I would definitely do a tour that Friday. I wont necessarily say to skip a tour if you haven't done that one yet but there are a few you shouldn't miss.

For Friday, I havent been to Evan Williams since it is new to the tour so cant compare it to JB or HH but would do either Evan or Beam. You probably will have time to do two tours but easy to make the call by the second stop.

Saturday go early to Makers, do the tour and then definitely buy a bottle in the gift shop & dip in in the wax. Then Four Roses and do the tour at Wild Turkey. If I remember right, Turkey gives you 3 tastes of any of about 8 bottles so recommend a shot of Russell Reserve and share the other 2 so you can try 4 smaller tastes. If you are at Makers early then you should have time to get a stamp at Town Branch.

Sunday if you only have time for one tour and haven't gotten the Town Branch stamp then skip the tour of Town Branch as the Makers tour is an absolute must (plus they have plenty of bourbon chocolate *****). Trust me, don't skip this one.

 

Sounds awesome, as a bourbon drinker and having tried about 20 different brands this is something I would love to ride, looking forward to your post on it.

 

It isn't a road instead it is a series of stops at different bourbon distilleries. Most of the routes in between are pretty straight forward and each place has always had written directions to each of the other locations. The best road (and don't think it is the one on the directions) is between Markers & Lexington and is route 152 to 68.

The trail something you can do in a weekend or spread out over a long time. The cool thing is you get a passport and when get it stamped at each stop then mail it in for a free tee-shirt. Highly recommend it.

 

Hey Folks I've not downloaded it and looked at it, but the Kentucky Bourbon Trail now has a free app for your smart phone

 

I'd love to hear recommendations and updates on this thread. I'm a pretty serious bourbon drinker and have been trying to put this ride together for several years.

 

I have always wanted to do this. As a avid bourbon drinker, I like to try different brands and bottles. I have done the JD one and my daugher got me a bottle she dipped at MM.
I have an old Army buddy that lives in Bardstown that wants me to come up during the fest. I really need to take him up on the offer.

 

Lots of fun touring the distilleries http://kybourbontrail.com/
Makers Mark, Buffalo Trace and Woodford Reserve are my favorites - but it is all local for me.

 

I haven't done what you'd call an official "Trail" but I've hit a handful of the distilleries, and most of them are worth the ride. Hell, the ride would be worth the ride even without bourbon! I know the MM folks have spirits you can only get on site, and it sure is fun dipping your own bottle. Of course, it's pretty local for me, too...c'mon, warm weather!!!

 

We tried it a couple of years ago. It was the summer with record hot temps. I want to do it again because that summer was just too hot to ride...and I'm from Arizona. We also rode down to Tenn. and toured the Jack Daniels plant.

 

woodford is my favorite distillery to tour, and they also just remodeled it. I would make sure you stop there.