Whiskey/Scotch Thread

[WhiskyPat12]

Originally Posted by Josh-PA

My wife and I are going to Louisville / Lexington in a couple of weeks. I have tastings scheduled at Angel's Envy on Friday, Mitcher's early Saturday and Buffalo Trace in the afternoon. I'm hoping to score a couple of harder to find bottles when there. For the Bourbon aficionados, anyplace you'd recommend we check out while down there?

Allow me to sperg out a bit...

I've been a few times, I absolutely love that place. I'd move there if I could! I'm no expert, but we did the entire Main part of the KY Bourbon Trail in 2.5 trips (about 11 days in KY total not including travel days). I wouldn't recommend the pace we did it at, but If I can help answer any questions, please ask!

A lot depends on how much driving you plan on doing. My favorite off the beaten path or less known places were Pursuit Spirits (Whole Shebang is a bottle your own, about 10min from Whisky Row), Peerless (Craft Trail, walking distance from Whisky Row) and Whiskey Thief (all samples are from the barrel, close to Frankfort). Here's a map to help logistics (it's probably not 100%)

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/1/ed...18&usp=sharing

For Buffalo Trace, depending on what their daily release is you might not get it (If it's Blanton's or EH Taylor) but they almost always have Eagle Rare on the shelf these days. Weller Special Reserve isn't worth waiting in line for unless you never had it (it's the cheapest Weller). But it's worth a visit either way.

Michter's is also random for when they do drops. Same with their bottle your own experience. There is a line usually 30-45min before they open to try and schedule the BYO, but we were there in the afternoon and that's when they brought out the Allocated bottles to buy. NOTE: Bottles at the distilleries are typically more expensive (even the lower tier offerings) because they don't want to screw over the stores that sell the majority of their stuff.


Starlight is in Boden, IN. About 25-30min north. GREAT whisky! It's a part of Huber Winery and Orchard, so there is more than just whisky there.

The standard cheaper tours get a bit redundant (you'll hear 51% corn A LOT), so don't be afraid to do some of the pricy ones if you can.

If you make it to Bardstown Bourbon Company, the barrel thieving tour was excellent, and you have to eat lunch there. The food is amazing!

Heavan Hill has a bottle your own, and their allocated drops are hit or miss and usually spend bottles.

Old Forester drops usually require a tour to purchase.

Something that is whisky-adjacent is the Kentucky Cooperage tour in Lebanon. Best smelling tour ever. (It's an hour south of Downtown Louisville).

Stop at Liquor Barn if you want to try some hard to find bottles. But as far as finding ones to purchase out in the wild it's actually not great. I have better luck here in Houston than bottle hunting in KY.

Cheers!