Day #1: The Bourbon Trail

It's been a life goal to one day complete the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. It is one of those things I joked about doing over 15 years ago before I could legally drink, but something me (and my household) got serious about as we actually started drinkin bourbon for the epicurean enjoyment of the spirit itself. We (the man-half and I) had talked about going on the trail for a couple of years and finally decided back in October (2017) to take the plunge and officially plan out our trip for early January. Bourbon drinkin' is one of these activities that seem to go best with fall and winter weather. I'm not saying you can't drink bourbon in the summer, but there is something about cool, crisp winter and fall weather that really sets a mood for whisky. Initially, we really wanted to complete the trail during the fall, but I got one of those jobs that really prevents a mid-semester vacay. So, January it is and was!

The first couple of weeks in Janaury is one of my favorite times to travel. It is just after one of the busiest travel seasons in the U.S. and the hangover permits cheaper hotels and travel fares in addition to enjoying fewer crowds and easier ability to get around. In the past couple of years, this timing has led me to San Juan and Universal Studios. Both places were light with crowds, good on travel deals, and better weather (if you are wanting to cooler climate for southern U.S. desitination because nobody wants a swamp butt in the middle of summer).

The Kentucky Bourbon Trail is sponsored and organization by the Kentucky Distillers' Association. One thing some folks may not realize is not all distillers (including some prominent ones like Buffalo Trace or Jefferson's) are part of the trail. There are about 30+ distilleries and that number seems to be growing every year with an uptick in small craft distilleries. For the regular ol' Bourbon Trail, there were nine distilleries that compromised ten stops over twelve locations to complete the Kentucky Bourbon Trail Passport.

I sent an email to the association prior to arrival and receive our passports and planning map in the mail. While this wasn't essential, it really helped us (and by us I mean me) figure out how to plot our trail accomplishment because here is the tricky thing about traveling in January - winter weather. Yeah, I know I just praised January travel, but it does come with risks. Like if you live in snowy-icy place or will be visiting a place prone to snow and ice, there is a risk of your trip going off the rails and you will need some flexibility to accomodate that winter weather.

I opted to schedule our visit over a seven-day span with two days of expected driving (approximately 7.5 hours from southwest Missouri). The Kentucky Distillers' Association association recommends at least three days to complete the trail. There are a number of books (like this free one I received at Heaven Hill on

Day #4) and online resources that do make suggestions of how to complete the trail and dining options. However, I think I may disagree that anyone could complete the trail in three days and somehow manage fine dining all in one trip. So, I gave us some breathing room but also had some contingency plans for how to complete the trail in a singular trip. This actually came in handy considering Kentucky got hit with an ice and snow storm on Day #4 of the trip! So, we didn't get to enjoy the finer eats of Kentucky but we managed to accomplish our main mission - Complete the Bourbon Trail!

We headed toward Louisville on Tuesday, January 9. We were slightly exhausted from the BCS championship game the night before. (Side note here - we are giant Alabama fans and OMG that pass....did you see that pass?? Auburnites --- did you see that pass? Yeah, you saw it, which is why all y'all went silent with trashtalking the next day.) Anyways, we left on Tuesday and muddled our way over to Louisville through cold fogginess. We got to our hotel (Springhill Suites Louisville) around 5:30pmEST. This wasn't a bad hotel and was definitively the type of hotel that we budgeted for. It is toward the eastern outskirts of the downtown area and would give us a quick walk to our first Wednesday morning distillery, Angel's Envy. I largely assumed the downtown Louisville area was safe compared to some other big cities we've visited and walking around at night wasn't an issue. However, I was surprised to discover that the hotel has a shuttle that would drop us off and pick us up anywhere in the area. This was a mega bonus given the below-freezing temps.

Our first stop on the trail would check-off our requirements for Jim Beam. There are two locations to get a stamp for the distiller - Jim Beam Urban Stillhouse and the Jim Beam Distillery. We opted to visit the Urban Stillhouse because it was open until 9pm and, in worst case scenario, we could get our passport stamped if we couldn't visit the distillery later on. We took the shuttle over to 4th street, which was a ghost town around 6:45pm. It was cold and a Tuesday, but I wouldn't have expected downtown to be abandoned quite like this.

The entry to the Urban Stillhouse is clean and modern. We showed up and waited about 30 minutes for our tasting. There is no tour option available at this location. The location boasts outdoor seating and views of the micro-distillery located on site. Since it was cold, we didn't spend much time outside, but we did enjoy looking at their window displays, the gift shop area, and goofing off with an interactive display. The gift shop was also nice and the location had this lovely barrel stave tree located in the middle.

The stave tree added a nice touch and barrier between the gift shop and tasting room. Unfortunately, the lighting of the room made all the pictures turn out slightly white-washed. It was much prettier in person. On the lower right side of the picture you will notice a "tv-like" display. This is an interactive display that you can learned more about Jim Beam offerings and take pictures of yourself like the one below. They had several options for a background and this was the end result after many attempts for getting a good picture.

After our wait, it was finally time for the tasting!!! The tasting came with a very brief history Jim Beam and bourbon followed by a sampling of four bourbons or whiskys. Three were pre-determined and one was of our choosing. The three pre-determined including Jim Beam Straight, Urban Stillhouse Select, and Knob Creek Single Barrel. I opted for Baker's 7 yr as my additional while the man-half opted to try Basil Hayden.

After some sniffing, tasting straight, and tasting with water/ice, the best bourbon of the night went to Baker's 7 yr. I wouldn't have suspected that I would have like Baker's but took a chance between of the weird bottle shape and recommendation of our tasting guide. In full disclosure, here were my ratings and responses to all of the sampled beverages:

Jim Beam Original

3/5

Not bad. Basic. Good standby and good mixer. Better straight than on ice. Oak, vanilla with a decent mouthfeel.

Urban Stillhouse Select

2/5

Sourish and tart. Lighter and better with ice. Felt like we’ve tasted it before. Maybe Booker’s?

Knob Creek Single Barrel

3/5

Tastes like an unrefined version of the 2001 Batch 3. Strong black pepper taste with mix of nuts and oak.

Basil Hayden

3/5

Light, airy, and tart. It’s alright.

Baker’s 7 yr

4.5/5

Mellow, smooth, and warm. Really good on ice. Tastes and smells like fruit, vanilla, and nutty.

The tasting experience was quick, fun, and good-evening activity for our first night. We didn't purchase any bourbons on site (including their site-specific variety of the Urban Stillhouse Select that you can bottle yourself), but we did walk away with a set of shotglasses as part of our tasting experience. If you are wondering about bourbon balls, none were offered as part of the tasting experience. For dinner, we walked down the street to GB Brewery Restaurant for pizza and beer nightcap. We skipped sweets for the night and looked forward to the orange chocolate we'd be getting the next mornign at Angel's Envy.