Kentucky Bourbon Trail

Four Roses Distillery
Recently filled barrels of Woodford Reserve bourbon outside of the rickhouse, where they will be stacked and stored during the aging process
Jim Beam Distillery

The Kentucky Bourbon Trail (sometimes informally shortened to "the Bourbon Trail") is a program of the Kentucky Distillers' Association (KDA) to promote the bourbon industry in Kentucky.

The KDA has registered the phrase Kentucky Bourbon Trail as a trademark.

History

The Kentucky Bourbon Trail was launched in 1999 by the KDA. At the time, it included seven of the eight distilleries in the region.[1][2] In 2008, an eighth distillery, the Tom Moore Distillery, joined the Trail program.[3] However, the Tom Moore Distillery was then purchased by the Sazerac Company the following year, and at the end of that year both the Tom Moore Distillery and the Buffalo Trace Distillery, which was also owned by the Sazerac Company, withdrew from the KDA.[4] The two Sazerac distilleries continue to host public tours, and a Sazerac spokesperson stated that they still feel that they are "very much a part of the Bourbon Trail", but stated that Sazerac wishes to promote its distilleries independently of the KDA.[4]

In August 2012, the Town Branch Distillery was added to the trail, bringing the number of distilleries to 7.[5] The Heaven Hill Evan Williams distillery in Louisville was added in May 2013, expanding the primary tour program to include eight destinations.[6] In 2014, The Bulleit Experience at Historic Stitzel-Weller Distillery joined the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, raising the number to nine destinations.

In October 2012, the KDA announced that it would expand the Kentucky Bourbon Trail program to include a new "Craft Tour" of seven artisan distilleries.[7][8] The Craft Tour expanded to include eight distilleries in December 2013.[9]

2012 had the highest-ever rate of completion for participation in the trail.[10]

Trail member sites

The program sends free T-shirts to people who mail in a promotional "passport" that has been stamped by all the participating distilleries.

The nine current primary Bourbon Trail destinations are:[11]

The members of the Bourbon Trail "Craft Tour" are:[7][11]

References

  1. ↑ Clark, Jayne (2004-04-29). "Sun shines bright on Kentucky bourbon". USA Today. Retrieved 2008-11-14.
  2. ↑ Gilbert, Richard (2003-06-01). "In search of... Bourbon in Kentucky". The Independent. Retrieved 2008-11-14.
  3. ↑ Warren, Jim (2008-08-28). "8th distillery joins Ky. Bourbon Trail". Lexington Herald-Leader. Retrieved 2008-11-14.
  4. 1 2 Patton, Janet (2010-02-05). "Buffalo Trace, Tom Moore leave distillers' group, Bourbon Trail". Lexington Herald-Leader. Retrieved 2010-03-04.
  5. ↑ Chris Snyder, Alltech's Town Branch Distillery in Lexington added to Kentucky Bourbon Trail, Lexington Ace weekly newspaper, August 16, 2012.
  6. 1 2 Schreiner, Bruce, "Kentucky Bourbon Trail Expands to Include Stop in Downtown Louisville", Associated Press, May 9, 2013. Archived December 17, 2013, at the Wayback Machine.
  7. 1 2 Bourbon Trail launches new tour of artisan distilleries, Lexington Herald-Leader, October 12, 2012.
  8. ↑ Craft distilleries across the state added to Kentucky Bourbon Trail experience, The Lane Report, October 12, 2012.
  9. ↑ Kentucky Distillers Association Welcomes Danville's Wildterness Trace Distillery, KDA, December 5, 2013.
  10. ↑ Kentucky Bourbon Trail tour shatters completion record — with three months left to go, The Lane Report, October 9, 2012.
  11. 1 2 "Kentucky Bourbon Trail". Kentucky Distillers' Association. Retrieved 2008-11-14.
  12. ↑ Fischer, Tom (25 April 2015). "Silver Trail Distillery Burns to Ground in Hardin, Kentucky". BourbonBlog.com. Retrieved 25 April 2015.

External links

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Kentucky Bourbon Distilleries Tours.
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