Bourbon Trail 2024 Diary
Pre-Planning the Bourbon Trail
Two previous Bourbon Trailers from California who had gone with us in 2018 wanted to do it again and asked if I would set it up. This was going to be my 19th trail. Of our original group there would be 4 of us and three newbies from Indiana. Besides the two from California, two more were coming with them for a total of 11 of us. Eleven people in itself was going to be a challenge. The plans started at least10 months in advance. We decided on the end of October, a time we regularly have done the trail. We felt since some were coming in all the way from California we would make it a 3-4 day trip, a little longer than normal.
Setting Up the Itinerary for the Bourbon Trail
With 5 new people you still must do the regular stops which I consider Makers Mark, Jim Beam, Buffalo Trace, Woodford Reserve, Castle & Key, Wild Turkey and add the other places as we can fit in. When you set up the trail this way, knowing time and distance between stops is a must. We first had to compensate for travel time from both our locations, northern and central Indiana and California. Setting up the itinerary is the easiest part of setting up the trail, now you have to make sure you can schedule all the tours and stops to coincide with your itinerary’s timeline and with 11 people you have to jump at the first openings.
Scheduling Times for the Bourbon Trail
Many distilleries schedule 90 days out and not sooner. There were a few that scheduled ahead of that and I was able to get those right away but the majority were 90 days out, one was 4 weeks. I set up a calendar so I knew when to get on their site to schedule tours. Some distilleries are 90 days out starting at midnight, so set your alarm, and some are 90 days to the exact time you want scheduled. Example-if you wanted a 2:00 tour, you had to reserve 90 days out on that date at 2:00, not sooner. I was lucky to get all the tours scheduled without a change in the itinerary. Rabbit Hole was going to be the toughest because they limit their groups to 8 people, and you can only reserve 4 weeks out. When you set it up like this, you not only have the dates set but your times are already set and if one distillery does not work out for you, you have to redo your schedule. I contacted Rabbit Hole and they graciously said that if I was able to schedule and get all 8 spaces they would add three more for us.
Don’t forget lunch and dinners. Those were a little easier to schedule but, a few, we had to break up the group because of the number of people.
Setting up for 2,4 or even 6 is much easier. There usually are openings you can find but the sooner you check on them the better chances of getting your date and time. If you don’t want to work on a strict timeline it also makes it much easier to reserve slots.
Our Bourbon Trail Itinerary
Mid-West-Coast Bourbon Tour 2024
Day1 Oct.23 Wednesday Lexington
7:00 Leave Our House (Indiana Group)
11:00 Castle & Key – Meet up with California group-(Tour & Lunch)
2:15 Woodford Reserve (Tasting)
4:00 Wild Turkey (Tour)
5:00 Hotel Hyatt Lexington
7:30 Dinner (Carsons)
Day 2 Oct 24 Thursday Lexington -> Louisville
7:00 Leave Hotel
8:00 Buffalo Trace
11:00 Leave Buffalo Trace
12:00 Lunch Against the Grain
2:00 Rabbit Hole (Tour)
Time Permitting Copper & King (Tasting)
4:00 Barrel & Billets (Make your own bottle)
6:30 Hotel Louisville The Omni
7:30 & 7:45 Dinner Doc Crow’s Southern Smokehouse & Raw Bar
Day 3 Oct 25 Friday Louisville
9:00 Leave hotel
10:30 Makers Mark (Tour)
1:30 Lunch Jim Beam
3:00 Jim Beam (Tour)
5:00 Michters (Drinks)
6:00 Hotel Louisville The Omni
7:45 Dinner Bluegrass Brewing Company
Day 4 Oct 26 Saturday
9:00 Leave hotel
10:00 Bulleit (Tour)
12:00 Head Home
2:50 Minute Drive Home
STAY TUNED FOR PART II
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