Wine’s wonderful. We Cheapflighters love to take off and discover new vintages, be they in California or North Carolina. For the similarly adventurous seekers of libations there are other paths, like the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.
Made up of a half dozen of the world’s premier distillers of the smooth, aromatic spirit, the trail is bordered by Elizabethtown to the west, Lexington to the east, Lawrenceburg on the north, and down around Lebanon in the south. In between is some of the purest limestone water in the world, and some of the art’s best distillers, keepers (quite literally) of the flame.
Here are the half-dozen:
- Four Roses Distillery in Lawrenceburg is housed in a 1910 Spanish Mission-style building. It’s on the National Registry of Historic Places. What they produce inside is mellow magic.
- Heaven Hill Distilleries is located in Bardstown, and bills itself as America’s largest family-owned and operated producer of bourbon. It produces some of the best bourbon in the world for the price.
- No need for an introduction to this iconic brand. Jim Beam is nestled in Clermont, Kentucky. Tour Beam’s oldest rackhouse. Know that they’ve been in the bourbon business since 1795.
- Considered by connoisseurs as one of the most elegant of Bourbons, Maker’s Mark is in Loretto. If you really appreciate fine bourbons, you’re going to want to make a pilgrimage here.
- Some folks consider Lawrenceburg’s Wild Turkey the art’s benchmark, at least for uncompromising drinkers (not mere imbibers) of Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whisky.
- Among the cognoscenti, Woodford Reserve holds a special place on their palates. The distillery is old and small, but not its influence. Woodford Reserve is the Official Bourbon of the Kentucky Derby.
Story by Jerry Chandler
(Images: Zach Dischner, wanderstruck)
