Kentucky Bourbon: Birth to Boom, Day 1 | Jim Beam, Maker’s Mark, KY Cooperage
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About the Tour
About the Tour
(Part 1 of a 2-Day Driving Tour)
Ready to hear the history of bourbon, straight from the mouths of its makers? On Day 1 of your tour through the Kentucky Bourbon Trail®, you’ll visit the James B. Beam Distilling Co., Maker’s Mark Distillery, and the Kentucky Cooperage Visitors Center.
The tour starts from Jim Beam, where you’ll learn about the Beam family’s impact on the bourbon industry. As you continue on this 75-minute driving tour, you’ll hear Bill Samuels, President Emeritus of Maker’s Mark, tell family stories about the start of the iconic brand. After your visit to Maker’s Mark, you’ll hear from Brad Boswell, CEO and barrel-maker at Independent Stave Company, as he describes the cooper’s craft.
Each leg of the tour gives you a deeper appreciation for the bourbon tradition and the folks who make it special. By the time you end this day of the tour, you’ll have learned about the birth of Kentucky bourbon legacy.
Throughout the day, you’ll have a chance to:
- Take a selfie in front of the Jim Beam Barn
- Learn about the Beam family’s impact on the bourbon industry
- Drive through the heart of Bardstown, the Bourbon Capital of the World
- Listen to Master Distillers and family founders
- Stroll across Starhill Farm, home of Maker’s Mark Distillery
- Discover how Maker’s Mark went from a father’s retirement hobby to an international brand
- Take in the beauty of Kentucky’s rolling rural countryside
- Unearth the special traits that make the White Oak trees so crucial to bourbon
- Hear the local history of the towns you pass through
So, buckle up, drive responsibly, and let our tour turn the long, confusing drives between distilleries into an immersive Kentucky Bourbon tour.
Cheers to an adventure you’ll talk about for years to come!
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While intended as Part 1/2, this tour also works great as a stand-alone.
Tour Producer
Tour Producer
High Proof Tours
As Official Partners of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail®, we craft immersive, phone-guided audio tours throughout the Kentucky Bourbon Trail that Make Your Drive Come Alive.
As you travel between iconic distilleries, you'll hear exclusive interviews, local stories, and deep dives into bourbon history. Our tours will map you a drive that blends adventure with insight to give you a travel experience that’s truly unforgettable.
High Proof Tours was dreamt up by two college buddies, Christopher & Adam. Christopher's an Emmy-Award winning documentary filmmaker with a love of storytelling. Adam's a whiskey geek with a bourbon collection so large that some say if you laid the bottles end-to-end, it'd be taller than the Eiffel Tower. After visiting the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, hearing the incredible stories, experiencing the long drives between distilleries, they saw a need for some better storytelling (and better navigation through some of those back country roads).
Christopher had already been creating tours on VoiceMap for clients - one of which is the globally top-rated driving tour on the platform. So he and Adam put their heads together, connected with the incredible people at the Kentucky Bourbon Trail®, interviewed some legendary master distillers, and published their tours.
Cheers to an adventure you‘ll talk about for years to come!
Preview Location
Preview Location
Location 23
Margie's Legacy
Good job. We will stay on 527 until we get to St. Francis in about 5 minutes.
When asked about Maker’s Mark’s role in the Bourbon Boom, Bill reflects fondly on a Town & Country article a few years back…
>> Bill Samuels:
They, they got 21 of the, of t... Read More
View locations and route
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Major Landmarks
Major Landmarks
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James B. Beam Distilling Co.
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The Jim Beam Barn
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Bardstown
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Heaven Hill Bourbon Experience
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Willett Distillery
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Saint Francis
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Loretto
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Maker's Mark Distillery
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Kentucky Cooperage Visitors Center
Getting There
Getting There
Route Overview
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Start location37.93126861, -85.65181707
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Total distance77km
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Final location37.57714932, -85.24924152
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Distance back to start location53km
Directions to Starting Point
Our tour starts in the parking lot of the James B Beam Distilling Co. (Jim Beams' visitors center). Try to park in the spaces to the east of the visitors center. If those are all full, park as close to the visitors center as you can.
Our tour has about 10 minutes of introductions and house-keeping before you’ll actually start driving, so park facing the visitor’s center if you can. It’s nice to have the distillery to look at.
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Tips
Tips
Places to stop along the way
During our trips along this route, we’ve really enjoyed the meals at Toogie’s Table (in Bardstown).
Doing tours or tastings at all four of the bourbon distilleries along this route makes for a very full day. That said, if you’re not planning to spend a ton of time at each distillery, and you really want to get your Bourbon Trail Passport stamps, you’ll be passing right by the following distilleries: Heaven Hill; Willet; Limestone Branch; and, Wild Turkey.
Best time of day
We’d recommend making an early-morning visit to the Jim Beam Distillery so that you can start our driving tour by mid-morning. While our tour only has you driving for ~75 minutes, you’ll want time to experience each Maker's Mark and the cooperage, so the day can go by fast!
Precautions
Do not drink and drive. Do not drive intoxicated. Have a designated driver.
Be careful on these windy back-roads. Go at or below the speed limit.
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