Louisville
During the 1700s, a section of Louisville’s Main Street housed so many bourbon distillers that the section earned the nickname Whiskey Row. After Prohibition, Louisville bowed out of the bourbon scene for many years.
With several distilleries already open and more on the way, though, Louisville is filling its streets with distillers once again. The Rabbit Hole Distillery opened in May as a husband-and-wife-owned craft distillery in the trendy NuLu section of Louisville. The distillery now serves moonshine and will eventually produce bourbon and rye whiskey.
On West Main Street, two historic buildings hold the Old Forester Distillery, which opened in June. The Old Forester is credited with creating the first bottled bourbon. The distillery will highlight the company’s heritage and demonstrate its bourbon-making techniques.
“You can see the barrels being made,” said Katie Kubitskey, marketing communications manager for Louisville Tourism. “They char the barrels right in front of every group. The flames go up as they toast the barrels. You can’t see that anywhere else.”
Slated to open later this year, Michter’s Micro-Distillery will operate inside the Fort Nelson Building, known for its 1890s cast-iron architecture. Company officials hope the Louisville location will educate customers about one of the country’s first whiskey companies.
With so many options, how will travelers choose where to begin their Kentucky bourbon journey? Opened in August, the Kentucky Bourbon Trail Welcome Center and Exhibit acts as the official starting place of the bourbon trail and offers a concierge service to help visitors navigate the state’s bourbon scene. The welcome center occupies a space on the first floor of the Frazier History Museum.
The museum’s new permanent exhibit, “The Spirit of Kentucky,” offers hands-on exhibits that explain what factors in Kentucky’s water and climate make it an ideal place to distill bourbon.
Dueling Barrels Brewery and Distillery
Pikeville
When Pearse and Deirdre Lyons, co-founders of Alltech, first emigrated from Ireland, they felt a close kinship with the hardworking people of Appalachia. Desiring to share this heritage with the world, they started construction of the Dueling Barrels Brewery and Distillery in Pikeville.
Though Pearse passed before its completion, his son attended the June opening of the 30,000-square-foot facility to continue his father’s dream. One of the only distilleries to produce bourbon, moonshine, ale and beer, Dueling Barrels offers 45-minute tours about the processes behind the company’s spirits, as well as information on the history of the region.
Guides known as “storytellers” greet groups in the welcome area. After a video about Alltech and the region, participants head to the distilling and brewing room for a 45-minute tour and tasting. Groups can sample moonshine made from a copper pot similar to the ones bootleggers once used in the nearby mountains.
Tours explore Pikeville’s connection to the legendary Hatfield and McCoy feud, which inspired the name Dueling Barrels. Guides also tell stories about Appalachia’s role in the birth of bluegrass music and the development of moonshine.
The site can produce up to 40,000 beer barrels and 2,200 whiskey barrels annually. In addition to original drink recipes, Dueling Barrels also brews widely known brands like Kentucky Ale and Pearse Lyons Reserve.
