The 5 Best Bourbon Tours for People Who Really Don't Drink Bourbon
Kentucky's distilleries offer so much more than just bourbon!
Now and again, I find myself singing the praises of a bourbon distillery tour, either to a fellow Kentuckian or an out-of-towner,only to be met with an unenthusiastic "Oh, I'm not a big drinker" or "I don't really like bourbon." I'm always taken aback by these responses. Sure, distilleries produce bourbon, which is often quite delicious, but they also tell so many authentically Kentucky stories.
The thing that makes Kentucky's bourbon distilleries so very special isn't just the product that's being made. It's the timelessness, the history, and the community spirit that surround the Kentucky spirits industry. The master distillers still carry a little jar of their secret recipe home every night so that the original mash bill can never be lost, in a throwback to the earliest days of bourbon-making. When tragedy strikes a distillery, Kentuckians are concerned. We don't just worry about the lost booze or the hit to the Commonwealth's tourism industry; every distillery contains friends, relatives, and colleagues who are directly impacted. This week alone, when the site of the upcoming Brown-Forman Whiskey Row visitors center was destroyed by fire and the Heaven Hill warehouse was damaged by storms, our thoughts turned immediately to the safety of our friends who work in the spirits industry. It often feel that even those of us who don't choose to imbibe are connected the bourbon family.
In the spirit of our Summer Fun Lists, here are the top 5 can't miss bourbon attractions for folks who aren't all about the bourbon. Click here to download.
5. The Speakeasy Experience at the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience. If you're interested in the history of Louisville or a fan of Jazz Age history, you absolutely MUST take this tour. It's quick (usually runs around half an hour) and cheap ($12). It's led by a bourbon historian who takes on the character of a Prohibition-era barkeep; he even infuses a fascinating little story from his own family into the tale. If you or your guests find yourselves in downtown Louisville on a weekend, you should make a point of stopping by this attraction on your way to the Slugger Museum or 21C. If you don't like bourbon, I can promise you that someone in the tour group will be happy to take the complimentary taste of 23 year Evan off your hands for you!
4. The National Landmark Tour at Woodford Reserve. This is an amazing experience for history and architecture buffs. It's about the evolution of Central Kentucky; it just happens to use a bourbon distillery to tell that story.
3. Jim Beam American Stillhouse. It's just so amazingly beautiful out at Jim Beam. It's like you've been carried back in time to a perfect little village amidst rolling foothills. As you pass the on-site fire department and the statue of Jim Beam, you feel more like you're in a really well-decorated theme than a distillery; don't miss barbecue from the on-site restaurant!
2. The Ghost Tour at Buffalo Trace. Spend an eerie hour or so on the historic riverbanks of our Commonwealth's capital city, looking for the ghost of Col. Blanton. If haunted mansions and ghostly lore are your thing, you must take this tour!
1. Dinner Series at Maker's Mark. Maybe you don't like bourbon, but you love good food in a gorgeous setting, right? Maker's Mark has some pretty incredible dinners lined up for the summer, including the Rick Bayless. That's right: Rick Bayless at Maker's Mark. That one is a foodie can't-miss!
Happy Touring, y'all!
Happy Repeal Day!
Celebrate the 81st Anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition with a Kentucky bourbon cocktail!
In the second decade of the Twentieth Century, America experienced a wave of anti-alcohol sentiment. The temperance movement, led at its most radical edges by Garrard County, KY native Carrie Nation, posited the abolition of sales of alcoholic beverages as the key to the nation's health and moral soundness. The ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment and the subsequent passing of the Volstead Act outlawed the sale and manufacturing of alcoholic beverages in the United States, beginning in 1920.
Ultimately, neither the public safety nor the nation's economy profited from the Prohibition experiment. The production and procurement of alcoholic beverages was driven underground, resulting in a surge of organized crime activities. Prohibition grew increasingly less popular and by the onset of the Great Depression, it was evident that the legalization of alcoholic beverages would result in increased tax revenue for the nation.
When the aristocratic lawyer and sitting Governor of New York, Franklin Delano Roosevelt promised sweeping change for the nation, including economic stimulus through the reform of bootlegging operations. Roosevelt handily defeated incumbent Herbert Hoover in the 1932 Presidential election. By February 1933, the Twenty-First Amendment, which would repeal the Eighteenth Amendment, was introduced in Congress, and in March of that year, President Roosevelt signed into law the Cullen-Harrison Act, which allowed the sale of low-alcohol spirits. The 21st Amendment was adopted on December 5, 1933 (widely celebrated as Repeal Day).
Here in Kentucky, Prohibition's impact was particularly harsh. As bourbon historian Rick Bell brilliantly relays during the Evan Williams Speakeasy Tour, the Volstead Act brought dark days to Kentucky. Kentucky's famous bourbon industry was hit hard by Prohibition. The shuttered distilleries (which, by 1929, could produce small amounts of whiskey for medicinal purposes) led to scores of unemployed workers, many of whom had no additional job skills. A young whiskey salesman for the Stitzler-Weller distillery, Julian "Pappy" Van Winkle, found himself bereft of income or skills. In But Always Fine Bourbon: Pappy Van Winkle and the Story of Old Fitzgerald, Sally Van Winkle (Pappy's granddaughter), remembers the words of her own father, Julian Jr.:
I doubt there are too many around today who could imagine what it was like when Prohibition came. It meant that one of the nation's biggest industries was shut down tight. I was just a boy but I could remember all those men who had been in business for decades sitting in front of their rolled-top desks with their green eyeshades. They just rolled down their desktops, walked out, and locked the door on January 1, 1920.
Fortunately, eighty-one years later, Kentucky bourbon whiskey is stronger than ever. New labels are being introduced at a rapid pace and bourbon tourism is a major source of revenue for the Bluegrass State.
There are many ways you can celebrate Repeal Day today. If you'll be in Louisville tonight, check out the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience's Repeal Day Celebration (Period dress is encouraged, but not required!) from 5-9 p.m.
Maker's Mark has repealed shipping fees all day, so you'll get a break on ordering some of your holiday goodies, or perhaps a treat for yourself.
Or, you can pour yourself a bourbon cocktail (I'll have an old-fashioned, please!) and celebrate 81 years of freedom to (legally) imbibe!
The HerKentucky Guide to Speakeasy Louisville: Evan Williams Speakeasy Experience
The Evan Williams Speakeasy Experience transports visitors to Prohibition-Era Louisville.
Welcome to the first installment of the HerKentucky Guide to Speakeasy Louisville! On Thursdays throughout the fall, we'll travel back to the Jazz Age in the Derby City, when the nation's Prohibition laws didn't quench the collective thirst for Kentucky Bourbon. We'll channel our inner Daisy Buchanans and dance the Charleston at Louisville's finest establishments. And, of course, we'll take a sip or two of the native drink that kept the city's spirits high. Today, we'll visit the Speakeasy at Evan Williams Distillery.
The Evan Williams Experience, in the heart of Downtown Louisville's Whiskey Row, is unlike any other distillery tour you'll ever visit. Of course, you get the nuts and bolts of whiskey-making, as you do on other tours, but you also hear a lot about the label's history. That's only natural, since Evan Williams himself -- the Welsh politician, businessman, and distiller -- was Kentucky's first commercial distiller.
In keeping with the historical focus, the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience recently added a Speakeasy Experience tour, which transports visitors back to the days when the dreaded Volstead Act drove liquor sales underground.
Image courtesy Evan Williams
Bourbon Historian Rick Bell portrays a Roaring Twenties Barkeep in a charming period lecture that immerses the visitor into the days when alcohol production and consumption ceased in American. Well, officially ceased in America.
Rick Bell, image courtesy Evan Williams
The half-hour tour runs Friday-Sunday at the Evan Williams Distillery, 528 W. Main Street in Louisville. The $12 admission fee includes three shots of bourbon -- one is the ultra-premium 23 year-old, which retails for over $400 per bottle. For fans of good bourbon and the era of flappers and philosophers, it's a can't miss event!