Wife and I are heading to do the Bourbon Trail next week and was wondering if anyone had any do's or dont's? Going to bottle some Makers Mark I committed to years ago and was hoping to maximize our visit as time is short.

I liked the Buffalo Trace distillery.

The Maker's distillery is in Loretto. The grounds are very cool, and dipping your own private two bottles is a great experience. Nice gift and apparel store with lots of choices but not many bargains.

Jim Beam is about halfway between Louisville & Loretto; plan a stop there as they have a good tour and many more flavors to sample. Great gift store with decent prices on shirts and things.

Woodford is east of Louisville, close to Lexington. Great tour of the buildings where they store the aging whisky.

Wild Turkey is in the same area as Woodford. I missed that tour.

I have not done Buffalo Trace, but now that United serves it on the plane, I have really grown to like it! I will try to get there on my next visit to KY.

Hope this helps!

We did it a couple of years ago, and it was a well spent 3 days.

Louisville is a great town, if you can stay at the Seelbach Hilton, do so. Great hotel, right in downtown, close to a couple of distilleries as well as the Louisville Slugger museum. Check out the ceiling art in the basement hall.

We spent a nice day at Churchill Downs, if it is racing season, it's worth a stop.

The distilleries were all great. Surprisingly, Beam was the one we enjoyed the most, but all of them were welcoming and kinda fun. Gotta agree with dipping your own Makers bottle. Pretty cool.

For some unknown reason, there are several good Cuban restaurants in and around Louisville. Hit up Havana Rumba for a nice meal.

Make sure you get your passport beforehand and stop by the Visitors Bureau in Louisville after you have all the stamps. Collect your t-shirt and go home happy after learning about bourbon and probably finding a new favorite.

Buffalo Trace is not officially on the "Bourbon Trail" - I don't think.... But, it is one of the best ones to visit, in my opinion. It's in the same vicinity as the rest; I would recommend making it one of your stops.

Just got back from our second trip Sunday. Wife and I stayed in Bardstown both trips and love the area.

We hit the Corvette factory on the way up and both loved it. We are not big Corvette fans, but really good tour. The museum was "ok", but we loved the tour.

Makers, Willett, and Woodford are great we have hit them twice. Jim Beam is huge, and Buffalo Trace was nice as well. 1792 is small, but close to Bardstown for a quick visit. Heaven Hill "Connoisseur" was not what I had hoped for and the samples were not that grand in my opinion.

3rd St Tap House in Bardstown is a good place to grab a beer if you need a break from the bourbon.

You can buy a Louisville Slugger and take it to Makers Mark and they will dip it in the wax.

We stumbled upon Rick's White Light diner in Frankfort, and it was a quirky place that has made Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.

We have three more to make for our "free" shirt and are likely heading back next spring.

PM me with any questions and I will be happy to help if I can.

Edit for spelling fail

Great info and thank you all. Leaving tomorrow and looking forward to the experience. Makers 46 in the glass now watching baseballs team beating Rice.
Can't wait.

Wife and Ii did the trail last year and loved it. We did Makers Mark, Heaven Hills, Woodford and Jim Beam. Each tour was very good but I liked Makers the best because they let me wax seal my own bottle.

I love bourbon but the highlight of our trip was a visit to Claiborne Farms.They were the breeders of Secretariat and many other triple crown winners. They do tours by appointment only so be sure to call ahead. The farm is located near Paris, KY about 20 miles north of Lexington. It's beautiful drive through the heart of horse country that you won't regret.

If it is not too late, and you go by Makers Mark get the "distiller edition". I cant remember the exact name but the #1 blend is basically Makers 46 cask strength.

They had 375ml bottles last year of plain label Makers 46 cask, but it is the larger bottle now and I think they were $79(ish). I had a friend pick one up earlier this year and I bought and dipped a #3 blend this trip.

The cask strength is great on the rocks to take it down just a little.

Edit: Private Select

https://www.makersmark.com/makers-mark-private-select?tag=Maker%27s+Mark+Private+Select

Evan Williams downtown does a great speakeasy tasting.

We just did this exact thing a couple of weeks ago, even had a tour by Bill Samuels himself and got six bottles from my barrel.

We also made all nine stops on the trail, got the passport stamps, and then the cool souvenir t-shirt you can only get if you visit all nine.

For those doing it in the future, don't miss a little place called Limestone Branch Distillery (15 minutes from Makers) that makes flavored moonshine. Brought some vanilla flavored moonshine back that I mix with orange soda. Wow!

We also had a sunrise tour at Churchill Downs, went to the Louisville Slugger Museum, did a horse farm tour, saw Rupp Arena, and went to Hoosier Gym where they filmed Hoosiers.

Amazing trip!