On the Bourbon Trail at Bardstown

Bardstown, Kentucky is known as the most beautiful small town in America. It’s located 40 minutes from Louisville and is Kentucky’s second oldest city. The downtown area is walk-able and includes a number of shops and restaurants. The Courthouse Square was decorated beautifully during the holidays!

Bardstown is most famous for it’s bourbon, being home to 9 distilleries. And we were able to visit a few of them!

Heaven Hill was founded in 1935 and is still family owned and operated today. We took a self-guided tour through the exhibits, learning about their portfolio. We also watched a short video in their theater about how the distillery got it’s start. That video is also linked in their website if you want to learn more.

Heaven Hill has an amazing gift shop, with items for cooking, entertaining, books, and more! They also have a bar and kitchen upstairs.

The modern appeal along with the variety of tours led us to Bardstown Bourbon. Being a newer distillery that opened in 2016, it is unique with it’s glass rickhouses. The distillery also has a restaurant and bar as well as a variety of experiences or tours to choose from. I enjoyed the cocktail class while my husband participated in the rickhouse barrel thieving experience.

The cocktail class changes the drinks seasonally, but I found the two winter drinks we created to be perfect! We made a cranberry whiskey sour and an old fashioned. I also really appreciated learning about the craft of making each one.

The lounge where the class was held was in one of the rickhouses. It had a glass wall behind so visitors could see into the area where all of the barrels are stored. Our guide also stated that the lounge can be reserved for events. It was a stunning place!

About a 25 minute from Bardstown is the quaint little small town of Loretto, Kentucky. Makers Mark is located at Star Hill Farm right in the small town of Loretto. Being another family based operation for 3 generations now, Makers Mark is surrounded by plant and wildlife. We experienced the Makers Mark Tour during our visit, where we learned about the history of Makers. The beautiful grounds along with the lovely artwork throughout made this one of our favorite stops along the bourbon trail!

In the Cellar at Makers Mark is a glass exhibition on the ceiling, made by Chihuly. Are you able to spot any of the angels created in this glass masterpiece? They might be hard to capture in these photos below, but there are several angels in each section of glass to represent the angel share.

At the end of the tour, guests were taken to the gift shop on site for purchases. Like other distilleries, some bottles are only able to be purchased here. We were able to buy one of these bottles. Then, I had the opportunity to dip the bottle we purchased in the signature red wax. A keepsake item for sure!

Fun facts: Margie Samuels (wife of Bill Samuels, founder of Makers Mark), dipped the very first bottle of Makers Mark in red wax. Thus, creating a tradition from then on. Makers Mark trademarked the red wax in 1985.

Although our home base for our week-long visit to this part of Kentucky was in Louisville, there are hotels and vacation rentals in Bardstown.

This post may contain affiliate links. This means we may receive a small commission if you make a purchase (at no additional cost to you).