32 June 2010 LeisureGroupTravel.com

on location: south � justine mulattieri

With rolling green hills dottedwith the glossy coats of thor-

oughbreds, winding country roads andcarpets of bluegrass swaying in thebreeze, the Kentucky Bourbon Trail ismore than an education in the art of dis-tilling spirits; it is a complex blend ofheritage, culture and achievement.

Declared by the U.S. Congress in1964 as “a product distinctive to theUnited States,” bourbon whiskey is aliquor steeped in time-honored tradi-tion and crafted with pride. Kentuckyis both the birthplace and the largestproducer of bourbon, providing 95% ofthe world’s supply.

The six distilleries officially featuredon the Bourbon Trail, plus others, arewithin an hour’s drive of one another.Most offer group tours led by a residentbourbon expert, and if you’re lucky, youmay get to meet the master distiller.

A short drive west of Lexington,Woodford Reserve Distillery in Ver-sailles boasts an impressive pedigree andis one of two stops on the KentuckyBourbon Trail that does not producemultiple varieties. Woodford ReserveBourbon is hand-crafted in smallbatches and each bottle is individuallynumbered and labeled.

The distillery was founded in 1865in Woodford County horse country. Itis the official bourbon of the KentuckyDerby and releases a Derby commemo-rative bottle each year. The bourbon hasa distinctively sweet flavor of creamyvanilla, smooth caramel, soft butterynotes and a balanced fruitiness.

Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frank-fort produces 24 varieties of bourbonand whiskey including Blanton’s, a five-time winner of the International Wineand Spirit Competition gold medal.

Buffalo Trace was the first distillery touse steam power for distilling, to shipwhiskey down the Mississippi Riverand to market single-barrel bourbon.Buffalo Trace Kentucky Straight Bour-bon Whiskey, the flagship blend, islight in color and bears a complexaroma of vanilla, mint and molasses.

Frankfort, Kentucky’s capital city,has plenty of options for visitors lookingto get a taste of regional heritage. BerryMansion, the Colonial Revival home ofthe family that owned the Old Crowbourbon company from the late 1800sthrough the mid-20th century, is a vi-sion in Southern grandeur.

In Kentucky, bourbon is incorpo-rated into numerous cooking recipes.Guided tours are available at Rebecca-Ruth Candy & Tours, a Frankfort fac-tory that produces more than 120different types of candy, including its

kentucky’sBourbon Trail

Savor the mellow spirit of the Bluegrass State

on a distillery-hopping tour between Lexington and Louisville

Travelers on distillery tours in Kentucky can see how bourbon whiskey is made and may get to sample the product.

LeisureGroupTravel.com June 2010 33

signature “bourbon ball” chocolate.Those who like their whiskey with a

kick will certainly find it in Lawrence-burg at Wild Turkey Distillery. Pro-ducing 12 varieties, including RareBreed, a “knock-your-socks-off ” 108proof, and three traditional rye whiskeys,Wild Turkey was founded in 1855 andhas a trademark distillation process. Theblend is “simmered” like a stew and verylittle distilled water is added, which con-tributes to the full flavor and high alco-hol content. In addition to beingincorporated into many a song lyric andHollywood bar scene, Wild Turkey wasproclaimed by the International Wine& Spirit Competition in London as“Best Worldwide Whiskey” of 2008.

Also in Lawrenceburg is Four RosesDistillery. Legend has it that in 1888founder Paul Jones Jr. named his bour-bon after the Southern belle he courted,instructing her to pin flowers to thefront of her dress at an upcoming festi-val if she returned his affections. She ar-rived with four roses pinned to her gownand the rest, as they say, is history.

Four Roses produces 10 separate va-rieties, including the limited edition“Mariage” Collection (that’s how theyspell it). For this unique collection, bar-rels are selected by the master distiller,and in a limited-edition small batch, hemarries two separate flavors of FourRoses in a barrel proof release.

A romantic spirit, both in historyand in flavor, Four Roses bourbon tra-ditionally has a soft, mellow flavor withnotes of apple and pear. Tours of theSpanish Mission style-structure andits rose gardens are offered Mondaythrough Saturday.

In Loretto we discover one of Ken-tucky’s more famous distilleries—Maker’s Mark. Although the actualstructure of the distillery was built in1889, the first Maker’s bottle sold in

1959. It was the first distillery to havea visitors center and to be made a his-toric landmark. This use of brandingand the mentality that bourbon craft-ing could be presented as a tourist at-traction contributed to the creation ofthe Kentucky Bourbon Trail. Comingfrom a long family history of whiskeycrafting, Maker’s Mark was bornwhen its founder, a sixth-generationdistiller, burned his family’s centuries-

old recipe and opted to create his ownusing red wheat instead of the typicalrye. Visitors wishing to take home asouvenir can hand-dip their very ownbottle of Maker’s Mark in the signa-ture red wax covering.

Boasting the nation’s largest volumeof Kentucky bourbon, Heaven HillDistilleries houses upwards of 40 mil-lion gallons of aging bourbon at its ex-pansive facility in Bardstown. Foundedin 1934, the company produces ninevarieties of bourbon, including its sig-nature medium-amber Evan Williams.The Bourbon Heritage Center andtasting room is a barrel-shaped struc-ture where visitors are invited to samplethe various products.

Stop by the Oscar Getz Museumof Whiskey History in Bardstown.The museum features advertisingposters, rare documents and other as-sorted memorabilia from the Americanwhiskey industry.

We end the Kentucky Bourbon Trailin Clermont, just south of Louisville,with bourbon’s “royal family,” Jim Beam.Apart from its namesake nectar, theworld’s best-selling bourbon, Jim Beamalso produces four small-batch varietiesthat have added to the Beam legacy.

Distilling since 1794, the Beam fam-ily is one of the oldest in bourbon history.While tours of the plant itself are notcurrently available, visitors can visit JimBeam and see the grounds, a workingrack house and the Beam family man-sion. Free samples of Jim Beam productsare offered to visitors 21 and older.

Complementing the KentuckyBourbon Trail, Louisville’s Urban Bour-bon Trail is a seven-bar trek that show-cases establishments where bourbon isthe drink of choice and a resident con-noisseur is always on hand to assist in atasting. Each is well-stocked with atleast 50 bourbons, and as many as 150.Guests can try modern bourbon cock-tails or classics like the Old Fashionedand Mint Julep.

Whether you take the scenic routethrough the rolling hillsides or a morestudied approach downtown, you’ll leaveKentucky knowing why America’s na-tive spirit still reigns supreme. LGT

PLAN IT!• Kentucky Bourbon Trail: 502-875-9351, kybourbontrail.com• Kentucky Tourism: 800-225-8747, kytourism.com• Louisville’s Urban BourbonTrail: justaddbourbon.com

A guide at Four Roses Distillery

explains the distilling process.