The Craft Bourbon Trail: A Delicious Adventure

August 15, 2022

Spirit Hub’s guide to the bourbon and craft bourbon trail, a can’t-miss adventure for any bourbon lover

When you were little, you had Disneyland and a hat with a famous set of ears.

As you got a bit older, you went to Six Flags and got souvenir sodas.

But now you’re an adult that enjoys a tumbler full of bourbon.

Where’s your amusement park?

Thanks to the Kentucky Distillers Association, there’s a delicious trip waiting to be taken by every bourbon-loving adult.

The Kentucky Bourbon Trail.

Nearly all of the world’s bourbon comes from the ‘Bluegrass State.’ So, the Kentucky Distillers’ Association made a way for world-travelers to fully experience America’s Native Spirit.

In 1999, the Kentucky Distillers Association founded the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. Initially, the bourbon trail included seven of the eight distilleries in the area. As the years pass, more and more distilleries continue to join the trail.

After a boom of independent distilleries in Kentucky, the bourbon trail added another leg to it’s bourbon adventure. 2012 saw the Kentucky Distillers’ Association inaugurate the Kentucky Bourbon Trail Craft Tour.

Year after year, the bourbon and craft bourbon trail regularly sees millions of adventurers from each of the 50 states and countries across the globe.

Depending on the adventure you choose, you could be spending up to nine days touring Kentucky bourbon distilleries enjoying some of the finest bourbon the world has to offer.

Nine days of nothing but living, breathing, and, most importantly, sipping some of the most famous brown spirits to ever grace the insides of charred oak barrels.

Simply put, it’s a bourbon drinker’s dream.

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Distilleries On The Trail

Bluegrass Distillers
Among the Bluegrass in Lexington, Ky., where fast horses are bred and
the best whiskeys are made, Bluegrass Distillers is putting Kentucky in a bottle at their craft distillery.
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Kentucky Peerless Distilling Company
Kentucky Peerless Distilling Co. works under the same historic standards that they did more than 100 years ago. Because that’s more than just history. It’s their family legacy.
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Casey Jones Distillery
From Hopkinsville, Kentucky, Casey Jones Distillery is pumping out an assortment of award-winning moonshines and bourbon whiskey with the help of some rich family history.
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Willett Distillery
During the crisp spring months of 1936, Thompson Willett founded a
distillery near his family farm. Thompson’s descendants continue the tradition with their Kentucky Bourbon.
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Barrel House Distilling Co.
There’s a barreling house in Lexington, Kentucky that dates back to the late 1700s. Over the centuries, it’s been home to a number of legendary distilleries. Today, it’s home to Barrel House Distilling
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Limestone Branch Distillery
A founding father of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, this family has been distilling in the same area since 1795, and is still making delicious award-winning bourbon today!
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Traveling through a bourbon wonderland...

Thirty-seven distilleries. Two distinct tours. One delicious spirit. There is no wrong way to enjoy the bourbon trail.

The Kentucky Bourbon Trail can take a minimum of four days, but can stretch to nine depending on how many of the eighteen distilleries you visit between Louisville and Woodford.

Though it can be conquered in a shorter period of time, the Craft Tour leg of the bourbon trail covers four distinct Kentucky regions over the course of five days.

On the craft bourbon trail you’ll pass through the Northern, Central, Western, and Bluegrass regions of Kentucky. During that trip, your glass will be filled with the most delicious, handcrafted bourbon your taste buds can
imagine.

If you have more than a week to spare, you might want to order another round on the trip. The Kentucky Distillers’ Association has an itinerary planned if you want to enjoy both the bourbon trail and the Bourbon Trail Craft Tour.

Think you could handle 950 miles and 37 Kentucky distilleries?

The Kentucky Distillers’ Association realizes that not everyone travels the same way. Some people want to see Jim Beam, others might want to spend more time at Bluegrass Distillers.

One look at the Kentucky Bourbon Trail website, and you’ll see that you can customize every aspect of your trip, and they have the tools and resources to help you do it.

Do you want a full day of visiting distilleries? Or only a half day? Are you looking for any specific events? Will transportation be an issue? Do you only want to visit a select group of the featured Kentucky bourbon distilleries?

There’s more to the bourbon trail than just sipping America’s Native Spirit.

Sure, there’s tours and tastings. But you can find all sorts of other
activities. There’s big-city nightlife, quaint country towns, bourbon-themed hotels and historic bed and breakfasts.

So while there’s plenty of delicious bourbon on the bourbon trail, you’ll have more to remember the trip by than a stomachful of robust bourbons.

A passport to Kentucky bourbon distilleries

If you follow the Kentucky Bourbon Trail’s itinerary,
your bourbon adventure starts in Louisville and brings you all the way to Woodford, passing through seven other cities along the way.

You’ll sample bourbons from famed Kentucky distilleries like Maker’s Mark, Wild Turkey, and Woodford Reserve, to name a few.

Those titans of bourbon are just the beginning of the famous names you’ll meet along the way.

If you choose to adventure on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail Craft Tour, the five day journey starts in the Northern region then moves through the Central and Western regions before leaving you, appropriately, in the Bluegrass region.

You’ll find legacy and tradition in every bottle from the independent Kentucky distilleries on the craft bourbon trail.

The craft bourbon trail, now in your living room

Within Spirit Hub’s collection of craft bourbon there are six of the distilleries on the Bourbon Trail Craft Tour. So if you don’t have a week or more to take off, and you can’t make it out to Kentucky, let us bring the craft bourbon trail to your front door with Bluegrass Distillers, Casey Jones Distillery, and Barrel House Distilling Co. just a click away.

Shop the Bourbon Trail