Downtown Distilleries

To answer everyone's question: yes, I drank bourbon on this trip.

Am I now a fan of bourbon?

Absolutely not. That stuff is disgusting and y'all should have seen the faces that I was making after each sample. Gross.

But I am a fan of taking a distillery tour. We were able to visit three distilleries and I was surprised by how different each tour was. You would think that if you're touring three distilleries that all make a similar product that you'd get bored after awhile listening to the same information. Nope. Not even close.

The first distillery we visited was actually in downtown Louisville and only a six block walk from our hotel.

Kentucky Pearless Distilling

This distillery was actually the 50th distillery in Kentucky. They shut down operations for awhile but now the family is opening back up for business. They were even able to get back their original number (50) which is a pretty big deal. But it meant that because they had just started back up again, they don't have any bourbon or whiskey ready yet. They've got at least 3.5 more years to go.

Peerless is a small, local craft distillery so we were able to get a great tour due to our tiny tour group.

We toured around with the assistant distiller and the master distiller. The master distiller? He's only 23. They both were a wealth of information and you could tell how vested they were in this distillery based on the way they were talking about it. I was told at the beginning of the tour that no pictures were allowed {dude, Louisville, seriously have got to stop it with the no picture thing!} so I had my camera stashed away for most of the tour.

However.

I am not one to pass up the perfect photographing opportunity and I wanted a picture with their first ever barrel of bourbon when we got to that part of the tour. I asked and the master distiller looked at me like I was crazy. Of course I could take a picture. Pictures are totally allowed. Snap away!

... so naturally, I asked if I could go back and tour again to take pictures of all of the things that I missed. He was more than happy to walk me around again.

 

 

{fill date: August 29, 2015... the day we got engaged. So yes, had to take a picture of this one}

At the conclusion of our tour, we were able to sample some of their Kentucky Lucky Moonshine. I went for the Green Apple Pie and the Peach. I loved the Peach, but wasn't a huge fan of the Green Apple Pie. The boys all loved the Chocolate one {which you all know I didn't go anywhere near trying}.


 

We all love, love, loved this tour. It was personable and extremely informing. If you're in Louisville, we all highly recommend this one.

Evan Williams Bourbon Experience

I believe one person described this as the Disneyworld of bourbon tours. Accurate statement.

I didn't enjoy this one as much because the tour groups were large and it was very commercialized, but I did enjoy the emphasis on the history of bourbon rather than the distilling process.

I tried three different types of bourbon here and thoroughly disliked each and every one of them. Credit for trying them at least, right? Plus, Patrick, Chris, and John enjoyed the expressions I had on my face after each taste.

 

 

Don't let the smile fool you. Still not a fan of bourbon.

Would I recommend this tour to someone? Maybe, you know, if you had time or something. It wouldn't be on my must do list because I think you can find better tours elsewhere.

Check back tomorrow for the granddaddy tour of them all - Maker's Mark. You know, if you can find the distillery among the back country, windy, one lane roads of Kentucky that is.