How to pick the distilleries on the Bourbon Trail: Reviews

Discover 9 distilleries on a bourbon tour. Read my reviews and find the perfect additions to your itinerary. You can read about the 9 distilleries about Heaven Hill, Willet, Mark’s Mark, Buffalo Trace, Old Forester, Michter’s, Angels’ Envy, Woodford Reserve and Four Roses.

Heaven Hill

You will see many rickhouses as you drive to the main building for your scheduled tour. It is a huge distillery! Heaven Hill describes their property, “We have almost 70 rickhouses where we age our American Whiskey. They sit on seven different sites across Bourbon Country, and hold between 10,000 and over 70,000 barrels each.”

When we went, it was in 2023 and the effects of COVID were still in place. We parked and stood outside until we were allowed to walk in. At our tour time, we walked inside to register. Registering is the first thing you will do. Make sure you have your driver’s license. We placed our blue bands on our wrist and spent some time in their small barn style gift shop.

We waited on the opposite side of where we came in for our tour. Rick, our tour guide, greeted us at our tour time. He walked us out the door and through one of their rickhouses. Wow! Walking in hit me with the smell of corn mash that laid heavy in the stifling air.

Rick explained about how they build their rickhouses. They are designed to prevent the whole rick house from falling. There is a beam that runs through the middle of the building. Splitting the building in half. If part of the building begins to fall, only half the building will collapse.

Our tour guide also talked about how the heat affects the bourbon sitting in the barrels. The temperature raises as you go up into the higher floors. They rotate their barrels. The barrels at the top of the rick houses, lose the most bourbon. The evaporated bourbon is called the Angels share.

The tasting part was fascinating. We sat at a bar. As he poured our tastes of Heaven Hill’s bourbon’s he talked about water mouthing recipes that used bourbon. It was

They have been selling bourbon since 1935. Heaven Hill sells their own Bottle and Bond, straight bourbon, wheated and rye. Other names they sell are Henry McKenna, Bernheim, Rittenhouse, Larceny, Old Fitzgerald, Pinesville, Elijah Craig, and Evans Williams.

Willett Distillery

This distillery was noticeably smaller than Heaven Hill. The distillery had a laid back feel. We drove through the grounds up to the main building. Walking in there is a very small gift shop to the left and the bathrooms and cafe are to the right. We walked to the left to sign in. As it was lunch time, we walked around hoping to find lunch. The lunch place was closed the day we were there. You actually need to make reservations for their lunch. You can find this on line.

As we had time before our tour we walked to the right side of the building. By the bathrooms, there is a large black board. Willett writes celebrations on the blackboard. Our names were on there! When I had made reservations, they had a place for notes. I shared that we were celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary. Actually, I was hoping to get some freebies. I know that companies will do something special for birthdays so I gave it a shot. Willett was the best! Our tour guide knew we were celebrating. We got free small bourbon glasses, the caps the close off the barrels with Willett stamp on it and our name on the blackboard. What a nice touch!

The bourbons they sell is their Willett line, Noah’s Mill, Rowan’s Creek, Kentucky Vintage, Old Bardstown, Johnny’s Drum.

Mary was our tour guide. She was very friendly and talkative. Before we started the tour, we were all handed small bourbon glasses for the pours we would have at the stops along our tour. This was the major difference from all of the others. Our last pour was back in the main building’s tasting room.

To be honest, in retrospect, this was our favorite tour.

Maker’s Mark Distillery

The feel of Maker’s Mark’s property was condense. All of the buildings are close together but don’t feel crowded or closed in. This family owned business began in 1953. They sell their name sake bourbons.

All of the Maker’s Mark bourbons are made from the same mash. The difference is in how the barrels are finished off. Maker’s Mark 47 is put in new barrels with 10 seared oak slabs. They are kept in a building that sits into a hill side. These barrels sit in this cool location for 9 months.

In the building under the earth there is a room for people who want to buy a whole barrel. Pretty cool!

As this was our third tour of the day, I do not remember their gift shop. I was also quite hungry as I hadn’t had anything since breakfast.

Buffalo Trace Distillery

The tours at Buffalo Trace are free. You have to book your tour at least 3 months ahead. If you don’t get a tour, do not panic or take Buffalo Trace off your list. All you need to do is show up prior to the 9:00 am opening time and stand in line. Workers will come out and tell the people in line their open tours for the day. We took them up on the Taylor Tour as we did not have a tour reservation.

We showed up 15 minutes before Buffalo Trace opened up at 9:00 am. The line was already a long snaking line. When I opened my car door, WOW, the sour mash was so strong! I quickly covered my nose and walked to get in line.

We didn’t stand in line long before we were approached about going on the Taylor Tour. We were pulled out of line and brought into the building where we registered for the tour. With our Buffalo Trace brown bands on our wrist we walked up the hill to the gift shop.

The gift shop is large. Besides the clothing, glasses, bourbon cream, root beer and other bourbon accessories you will find Buffalo Trace bourbon, Sazerac bourbon. There will also be the special bourbon of the day on the shelf. You are allowed to buy one of each of them.

The bourbons they sell are Buffalo Trace, Eagle Rare, Sazerac, Stagg, Weller, Blanton’s, Taylor and Pappy Van Winkle.

To know which bourbon is available the following day, there is a website that predicts called Buffalo Trace Daily.

Our Taylor Tour

Shelley greeted us and began to explain the history of EH Taylor Jr. The tour covered Taylor’s house and talked about what he did to contribute to bourbon as a whole. Here is what I learned:

1. EH Taylor Jr and Stagg hated each other. They hated each other so much their office had two separate entrances with their name over their respective door. Taylor focused on the bourbon making and Stagg focused on the money managing.
2. As a congressman, he along with others created the Bottle and Bond act. To be a Bottle and Bond bourbon it must have 52% corn, 100% proof, made and aged at one federally bonded distillery.

Our only disappointment on the EH Taylor tour was the tasting portion. We were offered Buffalo Trace, Eagle Rare, Vodka, Weller, Buffalo Cream and their root beer. We did learn that Buffalo Cream tasted really good with root beer. You read it right! Taylor was not one of the pours. That’s why we’re disappointed.

Old Forester Distillery

You will find this one in the city of Louisville itself. Their entrance is like any city business. The rickhouses are located on their other properties.

Our tour guide really knew her stuff. Above the picture is of their barrel making station. It was here we got to see them searing barrels. Other things I learned from her were:

1. Old Forester was the first distillery to put bourbon in a glass bottle.
2. This distillery was allowed to remain open during Prohibition. Believe it or not, they were allowed to stay open for medical reasons. They put the bourbon in a glass bottle with a label directing the sick person to take two ounces as needed for pain.
3. If you want to take a tour of Old Forester, you must take it at their city location. Their main distillery is outside the city.

The tasting had a nice presentation. The chocolate covered square marshmallow with a sip of bourbon is fantastic!

Michter’s Distillery

This distillery is in the city. I liked the industrial vibe of this distillery.

Here is what I learned on this tour:

1. They allow their bourbon to reach 103% proof. This is to avoid watering down the bourbon at the end which most distilleries do.
   • Filling the barrel: The barrel is fill 3/4 bourbon and 1/4 water.
   • The water will age with the bourbon
   • When bottling they only have to add a little water. Making it a more pure bourbon.
2. This was a condensed tour.
3. As they are in the city, they so have a rickhouse in there city building. Their barrels sit on temperature controlled racks. Which means they can warm and cool the space which takes 6 months off the barrel time.

This idea makes sense. If I make chicken soup, the water becomes chicken broth as everything is added at the beginning. When I serve the soup it has all of the rich taste expected in eating chicken soup. However, if I had to add water near the end, the taste would be described as, ‘watery.’

Angels’ Envy

This tour, like the other two in the city, is condensed. Everything is in one space. They walked us through the space where their mash was in covered containers. Pictured above is their very tall distillery.

Our tasting had two different tastings. The Single Barrel and the Rye with chocolate.

After the tour we went to the Finishing Room for an Old Fashioned. This is a nice place to have a drink.

My take aways were:

1. They cook everything in covered containers, very different from the other distilleries.
2. They finish their Rye bourbon in Caribbean Rum Casks and their Single Bourbon in Port Wine Barrels.
3. They have a bar named “The Finishing Room.” Here you can have a drink made for you.
4. Wes Henderson, the owner is often there. We got to see him showing people around. Pretty cool.

Woodford Reserve

The drive out there was so beautiful. We passed one horse farm after another. The dark black fences lined the road throughout our drive to Woodford. We drove onto the property and headed to the visitor center which sat amidst a tree covered lot.

The visitor center had wood beams and an open floor plan. On the right of walking in the door, there is a fireplace. On the left was their gift shop.

My take aways from the tour are:

1. The mash duration is for 6-7 days. This is different from the other distilleries.
2. They distill their bourbon 3 times rather than 2.
3. Double Oak Woodford is moved from one new oak barrel into another one for up to 18 months
4. The normal maturation is 7-10 years.

Four Roses

Driving onto the Four Roses grounds reminded me of a winery in Virginia. It is set on a hill with rolling hills scattered with trees. The building are Spanish style with the red spanish tiled roofs.

This was the first place I set a reservation for. This is one of my husband’s favorite bourbons.

Our tour guide, Fred, spoke in a monotone flat voice. as he led around the property. The tour had a feel of being off for the season. We were seeing the property but as if it was not in full operation. Here is what I learned:

1. They keep their mash for 4 days.
2. The charring on the barrels is a 4.
3. Their bourbon sits in barrels for 5-10 years.
4. They have two mash bills E and B they use to make their bourbon.

This was the worst tour we went on.

Read my other posts about the bourbon trail”