First trip to Kentucky

[Cards fan]

I'm going to be in Louisville on May 19th and am excited to visit a few distilleries. My friends and I signed up for BT hard hat tour and are planning on checking out Four Roses and Willet.

Is it worth checking out the four roses bottling gift shop as I see it's near Willet?

Any recommendations on a place to stay near four roses? I would like to find some place a little more quaint than driving into Louisville. Any places with good food or bars with good whiskey selection nearby? Is there any place near those 3 distilleries that is a must see? Is there anything else in the area that I should check out?

Thank you in advance for your time. I'm really looking forward to my first trip.

[cowdery]

Cox's Creek, where Four Roses is aged and bottled, isn't very close to Willett, it's probably about 15 miles. Obviously, you want to go there if you want to see bottling and aging, but if all you're interested in is the gift shop the one at the distillery is the one you want.

Willett (Bardstown) and Four Roses (Lawrenceburg) aren't that close to each other, about 40 miles, but it's an easy drive on the Martha Layne Collins Bluegrass Expressway.

Best place to stay around Lawrenceburg and Frankfort is at the intersection of 127 (the road to Lawrenceburg) and I-64. That's actually Frankfort, but there's really nothing in or any closer to Lawrenceburg, and that's a lot closer than going back to Louisville. It's your typical interstate chain hotels and restaurants cluster, but you can go into Frankfort if you want a few more local dining choices. Or you can go a little further and stay in or near Lexington.

[mbroo5880i]

I have family in Frankfort. It is a nice city but a little underwhelming. I would suggest Lexington if you are up to driving a little further. When we visit Frankfort, we usually stay at the same interchange Chuck suggests. I do like Red Spot liquors in Frankfort. There is also a nice store located downtown.

[cazolman]

There is a Best Western in Lawrenceburg. Addie's at the Woodford Inn in nearby Versailles has a good bourbon selection and food. Enjoyed both when I toured the trail a couple years ago.

[Cards fan]

Cox's Creek, where Four Roses is aged and bottled, isn't very close to Willett, it's probably about 15 miles. Obviously, you want to go there if you want to see bottling and aging, but if all you're interested in is the gift shop the one at the distillery is the one you want.

Willett (Bardstown) and Four Roses (Lawrenceburg) aren't that close to each other, about 40 miles, but it's an easy drive on the Martha Layne Collins Bluegrass Expressway.

Best place to stay around Lawrenceburg and Frankfort is at the intersection of 127 (the road to Lawrenceburg) and I-64. That's actually Frankfort, but there's really nothing in or any closer to Lawrenceburg, and that's a lot closer than going back to Louisville. It's your typical interstate chain hotels and restaurants cluster, but you can go into Frankfort if you want a few more local dining choices. Or you can go a little further and stay in or near Lexington.

Thank you for the advice. I guess in my head I thought these places were close in the grand scheme since we are driving from St. Louis to get there.

[Cards fan]

I have family in Frankfort. It is a nice city but a little underwhelming. I would suggest Lexington if you are up to driving a little further. When we visit Frankfort, we usually stay at the same interchange Chuck suggests. I do like Red Spot liquors in Frankfort. There is also a nice store located downtown.

I look forward to checking out Red Spot. Is that a bar or are you talking about a liquor store? I'm going to talk to my friends, but will likely be staying at the spot Chuck suggested. I'll run it by my friends but see if they want to drive into Lexington.

[fishnbowljoe]

I look forward to checking out Red Spot. Is that a bar or are you talking about a liquor store? I'm going to talk to my friends, but will likely be staying at the spot Chuck suggested. I'll run it by my friends but see if they want to drive into Lexington.

Is it Red Spot, or Red Dot Liquors? There are a couple of Red Dot Liquor stores in Frankfort. One is fairly close to BT.

[mbroo5880i]

Good catch, Joe! It is Red Dot. The one on 127 is the larger and better of the two stores. The one by BT is smaller. Capital Cellars is the store downtown that I was thinking of. It is also close to BT.

[cowdery]

Capital Cellars is nice. It's a store, bar, and restaurant. A few doors away is a cool, independent bookstore, Poor Richard's.

[Cards fan]

Capital Cellars is nice. It's a store, bar, and restaurant. A few doors away is a cool, independent bookstore, Poor Richard's.

[jonnyd]

Chuck, Capital Cellars has a 3 way liquor license? If so it is one of a handful left in the state. Metzger's Tavern in Henderson, Ky is one of the others.

[Cards fan]

I completed my first trip to Kentucky over the weekend and loved it. So glad I made the trip with 2 of my best friends.

The first night we stayed in Louisville and went to silver dollar saloon. Had some great whiskey there. I tried a Willett 10 year selection, 2010 four roses small batch limited edition and a Thomas handy 2012. Loved the bar and even the food was good. The bartender made the experience superb. Also had an ancient age 10 year at another place (which I haven't seen in Texas).

The next day we went to Buffalo Trace and took the hard hat tour. It was my first tour and was blown away! Great experience and I highly recommend it. I enjoyed the bourbon cream and the bourbon balls. Then we went to four roses distillery. We weren't that impressed. It didn't seem to have history as only a couple guys could run the show from the control room. The tasting wasn't too exciting except Jim Rutledge was giving a VIP tour to a guy he worked for as a Seagrams employee. I didn't realize who he was until he grabbed glasses from behind the counter I was standing by. I went to buy a bottle to have him signed but he ran back to the office to work. It was also disappointing they didn't have any private selections there picked by Jim Rutledge. We waited in the parking lot to see if Jim came out and while waiting we bumped into Al Young (brand ambassador for Four Roses). He was a terrific who seems to have the coolest job I've seen. He made the trip for us and signed our bottles. We went to a store in Lexington and bought all 10 of the recipes of four roses the store selected this year. Also picked up a couple private selections of Willett.

That night we went to bluegrass tavern. They have a very impressive collection but we didn't care for the bar. The lone bartender was interested in patronizing the girls who we're drinking beer. He seemed to enjoy bourbon but wasn't interested in talking about bourbon with us and was speaking bullshit most of the time.

The next day we all got to dip our own bottles at Makers Mark. Then went to heaven hill to find that they couldn't sell any alcohol because it was Election Day. Then off to Willett to find the same story. We bought a t-shirt and let us walk over and get a picture in front of the still. Very nice people and I can't wait to go back. Supposedly they haven't seen the dog, Cooper, come by in a few weeks. I hope he's ok. At the four roses bottling facility they also wouldn't sell any whiskey. Unfortunately they had bottles picked and signed by Jim Rutledge. Finally, we stopped at Jim Beam for lunch. Sadly, they were selling whiskey and chuckled when I adored about Election Day. We had a BBQ sandwich and sat next to the statue of Booker while we ate.

All in all, great trip. Thanks to everyone for giving me some tips. I wanted to share my thoughts as a way to say thank you.

[squire]

Appreciate your thoughts Card.

[Cards fan]

Thank you squire. It's always a pleasure to hear your thoughts as well.

[camduncan]

Sounds like a great trip! Thanks for sharing. How'd you like the BBQ sandwich at Beam?

[Cards fan]

You know I was pretty hungry at that point and was taking it all in sitting by booker. I remember it being rather tasty, but not anything spectacular.