On our way back to Louisville from our trip to the Maker's Mark distillery, we had to pass back through Bardstown, KY. We decided to stop and get some lunch as well as check out some other distilleries.
Bardstown is one of the central locations of the Kentucky Bourbon Trial. There quite a few places to visit along the stretch of highway that leads into Bardstown as well as the surrounding area.
From there you can travel further East back towards Lexington to catch some of the other locations. For people with a lot of time on their hands, they have passport system where you can get a stamp at each location you visit. When you complete the passport you send it in and they send you a T-shirt.
I knew we were only going to be hitting a couple of places, so I didn't even try.
We were pretty famished after walking through the Maker's Mark facility, so we knew that getting some food was a must.
It was a Sunday, so a lot of places were closed, but we eventually found ourselves at a place called Bourbon Brick Oven and Grill. It was basically just a bar in a small strip mall that we happened upon. It actually looked like it might have once been a Mexican restaurant based on the decor.
We got some mozzarella sticks as a starter and then ordered our entres.
I got a cheeseburger and fries.
It appeared they were well known for their pizza. There was another large party at the place when we got there and they were all eating pizza. We had just had pizza the night before otherwise we probably would have tried it. I could the guy in the kitchen moving pizzas in and out of the big brick oven they had the whole time we were there.
I think there are plenty of other places in Bardstown that I likely wouldn't come back to Bourbon Brick Oven Pizza and Grill, unless of course it was one of the only places open like we experienced.
After finishing lunch up, we got back in the car and started doing some exploring. The first stop we made was at Bardstown Bourbon Company. Compared to most the other places we visited, this place is shiny and new. In fact, they are still doing a lot of construction around the welcome center/tasting room/gift shot/ restaurant.
To say it was beautiful would be an understatement. There was something really clean and industrial about the place. It screamed trendy to me and I am actually glad we didn't plan on going there for lunch because we surely would have felt out of place.
I even got a shot of the obligatory "wall of bourbon" that most places seem to have down here.
They even had a really cool outdoor area that I bet gets a lot of visitors in the warmer months. If I were to head down this way again, I wouldn't have a problem spending a night or two in Bardstown. It seems like there are a lot of really cool places to visit and things to see down here. There is even a railway museum. Sorry 
This shelf had some of the whiskeys that Bardstown Bourbon Company supplies the blends for. The second one in on the top left is Bob Dylan's Three Chord Whiskey, and in the lower left with the yellow label is Kentucky Owl. I was going to grab a bottle of the Kentucky Owl because I have heard good things about it, then I saw it was $400 USD, so I quickly put it back.
Ultimately, I ended up buying a bottle of the Bardstown Bourbon Company Fusion series. It was about $65 USD and I will be writing a more in depth review of it at some point in the future.
The modern campus at Bardstown Bourbon Company was a stark contrast to the 70+ year old farm that made up the Maker's Mark facility, but they were both beautiful in their own right and definitely worth a visit if you are ever down this way.
As we were heading back to our hotel in Louisville, we passed a sign that said Four Roses Distillery. I've had Four Roses Bourbon before and while it is good, it isn't a place that I felt I needed to visit. After some convincing from
The gift shop is a pretty cool building with this giant bourbon barrel attached to the outside. That barrel area is part of their tasting room. I ended up purchasing a T-Shirt and a bottle of single barrel bourbon that I gifted to my in-laws for watching our dog Jovi while we were gone.
I talked to them the other day and while they enjoyed the bottle, the definitely agreed that at 100 proof it was one of the strongest bourbons they have ever drank. Typically they drink regular Maker's Mark which is bottled at 90 proof.
While Four Roses appeared to be one of the smaller distilleries on the trail, I know a lot of people in my Whiskey and Bourbon Reddits think very highly of their offerings. Also, if you head to the Whisky/Whiskey community here on Hive, 
Upon further inspection, the location we visited appears to simply be a satellite location (bottling facility) for the Four Roses distillery. The full campus is over in Lawrenceburg, KY and has a very Spanish Mission feel to it from the pictures I am seeing. It might be cool to visit over there one day!
Finally, the last stop on our trip was the Jim Beam Distillery in Clermont, KY. Like the Maker's Mark facility, the Beam distillery is a sprawling farm located on the hillsides of Kentucky. As you will see from the photos, it is quite beautiful and historic. A stark contrast to the Bardstown Bourbon Company campus.
This is a location that I would definitely like to come back and visit sometime. You can tell there is a lot of history here and they even have a restaurant on site, so that could be kind of cool to visit as well. With all of the old buildings on the campus, I have a feeling the tours are probably really informative and entertaining.
On this trip,
The gift shop at Jim Beam was a little overwhelming. If you read my post last week, you know that Jim Beam makes much more than just the Jim Beam line of Bourbon. That means there were a lot of options to choose from when it came to buying something.
I was thinking about grabbing a bottle of Booker's that was selling for $100, but this guy suddenly came running down from the upstairs area of the gift shop and grabbed the last three they had and gave them to his friends to buy.
I ended up settling for a small bottle of Old Tub, and a small bottle of a special distiller's blend that you can only get at that location. I haven't opened them yet, but I promise I will do a review when I do.
For all the driving we did, it's hard to believe we only scratched the surface of this part of the Bourbon Trail. If you count the places we visited in Louisville, we maybe hit 1/4 of the locations.
Either way, I think I had a pretty good haul from our trip down to Louisville...
I definitely want to make my way back down this way sometime and visit more of the locations. The Wild Turkey campus looks interesting and the Buffalo Trace distillery out past Frankfort is on my bucket list as well.
If you are a fan of bourbon, the trail is a must visit. Even if you do it in small sections over various trips, it's totally worth it! The scenery alone is amazing!
All pictures/screenshots taken by myself or
