We're planning on heading to Louisville/Lexington for a few nights to check out the Bourbon Trail. Any food/bar recs? Tips?

Distilleries are great for history and trying a few base offerings. All the top shelf drinking is at surrounding bars and restaurants.

How into Bourbon are you?

My husband is more so than I. We definitely have a list of distilleries we're interested in.

We did it a few years ago (got the tee-shirt).

My son was graduating high school in STL, so went there first, then drove to Louisville. We stayed at the Seelbach Hotel, which is an old school (almost 120 years old) hotel that is now a Hilton property (points!). Small rooms, but very nice. Great bourbon selection at the main bar, so have a drink or three and then go down to check out the Rathskeller. We ate at a place called Havana Rumba, which was a really a good tapas bar. If you are a baseball fan, the Louisville Slugger museum is just up the street from the Seelbach.

The next morning, we checked in at the Louisville tourist information center for maps, coupons, and got our bourbon trail passport. If you get the passport checked for all the distilleries on their list, you get a free tee shirt. Yeah, been there got the tee shirt, but hey, it's a pretty cool souvenir.

Then, you can just drive the route from distillery to distillery. Some are better than others, but they were all very informative on bourbon and had tastings (not free). Makers Mark was pretty cool as you could wax dip your own personal bottle. We stayed one night in Lexington at a mediocre HGI there, but it was no problem to complete the entire trail (and get the tee shirt) in three days.

The distilleries don't serve you enough to get you a DWI, BTW. I don't remember any awesome meals along the way, but nothing stands out as really terrible either

We finished up with a final night in Louisville at the Seelbach and had a great meal at Jack Fry's.

Overall, it was a very lovely week. Very scenic part of the world and some good bourbon to boot. If you are a bourbon fan, definitely worth a few days of your life.

Done it a few times. I recommend Makers Mark in Loreto, stop at Jim Beam on the way, and Woodford Reserve near Lex.

Do your best to take the tour at Buffalo Trace with Freddie Johnson. He's a 3rd generation employee and gives the best tour and tasting you will get anywhere.

82 Ag said:

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Done it a few times. I recommend Makers Mark in Loreto, stop at Jim Beam on the way, and Woodford Reserve near Lex.

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Did this, but also the Bourbon Heritage Center. Only regret was not going up to Buffalo Trace. Makers does a great job, including mash tasting straight from the mash tanks. Woodford was very picturesque. Their history and rickhouses were pretty awesome. The Bourbon Heritage Center has some really good, rare bourbons for sale.

Also mixed in a tour of the civil war museum and a trip to Shakers Village. I really liked the museum, could have done without the Shakers Village. Stayed at a great B&B, Maple Hill Manor which was central to the trail. Two gay dudes run it, one is a great chef while they other dude is great for daily recommendations & generally funny personality.

Make sure you schedule your visits ahead of time. At makers try and get the tour with Bill Jr., awesome tour. Buffalo you need to book ahead as well as it fills up. We took the EH Taylor tour which was cool.

green7 said:

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Make sure you schedule your visits ahead of time. At makers try and get the tour with Bill Jr., awesome tour. Buffalo you need to book ahead as well as it fills up. We took the EH Taylor tour which was cool.

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I met Bill Jr. in Houston about a month ago. He was doing a tour of some sort and was at Total Wine. He is a funny guy. I got him to sign a litre bottle for me!

And since United Airlines started serving Buffalo Trace, I have become a big fan. Interestingly enough, Buffalo Trace can be found overseas quite a bit, at least in places I've been.