Bourbon Country

Hello All,
I am heading to Radcliff, KY in May. I am looking to add some bourbon to my collection. Not looking for obscenely expensive stuff.

Any new bourbon or reasonably priced producers that I should check out?

Thank you in advance.
Vamsi

Wow, where to even start. Ok, here are my thoughts:

Four Roses, a good tour and you can get some hard to find barrel strength bourbons.
Woodford Reserve, a beautiful tour - not sure how much you can buy there that you won’t find elsewhere.
Same goes for Makers Mark.
See if Michter’s new tasting room is open. Really good stuff, some unique finds.
Willett was a good tour, and they should have several there that I never see around here.

If I think of others, I’ll let you know.

Ummm, Buffalo Trace?

The problem with Buffalo Trace is this: he said “add some bourbon to my collection”. The distillery typically has almost nothing worthwhile for sale. Yes, maybe you catch it on the right day, maybe.

We had a very nice visit, a wonderful tour, and bought a bottle of vodka, and bourbon cream liquor. I think they had the standard Buffalo Trace available for purchase at a high price, and I think a White Dog.

We watched them bottling Eagle Rare and Blanton’s, saw the Pappy barrels, but those seem to go right out the door to the stores.

Ahhhhhh, thought they’d have some of the mid-tier lines for sale. Weller 12 perhaps. Oh well.

I bet some of the mid-tier stuff gets in there from time to time, but you have to catch it on the right day. A very nice tour though.

Very true about Buffalo Trace. Four Roses is a nice stop, and they definitely have some stuff not available for sale elsewhere as previously mentioned.

I enjoyed Bulleit quite a bit. Although it is not a true “distillery” as the bourbon is made a Four Roses and they only age some of the stuff there. They had a few of the Orphan Barrel Project bottles available as well. Not sure how rare those are, and have recently read mixed reviews on them as well.

If you’re driving from Radcliff toward Lexington, Frankfort or Bardstown, it might interest you to stop in Harrodsburg at the Beaumont Inn. They have a tavern, The Old Owl, with great KY food (country ham, fried chicken, etc.) and the owner is also a principal in KY Owl bourbon which is only distributed in KY. It’s NSP but they know what they are doing in getting good stuff and finishing it in different charred barrels and such. You can get it by the drink at the Tavern. Also the inn is a nice place to stay but their dining room is closed Sunday and Monday (I think), though the Tavern is open.
Regardless of what you think about about their bourbons (I like them), Makers Mark, Woodford Reserve and Wild Turkey are pretty places to visit. I personally like to go to Buffalo Trace annually and try to get Freddie Johnson as a guide. They have several different tours there. There’s a lot of history at Jim Beam. In Lexington Town Branch is a great place to go for both craft beer and bourbon.
Also in Lexington, the Liquor Barn is a go to retailer. You can pick up some rare ones at good prices. I like the store on Richmond Road.

Timely topic–we are headed to Louisville in mid March and I enjoyed reading the responses. We will spend a morning in bardstown, one outside of Lexington and then Louisville itself
What’s the best all purpose liquor store in Louisville where I am likely to find various harder to find bottles that I can’t find in Virginia? Not looking for unicorns, just things like Elmer t. Lee which have disappeared from our VA shelves.

Willett does a great tour, a coworker went a couple years ago and he was well received.

I believe they are in Bardstown.

Willett is a great place for a tour and they always have something special in the gift shop. Last time I got an 11 y/o bourbon and an 8y/o rye.
If you visit the Bourbon Heritage Center in Bardstown (Heaven Hill also has special bottles for sale), Willett is just down the road about 1 1/2 miles.
I usually stay at the Hampton Inn in Bardstown. The Rickhouse restaurant and lounge (Bardstown) has an exceptional and very reasonable bourbon bar, and good food. Last time I started with the shrimp and grits and could have stopped there - it was delicious and pairs well with bourbons. Jason, the owner, happened to be behind the bar last visit and is a wealth of knowledge and a nice guy.


Retail liquor stores in Louisville: Liquor Barn, Party Mart and Old Town Liquors.

RE: Radcliff KY - there is a new craft distillery there named Boundary Oak. They may be open for tours by the Spring. KY Amber is one of their products.

Liquor Barn in Lexington on Man o War is amazing

Good mention of Town Branch

This is our normal liquor store when we visit family in KY as they aren’t too far from there. I don’t know if it’s amazing but they have good stuff. I bought a 10 year private cask bottling of Old Scout when I was there last that was really, really good.

I live in Elizabethtown, just 15 minutes south of Radcliff. Lots of great info in the other responses. Not sure about the local stores in Radcliff but in “E-town” there is a Liquor Barn which is the large chain in the area. They just opened a location in E-town a few months ago. They should have the widest selection close to Radcliff. Packages and More in E-town is a locally owned shop. That’s where I usually shop and Eric (the owner) or Ben can usually point you to something interesting. If you find yourself in Louisville, Westport Whiskey and Wine is also worth a stop for retail. They also have a great tasting room if you want to try some unicorns. Recently had a Michter’s 20 and Van Winkle Rye there. Plenty of other great bottles by the glass. In E-town there is Bourbon Barrel Tavern. A new bar with fairly good selections as well. No food though.

Top distillery tours for me include Willett and Heaving Hill. As mentioned they are conveniently located just down the road from each other. The gift shop at Heaven Hill may have some interesting bottles as well. Just picked up barrel proof Elijah Craig and EC 23 year a few weeks ago. Also Select Stock is only available at that distillery. Even if not on the shelf it would be worth asking if they have any of those available to taste. They are very accommodating. The Four Roses bottling facility in Cox’s Creek is on the near side of Bardstown. They also offer tours and at my last visit they had all of their single barrel recipes available for purchase. Can’t remember for sure but probably around $65 a bottle or so. Basically these are the barrel proof offerings that are sometimes sold to retail stores by the barrel as limited “Private Selection” bourbons.

As far as specific bottles go, I suppose it depends on what is not available to you locally. The most recent Orphan Barrel (Gifted Horse) was just released in the area this week. More reasonably priced than other offerings (I think the suggested price is around $50). Haven’t had it yet but it might be a good one to add to a collection. If you like Elmer T Lee I can’t say its easy to find around here either. I would suggest Bowman Brothers. I believe it is from the same mashbill as Elmer and distilled 2 times at Buffalo Trace before going to VA for a 3rd distillation. The small batch and single barrel are both good. Willett just started distilling their own whiskey 4 years ago. Their older labels Noah’s Mill and Johnny Drum from purchased bourbon are fairly good. Also their Family Estate Ryes are very good. Old Scout is also good. Elijah Craig barrel proof and Stagg Jr. are also tasty if you can find them. In March EH Taylor Seasoned wood is being released but definitely will be a unicorn. Plenty of distilleries other than Four Roses are also doing their Private Selection offerings and can be found at different liquor stores as well. OKI from New Riff in Newport, KY is also worth trying. They are still selling purchased bourbon from Lawrenceburg, IN but it’s not bad.

Hope this helps

Thanks for all this input. We are headed to Louisville this weekend and I’ll make note of a lot of these tips.

Silly question but is e town louisville ?

Etown is a nice little city 45 minutes south of Louisville.

Elizabethtown