Frankfort, KY? Bourbon Trail Stop (5/17-5/21)

This stop was not on our original route.  We had a trip with friends planned for the bourbon trail and Nashville in 2020.  Of course, Covid put a stop to that trip.  With a few web searches and phone calls, we added 4 nights in the heart of bourbon and horse country. 

As luck would have it, from Nashville we would travel right past the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, KY.  The museum also had a large RV parking area, bonus!  We toured the museum for a couple hours.  The cars, both and old and new were amazing. There was a sinkhole that opened up under the museum a few years ago which destroyed some portions of the building and a few priceless corvettes.  The museum embraced this event and incorporated it into their museum.  It is a very well done display. Several people were at the museum to pick up their brand new shiny corvettes, I guess you can request this.  Yes, we were a little jealous. 

This was my favorite.

Sinkhole display of cars

Some lucky person picking up their new car.

Later that evening we found some pickleball friends and played a few games in a nearby park. 

The "bourbon trail" is not as concentrated as Napa for example.  There are many producers dotted throughout the area, but they are separated by history and large rolling hills with picturesque horse farms and homes. 

We settled in to our delightful campsite near a lake and golf course just outside of town.  It was pretty close to the main artery of Frankfort and a nice central spot from which to explore the area.  There were multiple families of geese around the campsite.

We had made the itinerary change and the reservations for tours and tastings about a month earlier in our trip.  As the area was just beginning to loosen Covid restrictions, tours were pretty full but we were able to get into a few. 

We found, on the fly, a tour and tasting at a very small bourbon producer called 3 Boys Farm Distillery.  It was very small operation. The tour was short and not all that thorough, but this was extensive tasting of bourbons right from the barrels.  The alcohol content was pretty high in all of them. We did however enjoy their rye heavy bourbon.  Mike liked it so much he bought a bottle and got to fill it himself. 

The next day we a tasting (no tours due to Covid) at Four Roses.  Their operation and store were beautiful and the tasting was very informative even though we couldn't see the operation itself.  The history of their production was very fascinating.

 

We had a lovely outdoor lunch at a place called Riccardi's in Versailles, KY.  Their fried green tomatoes were a particular highlight.  Soaked up some of that previously tasted bourbon...

The drive to our second tasting was delightful and we were treated to horse farm after horse farm. We also happened upon the little town of Midway which was a quaint street of restaurants and shops clearly centered around the equine.

Woodford Reserve was a tour and a tasting.  The tour was terrific and very thorough from the mash cooking to the barreling and bottling.  The history, the location and the commitment to make a good bourbon is very interesting.

  

We took a brief break from the bourbon distillery to tour the Rebecca Ruth Candy Factory that has been around for more than 100 years.  She is credited with the creation of the bourbon ball. It was a small but terrific story of chocolate, bourbon and perseverance.  It is still family owned today.  No pictures were allowed, sorry. 

We made a brief stop at Castle and Key Distillery. They are a new distiller in the area and are still selling their clear liquors until their bourbon is ready, I mention commitment? No tours or tastings there, but the grounds and gift shop were amazing. We had a cocktail while we strolled the exquisite property.

But back to bourbon....our last stop was Bulleit Whiskey.  Their operation is very new and high tech compared to the others we toured.  It did not make it any less interesting though.  Their tasting was  a very unique with background music, an olfactory component and very good whiskey. We enjoyed this stop a lot.  Another good day of weather made all these stops all the more enjoyable. 

We did see some areas outside of a distillery such as Frankfort's historic courthouse and Hoggy's Ice Cream, appropriately named. 

Alas our bourbon odyssey was at its end.  If you want to know more about heads, hearts and tails, the best use of a spirit locker and how to properly use a copper whisky thief, I suggest you book a similar  itinerary and enjoy as much as we did. 

The Bourbon Pole, Frankfort, KY