Louisville really managed to surprise me in the two months I spent there. From finding a great local bar to meeting new friends & trying local activities, I had a lot of fun and will definitely be recommending it to friends as a place to add to their personal travel bucket lists.

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While I already shared some of the other things that make Louisville great, I would be leaving out a very important part of the story and lifeblood of Louisville if I didn’t take a whole post to talk about Bourbon. I could go into the history or the craftsmanship of the different brands and distilleries, but honestly, the best thing I can say is to just go visit yourself. Each tour offers a different look into the history of the bourbon making process, the evolution of various big names in the bourbon world, and why Kentucky in particular is a great place to make and age bourbon. Here are the places I was able to visit with my parents when they came into town to visit me (what can I say, they love bourbon) and a few notes about what made them each unique.

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Based on the 6 distilleries we visited:

Best History / Learning Experience ~ Evan Williams Bourbon Experience, Downtown Louisville, KY

Best Tasting ~ Heaven Hill Bourbon Experience, Bardstown, KY

Most Beautiful Distillery / Campus ~ Makers Mark, Loretto, KY

Stitzel-Weller / Blade & Bow (Louisville, KY)

This was the first distillery my dad and I visited on his first of two trips to Louisville. We did a combo tour & tasting and while this is now primarily an aging facility used by a variety of other bourbon makers, they do still produce one small batch new brand named Blade and Bow. The distillery history has connections to a lot of the big names in bourbon so if you’re a bourbon fan this is a great stop on your bourbon trail trip. It’s also only 15 minutes outside of downtown so it’s an easy addition to any Louisville trip.

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My dad’s favorite bourbon is Blanton’s, but tasting Blade and Bow impressed him enough that he wanted a bottle to take home. And now…I may have a bottle of it stashed away for Christmas morning ;)

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Tour & Tasting options range from $25 to $65. See website for different tour descriptions & bookings.

Buffalo Trace (Frankfort, KY)

Buffalo Trace is a fan favorite in the bourbon world (and a personal mecca for my Dad). They make a huge variety of brands (see below), including the famous Pappy Van Winkle line. They have a large and beautiful campus, and it’s worth a stop in the gift shop & a walk around if you’re in the Frankfort area, even if you can’t get on a tour. They are currently building more warehouses so they can increase their production, but for now most of their brands are in very limited supply. A main perk of visiting is that they release a certain number of bottles of different brands every day in the gift shop. If you make it to the shop earlier in the day, you are allowed to pick up one bottle of each brand available per person (they scan your driver’s license and let you buy one bottle of each type every 1 to 3 months, depending on the brand).

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My dad and I were only able to get into a tasting, not a tour. But even with a tasting you do get an extra perk. Even if the shop downstairs is sold out of their stock for the day, they save a few bottles for the tasting participants :D

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There are a BUNCH of different tour & tasting options, and all of them are FREE! They are VERY popular though, so definitely make sure to book your spot as soon as you know you’re visiting (preferably a month+ ahead of time).

Castle & Key (Frankfort, KY)

We didn’t get to actually visit this distillery, but it was recommended to me by a few different friends. After my dad and I visited Buffalo Trace, we took the extra drive over to see how pretty it was and we weren’t disappointed. We are definitely adding it to the list for our next visit!

Angel’s Envy (downtown Louisville, KY)

There are a few distilleries and tasting rooms right in downtown Louisville on Main St. Most of them aren’t as impressive as the ones that have their own campuses outside of town like Buffalo Trace or Makers, but they can be a great way to try different bourbons & have the tasting experience without needing a rental car or a few hours to get there and back. The tour guide at Angel’s we had was knowledgeable, and the tasting was fun. Not our favorite of the trip, but then again Angel’s isn’t my dad’s favorite so even with that we still had fun. If you’re new to bourbon and want to do a few tastings in town, this is a good one to add.

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Tour & Tasting options start from $20. See website for different tour descriptions & bookings.

Heaven Hill Bournon Experience (Bardstown, KY)

Heaven Hill is the parent company of a lot of brands including Evan Williams, Elijah Craig, Larceny, Bernheim, and more. The distillery isn’t open for tours, but they have a “Bourbon Experience” center and which has a nice museum, a big gift shop, and one of the best tastings we did on either of my parents’ trips. Some places will talk you through flavor profiles but essentially just let you drink 4-5 things, but this was one of the most in-depth tastings that I did at any distillery or tasting room. If you’re willing to take a drive and see some pretty scenery, this is a great tasting to teach you how to really try out different different bourbons and make the most of each one.

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See website for different tasting / bottling descriptions & bookings.

Makers Mark (Loretto, KY)

This is arguably the prettiest distillery on the entire Kentucky Bourbon Trail. The drive from Louisville is scenic, the property is gorgeous, and they even have an on-site restaurant & bar so you can make it a nice day trip. The tour is great, but our tasting was only ok. Makers in general is great in an old fashioned, but it’s not a family favorite by itself. Overall, this place is worth the drive, even if Makers isn’t your favorite to drink neat.

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Tour & Tasting options start from $20. See website for different tour descriptions & bookings.

Evan Williams Bourbon Experience (Downtown Louisville, KY)

This is another one of the downtown distilleries. Unlike the Heaven Hill experience that has most of the Heaven Hill Brands, the Evan Williams spot only focuses on Evan Williams and even includes a small batch distillery that has a unique blend they only sell at this location (and it’s good enough that my parents took a bottle home). While the tasting here was a good one, the tour itself was the best combined tour and explanation of the bourbon making process that we saw in any of our distillery visits. The building is on the original Evan Williams land, and they have an amazing interactive history of the man behind the brand evolution, plus our guide was extremely knowledgeable. Of the local Louisville tours we did, this was the best!

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Tour & Tasting options start from $15. See website for different tour descriptions & bookings.

Bonus: Louisville Bourbon Bars

Here are a few bars in downtown Louisville with great bourbon selections to tempt you between distillery tours or just for finding a glass of something you can’t try anywhere else:

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Doc Crow’s

Both a BBQ/smokehouse and a bourbon room... that has over 2000 BOTTLES TO TRY. For those bourbon folks that want to try that hard to find bottle, this is definitely a must visit. They even have a decent veggie burger at the rib-filled restaurant so it’s a win-win for everyone!

Silver Dollar

Another great spot with a binder full of bourbons to try out, not to mention a killer bakery across the street that even has amazing vegan cake & cookies (and “normal” ones with eggs and stuff if you’re into that kind of thing).

Trouble Bar

This was one spot I didn’t manage to make it to, but it was recommended a few times as another spot to try a lot of different bourbons.

Thanks for coming along on this looooong review of all of the bourbon distilleries my parents and I were able to visit during my time in Louisville. Hopefully this info helps you plan your own trip along the bourbon trail!

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All photos taken on a first-gen iPhone SE

Disclaimer: this post is not sponsored. All distillery tours were fully paid for by my family. All opinions are my own.