Louisville’s Urban Bourbon Experience Louisville’s urban bourbon experience orders another round In Louisville, Bourbon is king and our favorite spirit’s kingdom is growing again. Thanks to the $1 billion investment in the city currently, there are new developments springing up on the original Whiskey Row and nearly a dozen Bourbon-related ventures around the city. From Butchertown to Crestwood, a whole new wave of distilleries, tasting rooms, visitor centers, exhibits and Bourbon-inspired restaurants are popping up seemingly overnight.
To accompany this flurry of distilling activity, the nine-year old Urban Bourbon Trail continues to whet people’s appetite for American’s only native spirit. Each stop features 50+ Bourbons, a signature Bourbon cocktail and various Bourbon infused cuisine items.
Savor all the stops with a complete list of the Urban Bourbon Trail at www.urbanbourbon.com and visit the Louisville Visitors Center or any of the 34 stops to pick up a Urban Bourbon Trail Passport. Thirsty for more? Louisville’s Urban Bourbon Experience is also home to these distilleries:
Thirsty for more? Louisville’s Urban Bourbon Experience is also home to these distilleries:
Angel’s Envy Distillery – Just opened in the fall of 2016, the former Vermont American Building on the original Whiskey Row was given new life as Angel’s Envy’s first home. The restoration and addition to the historic 1800’s building included salvaging all the exterior walls and cast iron structure. The visitor center interior was inspired by the personality of the late founder Lincoln Henderson and his family. Unique touches include graphics hand-painted directly on to the equipment and walls, installations that show off the personalities of the employees and a tasting bar formed from a single oak tree. Visitors can also enjoy cocktails by in-house mixologists from noon to 4 pm.
Evan Williams Bourbon Experience – The Evan Williams Bourbon Experience was the first distillery to open in downtown Louisville since Prohibition when they brought their artisanal distillery to Whiskey Row in 2013. It celebrates the legacy of Evan Williams, Kentucky’s first distiller and namesake of Heaven Hill’s flagship Bourbon brand. The highlight of the tour is a fully functioning, artisanal pot still distillery viewable to visitors and capable of producing a range of American Whiskey types and styles. The gleaming copper pot stills crafted by Louisville’s Vendome are a modern version of the same type of equipment Evan Williams himself set up in his distillery along the Ohio River over 200 years ago. Kentucky Artisan Distillery – Located just 20 minutes from downtown Louisville in historic Crestwood, Kentucky Artisan offers behind the scenes tours of a real working distillery. Their grains are grown a mile from the distillery, their stills are historic, and their bottling is done by hand. Three unique brands have their home here including house label, Whiskey Row Bourbon. The Jefferson’s Bourbon line and Highspire Rye Whiskey are also distilled here from corn harvested at neighboring Waldeck Farms. Tours run Tuesday through Saturday.
Kentucky Peerless Distillery—Started in Henderson, Kentucky in the 1880s, Peerless Whiskey ceased production during Prohibition. The Peerless label laid dormant until this past winter when it was revived and reintroduced to an entire new generation of Bourbon connoisseurs. Tours and tastings are now open at this state-of-the-art distillery located on the west end of Whiskey Row.
Jim Beam Urban Stillhouse—The #1 Bourbon in the world now offers a visitor’s experience like no other. This small working distillery, located in the heart of 4th Street Live!, also includes a bottling line, tastings, full retail store and something you won’t find any place else—Jim Beam® Urban Stillhouse Select, a Bourbon distilled and bottled exclusively for the Jim Beam Urban Stillhouse.
Bulleit Frontier Whiskey Experience—Originally opened on Derby Day in 1935 and reopened to the public in 2014, the Stitzel-Weller Distillery is one of the true cathedrals of the American whiskey industry. Located only five miles from downtown, tours and tasting are available Wednesday through Sunday.
Copper & Kings – Louisville’s only brandy distillery opened in 2014 in the Butchertown neighborhood. Copper & Kings uses traditional copper-pot distillation to forge untraditional, craft-distilled, natural potstill brandies. The stills were manufactured in Louisville, Kentucky by neighbors, Vendome Copper and Brassworks. Music plays a big role at the Copper & Kings distillery. The name is meant to sound like a band and they categorize their cocktails based on musical genres. There are five sub-woofers in the basement maturation cellar – so when music is played to the brandy aging in Kentucky bourbon barrels they are “sonically aged” with rock ‘n roll.
If all this wasn’t enough to whet your Bourbon appetite, soon there will be even more additions to Louisville’s Urban Bourbon Experience. On Whiskey Row, Old Forester and Michter’s are in various stages of construction and plan to open in 2017 and 2018. Plans are also underway for the $12.5 million Rabbit Hole Distillery in the historic NULU neighborhood. And there are dozens of new restaurants readying their doors with even more Bourbon-inspired menus and serving up Louisville’s official cocktail, the Old Fashioned.
Cheers in Bourbon Country!
2019 Congress 