I wrote about the first part of our trip to Louisville, too!
After the fun of horse races and baseball, the next day we rented a car with a few friends and drove an hour outside of Louisville to hit up a few distilleries on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. Our first stop: Maker’s Mark.
We got to do a full tour of their whole facility, which was so charming. All of the black buildings with red bourbon bottle shaped shutters, with lots of green bushes and trees.
Alcohol is made in here.
The maker’s mark seal, for the Samuels family.
Mash bubbling up into alcohol. We got to dip our fingers in there and taste the not-quite-ready bourbon (it just needs another 6 years in a barrel).
Then came the fun part: watching the entire bottling process. Bottles being filled with Maker’s 46. So delicious.
Bottles being capped and taped.
Dipping bottles in the signature red wax.
The cutest wax dryer mini-warehouse.
After the bottling, we got to the best part: the tasting! We got to taste the traditional Maker’s Mark and Maker’s 46. Both were delicious, but the Maker’s 46 was my personal favorite.
We didn’t end up dipping our own bottles; the line got long really fast and we had a few other stops before we had to make it back downtown for the rehearsal dinner.
Just hanging out at Maker’s Mark on a beautiful Kentucky day.
On the way to Maker’s Mark, we passed a lot of these creepy horror movie warehouses. As we soon learned, they are barrel warehouses, where the barrels of bourbon will hang out and age for years. These were the ones outside of Heaven Hill, our next stop.
Heaven Hill Bourbon Heritage Center. I knew it for Evan Williams, among other things. (Including Burnett’s–college throwback!)
We did a quick mini-tour here, since the Maker’s tour really taught us a lot about the whole bourbon-making process. We did get to taste Evan Williams Single Barrel and Elijah Craig. My pick here was the Evan Williams.
Our last stop of the southern distilleries was Jim Beam. We got there too late for the last tour, but we did get to do a tasting with the tour group. Whew!
We tried Knob Creek and Basil Hayden’s. I thought that the Maker’s 46 was going to be my favorite, but it turns out, Basil Hayden’s was awesome. Smooth and so easy to drink.
Overall, the Kentucky Bourbon Trail was a great idea. The tours and tastings are all free, but it is a ways outside of the city so you’ll need a car or a tour service, of which there are many I’m sure.
When we dropped off the rental car downtown, we decided to walk across the Ohio River and stop in Indiana.We didn’t get to see much, but made sure to touch ground to say we’d been to Indiana.
After a fun rehearsal dinner, and plenty of recovery sleep, Cainon and I got a big brunch at Dish and then walked to the Muhammad Ali Center. We spent a little while there watching videos of old fights and learning how to box. Before long, it was time to catch the shuttle to the wedding ceremony. The whole ceremony was beautiful and very personal, and the bride, Alyson, looked stunning! I only snapped a few photos the whole night, but it was a great time.
Until next time, cheers!
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