July 17, 2025 • 63 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Tiny here to tell you about Whiskey Thief Distilling
Company and their newly openedtasting room.
Whether you are up for afarm-to-glass distilling
experience on the Three BoysFarm in Frankfort, kentucky, or
an out-of-this-world tastingexperience in New Loo, you won't
be disappointed At bothlocations.
Their barrel picks all day,every day are like none other.
(00:24):
Each location features stationswith five barrels, each
featuring their pot, distilledbourbons and ryes.
Once the barrels have beenthieved and tasted, you can make
a selection and thieve your ownbottle A day at Whiskey Thief,
with their friendly staff andownership, will ensure you many
good times with good friends andfamily.
(00:45):
Remember to always drinkresponsibly, never drink and
(02:08):
drive, and live your life uncutand unfiltered.
Thank you, don't let me go.
Don't let me go.
All right, welcome back toanother podcast of the Scotchy
Bourbon Boys.
Tiny here with myself Veryexcited tonight to talk about
the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.
About the Kentucky BourbonTrail and I got a bunch of
announcements and I've got tonsof stuff going on, lots of
(02:30):
people there.
I'm going to be monitoringcomments and also on YouTube and
on Facebook.
So feel free tonight, I know onYouTube, check out the Super
Chat and also there is aleader's board for anybody who's
watching.
So we're going to.
We started that up.
I don't know how that works,but we'll see what happens.
(02:53):
I'm willing to try pretty muchanything and so excited to be
here tonight.
Rememberwwwscotchiebourbonboyscom for
all your Scotchie Bourbon Boysmerchandise.
Scotchibourbonboyscom for allyour Scotchie Bourbon Boys
merchandise.
We've got glands, we've gott-shirts.
Check it out, find out aboutour bios and then also check us
out on Facebook, instagram,youtube X and also all the major
(03:15):
podcast formats for audio,mainly Apple, iheart, spotify.
But no matter how you watch usor listen to us, make sure that
you like, listen, subscribe,comment and leave good feedback.
That good feedback means somuch to us.
All right, so got through that,everything looking good tonight
(03:37):
.
It's going to be a pretty coolpodcast because one I wanted to
talk a little bit about what theKentucky Bourbon Trail is and
means to me, because it's prettymuch what got the podcast
started, you know, and it had todo with the combination between
(04:01):
the Kentucky Bourbon Festivaland the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.
So to go a lead up on how thisall happened.
So a lot of you already haveheard the story many times
before.
But initially, what got me intoa friend of mine?
(04:23):
We would hang out and he was abourbon fan.
I was into Absinthe as being anartist and one of the things
that Absinthe and I still tothis day do some artwork.
But Absinthe is a very uniquespirit in why writers and
(04:44):
artists used it throughout timebecause of the thujone in the
wormwood, one of the things.
The alcohol content is alwayshigh and you basically mix it
with water and what happens isyou get buzzed drinking absinthe
(05:05):
but you don't lose your motorcontrol.
Now, if you're just drinkingabsinthe, this is an actual fact
.
So I always drank absinthe whenI was painting.
But if I was drinking absinthein the afternoon and I painted,
I would switch over to somethingelse, and my friend, who also
(05:25):
drank absinthe with me to someextent, was into bourbon.
So we would have, we'd giveeach other presents and this was
probably about 2013, 14.
Eh Taylor was on the shelf.
I would we you know a smallbatch I didn't really know a lot
about.
Basil Hayden was something thatwe would grab and drink, and
(05:49):
then also, like the EvanWilliams, he loved Evan Williams
and Jim Beam and you know thosetype of things.
That's kind of what I was into,but I wasn't into the
relaxation but because I wasinto absinthe and then at one
point, what happens withabsinthe is you only need two,
and anything else after that itdoesn't do anything else, it's
(06:13):
just if you have three or four,you're just kind of wasting your
time spinning your wheels.
You might see the green fairy,but that's one of the reasons
why some people drank peopledrank it and it had harsh
results.
Because of that, it justdoesn't keep going.
Put it that way.
So when I got into so I I boughta calendar in 2000 I want to
(06:36):
say 2018 and it was, uh, had tobe like in january because I was
at Books a Million, and it wasa whiskey calendar.
And one of the things aboutthat whiskey calendar was that
it was a desktop calendar and itgave out facts, little things.
It told you what the whatfeints were.
(06:57):
It told you what you know.
They told you what the heads,the tails and the hearts in the
feints and you know I mean it,the heart of the run, the feints
, and then, I think, the fourshots.
Four shots, things like thatgave you tons of information on
whiskey, but it also gave youcritiques and reviews of bottles
(07:22):
, from scotch to bourbon toIrish whiskey.
They were all there and, as wewere going forward, I had a
young man who worked with me,who was initially young, nose,
who formed the podcast with me.
We were reading these calendarthings and all of a sudden,
(07:42):
they're like creme brulee andcherry pie and peach cobbler and
we're just like bs bullshit.
So we started buying somebottles to that they had.
We would go to the liquor storeand find them and, sure, sure
(08:03):
enough, there was these flavors.
So we formed a little whiskeygroup amongst the workers at
where I work and it was five orsix of us, and the same thing
with a friend that I wasdrinking the absinthe and
bourbon with.
He was in it and a couple otherpeople, and so we started doing
that.
And then in September of 2018,on my birthday, september 21st
(08:27):
the actual.
Let's see Mike Likerts how manywhatever the actual my birthday,
september 21st.
There was a thing that saidevery third week in Kentucky
(08:48):
there was a Kentucky BourbonFestival.
So I found out about that and Ilooked and I read it, and so
this is September, and inOctober my wife says to me
there's a conference inLexington and they say that the
Kentucky Bourbon Festival is theweekend before and that
whatever.
And so I said, oh, I had readabout that.
(09:09):
So we decided we were going togo down to the Kentucky Bourbon
Festival Thursday, friday,saturday, sunday, then Monday
was an off day, then Tuesday wewould go to Lexington, and
Wednesday, thursday and Fridaywas our conference would go to
Lexington, and Wednesday,thursday and Friday was her
(09:31):
conference.
So for a year I savedeverything I had.
I had like five grand to godown.
I saved every penny.
I put it away.
I wanted to go to the KentuckyBourbon Festival and buy bourbon
and whiskey that I wanted.
And as we were going throughthat year, the group was getting
together, we were buyingcertain things.
(09:51):
We met Super Nash and no, notyet.
We hadn't met Super Nash, butwe were still doing our little
thing.
I signed up for no, not yet.
So we get around to the summerof 2019 and I had, you know,
bought a new shelf.
I had done what else?
(10:20):
I had bought a shelf for thebourbon that I had been buying
and we had had a couple tastingswith the guys, and so it was
going.
So I had done an art video blogfor seven years, from 2010 to
2017.
And so I had some podcastingequipment and experience doing
this.
So we go to Kentucky BourbonFestival and I find out about
(10:47):
the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.
So I plotted out all thedistilleries on a map at work
and then I basically figured outwhat I was going to do, and at
the time, the Kentucky BourbonTrail consisted of 16 different
(11:11):
distilleries plus twodistilleries Four Roses and Jim
Beam had two locations, for atotal of 18 different places to
go.
There was no craft distillerytour yet.
There was no craft distillerytour yet.
So when we went, I was goingand made it so that in that
Thursday, through the followingthat Thursday, Friday, saturday,
(11:35):
sunday, monday, Tuesday,wednesday, thursday, friday
those nine days I believe it wasI was going to complete the
Kentucky Bourbon Trail, andthat's where we get onto this
part of the Kentucky BourbonTrail One what the Kentucky
(11:56):
Bourbon Trail.
I've got a history right here.
So let's go over the history.
I don't know if I need to shareit.
You guys don't need to.
I'll put the history over here.
Let's see if I hey, that'sbizarre, it won't go.
(12:16):
Let's see if I can get thathistory in.
Okay, a chronological historyof the Bourbon Trail.
In 1999, the original members ofthe Kentucky Bourbon Trail were
Buffalo Trace in Frankfurt,Four Roses in Lawrenceburg,
(12:38):
heaven Hill in Bardstown, jimBeam in Claremont, maker's Mark
in Laredo, wild Turkey inLawrenceburg and Woodford
Reserve in Frankfurt.
The eighth distillery to jointhe Kentucky Bourbon Trail is
the one that most people forgetor do not recognize.
In 2008, the Tom MooreDistillery in Bardstown joined
(13:05):
the trail.
At this point, eight totaldistilleries were officially
members of the Kentucky BourbonTrail.
So then, in 2009, buffalo Traceand Tom Moore, both
distilleries owned by Sazerac,opted out of the Kentucky
Bourbon Trail.
The Tom Moore Distillery is nowknown as the Barton 1792.
So that's in 2009, buffaloTrace and Barton's.
(13:30):
Now, the reason for themdropping out was 100% based off
of the reason for them droppingout was 100% based off of them.
What Buffalo Trace explained isthey didn't want to pay the
trail fees to get people to cometo their place.
(13:50):
They offered free tours andtastings and still do to this
day.
So you don't have to pay foryour tours and tastings at
Buffalo Trace and that's wherethey put the money into the
people that come.
And they're not part of thetrail, even though I'm going to
(14:11):
tell you they might not be anactive part of the trail, but
they definitely are part of theKentucky Bourbon Trail.
When people are down there, Idon't think anybody in the area
of Frankfurt, if they're goingaround there, that they're going
to skip Buffalo Trace.
It just doesn't happen.
But it's not part of the tourof the accomplishment.
(14:32):
Then, in 2012, was a year ofexpansion.
In 2012, town Branch Distilleryjoined the Kentucky Bourbon
Trail in the same class as theoriginal distilleries based on
size and volume.
In the same class as theoriginal distilleries based on
size and volume.
However, this is the same yearthat the Kentucky Bourbon Trail
Craft Tour began, with theoriginal members of Barrel House
in Lexington, limestone Branchin Lebanon, old Pogue in
(14:56):
Maysville, willett in Bardstown,mb Rowland in Pembroke, cause
Air Artisan in Bowling Green and, finally, silver Trail
Distillery in Hardin.
Silver Trail closed in 2015 andCause Air Artisan closed in
2018.
2014.
Despite being in the LouisvilleKentucky area.
(15:18):
Evan Williams and StitzelWeller could not have been more
different.
Stitzel Weller, the longtimehome of Old Fitzgerald, with the
Weller family's history andPappy Van Winkle, is an
old-school experience.
The Evan Williams experience ismodern, with an almost
Disney-type vibe.
Both joined Kentucky BourbonTrail in 2014.
(15:38):
Another member joined theKentucky Bourbon Craft Tour in
Northern Kentucky New Riff inNewport, kentucky, also joined
in 2014.
Then Hartfield and Company,which we were at in Paris, based
in Paris, kentucky, became amember of the craft tour along
with the Kentucky Peerless inLouisville in 2015.
(15:59):
2016, kentucky Artisan inCrestwood joined the Kentucky
Bourbon Trail Craft Tour.
Kentucky Artisan is acomfortable distillery and the
home to Jefferson's Bourbon, butI'm sure, I believe, that
Jefferson's distillery andOcean's distillery, which opened
across the street fromLimestone Branch, is now they
(16:24):
have their own distillery.
So in 2017, two distilleriesBoone County Independence and
Bluegrass Distillers inLexington, joined the craft tour
.
On the larger side, louisvilleDistilling Company joined.
You will recognize them by thename of Angels Envy.
2018 was a big year for largedistilleries.
(16:44):
Bardstown Bourbon Companyjoined the trail along with Luxe
Row in Bardstown, Kentucky.
Then, moving north and west,old Forester joined in
Louisville and Green RiverDistillery, which in Owensboro
at the time, green River wasknown as Ozzie Tyler brand.
2019 brought an explosion ofnew members and this is where I
(17:05):
come in to the original KentuckyBourbon Trail and the craft
tour on the Kentucky BourbonTrail side.
Bullet joined in Shively withMictors and Rabbit Hole opening
in Louisville.
Joining the Kentucky BourbonTrail craft tour were Boundary
Oak in Radcliffe, casey Jones inHopkinsville, dueling Grounds
in Franklin, second SightSpirits in Ludlow, kentucky.
(17:29):
Neely Family Distillery inSparta, preservation in Historic
Bardstown, kentucky, and JamesE Pepper in Lexington.
So we're talking 2019.
This is the year that I went onthe trail.
So, um, so this is the year Iwent on the trail and there,
(17:54):
like I said, there were 16stamps with 18 places to visit.
I visited all 18.
Plus limestone branchpreservation.
I want to say Neely, wait, didI get Neely?
(18:18):
No, I didn't do Neely that year.
I had met Nash already In 2019,we had it.
So it would have been.
It would have been.
It would have been LimestoneBranch Neely.
No, not Limestone BranchPreservation.
I went to and then I also wentto the Barrel House in Lexington
(18:44):
and James E Pepper.
I didn't really know too muchabout the craft distillery tour,
but those I went to, those areall the different places and
Ozzy Tyler is in Owensboro,which is like two hours from
Bardstown in Louisville, so thatone was the tricky one and I
(19:06):
figured it out.
So while we were initially atthe Kentucky Bourbon, uh, we
went down on a Thursday night,stayed Friday, thursday, friday,
saturday, sunday and, uh, therewas no bourbon in the air.
So the actual Kentucky BourbonFestival was Friday, saturday
(19:29):
and Sunday.
We had VIP passes but in themeantime we went to.
I want to say we got tours.
When we came in, we touredBuffalo Trace on Thursday night,
that didn't count.
And then we came down to.
We toured Buffalo Trace onThursday night, that didn't
count.
And then we came down to wherewe were staying.
(19:49):
I want to say, okay, so this is.
I got all the dates.
September 24th was Maker's Mark, monday September 23rd.
I'm going to just I'll see whenI got it 28th, sunday, the 22nd
(20:15):
, 26th, 25th, 26th, 27th, 23rdis the Monday, 24th was Thursday
, 23rd was Monday 23rd, 27th,saturday September 21st and
(20:38):
Monday September 23rd.
So the first place that we wentwas Heaven Hill on the Saturday
and that was my, so I did noteson it.
It's a little book that you got.
The cover's missing on the bookbecause it's in a frame.
Let's see I can.
(20:58):
There might be a share.
Let's just see if I can pullphotos up.
No-transcript is this?
(21:22):
Yep, there it is.
I took the photo, all right, sowe could go to share screen
real quick.
Everybody on the audio does notsee this, but there it is.
Share, all right, you can seethat.
(21:49):
I will pull this across to here.
Nope, that didn't allow me todo it, did it?
Nope, how about that?
All right, so there we go, youcan all can see it.
This is the map.
I wonder if can I do it?
Okay, all right, this is themap and it tells you all the
different distilleries this isthe Kentucky Bourbon Trail All
(22:12):
the distilleries and how farthey were away.
But you can see in the sharescreen right here that the
Kentucky Bourbon Trail was.
That's the little booklet andthere's the stamp that I got for
doing the full trail.
So I took the, so the coversoff this one and it's in there
because that's the full trail.
And then this is another bookthat I had that I put into the
(22:36):
thing.
Here's the Kentucky Bourbontrail map and here's all the
different and their distancesbetween each other.
So that was kind of cool.
All right, I will stop sharinghere, but you can see that the
book and the map and everythingthat was cool.
So back then let's get back overhere.
(22:57):
Make sure, uh, roger, second,straight in ludlow is a really
good time.
Second site in ludlow oh,that's kind of cool.
Good to know.
Uh, roger, I gotta talk to youabout the tour coming up, so
that should be fun.
And then, uh, let's see whereare we at, okay, so the first
(23:20):
one was Heaven Hill.
We took the tour and wentthrough and, honestly, the first
Kentucky tour was the nightbefore at Buffalo Trace, and now
we're at Heaven Hill on the21st.
As far as the first stamp onthe trail for me, which was
Saturday, it said my birthdaygreat tour picked up four
(23:46):
tasting mini glens, and they'reactually, I believe there's
probably one of them back there.
Back here there is definitely aHeaven Hill mini glen that I
picked up.
That's probably the firstversion of a Glen that I had.
(24:08):
So that's kind of cool.
So then the next one was Sunday.
Okay, so Saturday night at theKentucky Bourbon Festival was
the gala.
I purchased the tux.
Uh, I went, me and me and roxywent in the tux and what
happened was is we bought thevip for the gala, which was from
(24:32):
seven to eight, early access.
You got a glen karen I stillhave the glen karen from that
but the food was just grapes andcheeses and whatnot, and the,
the, the, the pours werespectacular.
Um, you got to have a pour ofwild Turkey.
(24:55):
Um, what was it?
Uh, what's the one in the box?
I'm just for some reason.
Uh, what's the one in the box?
I'm just for some reason, it'snot master.
What is it?
Help me out there.
Anyways, it was a special pourof wild turkey with Jimmy
Russell.
That's the first time I met Fredand Freddy.
(25:26):
I had met at the Friday nightand had them sign my painting
the night before at their dinner.
So at the Saturday night at thegala, I was talking to Fred,
freddie.
I really met Sandy that night.
That was just spectacular, butI overdid it.
So Sunday morning rolls aroundand I'm okay, but after how much
?
I had too many pours and I wasmany pours and I was over-served
myself.
I over-served myself.
(25:47):
I think what really got me wasI loved I got to taste Basil
Hayden Caribbean Rye and a guycame over and told me to taste
it.
And then I had another one andI learned a lesson, anyways, but
(26:08):
I was alright.
But we had to do brunch onSunday because the festival was
over, because Saturday night thefestival.
So we met saturday, okay.
(26:29):
So we met friends from kentuckyat rabbit.
We actually met them at a placefor brunch and then after
brunch the packers were playingand everything, and we went
there.
We went to rabbit hole.
(26:50):
So now it's about the tour andthe tasting it's.
I had it's.
I, like I said, I learned alesson.
I never.
All I can say is I overdid itto the point where I was okay
the next day because of whathappened, but I still wasn't
feeling great.
And it's about noon, the Packersare playing, the people from
Kentucky are Packer friends.
We go into the bar.
(27:10):
I'm not drinking anything.
They're drinking on the brunch,they're having Belizes and
they're having no Bellinis andwhat's the other.
You know, they're just havingbreakfast or orange juice, and
it was crazy.
But I was like no, I'm justgoing to stick with orange juice
, I'm fine, everything's good.
(27:32):
And then we go to the bar andwe're sitting there and I still
don't order anything and myfriend has a couple beers and
all of a sudden, wouldn't youknow?
Um, the beer happens becauseanother table orders it and the
guy's a jerk and the waitressliked our table with my wife and
(27:53):
his wife and uh, she's like,does anybody here want a beer?
They ordered it and whatever.
And I'm like, and my friendlooks at me, I'm like, okay.
So I had a beer and then wewent to rabbit hole that sunday
and, um, for here's what it says, met friends.
(28:14):
I don't know why I'm trying todo this in the dark, but I will
hit oh wow.
Met friends for late brunch andthen took tour and closed the
place, picked up a cocktailshaker and a strainer.
So we go to Rabbit Hole and AdamEdwards is our tour guide.
He takes us through, takes usup.
(28:35):
It's about 5 o'clock, the placeclosed at 7.
But I had a whiskey sourprobably one of the best whiskey
sours.
Plus, I did the tasting and wepicked up the rabbit hole
experience.
So now we're looking for Mondaythe 23rd.
So there we go.
We got two of the 18.
(28:57):
So Monday the 23rd, my wife Roxyand I went to Louisville we're
staying in Bardstown we went toLouisville and on Monday we
didn't realize it, but westopped in.
All tours were booked onlinebut it had a 3.30 opening at
(29:18):
Angel's Envy so we went there.
We went to Angel's Envy, tookthe tour, got the stamp Angel's
Envy at the time.
I liked the place.
I always liked the place.
We've been back a couple times.
It's a super nice place.
And then we went to Bullet,picked up a bottle of IW.
(29:39):
Okay, so Bullet at StitzelWeller is the old Stitzel Weller
distillery and we did the tourthere and I picked up a bottle
of IW Harper 15-year-old plus aStitzel Weller hat which I still
have.
People were nice and very coolto bullet in the old offices at
(30:02):
Stitzel Weller had replicatedthe offices from the history of
bullet and had those officesright there at the Stitzel
Weller distillery.
And bow works.
Uh, blade and bow is from whatis made also iw harper blade and
(30:25):
bow.
But blade and blow bow has keysand when you become part of the
key club, your glass goes upand you can anytime you tour
after that you can pick it up orleave it on the shelf.
It's really a cool kind ofthing.
So we learned that at Bullet.
So this is the tour and sothat's Monday.
(30:48):
Then we also went to the EvanWilliams Experience, which was
really cool.
Coolest tour.
Loved the old world replicationand reenactment plus 1960s
tasting bar.
Very cool.
Picked up a bottle of EllenEvan Williams master distillers
and master distiller is what?
(31:08):
Still one of my favoritebourbons.
That's the first time I got totaste it, so that was really
cool.
Then I believe, um, what was?
There was one that was closedthat we had it was on Monday and
we had to go back which was inMichter's.
(31:30):
We stopped in on the gift shopat that time I really didn't
know what Michter's was Got thestamp and we got out and Old
Forrester was closed.
Okay, so Old Forrester wasclosed.
So what happened was that wasMonday.
So we go back from Louisvilleand we didn't get to go.
(31:55):
So I'm like that's crazy, Icould be in trouble.
This could be the reason why Idon't complete the trail.
So Tuesday is the day wetransfer to Lexington and I
convinced my wife, I convincedRoxy, that I need this.
(32:17):
So we go up to Old Forresterfirst, right, we leave our
Airbnb and head to Old Forrester.
First, right, we leave ourAirbnb and head to Old Forrester
and it says drove back toLouisville to visit this
distillery, bought gifts forbrother-in-law and two highball
glasses with measuring points.
(32:38):
I still love those highballglasses to date.
Still have it, and so that'swhat we picked up Tuesday, the
24th.
Now here we go.
Woodford 27th, monday, september23rd.
(33:05):
Okay, wild turkey.
That's on the end.
Where's the makers?
So, also before we before, sowhat happened that morning was
we had makers mark books becauseso, and before so what happened
(33:25):
that morning was we had Maker'sMark booked because so the 24th
is also, we went to Luxro.
I got, oh, my god, and oh got akeychain.
(33:51):
Okay, so Luxro, I had no ideawhat they were, so this is what
it was got a keychain andrecognized that they make Ezra
Brooks.
So there you go, lux, lux, roe,ezra Brooks.
That's what I came away with,got that stamp.
Then we went and had a tourWhile great tour scenic
distillery dip my own bottlesigned up for, of 2019, for the
(34:15):
Ambassador Club.
So I got my pin.
So then we went to, we finishedup at Old Forrester and then we
(34:39):
headed to Lexington Lexington.
So Lexington is a wholedifferent thing for me, because
now my wife is going to go to,so what she does is she is now
(35:11):
going to her thing.
So the first day was Wednesdayof her, it was the opening day
for her thing.
So I walked from the hotel nicewalk, took the distillery tour
and tasting the single barrelwas very good, great tour guide,
she was awesome and it was fromTown Branch branch.
So that's what I caught on the25th, now the 20s, that's
wednesday the 25th, that wouldhave been, that's the 27th,
(35:35):
while turkey was the 27th,woodford was the 27th and so was
was oh, I forgot.
On Bardstown, that's the one Iforgot.
So also on Tuesday, the daybefore we had lunch.
A brisket sandwich and friedchicken were high profile,
(35:56):
tasting was good and got theNorland whiskey glasses set at
two and that's what we did.
So we went from, I think wewent lux row makers mark
bardstown bourbon company up toold forester.
So that day, that tuesday,monday tuesday, with my wife was
spectacular, but we did fourplaces.
(36:19):
Now then I went to town branch,but that day also I went to
Town Branch.
But that day also I went toJames E Pepper and the Barrel
House.
That were right across thestreet from Town Branch, even
though it's like a highway youhave to cross over Now.
So I'm left with that Wednesday.
So Thursday I also the Jim Beamexperience that happened on
(36:47):
Monday, when we were up inLouisville, we went to the Jim
Beam distillery and there you go, I picked up this personalized
bottle and so you guys can seeit it's the Urban Stillhouse
Select.
I had it.
This is my birthday.
I had it engraved for mybirthday.
So this one says Age toPerfection Jeff Mueller,
(37:10):
september 21st 2019.
So you've got that right there.
I put my birthday on it.
It's still not been opened.
It's a special bottle that wasengraved.
Then, on this day, that was upat the Urban Stillhouse.
Now, this Thursday was a big dayfor me because I had a luncheon
(37:34):
with Fred and Freddie no.
So first we had the dinner atthe Kentucky Bourbon Festival.
That was a dinner on Fridaynight, then Saturday night was
the gala, but this Thursdaynight was lunch with them.
So here and I also bought a JimBeam decanter.
But at the Urban Stillhouselunch with Fred and Freddie no,
(37:58):
tour was amazing.
I got to use the bung hammerand hit the barrel and pop open
the bung and then they thievedright from a six year um, jim
being black, so that.
So there we go.
So we're, we're kind of likecompletely.
I mean so that Thursday Ibelieve the the the lunch was
(38:22):
from 12 to two.
So I want to say so I knew thatOzzie Tyler, this was the hard
one.
That was two hours away.
So I got out of there rightaway.
Even though Fred and Freddiewere willing and talking to me,
I had to leave, jump in the carand drive the two hours.
(38:44):
Now I think it was like untilthree, so that would have put me
at Ozzy Tyler at five.
I had called ahead and Irealized Owensboro is in a
different time zone so it reallyput me there at four and the
last tour was at four.
So I got there right at four,joined the tour already in
(39:06):
progress and got the stamp forozzy tyler.
But the hard part about partabout this ozzy tyler here it
was drove two hours acrosskentucky.
The people there stayed openlate for me, great people,
interesting process.
That's where I learned abouttheir rapper and aging and their
rosy, which was just a totaldisaster.
(39:28):
They eventually sold and becameGreen River and Green River has
some damn good stock of whatthey were doing, that they
weren't rapid aging.
So it's really kind of cool.
But the hard part about that iswhen the tour was over at 5
o'clock, which is technically 6o'clock I now had a three hour
drive back to Lexington.
(39:50):
That's where we were staying,because it's two hours back to
Bardstown and one hour toLexington.
So it was a long day but I gotthe stamp as you can see the
Ozzie Tyler stamp right thereand then finished up the next
day with a tour.
That is where I met the tourguide, who was a podcaster and I
(40:15):
still his name is eluding me hestill he pod.
I believe he still podcasts.
But he took us, took us to thetour, started, I believe, at
wild Turkey in the morning.
They picked us, picked me up.
Um, last day started withbottled in bond bus tour.
(40:38):
This was the first stop, onlytasting.
I owned all the.
I owned all the bourbon already.
Rare Breed is one of myfavorites.
$24.99 hoodie, great score.
So I got a wild turkey hoodie.
(40:59):
I still have that hoodie.
And then the next place that westopped was Four Roses.
Now, when I was in, where isFour Roses?
Let's talk about this.
They took us there.
We did a tour and actually themaster distiller was in.
(41:26):
Not okay, four Roses.
Second stop bus tour.
Tasting was awesome.
Three guys I met on tour Ibecame the fourth Bought a
bottle of Four Roses SingleBarrel Select from the gift shop
.
(41:49):
Yeah, it was a single barrelselect for the gift shop from
the gift shop.
Oh, yeah, it was a singlebarrel select for the gift shop.
Only scored a bourbon trailhoodie.
So I got a Kentucky bourbontrail hoodie.
And then the last place wasWoodford and the Woodford
reserve, which was the second inthere which finished off the
trail.
It's funny because I just thereit is, um september 27, 2009,
(42:14):
the last stop on the bus tourscored a bottle of bourbon and
gold engraved.
It got a bung on the tour andmy rock I got rocks for cooling
bourbon.
Finished with the Kentucky Mule,which I still have, the glass
from there, the copper glassfrom that Kentucky Mule.
(42:36):
But this is the bottle that gotengraved.
It says actually it's privatestock of Jeff Mueller, september
27, 2019.
It's selected by MasterDistiller Chris Morris, 45.2.
(42:57):
So it was the proprietary batch, so that one I got.
So what I wanted to do is showeverybody Saturday it's all over
and we go to, I believe I wantto say in Lexington, we go to
(43:17):
the courthouse and I was able topick up this fantastic Kentucky
bourbon trail which says 16distilleries finished, 2019.
The world famous Kentuckybourbon trail.
So I was able to secure thisglass.
I figured out 972 miles, sothat was the tour in.
(43:44):
I'm going to have a sip of this.
At one point this got opened.
I didn't open it Sometime, itgot open, so this is from 2019.
It is a Woodford Reserve andI'm going to sip that with you
guys.
But one of the cool things Ishould be monitoring the no, no
(44:05):
One of the cool things the glass.
I love the glass.
That's kind of what I was goingafter it and at the bottom it
says Kentucky Bourbon Trail.
I really am proud of this glass, randy.
I look at it.
This is the Eagle Scout Awardbadge for bourbon.
I mean the trail.
(44:26):
It was was a commitment youguys kind of saw.
At one point everything didn'twork out and I had to go back
and I'm sorry for I can'tbelieve that I don't have up all
right.
So there's the.
So let's talk about theKentucky Bourbon Trail.
(44:47):
You know I finished it in 2019.
The Craft Trail I wonder if itfailed to.
Am I off?
That's there, let's see.
Do I go backwards on that one?
Is there a back?
What happened?
(45:09):
here, Where's my reload?
Failed to open page.
All right, there was a historyI had that.
I had that.
I do not think that's right.
(45:33):
Nope, all right, I got to goback.
I guess I got to go find.
Is the history over here Couldbe?
No, I had dumped it over there,so I should be okay, that's
where it should be.
Okay, let's go back over here.
Let's go to this, go to that.
(45:54):
There we go.
So that's 2019.
2020, the newest member of theKentucky Bourbon Trail was
Wilderness Trail.
They moved from the craft tourto the Kentucky Bourbon Trail
because of the increase of theirvolume of production.
Dansville, kentucky, is thehome of Wilderness Trail.
2021, this year saw impressivegrowth on the craft tour side.
(46:15):
Things joining in 21s wereCopper and Kings in Louisville,
known for their brandy.
The Bard, located in Graham,kentucky, is home to Cinder and
Smoked.
Bourbon.
Castle and Key is a historicproperty in Frankfort, kentucky,
and Logstill in Gethsemane,kentucky.
2022, the sole member joiningthe craft tour 2022, was Whiskey
(46:38):
Thief.
That is one of our sponsors andthat was a huge year.
They were previously known asThree Boys Farm.
They actually changed theirname on our podcast, so that was
a huge year.
They were previously known asThree Boys Farm.
They actually changed theirname on our podcast, so that was
cool.
2023, four new members of theKentucky Bourbon Trail Craft
Tour join the 2023.
They are RD1 Spirits in theLexington Distillery District,
(46:58):
which is now their Saturday.
I will be at their brand newdistillery, so that's pretty
cool.
Fresh Bourbon in downtownLexington.
Augusta Distillery we werethere with Alex and she's
fantastic.
Alec Castle and that's a greatdistillery.
And the Pensive DistillingCompany and Kitchen in Newport,
(47:19):
kentucky.
Okay, that's where we are in2023, 2024.
Now in 2025, let's where we arein 2023, 2024.
Now in 2025, let's go to this.
This is the Kentucky BourbonTrail experience now, which is
crazy to me because it went to60, grows to 60 experiences.
(47:43):
They added chicken cockdistilling in Bardstown.
They added Bespoken, they addedGirard County Distilling and
RD1 Spirit in Lexington, centralBluegrass Distillers, heaven's
Door Distillery, larkin Bourbon,northern Becker and Bird Winery
(48:05):
and Distillery WenzelDistilling, Buzzards Roost
Spirits in Louisville, bardstownBourbon Company Tasting Room,
monks Road, boiler House TastingRoom, which has a steakhouse
right there.
Whiskey Thief DistillingTasting Room in Louisville has
been added, and then BH JamesDistillers and Southern Kentucky
Distillery, berksville comingsoon.
You've got the Potter Janecoming online too.
(48:26):
They're distilling.
So there's so many differentthings.
Proud to welcome more than adozen new experiences to its
Kentucky Bourbon Trail Tour,growing opportunities for
visitors worldwide to exploreKentucky bourbon and benefiting
local communities throughout thestate.
Since its launch in 1999, thetrail adventure has seen
(48:47):
tremendous growth, elevatingtourism from the entire
Commonwealth and consistentlybreaking attendance records,
with more than 2.5 millionvisitors annually.
The latest expansion includesnew distillery offerings and
satellite tasting rooms,bringing the Bourbon Trail to a
total of 60 destinations in 27Kentucky, in 27 of Kentucky's
(49:09):
120 counties.
The growth is part of the newKentucky Bourbon Trail campaign
that encourages visitors tobuild your own Bourbon Trail
tour.
As a bourbon tourism continuesto thrive, our members are
creating more opportunities forthe world to experience the
heart and soul of America spiritin a variety of ways that meet
every visitor's interest.
What began as a small group ofdistilleries has now grown into
(49:34):
an ever-expanding bucket listdestination with global appeals.
She said Each new addition ismore than a stop on a map.
It's a celebration of Kentucky'sbourbon's rich history and
proud heritage map.
It's a celebration ofKentucky's bourbon's rich
history and proud heritage.
More than 80% of all Kentuckybourbon trail visitors come from
outside Kentucky.
Research show.
Bourbon trail visitors have amuch higher household income
than typical Kentucky.
(49:55):
Tourists trend younger, staylonger, come in larger groups
and spend more money in Kentuckycommunities.
Bourbon is a $9 billioneconomic and tourism powerhouse
for kentucky, generating morethan 23 000 jobs with 2.2
billion in salaries and benefits.
The industry continues to breakrecords in aging bourbon barrel
(50:16):
inventory inventory 14.3million and production 3.2
million barrels filled in 2023.
Even as an alcoholic orbeverages beverages are seeing a
slowdown in sales.
Kentucky DA President EricGregory says he does not believe
bourbon tourism will beimpacted by headwinds like
(50:37):
shifts in consumer trends,snowballing taxes and a threat
of regulatory tariffs on USgoods.
Kentucky is one of the true andauthentic homes for bourbon, he
said.
While we keep breakingattendance records, there are
plenty of people around theworld who have never made the
pilgrimage to the birthplace ofbourbon and many more who are
(50:58):
planning the return.
It's I mean, it's just crazy.
This is one of the cool, coolthings the distilleries.
When you click on this, thegreatest journey, um, your
bourbon experience awaits.
I mean, here's angels envy,bardstown, bourbon company,
bardstown bourbon company,tasting room, bullet distilling,
(51:19):
castle and key and evanwilliams.
But there's there's 10 more ofthese six things.
The map is just overwhelmedwith places to go.
So when you go to, you buildyour own experience.
So what it's come down to isthat in 2019, I was able to go
to the 16, 18 total places FourRoses I actually stopped at that
(51:43):
place along the way too, but itwasn't on the stamp.
But it was what would you say?
It's cool that you could get aglass and you could complete it.
But now the trail is drivingforce for fantastic bourbon
(52:04):
experiences.
So what I mean is things to do.
So this is where the fun begins.
So right here, they got all thetours right here Private Select
Tour at Angel's Envy They'vegot one bottle of your own
single barrels.
Angel and Envy.
Manhattan Cocktail Class.
Ride Cocktail Class Behind theBar.
(52:26):
Cocktail Class.
Signature Tour that's whathappens at A&B.
Fill your own bottle.
Vip experience at BardstownBourbon Company.
Bardstown Bourbon Companybourbon in bottle Tour with the
master distiller.
You visit the site behind thescenes.
Looks like that's the, that'sthe nick smith there.
(52:46):
And then you got the art ofblending tour shake, shaken and
stirred.
That's the first of 16.
I mean, let's see smoked,old-fashioned bullet bullet
mixed and muddled creativecocktail.
You know so Russian BulletBullet Mixed and Muddled
Creative Cocktails.
So all the distilleries haveall the different things.
(53:08):
I went down Whiskey Thief has abottle.
It's like their tours andtastings and whatever.
So, honestly, the coolest thingabout this, in my opinion in my
(53:31):
opinion, is that the trail hasgone, from you trying to
complete it to you make yourbest experience of what you want
to do.
Now, the reason why I don'tthink you can complete the trail
in a year it's difficult to goto 60 distilleries in a place
that you don't live.
Now, if I lived in Kentucky, Imight be able to do the 60
distilleries.
I would come up with a reasonto go to all the different
(53:53):
distilleries.
You know what I'm saying.
I would actually figure out howto go to these different
distilleries.
And the other thing is is thatthere's a ton of food now and
when you look at this, theyactually have it eat and drink.
So that is part of the tour too.
(54:13):
You are talking about the barsthe cocktail lounge at Green
River cocktails and tasting wildturkey finishing bar at Angel's
Envy.
Five Brothers Bar at HeavenHill.
George's Bar at Old Forrester,gift Shop Cocktail Bar at Lux
Row.
Mixers Bar at Fort Nelson.
So they've got all thedifferent Overlook Bar at Rabbit
Hole that is a damn good bar.
(54:34):
Star Hill Provisions I've eatenlunch there.
Taylorton Station at Castle andKey I mean, I've had food from
there.
Also the Aquifer Tasting Bar Iwas up there at New Rift.
The Cocktail Bar at Bullet havenot been there yet.
Cocktail Lounge at WoodfordReserve yes, I've been there.
(54:56):
The Garden and Gun Club atStitzel Weller no.
But I mean these are all thedifferent things you can do.
They're all there.
It's on the website.
So if you're planning a tripdown and they even have all the
different stays, you knowthey've got the different places
(55:18):
to stay.
All the hotels I didn't see,you know the Bardstown which now
has the Trail Hotel, which I'mgoing to be staying at tomorrow
night.
So I'm looking forward to that.
So there you go.
I mean, the Bourbon Trail hascompletely evolved from
(55:39):
something of an accomplishmentlike getting a badge badge to
creating your own experience,because with 60 distilleries on
the Kentucky Bourbon Trail andthat doesn't include Buffalo
Trace Barton's doesn't do toursanymore.
But we are going to bepodcasting for you on Saturday
(56:01):
or tomorrow.
Tomorrow from Barton's,saturday, from RD1 Spirits and
their new place.
This is going to be pretty muchbetween 11 and 12 o'clock going
live and doing the podcast onFriday, saturday and Sunday.
Sunday will be Whiskey Thiefwith Lisa, roper Wicker and
(56:24):
Walter Zausch, so that should bepretty cool.
And who else you don't know whoelse could be on that podcast.
So I think that covers theBourbon Trail for everybody.
Anybody listening in.
You know other, uh, make surethat you know this is this, this
(56:46):
one, the Kentucky bourbon trail, is a good one, uh, it's.
You go to the web, I believeit's KY bourbon trailcom.
Uh, and you set it all up.
I mean, if you know and youlisten to the podcast, we talk
about the experiences andeverything and all the things
that you can do, and I've done alot of them through the
(57:11):
Kentucky Bourbon Festival andthe Kentucky Bourbon Trail.
So you, 16 distilleriesfinished 2019, and it's got the
(57:33):
Kentucky Bourbon Trail logo plusKentucky Bourbon.
Very proud of it.
And when you're talking aboutthe trail, it's good.
I've got some Woodford Reservefrom my engraved glass, which
was a private batch for the giftshop, which it says, I want to
(57:56):
say private selection of JeffMueller, september 27th 2019.
So I've got that in there.
Well, everybody, I think thatdoes it for tonight.
If you stay on Facebook andYouTube.
(58:20):
Afterwards a little bit onFacebook.
I'm going to keep this goingjust a little bit longer and
I'll send you guys out,whoever's been listening, an
invitation to come on.
But we're going to finish thisup right now.
Remember, let's see.
I got to remember how I'm doingthis.
(58:40):
Yeah, okay, I've got it.
Let me see, I think it's righthere, right there, all right.
So we got to reset it tonight.
There we go.
I hope it doesn't play, it'snot All right.
Everybody, rememberwwwscotchiebourbonboyscom for
(59:02):
all things Scotchie Bourbon Boys.
You can check out our bios, youcan get a t-shirt, you can get
a Glen Karen like this one righthere, those are sharp, they're
available.
Contact me directly if you want.
And then also remember Facebook, Instagram, youtube and X right
(59:26):
, still nothing on TikTokbecause I'm not doing that until
it's corrected.
But then also we are on all themajor podcast audio formats,
mainly Apple, iheart and Spotify.
But no matter how, where youlisten to us or watch us,
remember like, listen, comment,subscribe and leave good
(59:48):
feedback.
Feedback's very important.
And remember good bourbon, goodwhiskey, equals good times with
good friends.
Make sure that you drinkresponsibly, don't drink and
drive, and live your life uncutand unfiltered.
Speaker 3 (01:00:19):
And we are going to get out of our crew.
Listen along and find out howthat can be.
You Spend time with the boys.
You don't want to miss us.
It's just twice a week, whetherit's Ohio, kentucky, milwaukee
or South Carolina.
Listen along and have a goodtime.
(01:00:42):
We make sure to leave the badtimes behind.
Speaker 2 (01:00:46):
Bourbon is the blood that makes a lifelong bond With
our friends and neighbors, evensome across the pond.
Speaker 3 (01:00:52):
I can't wait until the next time we meet, because
I'm always looking for the nextbourbon.
Yes, please, I'll have it neat.
Show me the way to anotherwhiskey bar, where it'll be.
It won't be too far Withfriends and family.
Close, we will never be aloneoh.
Tiny here to tell you about Whiskey Thief Distilling
Company and their newly openedtasting room.
Whether you are up for afarm-to-glass distilling
experience on the Three BoysFarm in Frankfort, kentucky, or
an out-of-this-world tastingexperience in New Loo, you won't
be disappointed At bothlocations.
Their barrel picks all day,every day are like none other.
(00:24):
Each location features stationswith five barrels, each
featuring their pot, distilledbourbons and ryes.
Once the barrels have beenthieved and tasted, you can make
a selection and thieve your ownbottle A day at Whiskey Thief,
with their friendly staff andownership, will ensure you many
good times with good friends andfamily.
(00:45):
Remember to always drinkresponsibly, never drink and
(02:08):
drive, and live your life uncutand unfiltered.
Thank you, don't let me go.
Don't let me go.
All right, welcome back toanother podcast of the Scotchy
Bourbon Boys.
Tiny here with myself Veryexcited tonight to talk about
the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.
About the Kentucky BourbonTrail and I got a bunch of
announcements and I've got tonsof stuff going on, lots of
(02:30):
people there.
I'm going to be monitoringcomments and also on YouTube and
on Facebook.
So feel free tonight, I know onYouTube, check out the Super
Chat and also there is aleader's board for anybody who's
watching.
So we're going to.
We started that up.
I don't know how that works,but we'll see what happens.
(02:53):
I'm willing to try pretty muchanything and so excited to be
here tonight.
Rememberwwwscotchiebourbonboyscom for
all your Scotchie Bourbon Boysmerchandise.
Scotchibourbonboyscom for allyour Scotchie Bourbon Boys
merchandise.
We've got glands, we've gott-shirts.
Check it out, find out aboutour bios and then also check us
out on Facebook, instagram,youtube X and also all the major
(03:15):
podcast formats for audio,mainly Apple, iheart, spotify.
But no matter how you watch usor listen to us, make sure that
you like, listen, subscribe,comment and leave good feedback.
That good feedback means somuch to us.
All right, so got through that,everything looking good tonight
(03:37):
.
It's going to be a pretty coolpodcast because one I wanted to
talk a little bit about what theKentucky Bourbon Trail is and
means to me, because it's prettymuch what got the podcast
started, you know, and it had todo with the combination between
(04:01):
the Kentucky Bourbon Festivaland the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.
So to go a lead up on how thisall happened.
So a lot of you already haveheard the story many times
before.
But initially, what got me intoa friend of mine?
(04:23):
We would hang out and he was abourbon fan.
I was into Absinthe as being anartist and one of the things
that Absinthe and I still tothis day do some artwork.
But Absinthe is a very uniquespirit in why writers and
(04:44):
artists used it throughout timebecause of the thujone in the
wormwood, one of the things.
The alcohol content is alwayshigh and you basically mix it
with water and what happens isyou get buzzed drinking absinthe
(05:05):
but you don't lose your motorcontrol.
Now, if you're just drinkingabsinthe, this is an actual fact
.
So I always drank absinthe whenI was painting.
But if I was drinking absinthein the afternoon and I painted,
I would switch over to somethingelse, and my friend, who also
(05:25):
drank absinthe with me to someextent, was into bourbon.
So we would have, we'd giveeach other presents and this was
probably about 2013, 14.
Eh Taylor was on the shelf.
I would we you know a smallbatch I didn't really know a lot
about.
Basil Hayden was something thatwe would grab and drink, and
(05:49):
then also, like the EvanWilliams, he loved Evan Williams
and Jim Beam and you know thosetype of things.
That's kind of what I was into,but I wasn't into the
relaxation but because I wasinto absinthe and then at one
point, what happens withabsinthe is you only need two,
and anything else after that itdoesn't do anything else, it's
(06:13):
just if you have three or four,you're just kind of wasting your
time spinning your wheels.
You might see the green fairy,but that's one of the reasons
why some people drank peopledrank it and it had harsh
results.
Because of that, it justdoesn't keep going.
Put it that way.
So when I got into so I I boughta calendar in 2000 I want to
(06:36):
say 2018 and it was, uh, had tobe like in january because I was
at Books a Million, and it wasa whiskey calendar.
And one of the things aboutthat whiskey calendar was that
it was a desktop calendar and itgave out facts, little things.
It told you what the whatfeints were.
(06:57):
It told you what you know.
They told you what the heads,the tails and the hearts in the
feints and you know I mean it,the heart of the run, the feints
, and then, I think, the fourshots.
Four shots, things like thatgave you tons of information on
whiskey, but it also gave youcritiques and reviews of bottles
(07:22):
, from scotch to bourbon toIrish whiskey.
They were all there and, as wewere going forward, I had a
young man who worked with me,who was initially young, nose,
who formed the podcast with me.
We were reading these calendarthings and all of a sudden,
(07:42):
they're like creme brulee andcherry pie and peach cobbler and
we're just like bs bullshit.
So we started buying somebottles to that they had.
We would go to the liquor storeand find them and, sure, sure
(08:03):
enough, there was these flavors.
So we formed a little whiskeygroup amongst the workers at
where I work and it was five orsix of us, and the same thing
with a friend that I wasdrinking the absinthe and
bourbon with.
He was in it and a couple otherpeople, and so we started doing
that.
And then in September of 2018,on my birthday, september 21st
(08:27):
the actual.
Let's see Mike Likerts how manywhatever the actual my birthday,
september 21st.
There was a thing that saidevery third week in Kentucky
(08:48):
there was a Kentucky BourbonFestival.
So I found out about that and Ilooked and I read it, and so
this is September, and inOctober my wife says to me
there's a conference inLexington and they say that the
Kentucky Bourbon Festival is theweekend before and that
whatever.
And so I said, oh, I had readabout that.
(09:09):
So we decided we were going togo down to the Kentucky Bourbon
Festival Thursday, friday,saturday, sunday, then Monday
was an off day, then Tuesday wewould go to Lexington, and
Wednesday, thursday and Fridaywas our conference would go to
Lexington, and Wednesday,thursday and Friday was her
(09:31):
conference.
So for a year I savedeverything I had.
I had like five grand to godown.
I saved every penny.
I put it away.
I wanted to go to the KentuckyBourbon Festival and buy bourbon
and whiskey that I wanted.
And as we were going throughthat year, the group was getting
together, we were buyingcertain things.
(09:51):
We met Super Nash and no, notyet.
We hadn't met Super Nash, butwe were still doing our little
thing.
I signed up for no, not yet.
So we get around to the summerof 2019 and I had, you know,
bought a new shelf.
I had done what else?
(10:20):
I had bought a shelf for thebourbon that I had been buying
and we had had a couple tastingswith the guys, and so it was
going.
So I had done an art video blogfor seven years, from 2010 to
2017.
And so I had some podcastingequipment and experience doing
this.
So we go to Kentucky BourbonFestival and I find out about
(10:47):
the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.
So I plotted out all thedistilleries on a map at work
and then I basically figured outwhat I was going to do, and at
the time, the Kentucky BourbonTrail consisted of 16 different
(11:11):
distilleries plus twodistilleries Four Roses and Jim
Beam had two locations, for atotal of 18 different places to
go.
There was no craft distillerytour yet.
There was no craft distillerytour yet.
So when we went, I was goingand made it so that in that
Thursday, through the followingthat Thursday, Friday, saturday,
(11:35):
sunday, monday, Tuesday,wednesday, thursday, friday
those nine days I believe it wasI was going to complete the
Kentucky Bourbon Trail, andthat's where we get onto this
part of the Kentucky BourbonTrail One what the Kentucky
(11:56):
Bourbon Trail.
I've got a history right here.
So let's go over the history.
I don't know if I need to shareit.
You guys don't need to.
I'll put the history over here.
Let's see if I hey, that'sbizarre, it won't go.
(12:16):
Let's see if I can get thathistory in.
Okay, a chronological historyof the Bourbon Trail.
In 1999, the original members ofthe Kentucky Bourbon Trail were
Buffalo Trace in Frankfurt,Four Roses in Lawrenceburg,
(12:38):
heaven Hill in Bardstown, jimBeam in Claremont, maker's Mark
in Laredo, wild Turkey inLawrenceburg and Woodford
Reserve in Frankfurt.
The eighth distillery to jointhe Kentucky Bourbon Trail is
the one that most people forgetor do not recognize.
In 2008, the Tom MooreDistillery in Bardstown joined
(13:05):
the trail.
At this point, eight totaldistilleries were officially
members of the Kentucky BourbonTrail.
So then, in 2009, buffalo Traceand Tom Moore, both
distilleries owned by Sazerac,opted out of the Kentucky
Bourbon Trail.
The Tom Moore Distillery is nowknown as the Barton 1792.
So that's in 2009, buffaloTrace and Barton's.
(13:30):
Now, the reason for themdropping out was 100% based off
of the reason for them droppingout was 100% based off of them.
What Buffalo Trace explained isthey didn't want to pay the
trail fees to get people to cometo their place.
(13:50):
They offered free tours andtastings and still do to this
day.
So you don't have to pay foryour tours and tastings at
Buffalo Trace and that's wherethey put the money into the
people that come.
And they're not part of thetrail, even though I'm going to
(14:11):
tell you they might not be anactive part of the trail, but
they definitely are part of theKentucky Bourbon Trail.
When people are down there, Idon't think anybody in the area
of Frankfurt, if they're goingaround there, that they're going
to skip Buffalo Trace.
It just doesn't happen.
But it's not part of the tourof the accomplishment.
(14:32):
Then, in 2012, was a year ofexpansion.
In 2012, town Branch Distilleryjoined the Kentucky Bourbon
Trail in the same class as theoriginal distilleries based on
size and volume.
In the same class as theoriginal distilleries based on
size and volume.
However, this is the same yearthat the Kentucky Bourbon Trail
Craft Tour began, with theoriginal members of Barrel House
in Lexington, limestone Branchin Lebanon, old Pogue in
(14:56):
Maysville, willett in Bardstown,mb Rowland in Pembroke, cause
Air Artisan in Bowling Green and, finally, silver Trail
Distillery in Hardin.
Silver Trail closed in 2015 andCause Air Artisan closed in
2018.
2014.
Despite being in the LouisvilleKentucky area.
(15:18):
Evan Williams and StitzelWeller could not have been more
different.
Stitzel Weller, the longtimehome of Old Fitzgerald, with the
Weller family's history andPappy Van Winkle, is an
old-school experience.
The Evan Williams experience ismodern, with an almost
Disney-type vibe.
Both joined Kentucky BourbonTrail in 2014.
(15:38):
Another member joined theKentucky Bourbon Craft Tour in
Northern Kentucky New Riff inNewport, kentucky, also joined
in 2014.
Then Hartfield and Company,which we were at in Paris, based
in Paris, kentucky, became amember of the craft tour along
with the Kentucky Peerless inLouisville in 2015.
(15:59):
2016, kentucky Artisan inCrestwood joined the Kentucky
Bourbon Trail Craft Tour.
Kentucky Artisan is acomfortable distillery and the
home to Jefferson's Bourbon, butI'm sure, I believe, that
Jefferson's distillery andOcean's distillery, which opened
across the street fromLimestone Branch, is now they
(16:24):
have their own distillery.
So in 2017, two distilleriesBoone County Independence and
Bluegrass Distillers inLexington, joined the craft tour
.
On the larger side, louisvilleDistilling Company joined.
You will recognize them by thename of Angels Envy.
2018 was a big year for largedistilleries.
(16:44):
Bardstown Bourbon Companyjoined the trail along with Luxe
Row in Bardstown, Kentucky.
Then, moving north and west,old Forester joined in
Louisville and Green RiverDistillery, which in Owensboro
at the time, green River wasknown as Ozzie Tyler brand.
2019 brought an explosion ofnew members and this is where I
(17:05):
come in to the original KentuckyBourbon Trail and the craft
tour on the Kentucky BourbonTrail side.
Bullet joined in Shively withMictors and Rabbit Hole opening
in Louisville.
Joining the Kentucky BourbonTrail craft tour were Boundary
Oak in Radcliffe, casey Jones inHopkinsville, dueling Grounds
in Franklin, second SightSpirits in Ludlow, kentucky.
(17:29):
Neely Family Distillery inSparta, preservation in Historic
Bardstown, kentucky, and JamesE Pepper in Lexington.
So we're talking 2019.
This is the year that I went onthe trail.
So, um, so this is the year Iwent on the trail and there,
(17:54):
like I said, there were 16stamps with 18 places to visit.
I visited all 18.
Plus limestone branchpreservation.
I want to say Neely, wait, didI get Neely?
(18:18):
No, I didn't do Neely that year.
I had met Nash already In 2019,we had it.
So it would have been.
It would have been.
It would have been LimestoneBranch Neely.
No, not Limestone BranchPreservation.
I went to and then I also wentto the Barrel House in Lexington
(18:44):
and James E Pepper.
I didn't really know too muchabout the craft distillery tour,
but those I went to, those areall the different places and
Ozzy Tyler is in Owensboro,which is like two hours from
Bardstown in Louisville, so thatone was the tricky one and I
(19:06):
figured it out.
So while we were initially atthe Kentucky Bourbon, uh, we
went down on a Thursday night,stayed Friday, thursday, friday,
saturday, sunday and, uh, therewas no bourbon in the air.
So the actual Kentucky BourbonFestival was Friday, saturday
(19:29):
and Sunday.
We had VIP passes but in themeantime we went to.
I want to say we got tours.
When we came in, we touredBuffalo Trace on Thursday night,
that didn't count.
And then we came down to.
We toured Buffalo Trace onThursday night, that didn't
count.
And then we came down to wherewe were staying.
(19:49):
I want to say, okay, so this is.
I got all the dates.
September 24th was Maker's Mark, monday September 23rd.
I'm going to just I'll see whenI got it 28th, sunday, the 22nd
(20:15):
, 26th, 25th, 26th, 27th, 23rdis the Monday, 24th was Thursday
, 23rd was Monday 23rd, 27th,saturday September 21st and
(20:38):
Monday September 23rd.
So the first place that we wentwas Heaven Hill on the Saturday
and that was my, so I did noteson it.
It's a little book that you got.
The cover's missing on the bookbecause it's in a frame.
Let's see I can.
(20:58):
There might be a share.
Let's just see if I can pullphotos up.
No-transcript is this?
(21:22):
Yep, there it is.
I took the photo, all right, sowe could go to share screen
real quick.
Everybody on the audio does notsee this, but there it is.
Share, all right, you can seethat.
(21:49):
I will pull this across to here.
Nope, that didn't allow me todo it, did it?
Nope, how about that?
All right, so there we go, youcan all can see it.
This is the map.
I wonder if can I do it?
Okay, all right, this is themap and it tells you all the
different distilleries this isthe Kentucky Bourbon Trail All
(22:12):
the distilleries and how farthey were away.
But you can see in the sharescreen right here that the
Kentucky Bourbon Trail was.
That's the little booklet andthere's the stamp that I got for
doing the full trail.
So I took the, so the coversoff this one and it's in there
because that's the full trail.
And then this is another bookthat I had that I put into the
(22:36):
thing.
Here's the Kentucky Bourbontrail map and here's all the
different and their distancesbetween each other.
So that was kind of cool.
All right, I will stop sharinghere, but you can see that the
book and the map and everythingthat was cool.
So back then let's get back overhere.
(22:57):
Make sure, uh, roger, second,straight in ludlow is a really
good time.
Second site in ludlow oh,that's kind of cool.
Good to know.
Uh, roger, I gotta talk to youabout the tour coming up, so
that should be fun.
And then, uh, let's see whereare we at, okay, so the first
(23:20):
one was Heaven Hill.
We took the tour and wentthrough and, honestly, the first
Kentucky tour was the nightbefore at Buffalo Trace, and now
we're at Heaven Hill on the21st.
As far as the first stamp onthe trail for me, which was
Saturday, it said my birthdaygreat tour picked up four
(23:46):
tasting mini glens, and they'reactually, I believe there's
probably one of them back there.
Back here there is definitely aHeaven Hill mini glen that I
picked up.
That's probably the firstversion of a Glen that I had.
(24:08):
So that's kind of cool.
So then the next one was Sunday.
Okay, so Saturday night at theKentucky Bourbon Festival was
the gala.
I purchased the tux.
Uh, I went, me and me and roxywent in the tux and what
happened was is we bought thevip for the gala, which was from
(24:32):
seven to eight, early access.
You got a glen karen I stillhave the glen karen from that
but the food was just grapes andcheeses and whatnot, and the,
the, the, the pours werespectacular.
Um, you got to have a pour ofwild Turkey.
(24:55):
Um, what was it?
Uh, what's the one in the box?
I'm just for some reason.
Uh, what's the one in the box?
I'm just for some reason, it'snot master.
What is it?
Help me out there.
Anyways, it was a special pourof wild turkey with Jimmy
Russell.
That's the first time I met Fredand Freddy.
(25:26):
I had met at the Friday nightand had them sign my painting
the night before at their dinner.
So at the Saturday night at thegala, I was talking to Fred,
freddie.
I really met Sandy that night.
That was just spectacular, butI overdid it.
So Sunday morning rolls aroundand I'm okay, but after how much
?
I had too many pours and I wasmany pours and I was over-served
myself.
I over-served myself.
(25:47):
I think what really got me wasI loved I got to taste Basil
Hayden Caribbean Rye and a guycame over and told me to taste
it.
And then I had another one andI learned a lesson, anyways, but
(26:08):
I was alright.
But we had to do brunch onSunday because the festival was
over, because Saturday night thefestival.
So we met saturday, okay.
(26:29):
So we met friends from kentuckyat rabbit.
We actually met them at a placefor brunch and then after
brunch the packers were playingand everything, and we went
there.
We went to rabbit hole.
(26:50):
So now it's about the tour andthe tasting it's.
I had it's.
I, like I said, I learned alesson.
I never.
All I can say is I overdid itto the point where I was okay
the next day because of whathappened, but I still wasn't
feeling great.
And it's about noon, the Packersare playing, the people from
Kentucky are Packer friends.
We go into the bar.
(27:10):
I'm not drinking anything.
They're drinking on the brunch,they're having Belizes and
they're having no Bellinis andwhat's the other.
You know, they're just havingbreakfast or orange juice, and
it was crazy.
But I was like no, I'm justgoing to stick with orange juice
, I'm fine, everything's good.
(27:32):
And then we go to the bar andwe're sitting there and I still
don't order anything and myfriend has a couple beers and
all of a sudden, wouldn't youknow?
Um, the beer happens becauseanother table orders it and the
guy's a jerk and the waitressliked our table with my wife and
(27:53):
his wife and uh, she's like,does anybody here want a beer?
They ordered it and whatever.
And I'm like, and my friendlooks at me, I'm like, okay.
So I had a beer and then wewent to rabbit hole that sunday
and, um, for here's what it says, met friends.
(28:14):
I don't know why I'm trying todo this in the dark, but I will
hit oh wow.
Met friends for late brunch andthen took tour and closed the
place, picked up a cocktailshaker and a strainer.
So we go to Rabbit Hole and AdamEdwards is our tour guide.
He takes us through, takes usup.
(28:35):
It's about 5 o'clock, the placeclosed at 7.
But I had a whiskey sourprobably one of the best whiskey
sours.
Plus, I did the tasting and wepicked up the rabbit hole
experience.
So now we're looking for Mondaythe 23rd.
So there we go.
We got two of the 18.
(28:57):
So Monday the 23rd, my wife Roxyand I went to Louisville we're
staying in Bardstown we went toLouisville and on Monday we
didn't realize it, but westopped in.
All tours were booked onlinebut it had a 3.30 opening at
(29:18):
Angel's Envy so we went there.
We went to Angel's Envy, tookthe tour, got the stamp Angel's
Envy at the time.
I liked the place.
I always liked the place.
We've been back a couple times.
It's a super nice place.
And then we went to Bullet,picked up a bottle of IW.
(29:39):
Okay, so Bullet at StitzelWeller is the old Stitzel Weller
distillery and we did the tourthere and I picked up a bottle
of IW Harper 15-year-old plus aStitzel Weller hat which I still
have.
People were nice and very coolto bullet in the old offices at
(30:02):
Stitzel Weller had replicatedthe offices from the history of
bullet and had those officesright there at the Stitzel
Weller distillery.
And bow works.
Uh, blade and bow is from whatis made also iw harper blade and
(30:25):
bow.
But blade and blow bow has keysand when you become part of the
key club, your glass goes upand you can anytime you tour
after that you can pick it up orleave it on the shelf.
It's really a cool kind ofthing.
So we learned that at Bullet.
So this is the tour and sothat's Monday.
(30:48):
Then we also went to the EvanWilliams Experience, which was
really cool.
Coolest tour.
Loved the old world replicationand reenactment plus 1960s
tasting bar.
Very cool.
Picked up a bottle of EllenEvan Williams master distillers
and master distiller is what?
(31:08):
Still one of my favoritebourbons.
That's the first time I got totaste it, so that was really
cool.
Then I believe, um, what was?
There was one that was closedthat we had it was on Monday and
we had to go back which was inMichter's.
(31:30):
We stopped in on the gift shopat that time I really didn't
know what Michter's was Got thestamp and we got out and Old
Forrester was closed.
Okay, so Old Forrester wasclosed.
So what happened was that wasMonday.
So we go back from Louisvilleand we didn't get to go.
(31:55):
So I'm like that's crazy, Icould be in trouble.
This could be the reason why Idon't complete the trail.
So Tuesday is the day wetransfer to Lexington and I
convinced my wife, I convincedRoxy, that I need this.
(32:17):
So we go up to Old Forresterfirst, right, we leave our
Airbnb and head to Old Forrester.
First, right, we leave ourAirbnb and head to Old Forrester
and it says drove back toLouisville to visit this
distillery, bought gifts forbrother-in-law and two highball
glasses with measuring points.
(32:38):
I still love those highballglasses to date.
Still have it, and so that'swhat we picked up Tuesday, the
24th.
Now here we go.
Woodford 27th, monday, september23rd.
(33:05):
Okay, wild turkey.
That's on the end.
Where's the makers?
So, also before we before, sowhat happened that morning was
we had makers mark books becauseso, and before so what happened
(33:25):
that morning was we had Maker'sMark booked because so the 24th
is also, we went to Luxro.
I got, oh, my god, and oh got akeychain.
(33:51):
Okay, so Luxro, I had no ideawhat they were, so this is what
it was got a keychain andrecognized that they make Ezra
Brooks.
So there you go, lux, lux, roe,ezra Brooks.
That's what I came away with,got that stamp.
Then we went and had a tourWhile great tour scenic
distillery dip my own bottlesigned up for, of 2019, for the
(34:15):
Ambassador Club.
So I got my pin.
So then we went to, we finishedup at Old Forrester and then we
(34:39):
headed to Lexington Lexington.
So Lexington is a wholedifferent thing for me, because
now my wife is going to go to,so what she does is she is now
(35:11):
going to her thing.
So the first day was Wednesdayof her, it was the opening day
for her thing.
So I walked from the hotel nicewalk, took the distillery tour
and tasting the single barrelwas very good, great tour guide,
she was awesome and it was fromTown Branch branch.
So that's what I caught on the25th, now the 20s, that's
wednesday the 25th, that wouldhave been, that's the 27th,
(35:35):
while turkey was the 27th,woodford was the 27th and so was
was oh, I forgot.
On Bardstown, that's the one Iforgot.
So also on Tuesday, the daybefore we had lunch.
A brisket sandwich and friedchicken were high profile,
(35:56):
tasting was good and got theNorland whiskey glasses set at
two and that's what we did.
So we went from, I think wewent lux row makers mark
bardstown bourbon company up toold forester.
So that day, that tuesday,monday tuesday, with my wife was
spectacular, but we did fourplaces.
(36:19):
Now then I went to town branch,but that day also I went to
Town Branch.
But that day also I went toJames E Pepper and the Barrel
House.
That were right across thestreet from Town Branch, even
though it's like a highway youhave to cross over Now.
So I'm left with that Wednesday.
So Thursday I also the Jim Beamexperience that happened on
(36:47):
Monday, when we were up inLouisville, we went to the Jim
Beam distillery and there you go, I picked up this personalized
bottle and so you guys can seeit it's the Urban Stillhouse
Select.
I had it.
This is my birthday.
I had it engraved for mybirthday.
So this one says Age toPerfection Jeff Mueller,
(37:10):
september 21st 2019.
So you've got that right there.
I put my birthday on it.
It's still not been opened.
It's a special bottle that wasengraved.
Then, on this day, that was upat the Urban Stillhouse.
Now, this Thursday was a big dayfor me because I had a luncheon
(37:34):
with Fred and Freddie no.
So first we had the dinner atthe Kentucky Bourbon Festival.
That was a dinner on Fridaynight, then Saturday night was
the gala, but this Thursdaynight was lunch with them.
So here and I also bought a JimBeam decanter.
But at the Urban Stillhouselunch with Fred and Freddie no,
(37:58):
tour was amazing.
I got to use the bung hammerand hit the barrel and pop open
the bung and then they thievedright from a six year um, jim
being black, so that.
So there we go.
So we're, we're kind of likecompletely.
I mean so that Thursday Ibelieve the the the lunch was
(38:22):
from 12 to two.
So I want to say so I knew thatOzzie Tyler, this was the hard
one.
That was two hours away.
So I got out of there rightaway.
Even though Fred and Freddiewere willing and talking to me,
I had to leave, jump in the carand drive the two hours.
(38:44):
Now I think it was like untilthree, so that would have put me
at Ozzy Tyler at five.
I had called ahead and Irealized Owensboro is in a
different time zone so it reallyput me there at four and the
last tour was at four.
So I got there right at four,joined the tour already in
(39:06):
progress and got the stamp forozzy tyler.
But the hard part about partabout this ozzy tyler here it
was drove two hours acrosskentucky.
The people there stayed openlate for me, great people,
interesting process.
That's where I learned abouttheir rapper and aging and their
rosy, which was just a totaldisaster.
(39:28):
They eventually sold and becameGreen River and Green River has
some damn good stock of whatthey were doing, that they
weren't rapid aging.
So it's really kind of cool.
But the hard part about that iswhen the tour was over at 5
o'clock, which is technically 6o'clock I now had a three hour
drive back to Lexington.
(39:50):
That's where we were staying,because it's two hours back to
Bardstown and one hour toLexington.
So it was a long day but I gotthe stamp as you can see the
Ozzie Tyler stamp right thereand then finished up the next
day with a tour.
That is where I met the tourguide, who was a podcaster and I
(40:15):
still his name is eluding me hestill he pod.
I believe he still podcasts.
But he took us, took us to thetour, started, I believe, at
wild Turkey in the morning.
They picked us, picked me up.
Um, last day started withbottled in bond bus tour.
(40:38):
This was the first stop, onlytasting.
I owned all the.
I owned all the bourbon already.
Rare Breed is one of myfavorites.
$24.99 hoodie, great score.
So I got a wild turkey hoodie.
(40:59):
I still have that hoodie.
And then the next place that westopped was Four Roses.
Now, when I was in, where isFour Roses?
Let's talk about this.
They took us there.
We did a tour and actually themaster distiller was in.
(41:26):
Not okay, four Roses.
Second stop bus tour.
Tasting was awesome.
Three guys I met on tour Ibecame the fourth Bought a
bottle of Four Roses SingleBarrel Select from the gift shop
.
(41:49):
Yeah, it was a single barrelselect for the gift shop from
the gift shop.
Oh, yeah, it was a singlebarrel select for the gift shop.
Only scored a bourbon trailhoodie.
So I got a Kentucky bourbontrail hoodie.
And then the last place wasWoodford and the Woodford
reserve, which was the second inthere which finished off the
trail.
It's funny because I just thereit is, um september 27, 2009,
(42:14):
the last stop on the bus tourscored a bottle of bourbon and
gold engraved.
It got a bung on the tour andmy rock I got rocks for cooling
bourbon.
Finished with the Kentucky Mule,which I still have, the glass
from there, the copper glassfrom that Kentucky Mule.
(42:36):
But this is the bottle that gotengraved.
It says actually it's privatestock of Jeff Mueller, september
27, 2019.
It's selected by MasterDistiller Chris Morris, 45.2.
(42:57):
So it was the proprietary batch, so that one I got.
So what I wanted to do is showeverybody Saturday it's all over
and we go to, I believe I wantto say in Lexington, we go to
(43:17):
the courthouse and I was able topick up this fantastic Kentucky
bourbon trail which says 16distilleries finished, 2019.
The world famous Kentuckybourbon trail.
So I was able to secure thisglass.
I figured out 972 miles, sothat was the tour in.
(43:44):
I'm going to have a sip of this.
At one point this got opened.
I didn't open it Sometime, itgot open, so this is from 2019.
It is a Woodford Reserve andI'm going to sip that with you
guys.
But one of the cool things Ishould be monitoring the no, no
(44:05):
One of the cool things the glass.
I love the glass.
That's kind of what I was goingafter it and at the bottom it
says Kentucky Bourbon Trail.
I really am proud of this glass, randy.
I look at it.
This is the Eagle Scout Awardbadge for bourbon.
I mean the trail.
(44:26):
It was was a commitment youguys kind of saw.
At one point everything didn'twork out and I had to go back
and I'm sorry for I can'tbelieve that I don't have up all
right.
So there's the.
So let's talk about theKentucky Bourbon Trail.
(44:47):
You know I finished it in 2019.
The Craft Trail I wonder if itfailed to.
Am I off?
That's there, let's see.
Do I go backwards on that one?
Is there a back?
What happened?
(45:09):
here, Where's my reload?
Failed to open page.
All right, there was a historyI had that.
I had that.
I do not think that's right.
(45:33):
Nope, all right, I got to goback.
I guess I got to go find.
Is the history over here Couldbe?
No, I had dumped it over there,so I should be okay, that's
where it should be.
Okay, let's go back over here.
Let's go to this, go to that.
(45:54):
There we go.
So that's 2019.
2020, the newest member of theKentucky Bourbon Trail was
Wilderness Trail.
They moved from the craft tourto the Kentucky Bourbon Trail
because of the increase of theirvolume of production.
Dansville, kentucky, is thehome of Wilderness Trail.
2021, this year saw impressivegrowth on the craft tour side.
(46:15):
Things joining in 21s wereCopper and Kings in Louisville,
known for their brandy.
The Bard, located in Graham,kentucky, is home to Cinder and
Smoked.
Bourbon.
Castle and Key is a historicproperty in Frankfort, kentucky,
and Logstill in Gethsemane,kentucky.
2022, the sole member joiningthe craft tour 2022, was Whiskey
(46:38):
Thief.
That is one of our sponsors andthat was a huge year.
They were previously known asThree Boys Farm.
They actually changed theirname on our podcast, so that was
a huge year.
They were previously known asThree Boys Farm.
They actually changed theirname on our podcast, so that was
cool.
2023, four new members of theKentucky Bourbon Trail Craft
Tour join the 2023.
They are RD1 Spirits in theLexington Distillery District,
(46:58):
which is now their Saturday.
I will be at their brand newdistillery, so that's pretty
cool.
Fresh Bourbon in downtownLexington.
Augusta Distillery we werethere with Alex and she's
fantastic.
Alec Castle and that's a greatdistillery.
And the Pensive DistillingCompany and Kitchen in Newport,
(47:19):
kentucky.
Okay, that's where we are in2023, 2024.
Now in 2025, let's where we arein 2023, 2024.
Now in 2025, let's go to this.
This is the Kentucky BourbonTrail experience now, which is
crazy to me because it went to60, grows to 60 experiences.
(47:43):
They added chicken cockdistilling in Bardstown.
They added Bespoken, they addedGirard County Distilling and
RD1 Spirit in Lexington, centralBluegrass Distillers, heaven's
Door Distillery, larkin Bourbon,northern Becker and Bird Winery
(48:05):
and Distillery WenzelDistilling, Buzzards Roost
Spirits in Louisville, bardstownBourbon Company Tasting Room,
monks Road, boiler House TastingRoom, which has a steakhouse
right there.
Whiskey Thief DistillingTasting Room in Louisville has
been added, and then BH JamesDistillers and Southern Kentucky
Distillery, berksville comingsoon.
You've got the Potter Janecoming online too.
(48:26):
They're distilling.
So there's so many differentthings.
Proud to welcome more than adozen new experiences to its
Kentucky Bourbon Trail Tour,growing opportunities for
visitors worldwide to exploreKentucky bourbon and benefiting
local communities throughout thestate.
Since its launch in 1999, thetrail adventure has seen
(48:47):
tremendous growth, elevatingtourism from the entire
Commonwealth and consistentlybreaking attendance records,
with more than 2.5 millionvisitors annually.
The latest expansion includesnew distillery offerings and
satellite tasting rooms,bringing the Bourbon Trail to a
total of 60 destinations in 27Kentucky, in 27 of Kentucky's
(49:09):
120 counties.
The growth is part of the newKentucky Bourbon Trail campaign
that encourages visitors tobuild your own Bourbon Trail
tour.
As a bourbon tourism continuesto thrive, our members are
creating more opportunities forthe world to experience the
heart and soul of America spiritin a variety of ways that meet
every visitor's interest.
What began as a small group ofdistilleries has now grown into
(49:34):
an ever-expanding bucket listdestination with global appeals.
She said Each new addition ismore than a stop on a map.
It's a celebration of Kentucky'sbourbon's rich history and
proud heritage map.
It's a celebration ofKentucky's bourbon's rich
history and proud heritage.
More than 80% of all Kentuckybourbon trail visitors come from
outside Kentucky.
Research show.
Bourbon trail visitors have amuch higher household income
than typical Kentucky.
(49:55):
Tourists trend younger, staylonger, come in larger groups
and spend more money in Kentuckycommunities.
Bourbon is a $9 billioneconomic and tourism powerhouse
for kentucky, generating morethan 23 000 jobs with 2.2
billion in salaries and benefits.
The industry continues to breakrecords in aging bourbon barrel
(50:16):
inventory inventory 14.3million and production 3.2
million barrels filled in 2023.
Even as an alcoholic orbeverages beverages are seeing a
slowdown in sales.
Kentucky DA President EricGregory says he does not believe
bourbon tourism will beimpacted by headwinds like
(50:37):
shifts in consumer trends,snowballing taxes and a threat
of regulatory tariffs on USgoods.
Kentucky is one of the true andauthentic homes for bourbon, he
said.
While we keep breakingattendance records, there are
plenty of people around theworld who have never made the
pilgrimage to the birthplace ofbourbon and many more who are
(50:58):
planning the return.
It's I mean, it's just crazy.
This is one of the cool, coolthings the distilleries.
When you click on this, thegreatest journey, um, your
bourbon experience awaits.
I mean, here's angels envy,bardstown, bourbon company,
bardstown bourbon company,tasting room, bullet distilling,
(51:19):
castle and key and evanwilliams.
But there's there's 10 more ofthese six things.
The map is just overwhelmedwith places to go.
So when you go to, you buildyour own experience.
So what it's come down to isthat in 2019, I was able to go
to the 16, 18 total places FourRoses I actually stopped at that
(51:43):
place along the way too, but itwasn't on the stamp.
But it was what would you say?
It's cool that you could get aglass and you could complete it.
But now the trail is drivingforce for fantastic bourbon
(52:04):
experiences.
So what I mean is things to do.
So this is where the fun begins.
So right here, they got all thetours right here Private Select
Tour at Angel's Envy They'vegot one bottle of your own
single barrels.
Angel and Envy.
Manhattan Cocktail Class.
Ride Cocktail Class Behind theBar.
(52:26):
Cocktail Class.
Signature Tour that's whathappens at A&B.
Fill your own bottle.
Vip experience at BardstownBourbon Company.
Bardstown Bourbon Companybourbon in bottle Tour with the
master distiller.
You visit the site behind thescenes.
Looks like that's the, that'sthe nick smith there.
(52:46):
And then you got the art ofblending tour shake, shaken and
stirred.
That's the first of 16.
I mean, let's see smoked,old-fashioned bullet bullet
mixed and muddled creativecocktail.
You know so Russian BulletBullet Mixed and Muddled
Creative Cocktails.
So all the distilleries haveall the different things.
(53:08):
I went down Whiskey Thief has abottle.
It's like their tours andtastings and whatever.
So, honestly, the coolest thingabout this, in my opinion in my
(53:31):
opinion, is that the trail hasgone, from you trying to
complete it to you make yourbest experience of what you want
to do.
Now, the reason why I don'tthink you can complete the trail
in a year it's difficult to goto 60 distilleries in a place
that you don't live.
Now, if I lived in Kentucky, Imight be able to do the 60
distilleries.
I would come up with a reasonto go to all the different
(53:53):
distilleries.
You know what I'm saying.
I would actually figure out howto go to these different
distilleries.
And the other thing is is thatthere's a ton of food now and
when you look at this, theyactually have it eat and drink.
So that is part of the tour too.
(54:13):
You are talking about the barsthe cocktail lounge at Green
River cocktails and tasting wildturkey finishing bar at Angel's
Envy.
Five Brothers Bar at HeavenHill.
George's Bar at Old Forrester,gift Shop Cocktail Bar at Lux
Row.
Mixers Bar at Fort Nelson.
So they've got all thedifferent Overlook Bar at Rabbit
Hole that is a damn good bar.
(54:34):
Star Hill Provisions I've eatenlunch there.
Taylorton Station at Castle andKey I mean, I've had food from
there.
Also the Aquifer Tasting Bar Iwas up there at New Rift.
The Cocktail Bar at Bullet havenot been there yet.
Cocktail Lounge at WoodfordReserve yes, I've been there.
(54:56):
The Garden and Gun Club atStitzel Weller no.
But I mean these are all thedifferent things you can do.
They're all there.
It's on the website.
So if you're planning a tripdown and they even have all the
different stays, you knowthey've got the different places
(55:18):
to stay.
All the hotels I didn't see,you know the Bardstown which now
has the Trail Hotel, which I'mgoing to be staying at tomorrow
night.
So I'm looking forward to that.
So there you go.
I mean, the Bourbon Trail hascompletely evolved from
(55:39):
something of an accomplishmentlike getting a badge badge to
creating your own experience,because with 60 distilleries on
the Kentucky Bourbon Trail andthat doesn't include Buffalo
Trace Barton's doesn't do toursanymore.
But we are going to bepodcasting for you on Saturday
(56:01):
or tomorrow.
Tomorrow from Barton's,saturday, from RD1 Spirits and
their new place.
This is going to be pretty muchbetween 11 and 12 o'clock going
live and doing the podcast onFriday, saturday and Sunday.
Sunday will be Whiskey Thiefwith Lisa, roper Wicker and
(56:24):
Walter Zausch, so that should bepretty cool.
And who else you don't know whoelse could be on that podcast.
So I think that covers theBourbon Trail for everybody.
Anybody listening in.
You know other, uh, make surethat you know this is this, this
(56:46):
one, the Kentucky bourbon trail, is a good one, uh, it's.
You go to the web, I believeit's KY bourbon trailcom.
Uh, and you set it all up.
I mean, if you know and youlisten to the podcast, we talk
about the experiences andeverything and all the things
that you can do, and I've done alot of them through the
(57:11):
Kentucky Bourbon Festival andthe Kentucky Bourbon Trail.
So you, 16 distilleriesfinished 2019, and it's got the
(57:33):
Kentucky Bourbon Trail logo plusKentucky Bourbon.
Very proud of it.
And when you're talking aboutthe trail, it's good.
I've got some Woodford Reservefrom my engraved glass, which
was a private batch for the giftshop, which it says, I want to
(57:56):
say private selection of JeffMueller, september 27th 2019.
So I've got that in there.
Well, everybody, I think thatdoes it for tonight.
If you stay on Facebook andYouTube.
(58:20):
Afterwards a little bit onFacebook.
I'm going to keep this goingjust a little bit longer and
I'll send you guys out,whoever's been listening, an
invitation to come on.
But we're going to finish thisup right now.
Remember, let's see.
I got to remember how I'm doingthis.
(58:40):
Yeah, okay, I've got it.
Let me see, I think it's righthere, right there, all right.
So we got to reset it tonight.
There we go.
I hope it doesn't play, it'snot All right.
Everybody, rememberwwwscotchiebourbonboyscom for
(59:02):
all things Scotchie Bourbon Boys.
You can check out our bios, youcan get a t-shirt, you can get
a Glen Karen like this one righthere, those are sharp, they're
available.
Contact me directly if you want.
And then also remember Facebook, Instagram, youtube and X right
(59:26):
, still nothing on TikTokbecause I'm not doing that until
it's corrected.
But then also we are on all themajor podcast audio formats,
mainly Apple, iheart and Spotify.
But no matter how, where youlisten to us or watch us,
remember like, listen, comment,subscribe and leave good
(59:48):
feedback.
Feedback's very important.
And remember good bourbon, goodwhiskey, equals good times with
good friends.
Make sure that you drinkresponsibly, don't drink and
drive, and live your life uncutand unfiltered.
Speaker 3 (01:00:19):
And we are going to get out of our crew.
Listen along and find out howthat can be.
You Spend time with the boys.
You don't want to miss us.
It's just twice a week, whetherit's Ohio, kentucky, milwaukee
or South Carolina.
Listen along and have a goodtime.
(01:00:42):
We make sure to leave the badtimes behind.
Speaker 2 (01:00:46):
Bourbon is the blood that makes a lifelong bond With
our friends and neighbors, evensome across the pond.
Speaker 3 (01:00:52):
I can't wait until the next time we meet, because
I'm always looking for the nextbourbon.
Yes, please, I'll have it neat.
Show me the way to anotherwhiskey bar, where it'll be.
It won't be too far Withfriends and family.
Close, we will never be aloneoh.
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