Five Places You Should Visit In Louisville While On The Bourbon Trail

Louisville is a popular beginning for those wanting to travel the Bourbon Trail. In fact, many people are coming to Louisville and staying in the city for their entire trip. There are many places in the city that are not distilleries that you should visit between distillery tours. Here are my favorite five places.

1) The Frazier Historical Museum: It is the official start to the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. It has some wonderful exhibits about the history of Bourbon, its people and places. They also have a bottle shop with many of the brands available in the state – not just the big distilleries, but also many of the artisan distilleries have bottles in their shop.

2) Bourbons Bistro: You have to eat dinner after you tour the distilleries and Bourbons Bistro is the original Bourbon themed restaurant. The food is excellent and their bar has a wide selection of Bourbon and Rye Whiskeys to choose from. They offer flights and their prices are reasonable for both the food and drinks.

3) Justins’ House of Bourbon: This liquor store has a wide selection of Bourbons and Ryes for sale. They also sell vintage bottles. The vintage bottles are not cheap, but if you are looking for an old bottle, you can often find it here for sale. The staff are very knowledgeable and friendly. It is well worth a stop to peruse their selection of barrel picks as well.

4) Art Eatables: Kelly Ramsey makes the chocolate truffles for many of the distilleries and it is worth your time to visit the store on Main Street to pick up some chocolate truffles that have been prepared with carefully selected whiskeys. The store has also opened a tasting room and sells bottles. Kelly and her staff are passionate about Bourbon and very knowledgeable as well.

5) Cave Hill Cemetery: Louisville’s burial ground for many distillers. They have an app that will lead you to many of the distiller’s gravesites. It is worth the time to visit this historic and beautiful cemetery and arboretum and pay your respects to such people as George Garvin Brown, W.L. Weller, Paul Jones, and Julian (Pappy) Van Winkle. It is a very large cemetery and the distillers are often far apart, so plan on coming back many times to visit the gravesites of your favorite distillers.

6) Bonus place: The Bar At Fort Nelson: Even if you do not tour the Michter’s Distillery in the Fort Nelson building, you should get a reservation to visit the bar. It is my favorite cocktail bar in the city. They always have fantastic cocktails and the staff are friendly and talented.

These are just a few things that Louisville has to offer for those on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail besides distillery tours. There are many other excellent restaurants, liquor stores and Bourbon bars – too many to list here. There are also many museums to visit, whatever your interest. The Louisville Slugger Museum, The Muhammad Ali Center and the Filson Historical Society to name a few. Louisville has a lot to offer those traveling the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.