Just returned from a great weekend in Louisville and Bardstown and thought I'd share my thoughts/experiences. It's long, but maybe helpful for those who haven't been before and/or are planning a trip:
The standard Old Forester tour and tasting on Whiskey Row was pretty...standard. They have an in house cooperage so seeing that, and a barrel getting charred was cool but outside of that I don't think I'd recommend the standard tour. Their allocated drops are random and unannounced but I got lucky and caught a SBBS Rye drop.
The Preservation Distillery (Bardstown) tour was more personal as you'd expect of a craft distillery. The tasting was excellent - much more premium offerings than you would get from the standard tastings at bigger distilleries, including Old Man Winter and Very Olde St Nick. Their employees were really gracious and friendly too, so it was great to hang out in the shop and bar and talk to their folks. Their bottles are delicious but expensive, but if you don't want to swing for one of those, you can get a pour at the bar for a reasonable price.
We popped in Beam and Heaven Hill to check out the shops and bottles. Beam always has great stuff on the shelf - Bookers, Little Book, JB Lineage, and some bottles signed by Freddie Noe. Heaven Hill dropped the EC 125 proof grenades that day, but we missed them. But they have some decent stuff on the shelf too - ECBP, EC Toasted, Larceny BP, etc.
We did the Rickhouse Barrel Thieving experience at Bardstown Bourbon Company and it was fantastic. Highly recommend. You spend over an hour in a rickhouse, theiving from barrels and tasting. Nice break from the standard distillery tour. The Bardstown distillery and campus is beautiful - great place to hang out, eat a meal, or get a drink. They also have a cool space on Whiskey Row where they sell bottles (including a single barrel release not available at the distillery), do tastings, and have a bar.
The Michter's tour on Whiskey Row was pretty standard too, but the folks there are just so gracious and nice they made it one of my favorite places. I booked the first tour of the day, and they gave us priority for the BYO as well as a drop of Michter's 10 which was really awesome. The times and offering of their drops are random day to day, but I think having the first tour of the day helped, at least the day we went. Definitely book a reservation at their bar upstairs too. Really cool spot with great flights and pours of some of their limited offerings for pretty reasonable prices...or you can also get a pour of their Celebration sour mash for $1000 (we didn't!). They put a lot of emphasis on their guest experience and it shows - I'd recommend paying them a visit.
Most distilleries have a great bar with all of the offerings - both usual and rare - from that distillery, often for reasonable prices. Next time, I'd prob do a few more bar visits and less tours/tastings (after awhile the tours get a little redundant and many of the tour tastings offer the basic pours). All the bartenders are really knowlegable about their distillery and bourbon in general so it's alot of fun to talk to them.
We also ate at Repeal Steakhouse on Whiskey Row and Tookie's Table in Bardstown. Highly recommend both - excellent meals! Cheers!