After our tour of some of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail in Lebanon, we rose bright and early to depart to Bardstown to continue our adventure. Bardstown has been voted “Most Beautiful Small Town in America” and with good reason. It’s filled with beautifully restored building, museums, history and bourbon. Home of five bourbon distilleries and a museum completed devoted to bourbon, it’s nickname is “the Bourbon Capital of the World.” We started our tour at Barton 1792. This stop is not officially on the bourbon passport trail, but it’s an interesting stop. Unlike the Bavarian feel of Maker’s Mark or the small batch production at Limestone Branch, Barton 1792 looks like a factory. We visited during the month of August, when production had ceased due to the heat, so our tour was shorter than normal. We couldn’t go into all the building as repairs were being made, but we did get to enter the rick house.
This house is seven stories high and barrels and barrels of bourbon are loaded on top of each other and left to age. A full barrel of bourbon is left in this house for years, through the hot, humid summers and the freezing cold winters. During this time the bourbon will absorb flavors from the barrel. When it is finally opened, up to 1/2 of the barrel might have evaporated. They call that “the Angel’s Share.”
Free tours are offered on the hour and come complete with a tasting after the tour. We were the only females on this tour and the men on the tour seemed to enjoy the tasting. We declined the drinks, but were happy to help ourselves to the bourbon balls that completed the tasting. Our next stop was Heaven Hill, an official Bourbon Trail distillery, where we had a completely different tour; the Whiskey Connoisseur Experience. Each half hour tour is led by an experienced Bourbon host. He began the tour by leading us through the gallery, explaining the history of bourbon and Heaven Hill Distilleries.
Afterwards we were taken to a private room to taste four of their premium and limited release Bourbons. We were in a small group with only four of us attending the tasting. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable and taught us the correct way to sip Bourbon. We allowed each Bourbon to sit, adding a few drops of water, and mellow. We then sniffed the Bourbons to detect the flavor notes. Brittany and I were not good at this and detected all sorts of notes that were not really there, like caramel in a premium Bourbon. We both left impressed with the thorough tasting and explanations. Once again our favorite part was sampling the tasty chocolately bites of goodness, the bourbon balls.
Our final stop was Spalding Hall, home of the Oscar Getz Museum of Whiskey History and the Bardstown Historical Museum. The Bardstown Historical museum documents the history of the area from its origins in 1780 until the recent past. The Oscar Getz Museum houses artifacts from before the Colonial period until after prohibition. The Hall, once a school building, boasts former classrooms filled with objects explaining the history of whiskey, including an old moonshine still. Both museums are free, but donations are accepted.
If you are a fan of bourbon or just a history fan, like me, the Kentucky Bourbon Trail in Bardstown is well worth a visit. Want to learn more about Bardstown? Check out their website at www.visitbardstown.com.
The Bourbon Trail looks so fascinating to me! Would love to try some samples too!
This is totally something my husband would get a thrill out of. He is a fan of bourbon and a history buff as well, so I would love to plan a trip and surprise him.
What a really neat place to travel too! I never really had bourbon, so this is something I would definitely want to try!
Looks like a neat place to visit. I always love factory tours and learning about how things are made.
This is so neat! I showed this to my husband as he would love to go on this type of tour.
What a neat experience. I love seeing and hearing how things are made so this is something I would enjoy.
I’d enjoy traveling the Kentucky bourbon trail. What a lot of fun to visit the museums and exhibits.
How cool! This is something my husband and uncle would truly enjoy. Sounds like a fun time. Your photos are great too!
Now that’s a wonderful experience! I love the history behind some of these long-standing breweries and distilleries. Many had to overcome so many obstacles through the years. Some of these have been around for 100s of years.
I laughed at the men/women tasting thing. That’s how it’d be if our family went, the men would be all over the taste testing. The women would try the treats, lol Sounds like a fun tour!
I would love to take a tour of this facility. I have gone on a tour once where they make beer so this would be interesting to see the processing up close and personal.
Sounds like a fun tour. I would enjoy going.
That is a big storage house and a lot of Bourbon ..Bardstown seems like one of those quaint little towns with a whole lot to offer
This sounds like a fascinating tour. Would love to visit one day.
I would enjoy this sort of tour. I am always interested in learning more.
I would love the history in this tour….not sure about the bourbon!! It does look fun though!!!
What a neat experience! I love all the old time memorabilia – very interesting!
It’s pretty cool how they age each barrel-full. This looks like such an awesome place with lots of history.
Wow that sounds like an amazing tour. Would love to do a tour like this and some bourbon tasting too.
I love learning all of these pieces of history. I would love to take this trip one day.
I have several friends who have done the entire bourbon trail. I live in Kentucky, so there’s really no reason not to check it out!
I have been to a vineyard before and see bottle after bottle of wine but in have never seen barrels of Bourbon.
What a neat experience!!
I have not heard of the Bourbon Trail but it looks interesting. I think my husband would like this tour!
My husband would absolutely love that. He’s a huge fan of Kentucky bourbon.
That sounds like a really unique place to visit. I love American history and know I would love to mill around.
My dad would LOVE this. I think my husband likes bourbon too, actually. I’ve only ever done winery and brewery tours.
Looks very interesting!! My husband would LOVE this since he loves tours of things like breweries and distillaries.
We have done a few brewery tours, but the historical part of this is what really interests me.
That is so interesting. I think my husband and I would really enjoy the Bourbon Trail.