Help design our Kentucky bourbon-and-barbecue road trip

So hubby and I are pondering a post-Thanksgiving road trip, leaving either Thursday after dinner or Friday morning, stopping in Bloomington, IN for the nostalgia Tibetan momos of my grad school days, and continuing onward to Kentucky for some rolling green hills, bourbon (for him - I'm not a hard liquor drinker), barbecue, and bluegrass. We would meander around Kentucky in a leisurely manner, perhaps visiting horses and state parks and other sights of interest, and end up back in Chicago sometime the following Wednesday.

So I'm seeing bourbon trail maps (like this one: http://kybourbontrail.com/map/), but other than my long-ago trip to the Federal women's prison at Lexington (for work - long story), neither of us has ever been to Kentucky. Any thoughts on itinerary and which destinations have the most other items of cultural and/or culinary interest? We're tentatively planning on just staying wherever is cheap on Hotwire or such, but general geographic/neighborhood recommendations would also be much appreciated. We're trying to keep the budget reasonable, but don't mind spending a bit more if the experience is a significantly better bang for the buck.

We did our own Bourbon Trail itinerary over Memorial Day weekend. We hit about 10 or so of the makers and enjoyed them all. But, after hearing the same old "51% corn" story, we got to the point where we just wanted to hit the tasting rooms!

We loved one of the places we stayed, which was in Bardstown, called the Bourbon Manor B&B. Good homecooked food with bourbon ingredients. Set on an old tobacco plantation, and there is a bourbon bar right on the premises. Highly recommend and I would stay there again without hesitation.

Another B&B we tried was in Versailles, called Woodford Inn. The inn itself is old, but our room was updated to look and feel like a regular hotel room. I can't say that I would recommend it. It wasn't terrible, but I wish we would have spent those nights in Bardstown.

Both Bardstown and Versailles are nice little walking towns as well.

For a non-bourbon experience, My Old Kentucky Home State Park in Bardstown is charming. I have roots in Kentucky, but in the Southeast region, somewhat different than the Louisville/Versailles/Bardstown region, so this was definitely a departure from the Kentucky that I know well.

Loved the long weekend we had, and would do it again anytime.

We cruised the Kentucky Bourbon Trail in August, and had a great time. Over four days, we visited all the distilleries officially on the trail, plus a couple more.

Starting off in Louisville, we stayed two nights at Tucker House Bed & Breakfast – certainly one of the best bed and breakfasts I’ve ever visited. It's just a few miles east of downtown. The 1840 house is beautifully restored, and has three-course breakfasts served on the lower outside deck that any of the better Chicago brunch spots would be proud to serve. Not to mention the second floor deck we had, to share some wine while watching over the late night antics in the swimming pool.

Our first stop was “The Bulleit Frontier Whiskey Experience” in the old Stitzel-Weller distillery, just a few miles west of downtown Louisville. The key word here is “Experience” … other than a small pilot distillery, there’s little actual whiskey produced here (production distilling stopped in 1992). The tour focused on the basics of whiskey distilling, and the history of the distillery, rather than what actually goes on there.

Diageo (of Guinness fame) owns Bulleit, but the bourbon is distilled at the Four Roses Distillery in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, owned by Kirin Brewers of Japan. The rye is distilled at Midwest Grain Distillers in (coincidentally) Lawrenceburg, Indiana. But some of the aging is done in the rickhouses here.

We sampled Bulleit’s standard bourbon, its 10-year old bourbon, its Blade and Bow brand, and its rye. The bourbon, a high-rye style, was nice, a bit sharp on the edges of the tongue, and warming going down (aka the “Kentucky Hug”).

Blade and Bow (named after the skeleton key icon used historically by Stitzel Bourbon) was a bit smoother, and may be worth seeking out.

Our other “experience,” in downtown Louisville, was at The Evan Williams Bourbon Experience. Again, none of the Evan Williams brand is distilled here, although there’s also a pilot distillery in the building. This was the first tasting that suggested adding a few drops of water to the whiskeys. A sip of the straight whiskey, then a sip with a drop or two of water (or an ice cube) can make a real difference in the way the spirit comes across on the palate. We sampled Evan Williams Black Label (a good value-priced bourbon).


As every tour guide will tell you, “Every Bourbon is Whiskey, but not every Whiskey is Bourbon” … a reference to their neighbors to the South in Tennessee, as well as Canadian, Scotch, and other Whiskeys (including their own Rye).

For a city its size, Louisville has an impressive food scene. There's an LTH thread on dining in Louisville here.

From Louisville, we moved on to Bardstown, and stayed two nights at the jail. Jailer's Inn is in the old Nelson County jail, circa 1819, that was in full operation as recently as 1987. Most of the spacious rooms are in the front building, which was the residence of the jailer - the actual jail is in back. And in back of the jail is an old cemetery, which explain why the jail and B&B is haunted.

We hit a couple of distilleries before arriving in Bardstown, though. Definitely the best distillery tour was at Jim Beam's Stillhouse in Claremont, KY.

It was the most interactive tour, including opportunities to sample the fermented grains before they're distilled, the white moonshine that comes straight out of the second distillation, a single barrel whiskey poured straight from the barrel (opened for the first time before your eyes), and participating in bottling your own single barrel whiskey, which includes a chance to take home the bottle with your own thumbprint on the wax seal.

And the tasting is a high-tech affair, with a magnetic card inserted into a number of different sampling stations to deliver a perfectly portioned sample of your choice of three of Beam’s many brands. Those Japanese (Suntory) who own Beam (and also Makers Mark) are doing something right.

From Beam, we went to “The Bourbon Heritage Center” just outside Bardstown - the headquarters of Heaven Hill, the only family owned distillery (which includes Evan Williams among its many brands) on the trail. Due to a fire a few years ago, there's no distilling practiced here, but there is plenty of whiskey aging in the rickhouses. Tiring anyway of full-blown tours, which can get fairly repetitive, we went for the “Whiskey Connoisseur Experience” - an extended tasting including some rare bourbons, in what was essentially a conference room with a Powerpoint presentation on the screen, with a narrator to occasionally answer questions.

Since there was still a bit of time in the afternoon, we drove a few miles up the road to Willett Distillery. It’s small, not officially on the Bourbon Trail, but worth seeking out. Willett only recently resumed distilling; almost all of the bourbons they’re selling now were made to Willett’s specifications at other facilities. You turn off the paved road to what might be described as a gravel path up the hill, past a few not particularly prominent signs, a few rickhouses (some appearing to be under reconstruction) to the small visitors’ center. Again, we opted to skip the tour, but were able to taste a wide variety of their somewhat obscure brands.

Bardstown is a small, friendly, walkable little town. We ate at two places, one each night, both just a few steps from the jail. The Old Talbot Tavern is historic, and features a bourbon tasting bar in addition to the restaurant and inn itself. Country ham, Burgoo, and other traditional Kentucky dishes are on the menu. Manny’s Kitchen is a bit more modern and casual, but also worthwhile.

Our last full day of distilleries started at Four Roses in Lawrenceburg (the site of the distillery - Four Roses also has tours at their Warehouse and Bottling facility in Cox’s Creek). As at other distilleries, Four Roses was in the process of refurbishing some of its distillation equipment (which many of the distilleries do in August), so again, we skipped the tour and went straight for the tasting. The woman leading the tasting was surprisingly upfront about how Four Roses had been a premium brand after WWII, but as a result of going through several ownership changes, the product went into serious decline. Only in the last decade or so has it regained some of its former glory. The tasting was limited to three variants of the Four Roses brand, but it was interesting. Four Roses also had the best souvenir glasses to take home.

About 15 miles from Four roses is Wild Turkey. Wild Turkey isn’t a great name for a bourbon. Sure, there are historical reasons for it (a renegade distiller accompanied some of the distillery’s top brass on a turkey hunt, and they were impressed with the hootch he made on the side), but it doesn’t get a lot of respect from fledgling bourbon connoisseurs. (Much as wines named after cute animals usually aren’t very good.) It does get a lot of respect from other distillers, though. We were lucky that Wild Turkey’s Master Distiller for the past 62 years, and a legend among the bourbon community, was in the house on our visit. Jimmy Russell has his name on some of the distillery’s premium efforts, and we came home with a bottle of 10 year old Russell’s Rye personally signed by Jimmy. He was a nice, humble guy, telling us how he loves a little Wild Turkey American Honey Bourbon in his lemonade when he’s out tending his garden. He was looking forward to a trip to Chicago later that week, for a bourbon dinner and a Cubs game. He’s an avid sports fan.

Campari owns Wild Turkey these days, but Jimmy and his son Eddie are clearly in control of what’s being made there.

It was about an hour’s drive - our longest drive between destinations - down to Makers Mark. Our GPS took us down some tiny, one lane roads - except that they were two-way roads. Meeting a car coming in the opposite direction meant either pulling over and hoping that you don’t fall into the ditch, or backing up to one of the areas where there’s a smooth field next to the road. Since there was a large parking lot full of 18-wheelers near the Markers Mark complex, we assumed there must be a better way to get there. We never found it.

Makers Mark was also in refurbishment mode, but the tour included a stroll through the picturesque campus, as well as a tasting at the end. It was probably our second-most-favorite tour.

We almost made a detour to Mammoth Cave National Park - it's about an hour and a half drive from Makers Mark - but we didn't want to overpack the trip, so we skipped it.

We made a detour through Lexington on our trip home, visiting Town Branch, the newest distillery on the trail. It shares its facility with Lexington Brewery (known for Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale - they re-use their bourbon barrels - which can only be used for bourbon - to age their beers). The kindly tour guide was interesting. Bourbons are made from at least 51% corn, with the rest of the grain bill being rye (or sometimes wheat) and barley. I asked him what kind of barley they used to make their bourbon. “Oh, you mean like one-row or two-row?” (Beer brewers will get the multiple problems with that question.)

Not far, along the way back, in Versailles, was Woodford Reserve, owned by Brown-Forman (which also owns Jack Daniels, which isn’t a bourbon, but a Tennessee whiskey).

There, we had a tasting that paired their flagship whiskey with various foodstuffs, including vanilla, nuts, citrus, parmesan, and coffee. The whiskey tasted slightly different with each.

We intended to go straight home from there, but Buffalo Trace (not a member of the Bourbon Trail) was just off the Interstate in Frankfort, so we stopped in. Many famous brands, and unlike the others, the tasting and tours are free. The buildings are historic, and it was well worth the extra stop.


One thing to note - all stops had bottles for sale. However, as we were in the gift shops, we compared bottle prices to what was listed on Binny’s website. Although Binny’s obviously didn’t have any of the more obscure or specialized products, those that Binny’s did have were almost always cheaper at Binny’s - sometimes by a large margin. We arrived home with only three bottles - Johnny Drum (a high-rye Willett brand), the signed Russell 10 year Rye, and the single barrel Knob Creek with my thumbprint in the wax.

I hope your trip goes as well.

Consider going a bit further South and stay at the Beaumont Inn in Harrodsburg, 100+ years old and very well restored. Maybe dinner at Jane Barleycorn in Danville. It's one of the best bourbon bars in the country and has spectacular food. Then go to one of the craft distilleries just outside of Danville, Wilderness Trail. There is a craft distillery trail as well as the large distillery trail. I have found that the craft distillers let you get much closer to the action.
We moved to Danville from Berwyn about a year and a half ago, love it down here.
Have fun!

http://www.janebarleycorn.com/
http://www.wildernesstracedistillery.co ... /index.php
http://beaumontinn.com/
http://www.gobourbon.com/best-80-bourbon-bars-2016/

Thanks, guys - keep the ideas coming! So far we have booked Friday night in Owensboro, with the thought of checking out Mammoth Cave on Saturday (if we decide to be slightly insane and do somewhat less driving on Friday, we might leave right after Thanksgiving dinner and go maybe as far as Champaign or something). One night in Owensboro, and then onward to Louisville, hotels booked there so far. (So far keeping things cheap and sticking to Hotwire, which has never steered me wrong, really.) Saving the budget for food!

I'm kind of amused that so far most of the recommendations have been for bourbon-related things, and nothing specific for barbecue (yet, anyway). Any thoughts on that? My husband is actually the bourbon drinker; I'm not a hard liquor drinker really at all, but am always game for learning about the process and accepting the concept that maybe I just haven't met the right bourbon yet. Bluegrass recommendations are a bonus, but this probably isn't the right message board for that...

Thinking of a night in Lexington, and then hauling maybe as far as Bloomington or Indy just so we don't spend all day Wednesday driving.

In Lexington there are some good restaurants in the Distillery District along Manchester Road. Middle Fork Kitchen and Bar at 1224 Manchester is a restaurant from the people who operated a food truck I would seek out anytime I went down there to visit family, they're right next to a new brewery called Ethereal Brewing Co. and an ice cream lounge called Crank and Boom. For Barbeque the only places I've been to recently are City Barbeque and Willie's Locally Known. City Barbeque is a chain and Willie's is a music venue, both have decent BBQ. I've heard good things about Blue Door Smokehouse but haven't made it there myself, it's on the list for my next visit

Hot Brown sandwich at the Brown Hotel in Louisville, delicious! Old School dining room. I always read about Oyster Rolls in Louisville but have never had one.

Maker's Mark was the most picturesque distillery I've been to, I hear that Woodford Reserve is nice as well.

Moonlight BBQ in Owensboro serves lamb BBQ which I'm always on the lookout for.

The Moonlight BBQ in Owensboro provides one of the best examples of old-fashioned Kentucky 'mutton' bbq–you'd have to go to a church festival to find anything more authentic. Plus, it's a fine buffet-style set-up with lots of choices. Be sure to try the sauce–it's Worchestershire-based and very interesting.

I second the Hot Brown at the Brown Hotel. Plus it's fun to walk around the neighborhood of the hotel.

Finally, I'd suggest a stop at Mark's Feed Store in Louisville. It was one of the first 'modern' bbq joints in town, and it remains one of the best.

http://www.marksfeedstore.com/

Geo

Thanks, guys - for some reason I didn't get notifications for the last few posts. Will have to check out all these options! Any tips on a place that has a billion bourbons to try (for my husband) but also awesome food and possibly other things to drink (for me)?

In Owensboro, go to Moonlite for the buffet, it is stellar; however, for mutton itself I prefer Old Hickory (no buffet). If you go around back at Old Hickory and ask nicely you might be able to get a tour of their spectacular pits. I cannot recommend Mark's Feed Store although I like their sauces which are available in every grocery here in Louisville. I like F.A.B.D. Smokehouse and Hammerhead's in Louisville for BBQ but halfheartedly. I'm from far Western Ky and we cannot in good conscience recommend BBQ east of I-65. The Germantown/Schnitzelburg neighborhood as well as Frankfort Avenue seem to have the best collection of new and old school places for both food and drink. My son and I like to go to to Wagner's Pharmacy for breakfast where the food is nothing special but is across the street from Churchill Downs.

With your trip post Thanksgiving, it is a possibility that Star Hill Provisions may be open in their new space at the Makers Mark Distillery. This is the other restaurant from Newman Miller and his team of Harrison-Smith House in Bardstown. They are moving from the small Cafe, where they started in springtime, to a new building. I don't know if this means an expanded menu and longer hours than their current 4:30 close.

In my last visit to Harrison Smith House in September, Newman, said one of our owners here has some connection to Star Hill and he may have more information . Or follow their FB page.

The only reason I am not recommending the awesome Harrison Smith House as an absolute must visit is that they temporarily closed for dinner service as of 10/22 and not noted when they will be back open.

I've had nothing but great meals and times there but Ronnie's prior photos and review say it better than I could.
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