My Trip to Kentucky: Second Day on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail

We enjoyed our first day on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail in downtown Louisville, so we were excited to continue exploring more distilleries outside of the city. For our second day on the Trail, we mostly stuck around Frankfort, the capital city of Kentucky.

A "whiskey thief" is this copper tube, almost like a straw, that you dip into the barrels to take a taste.

Our first stop at ten in the morning was Whiskey Thief, a smaller local distillery (what a way to start the day!). It was a very pretty day, so we enjoyed our tasting al fresco on the Three Boys Farm where the distillery is located. We had tastes of five spirits: four bourbons of different ages/mash profiles and a rye. Whiskey Thief's claim to fame is that their single-barrel spirits are uncut and unfiltered, meaning that every barrel is different, the proof isn't cut down with water, and all the little char bits from the barrel are left in the liquid (so the sediment in your glass is normal). Their spirits were quite strong (~114+ proof), and our mouths were tingly and our throats warm (the "Kentucky hug"). As a souvenir, while we did not do this, you could actually fill your own bottle straight from the barrel and take it home with you. You can't buy their spirits anywhere off the property, so it's really local and one-of-a-kind! Along with some pretzels and a bourbon ball candy, we actually got a second tasting of other spirits in the giftshop, like flavored moonshines and the like. So it was like a two-for-one experience!

The Three Boys Farm has a cat on the property named Pluto. Of course I had to pet him!

This is the old capital building in Frankfort.

After our trip to the farm, we headed to downtown Frankfort. After having pizza for lunch at the Locals, we had just enough time to slip in for a quick tasting at Glenns Creek Distillery before our reservation at Woodford Reserve. Glenns Creek was more of a hole-in-the-wall place; you climbed up some metal stairs and came into a narrow tasting room that could barely hold ten people. They had more than ten spirits on the menu, but you could only taste five of them. So I tried several bourbons and their vodka. I didn't really care for any of them, but then again I was a bit rushed to get to the next tasting. She shuffled us off pretty quickly, saying that Woodford Reserve is very particular about being on time!

I liked this flower wall at Woodford Reserve. My little jacket just happened to match!

Woodford Reserve does ask for you to arrive twenty minutes before your reservation, which is a bit excessive, but I guess it ensures that everyone is there in time for the tour. The feel of the visitors center is kind of corporate, but I guess it is a pretty well-known and successful brand. The tour was very cool, since we got to go inside multiple buildings on the property. We saw the fermenters and the stills, and we got to see where the barrels are stored. And all Woodford Reserve products are bottled and distributed from the same building, so no matter where you are in the world or what year you buy the spirits, they all came from the same place. During the tasting, we tried their bourbon, rye, and double oaked bourbon, as well as a taste of a cranberry lemonade cocktail (and another bourbon ball!). We didn't buy any products in the giftshop, although we were disappointed to learn that they had sold out of their annual Kentucky Derby bottle (although I found some online to send to my dad, since he loves Secretariat)!

Woodford Reserve recently doubled their capacity, now featuring SIX copper pot stills. 

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped by the Josephine Sculpture Park on a whim after seeing a road sign for it. On a nice, sunny day, it was very pleasant walking through the grass and seeing the modern art (a lot of which you could touch and even climb on). It reminded me of Glenstone or the sculpture garden in Minneapolis. We saw lots of wildlife, including a huge rabbit and a swallow peeking its head out of its house. Not an original stop on our itinerary, but a very happy accident!

Here are some photos of the artwork:

Here's the bird peeking out of its nest!

Another fun day in Kentucky! Next up: our day in Cincinnati!