them in F-Tier.
Once we arrived home from the Bourbon Trail, we gathered all the bottles we had bought along the way. Well too bad for the Bourbon Trail we only had 4 bottles (left side of photo). This was more of a Winery Trail.
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