Thousands of tourists flock to Kentucky every year to learn more about bourbon, the spirit we like to call our own. The distilleries are rolling out the welcome mat, inviting them in for experiences, tours, bottlings, tastings and barrel signings.
Prior to Prohibition—in fact, as early as the 1780s—the distillery area in downtown Louisville was known as Whiskey Row. Established in 2008, the Urban Bourbon Trail featured an assortment of bars and restaurants that celebrated the bourbon culture. When distilleries and distillery experiences opened (and reopened) in the area, the Urban Bourbon Experience came into existence. Today, there are 10 distillery experiences, several within walking distance of one another and all within the Louisville city limits, making it easy for visitors to pay a visit to each one.
After 200 years, the art and science of distilling have remained pretty much the same. The process still combines corn, chemistry, recipes, family stories and a bit of lore. Today’s distillery tours on the Urban Bourbon Experience include shiny brass stills, bubbling vats of mash, gleaming fermentation tanks, sterilized bottling lines, and close-up views of the barrel during the charring and aging processes. Of course, the pièce de résistance of any tour is the tastings. So have a seat, swirl the glass, inhale that heavenly scent, take a sip, and let your palate decide which brand is your favorite.
If you are in Louisville and ready to hop on the trail, which distillery should you visit first? Since they all have the process in common, you can pick your favorite brand, learn about the ones that are new to you, or take a few days and hit them all. It is up to you, but here’s a breakdown of what makes each one different:
Some distilleries march to the beat of their own drum, and Old Forester actually has a big bass one. Every Friday and Saturday, the bass drum plays outside its Main Street location as employees ceremoniously roll filled oak barrels onto a vintage truck and take them to rickhouses for aging. Visitors can tour the distillery, located at the exact address where George Garvin Brown first bottled Old Forester in the 1870s. The tour takes the same path through the building as the liquid that moves through each step of the process. Old Forester’s in-house cooperage gives a close-up view of the barrel-making and -charring processes. “We have a historical story but with a modern brand,” said Erik Brown, homeplace manager.
The Kentucky Peerless Distilling Co. got its start in Henderson in the 1880s and, as did others in the business, ended production around the time of Prohibition. Its bourbon, however, qualified as medicine during Prohibition and was warehoused with armed guards. In 2015, Corky Taylor and son Carson, the fourth- and fifth-generation descendants of Peerless founder Henry Kraver, revived the family’s brand and started operations in a 100-plus-year-old building along the Ohio River shoreline. With the goal of making a world-class product coupled with family and distilling history, the Peerless brands embrace the past. Even the bottles and labels on today’s products give a nod to history. Peerless currently sells rye whiskey, and the distillery’s team is excited that their aging bourbon will be ready soon. “In June, we will begin bottling the first bourbon in our family in 102 years,” Corky said.
The Evan Williams Bourbon Experience takes visitors back to the heyday of Whiskey Row. The company is owned by Heaven Hill, but the tour focuses on its flagship brand and namesake, Evan Williams, Louisville’s first licensed distiller, who built his distillery near this same spot in 1783. The tour includes a recreation of 1890s Main Street, complete with storefronts and saloons. “At that time, about 80 businesses from Brooks to Ninth Street had something to do with bourbon, with about half being distilleries,” said guide Micah Smith, a certified bourbon steward. Don’t miss the beautiful speakeasy in the basement, with exposed brick walls, glamorous cherrywood bar, and a secret entrance that might require a password to get in.
The new kid on the block is Prohibition Craft Spirits, which opened this spring. Its flagship product is Nulu, a blue agave spirit similar to tequila but aged in used bourbon barrels. Founder Keith Hazelbaker has bourbon aging in barrels but the distillery’s clear spirits, named for Louisville neighborhoods, are available now. “We use yeast and grain from Kentucky, but of course we know it is the Kentucky limestone water that makes all alcohol better,” Hazelbaker said. The distillery tour includes photos and memorabilia from Louisville’s past, focusing on Prohibition and the storied bootleggers and moonshiners who worked their way around those pesky laws.
Visitors might be surprised to find a brandy distiller in bourbon country, but Copper & Kings American Brandy Company fits in well with the vibe. “We don’t want to change anyone’s drinking habits,” said Drew Pomeroy, the company’s tour manager. “We just want to open the eyes of the bourbon drinker and blow the mind of a die-hard brandy drinker.” Brandy is distilled in copper pot stills similar to those you see at traditional bourbon distilleries, but the spirit starts with wine made from fruits such as grapes and apples. It is then placed in the familiar bourbon barrels, with some of the spirit put into Spanish sherry casks. The barreled brandy then ages in the basement of the facility through a sonic process, unlike the traditional weather extremes that age bourbon. With five major sub-woofers blasting music around the barrel-aging room, the spirit is pulsated, thus encouraging contact with the barrel and enhancing maturation. Pomeroy said the playlist changes daily to encourage well-rounded, diverse and cultured brandy.
About 30 miles from its home base in Clermont, the Jim Beam Urban Stillhouse is an extension of its visitors center, offering tastings and history. According to Spencer Mitchell, brand ambassador, about one barrel of Urban Stillhouse Select is produced each week at this site. This brand is available only there, and visitors can even bottle their own. Located near the party crowd of 4th Street Live, the Stillhouse has a bar where in-depth cocktail making classes and tastings of small batch, premium bourbon are offered.
Just 5 miles south of downtown Louisville in the city of Shively, Bulleit Frontier Whiskey Experience at Stitzel-Weller Distillery is a full-size working distillery, covering 53 acres. Its history traces back to Derby Day in 1935, when the Stitzel–Weller Distilling Company began producing Old Fitzgerald Bourbon there. The distillery closed in 1972 but was revived to produce Bulleit Frontier Whiskey, recreated by Thomas E. Bulleit Jr., the great-great-grandson of Augustus Bulleit, who began distilling around 1830. The spacious grounds are dotted with production facilities, rickhouses that hold more than 300,000 barrels, and countless stories from bourbon’s past that include names like Rebel Yell, Old Weller and Pappy Van Winkle.
The folks at Angel’s Envy Distillery throw in a double-maturation process for their bourbon, taking it from its first barrel and putting it in ruby port wine barrels from Portugal. The blend of flavors is the result of a lifetime of crafting by its founder, the late Lincoln Henderson. According to distillery guardian Brent Gettelfinger, bourbon distillers know that each year their product ages in the barrel, 3 to 5 percent will be lost to evaporation and absorption into the wood. This amount is commonly referred to as the angel’s share. “When Lincoln created his bourbon, he claimed he finally had found a taste that would make the angels wish they could have more than just their share—thus became Angel’s Envy,” Gettelfinger said.
In a town steeped in distilling traditions and bourbon legends, visitors may be surprised to find the sleek, contemporary home of Rabbit Hole Distillery. The shiny steel-and-glass building opened last summer in the NuLu neighborhood. Tour guide Adam Edwards explained that the building’s feel carries over to the bourbon. “With the windows all over, it shows our commitment to authenticity and transparency,” he said. After touring the distillery, don’t miss the visit to Overlook, the rooftop bar, where you will get your taste of spirits as well as fabulous views of the Louisville skyline.
The Fort Nelson building, a historic structure with distinctive Victorian Italianate architecture, is home to Michter’s Fort Nelson Distillery. It was built in 1890 with cast iron, brick and stone, and features a corner turret. The building was in terrible shape, but after about seven years of rehabbing, Michter’s Fort Nelson opened for tours in late January. Be sure to take note of the pot still and cypress wood fermenter system that dates back to 1753 and were moved from Michter’s Pennsylvania distillery.