Kentucky Bourbon Trail Golf Weekend
Louisville to Lexington to Bardstown, KY
Fat Guy Research: Special thanks to my buddy Timmy, who traveled the Kentucky Bourbon Trail and suggested this page. "Beautiful country, and 8 or 10 distilleries within a 40-mile radius."
The Trail website recommends 2 days to see the 8 distilleries listed, so throw in a couple rounds of golf and this would be a perfect 4 day weekend. Tours last an average of 90 minutes, although some run longer. Distilleries are between 3 and 70 miles apart. Most tours are free, no reservations needed for small groups. All offer free samples except for Wild Turkey and Tom Moore, except many abstain on Sundays. If you'd rather have someone else do all the planning, book a tour through www.mintjuleptours.com.
Where To Play:
In Louisville, play Quail Chase GC. Per www.golfkentuckylinks.com, "3 nines, sand and water, quite a few elevation changes, cut out of mature woods, received raves from noted golf mags, we particularly like the East 9." T&L Golf says, "The 27-hole Quail Chase facility was designed by David Pfaff and is one of the best public-access courses in Kentucky--which might explain why it's often crowded with locals. Stretched out over gently sloping terrain, it weaves through thickets of Scotch pine, maple, oak and dogwood trees, with McNeely Lake as a backdrop. Ask any of those locals and they'll tell you that the East Course is the best of the loops."
About 40 minutes on the wrong side of Lexington for bourbon lovers you'll find Old Silo GC in Mount Sterling. The top rated public course in Kentucky by Golf Digest.
In Lexington, www.golfkentuckylinks.com likes Kearney Hill GC. "Good all around conditions, sometimes slowish greens, one of our favorites, usually in nice shape, challenging links layout, large undulating greens, tough when the wind is up, some of the best beer cart girls around." Also ranked as #1 in Kentucky on GolfLink.com.
Near the Jim Beam Distillery, play Heritage Hill GC. Per www.golfkentuckylinks.com, "Development course but the houses don't impede on the course, expansive Zoysia fairways, moderate-to-severe undulating greens, ponds and creeks add to the difficulty, numerous elevation changes, very nice par-3s."
In Bardstown, play Maywood CC. Built in 1995 with a 2003 redesign by Spencer Holt, it's long (7,007 yards from the tips), but playable (121 slope). Or Woodlawn Springs GC, 1995 George Young, 6530 from the tips and a 125 slope.
Tim's advice on the distilleries on the Trail: "Wild Turkey and Four Roses are a bit of a waste of time. Four Roses is very small and industrial. Wild Turkey is huge and industrial- and they don't give tastings. They don't even bottle on site. Never wanted to leave Buffalo Trace. Perfect setting, a lot of history and great bourbons. They distill about a dozen different brands there, including cask strength 'White Dog'. They also make their own bourbon chocolates, which you get to sample. The tasting lasts almost as long as you want it to. Woodford Reserve was a great setting, very nice tour but you were allowed one very small sample at the end."
The Bourbon Trail
Kentucky
From National Geographic Traveler
Written by Michael Ray Taylor
Central Kentucky is bourbon country. Its rolling meadows, limestone-filtered streams, and cool hardwood forests have long provided ideal conditions for producing the honey-colored drink as crucial to Kentucky legend as Daniel Boone himself.
Overview
The bluegrass byways winding through bourbon country make for a great road trip. These lanes, including 31E, 52, 127, 60, among others, connect Louisville, Bardstown, and Frankfort in a large triangle, taking in numerous distilleries offering free tours and tastings and revealing pockets of rich southern history. A drive along the Bourbon Trail provides glimpses of white-water rapids and grazing Thoroughbreds—both great for riding—and even whiffs of mint growing wild along the roadsides, lending the landscape the aroma of a perfect julep.
Start in Louisville
Stroll along the Ohio River to reach the Belle of Louisville steamboat (4th St. at River Rd.; +1 502 574 2992; www.belleoflouisville.org), where Travis Vasconcelos plays the calliope. "Louisville would not exist if it weren't for steamboats," he says. "The city grew up on the Falls of the Ohio, where the boats had to stop until the water rose high enough to pass."
The Heart of Bourbon Country
The heart of bourbon country lies about 40 miles south of Louisville, where Knob Creek winds through low, cave-pocked hills to join the Rolling Fork River. At this site in 1780, Waddie Boone, a relative to Daniel, established a small distillery, one of the first in Kentucky. Three decades later, in 1811, a farmer named Thomas Lincoln moved into a farm on Knob Creek, not far from the distillery, along with his wife, daughter, and young son, Abraham. That cabin formed some of the earliest lasting memories for our nation's 16th President. Today Knob Creek is better known as the name of one of several boutique bourbons produced along the route that have gained popularity over the past decade. Many aficionados of America's native drink have turned away from mass-produced brands to hand-crafted spirits that better capture the authentic flavor of the place.
Bardstown
Grab a walking-tour map at the Bardstown's Welcome Center (One Court Sq.; 800 638 4877) listing 48 historic buildings. Cross the street for a bite at the Old Talbott Tavern (107 W. Stephen Foster Ave.; +1 502 348 3494; www.talbotts.com), where bourbon has been served for more than 200 years. Next door is the 1819 Nelson County Jail, once the oldest working jail in Kentucky but now a bed-and-breakfast called Jailer's Inn (+1 502 348 5551, www.jailersinn.com). At the Oscar Getz Museum of Whiskey History (114 N. 5th St.; +1 502 348 2999; www.whiskeymuseum.com), learn about whiskey in general and bourbon in particular.
My Old Kentucky Dinner Train
The best meal in Bardstown is on wheels. My Old Kentucky Dinner Train (602 N. 3rd St.; +1 859 881 3463; www.kydinnertrain.com) departs from the town's stone depot for a 40-mile lunch or dinner excursion. The train has three beautifully restored 1940s dining cars and two 50-year-old diesel locomotives. The Eisenhower Car, which in 1969 carried the family of the 34th President during his funeral procession, is supposedly haunted. Fortify yourself with a bourbon on the rocks, then ask any server for ghost stories and a quick, informal tour. [Fat Guy Note: Nearby, play My Old Kentucky Home State Park GC, built in 1928.]
Bourbon Heritage Center
Visit the Bourbon Heritage Center run by Heaven Hill Distilleries (1311 Gilkey Run Rd., Bardstown; +1 502 337 1000; www.bourbonheritagecenter.com). And don't miss the free museum and a film on bourbon making at Jim Beam's American Outpost (149 Happy Hollow Rd., Clermont; +1 502 543 9877; www.jimbeam.com/visitthedistillery.aspx). Visitors can tour the Beam family home and sample the company's wares.
Abe Lincoln's Birthplace
At the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace (2995 Lincoln Farm Road, Hodgenville; +1 270 358 3137; www.nps.gov/abli), a simple cabin in a green valley, hike through the pasture behind the house to the small brook on the right known as Knob Creek, take off your shoes, and wade among the crawdads and fossil rocks.
Maker's Mark Distillery
In Loretto, tour the Maker's Mark Distillery (3350 Burks Spring Road; +1 270 865 2099; www.makersmark.com). The brand has only existed since 1953, but the farm that fourth-generation distiller Bill Samuels bought to create his signature bourbon has been a working mill since 1805. "I've taken all the distillery tours and this is the best of them," says a well-traveled bourbon aficionado. "You can see every step from the grinding of the corn to the final bottling."
Run Elkhorn Creek
Except for tasting the bourbon itself, there is no better way to enjoy the water it's made from than by white-water rafting on Elkhorn Creek. Canoe Kentucky (7323 Peaks Mill Rd., Frankfort; +1 502 227 4492; www.canoeky.com) offers guided and unguided tours, from relaxing canoe floats to Class II and III raft trips. Nearby is the Buffalo Trace Distillery (1001 Wilkinson Blvd.; +1 502 223 7461), where visitors can tour aromatic wooden warehouses packed with whiskey barrels.
Georgetown
In Georgetown, 19 miles east of Frankfort, you'll find historic homes and inns like the Bryan House (401 West Main St.; 877 296 3051; www.bryanhousebnb.com) and Blackridge Hall (4055 Paris Pike; +1 502 863 2069; www.blackridgehall.com). At the center of town, a spring emerges from a cave to form the municipal water supply.
Baptist minister Elijah Craig built a classical school here in 1787 and began making whiskey two years later. According to local tradition, a fire damaged his stock of white oak barrels, but when he saw they were merely charred, he used them to store a fresh batch of corn squeezings. The charcoal worked wonders on the aging process of his whiskey, and bourbon was born—to the delight of generations that followed.
Road Kit
For more information about distilleries, accomodations, restaurants, and other attractions along the Bourbon Trail, as well as a history of the drink, see www.kybourbon.com . For travel information about the entire state, see www.kentuckytourism.com . As you find your way along the country roads making up this route, keep a map or GPS handy and don't be shy about asking the locals for directions. Otherwise, you could wind up like Daniel Boone, who at one time famously quipped, "I've never been lost, but I was bewildered once for three days."
Maxim's 2010 Bourbon Awards
1. Best for Mixing Man Drinks
Maker’s 46
94 proof, $35
When master distiller Kevin Smith told us he made a new Maker’s recipe, we worried; that’s a tough act to follow, Kevvy. But he crushed it. Like its fore¬bear, 46 is still approachable and sweet. But thanks to seared French oak staves, it’s stiffer—ideal for Manhattans and old-fashioneds.
2. Best for the Desk Drawer
Pappy Van Winkles
90.4 Proof, $100
Peppery with a vanilla finish, Pappy V’s superb sip epitomizes the rule that the more hillbilly the name, the better the brown. Two decades of aging makes this corn mash the most unique on the market. Every taste is a journey to classy town.
3. Staff Favorite
Hudson Baby Bourbon
92 Proof, $40
This micro outfit may have gone mega (recently bought by William Grant & Sons), but it still churns out the most approachable lip-smacking sauce on the shelf. With its clean caramel-corn and biscuit-dough notes, BB swills easy, so go slow, gulp boy.
4. Best Newcomer
Angel’s Envy
86.6 Proof, $46
This fall Lincoln Henderson, an inaugural member of the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame who used to distill Woodford Reserve, went rogue and created his own micro batch. It lives up to the man’s legend. Big and smooth, with an almost oatmeal cookie taste, plus hints of pipe tobacco.
5. Best Single Barrel
Blanton’s Original
93 Proof, $50
Blanton’s was the first single barrel. In 1984 Elmer T. Lee felt a few of his casks were too tasty to mix, so he just bottled ’em and, bang! a new niche was born. (Sadly, Elmer never trade- marked “single barrel.” We expected more from a man named Elmer.) Taste: bold with toffee undertones.
6. Best Barrel Proof
George T. Stagg
143 Proof, $70
The alcohol content is so high it’s illegal to take this combustible concoction on a plane. Even more amazing, it’s still super-sippable, and it’s the stuff distillers tip when they get together to swap stories. This white-hot heat stings the lips but has deep maple, citrus, and clove flavors.
7. Best Bottle for Dad
Willett Pot Still Reserve
94 Proof, $50
Willett is the closest thing to pre-Prohibition bourbon. It packs a wallop, but the butter, cedar, and lime notes soften the blow. This sauce, in the signature still-shaped bottle, is the gift for the old man.
8. Best Bargain
Jim Beam Black 86 Proof, $20
Just because the Beam folks figured out how to get you their tasty barrel-aged treats more cost-efficiently doesn’t mean they must be relegated to the world of well drinks. Black is top-shelf stuff. It sports Beam’s spiciness but swirls with heavy hints of brown sugar and leather. Perfect for the game-day flask.