Bourbon Trail Kentucky 2024 Trip (Tips, Tours & Itinerary) with Hyde

Bourbon Trail Kentucky 2024 Trip (Tips, Tours & Itinerary) with Hyde

In today’s video I’m recapping our three-day trip up to Kentucky to experience the Bourbon Trail it’s something that has been high on our to-do list for a while and it absolutely lived up to the hype in total we tried over 45 different bourbons and whiskies visited a bunch of distilleries for

Tours and classes visited various bourbon themed restaurants and bars and we even waited in the snow and 22° for some highly thought after bourbon hope hopefully you’ll learn a few tips and tricks in this video for planning your own trip cuz it’s absolutely worth it day one we based ourselves in the

Frankfurt area and checked out Woodford Reserve Buffalo Trace and had lunch and dinner in downtown Frankfurt Woodford Reserve especially their double oaked is one of our group’s favorite Bourbons so going into the trip we knew we had to make a stop at that Distillery and that

Would be tip one I would have when planning your trip go to your local bourbon bar go to your local local liquor store try various Bourbons some that you have heard of before try some new ones we tried a bunch before planning our trip we found some distilleries that we absolutely never

Heard of before and we knew we needed a visit after trying that bourbon there’s just too many distilleries to pack into one trip so you’re going to have to narrow it down that’s my recommendation how to do it also when you’re planning your trip one thing that we did that

Worked out well was planning a different experience at all the big distilleries we visited we felt that doing the same how bourbon is made type tour each one would get very repetitive at Woodford we started our visit in their cocktail lounge with a class prior them opening

For the day which meant drinking old Fashions at 10:00 a.m. on day one of our trip it was a great way to start things off a bartender walked us through and made various old Fashions using their key Bourbons that are generally available for retail it was great to not

Only try oldfashioned recipes such as one with honey one one with chocolate bitters in it one had Ginger but it was also a great way to kind of compare their Flagship bourbon lineup after our cocktail class we hung around their tasting area which actually ended up

Being one of our favorites of the trip it was cozy it was elegant what you’d expect from Woodford Reserve they have seasonal cocktails as well as tastings and flights of some of their Distillery exclusives including ones that are currently no longer available for purchase such as the infamous double

Double oat we did a flood of the Brandy finish the toasted Oak and the double double all were excellent with the toasted Oak being the winner for me and even though $75 was very steep for a flight trying the double double was on my bourbon bucket list and hey you got

To keep the glasses too later in the video I’ll show you where we found some of those at much cheaper tasting prices afterwards we headed across the street to the gift shop which was equally as nice had some really high quality merchandise some of those t-shirts were really awesome they had

All their core bourbon products available for purchase and that day they actually released this personal selection bourbon picked by some of the folks that worked in the bottling area so we had to pick that up of course and like every other spot we found on the Bourbon Trail they offered bourbon

Chocolates with their bourbon in it awesome unfortunately it was raining pretty hard at this point so we didn’t get a chance to explore the grounds anymore so back to Frankfurt for lunch we went to Goodwood for lunch which is in downtown Frankfurt nice little place right on the water though

It was raining that day with quite the extensive bourbon tasty menu at pretty reasonable prices they also have some of their own Spirits which I ended up getting one of those to try and the food was excellent can’t recommend this place enough giant pretzel the chicken finger

And fries or chips rather lunch special was really good and like I said they brew their own beer and they have some of their own Spirits so neat little place to check out xtop Buffalo Trace one of the highlights of our trip because they just know how to do everything right here as

We’re pulling on to this beautiful Campus of very old but also very new kind of Distillery yes it was pouring pouring rain couple things to talk about their tours are free and they include a tasting which is awesome however they book up very very quickly almost minutes

After they are released for at least the more popular ones when they’re released months out so plan accordingly get online set that alarm here’s an overview of kind of the entire property we’re in that parking lot in the middle there we’re about to walk over to the visitor

Center to get started on our hard hat tour hat tour is probably the most recommended tour as we did our research and I can see why it’s limited to a small little group because they take you into the inner workings of The Distillery process and some of these

Buildings date back 100 years plus so they’re very small we had to wear ear production in some of these you really get up close and personal with How It’s Made and that small group allows your tour guide to be very informative and personable highly highly recommend this

Tour it was it was just really cool to be this close and at some points your your three four stories up on these greates looking straight down it’s pretty wild so definitely recommend this and it ends of course with complimentary tasting of some of their core product

Lineups nope you’re not tasting py van Winkler Blandon but you do get to taste some of their more well-known products tried Weller for the first time and that ended up being my favorite and of course you got a bourbon ball we’ll talk about how you can buy bourbon at

The gift shop in a moment but just want to show you off all the stuff they had something for all their bourbon brands including papy van wikle Good morning for day two and we’re back at Buffalo Trace for their allocated bottle release in the morning it is 22° that is all ice on the ground this line is huge maybe 100 150 people you can see there’s like painted Q uh Q markers on the ground and this is

Because just a few minutes minutes ago they announced today’s release is glandon talk a little a little bit more about how they do these releases as you can probably guess by the line this is a big deal every day at 8:00 a.m. they post on their website what special

Bottle they will have limited to one person per 90 days you won’t find papy vanwinkle or some of their other super high-end stuff Buffalo Trace does but each day they randomly keyword random decide to put out normal prices another keyword either Blandon Weller Special Reserve eh Taylor or Eagle Rare products

That are hard to find in most States and here they sell Blandon for $60 you’d probably find it no less than 150 200 if you do find it near you to their credit it’s super well organized line moved fast once it opened plenty of employees directing where to go this wasn’t some

Big black Friday gone wrong this is a well organized event and once’s inside out I’ve never seen so much Bland in one spot no one knows what the release will be until that morning and it’s limited normally gone by noon so if you have a

Tour later in the day take note it might be gone by the time you get there after we got our bottles it was onwards to Louisville we started at Feast barbecue a great local barbecue joint just outside downtown they had bourbon slushies barbecue tacos what else could you ask

For next up just a short walk from Feast was Evergreen Liquors and this ended up being one of the highlights of the trip for me it’s a liquor store with a tasting bar with close to 100 of the hardest to find in rare bourbons and Spirits some of the

Best prices that you’ll find for aort especially in Louisville pause the video to check out the prices for yourself we tried Weller 12 and then of course had to try papy vanwinkle which yes at $75 for a small Port is a lot but it’s probably the cheapest spot you’ll find

In town so if you’re like me and papy try and papy is on your bourbon bucket list you’re going to want to go to Evergreen also it’s just a great liquor store with lots of options at reasonable prices and you can browse with a drink in your hand they do have locations all

Over the state so even if you’re not coming to Louisville look them up also in the same area was please and thank you a highly rated Bakery their Derby Bar and cookies were awesome a dog shop that sold a bunch of great bourbon dog merch so of course I had to spoil my

Dog and get him some puppy van Tinkle our One Night in Louisville we stayed at The Moxy hotel which was just one street back from Whiskey Row area walking distance to all the distilleries highly recommend and even their Lobby had a really great bourbon selection with some harder to find stuff at pretty reasonable prices overall the rooms were

Nice kind of quirky a little small but exactly what we needed we then moved a mile or so into the downtown area where there is a bunch of quote unquote distilleries within walking distance now these aren’t your typical distilleries like the big factories you saw with like Buffalo

Trays these are more so fancy gift shops with tasting bars and some maybe some small tours that kind of explain how bourbon is made let’s start with the Evan Williams experience now on the the third floor they have a really nice bar that has some cocktails as well as pores of some

Of the harder to find stuff pause the video there if you wanted to see the full menu we ended up getting a smoked oldfashioned that included a cinnamon stick a really nice drink on a cold cold day now next on the second floor they have a pretty big gift shop with some

Cool stuff and if you ask nicely they might just let you taste some stuff for free while I’ll show you the full Bardstown Distillery at their site in Bardstown in a few minutes they did open a small little Outpost in Louisville high-end gift shop really cool bar classroom for

Various functions and we were able to try a exclusive just for that location to commemorate it opening very nice Stop nearby is the Louisville Slugger Museum we didn’t have time to check it out but if you were interested in it it is in the heart of downtown Louisville within walking distance of everything

I’m showing you also nearby is the Frasier Museum they build themselves as the official starting point of the Bourbon Trail they do offer tasty inss and some other stuff they had quite a bit of bourbon for sale as well but we mainly popped in there real quick to

Pick up some Bourbon Trail souvenirs they had some really fun t-shirts and other memorabilia that wasn’t just Distillery specific but Al just talked about the Bourbon Trail overall worth the stop to pop in especially if you liked a good t-shirt our next stop in downtown Louisville was old Forester now this is

Another one that’s not really a Distillery though they might do some small stuff on site it’s essentially a large gift shop with some really cool visuals that offers tours and classes definitely worth stopping in just to take a look at their giant gift shop area where there’s this multistory still

Really really neat they also do have a bar on site called georgees now this is a place where you’d of course be able to find their normal uh products they also had some unique cocktails including a Jimmy Buffett themed one little interesting for a 20° day but we got to

Try some of their more unique bourbons and really liked the 1910 that ended up being one of my favorite Bourbons of the trip now No Reservations are needed but it is a very small bar so you might have to end up standing at the bar or crowding at a small table also worth

Noting most these places are closed by dinner time this one I believe closed by 5:00 the day we are there so don’t be expecting to do an evening Bar Crawl we then walk down to Angel’s Envy It’s On The Fringe of downtown about a 10-minute walk or very quick Uber now

Unlike most of the other spots in downtown this one is a full production site and any and all Angels Envy products are made in this location location we first started up on the second floor at their cocktail bar their cocktail bar is a little bit different than others and ended up being our

Favorite of the day and that’s because since they really only have two core bourbon products they didn’t Focus really on those the bar focused Less on tasting flights and more on some really unique cocktail ideas we tried Rifts on an oldfashioned on a gold rush and really enjoyed

Them one of the things that makes Angels EnV products unique is they’re all finished bourbons and they had some great examples of the various barrels this is up on the second floor at the entrance to the bar showing off how they finish some of their products now going

Down to the first floor there was of course a very large gift shop and for a small fee of $10 you could schedule a tasting which every about 15 minutes or so they pull a few folks into a back room they have a chocolate they have

Their two core products and they kind of explain the best way to taste it a really quick and Well Done tasting experience day three started with us driving from downtown Louisville to Bardstown about an hour drive and this town had distilleries everywhere we looked we started our day off at the Bown bourbon

Company good morning day three it is beautiful sunny day slightly green grass you would never know that is is only 12° F outside right now it is absolutely frigid we are here at Bown in barstown one the newer stops on the Bourbon Trail you can tell just how new

It is how kind of sleek everything looks we’re here for a couple different things we’re doing a barrel thiefing experience which we show and then uh we’re having lunch at their uh lovely restaurant but definitely not sitting outside here so let’s head in and check out barstown

When it’s not temperatures in the teens the summer this place has to be rocking this be such a cool place get some bourbon to sit by the fire pits at night but it’s too cold I set inside we checked in for a tour at the bar and they recommended their barrel-aged

Oldfashioned they AG it in a barrel for a few months I was allowed to take it on the tour it was 9:45 in the morning sounded like a great way to start the day and also to keep me warm it was really cold after all as I said earlier in the video we

Wanted to try to do something different at each Distillery at Bardstown we did their Barrel thiefing tour that took us inside one of their Min Rick houses to try a few of their products straight from the barrel we tried three in total all different types and all of different

Spots in their aging Pro us which was a really good comparison after our few samples we were taken into to a Speak Easy Style Bar that was hidden deep inside the Rick house to sample a few other products a really slick bar and honestly we knew very little about barstown bourbon

Company coming into the trip and we were very impressed with their products can’t recommend them enough of course they have a giant gift shop as well as some Distillery exclusives we ended up trying one that was finished in wine barrels from France this was one of the best Bourbons I’ve

Ever had ended up having to get that as well as this Rye after our tour we had lunch in their on-site restaurant a really nice slightly upscale spot located next to the gift shop it does get quite busy we made reservations in advance something I would recommend the menu felt a bit

Southern inspired and their bourbon list was very impressive surprisingly containing a lot of competitor products though the pores were a little bit on the expensive side cocktail list was also quite fun I started off with the Apple bbin slushie the rest of the group got some of their winter cocktails including boozy

Milkshakes boozy milkshakes was one of the main reasons we wanted to come here in the first place overall the food and atmosphere were excellent I got the highly recommended fried chicken sandwich and our group had Praises for all their dishes after our tour and lunch at

Bardstown we made the about 30 minute or so drive down to Makers Mark now I heard makers was in the middle of nowhere and that was truly the case we didn’t have anything scheduled at maker so we started right near the main parking lot at their Visitor Center

And cocktail bar and they had a cat that was really cool the bar had both flights and Cocktails I opted for a flight to try a few things that were a little unique when you describe something as sugar cookie I can’t say no despite that they weren’t my favorite of the trip

Though the bar was really well done the cocktail prices and flights were pretty reasonable as well it’s a short walk from the bar to the gift shop and as you can see it’s quite the complex to walk around what you’re seeing in the video is how it

Looked when it was 10° outside and it was still pretty cool I can only imagine walking around this place in the middle of summer with a cocktail in hand same could be said for most of the distilleries outside of L they were all really nice and would have loved to

Spend some more time exploring the the sites themselves if it wasn’t so cold or rainy the gift shop was in a nondescript building and featured all the usual souvenirs you would expect but the main reason I think most people come to maker Mark and the reason why I wanted to come

Here was to dip my own bottle now this is the cool part it’s for no additional charge you can dip your Bott bottle in their signature wax yourself they make you wear some safety gear they help you along the whole process pretty quick actually again the best part is this

Doesn’t cost extra you just have to buy a bottle in the gift shop and the prices for the bottles are exactly what you expect to find back at home so it’s not like they’re upcharging I bought the cheapest which was only 20 bucks that evening we stayed in Bardstown the self-proclaimed bourbon

Capital of the world they even had this really cool map in the ground that kind of laid out all the distilleries on the Bourbon Trail given the weather the town was a little bit sleepy so not a lot going on it was also a Sunday night speaking of

Sleepy we stayed at the jailer’s Inn a bed and breakfast in the old County jail now you are able to stay in one of the jail cells though those that’s very limited and it books up very fast we instead stayed in a a really nice room

In a different part of the complex going going to show you off a few rooms that they walked us through um as we were checking in really nice place bed was very very comfortable had some nice communal living space as well so if you’re with another couple or a family

This might be a good spot where you can kind of Airbnb like for dinner we drove a short distance from the downtown Main Street area to tui’s table and this was excellent we started with some fried chicken and seasoned peppers for my main course I went with the agu short rib

Some potatoes very very tasty great service some great cocktails as well if you’re in Bown highly recommend this is the place you make for dinner to the jailers in in downtown is the Talbert Tavern another small in with a restaurant and bar it actually might be the world’s oldest bourbon bar having

Been around since 1779 and what you’re seeing here is the actual part from 1779 now they are remodeling the bar so they just had a small temporary bar set up we stopped in for a drink and the poor prices were quite reasonable we also got pean pie for dessert which was the

Perfect way to end the trip then things took a turn for the worst really hoping that this point in the video I would be showing you breakfast from the jailers in and every morning they do a tour for those who stayed over overnight of the jail fortunately a snowstorm rolled in it was

Worse than we anticipated and as you can see here it was starting to build up pretty fast so we ended up hitting the road at 6:00 a.m. and had to miss out on that part of the jailers in experience overall this was a really great trip had tons of fun brought back

A handful of bottles tasted over 45 different bourbons and whiskies and more importantly was able to really narrow down what type of bourbon and whiskey I like and basically lower prooof weeded Bourbons let me know in the comments what Bourbons you like so I can check them out myself but really whether

You’re passing through Louisville and only have time to stop at one of the gift shops or planning a full multi-day trip uh I really think you’ll like the setup the trail has everything you want from tastings to cocktail classes to really great souvenirs and a lot of great food maybe you’ll find something

New that you like as well thanks for watching be sure to hit the like And subscribe button for other travel videos cheers

Join Hyde as he take you along for a trip on the bourbon trail in kentucky. This video offers tips, tours and itinerary for visiting the various distilleries on the famous bourbon trail in frankfort, louisville & bardstown.

Make sure to subscribe, we post videos at 2 PM on weekdays & 10 AM on weekends

Visit us on the web at www.inthelooppodcast.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/inthelooppodcast

Twitter:
The Legend @inthelooplegend
Hyde @onlinehyde
Ranger @parkblotter
Drew The Intern @drewtheintern
Little Spoon Kenny @intheloopkenny
Clint Novak @clintnovak

Instagram: InTheLoopPodcast

Untapped: DrewTheIntern