10+ One-of-a-Kind Bourbon Experiences

June 10, 2021

Come Find Bourbon is rich with bucket list-worthy opportunities for bourbon tourists. Road trip to Covington, Frankfort, and Bardstown, Kentucky to enjoy a weekend or longer stay packed with one-of-a-kind bourbon experiences. From bourbon history to modern innovations, once-in-a-lifetime experiences to long-standing traditions, it’s all here.

Just a few examples of the intriguing possibilities:

Sip a cocktail at Prohibition Bar in Newport, home of the world’s largest collection of bourbon with thousands of varieties of bourbon and counting.

Learn how to make a perfect mint julep during a cocktail class from award-winning bartender and entrepreneur Bill Whitlow—a past winner of ‘The Best Mint Julep in the U.S.’—at Rich’s Proper Food and Drink in downtown Covington.



Taste a step back in time with a vintage bourbon tasting in one of the nation’s best-stocked whiskey libraries at Revival Vintage Bottle Shop in Covington.

Tap a bourbon barrel and fill your own bottle at Three Boys Farm Distillery in Frankfort. Craft your own bourbon with the ‘Bourbon Barrel Experience’ at Glenns Creek Distilling in Frankfort.




Join the nation’s only boat-based bourbon tour with Kentucky River Tours in Frankfort. Step back in time with Frankfort’s Bourbon History Walking Tour, offered Tuesdays and Thursdays at 1 p.m. May to October 2021.

See the birthplace of the famed Kentucky Bourbon Balls at Rebecca Ruth Candy Factory Tours & Museum in Frankfort.




Visit Talbott Tavern in Bardstown, Kentucky’s oldest restaurant and one of the oldest former stagecoach stops in the U.S. Former guests include Abraham Lincoln, Daniel Boone, Andrew Jackson, Louis Phillippe (French king), John Fitch (inventor of steamboats), John James Audubon (environmentalist), Stephen Foster (songwriter), and Jesse James (outlaw).

Rumble along the tracks with Bardstown’s My Old Kentucky Dinner Train, which operates its 2.5-hour, four-course, bourbon-based excursions year-round.

Explore Bardstown’s Oscar Getz Museum of Whiskey History, which displays a 50-year collection of rare artifacts and documents from pre-Colonial days to post-Prohibition years.


For top-shelf and hard-to-find bottles among a mind-boggling selection of bourbon, shop The Party Source in Bellevue, Capital Cellars in Frankfort, and Toddy’s Liquors in Bardstown.

Savoring Bourbon: The Best Pairings and Local Culinary Delights

April 24, 2025
Foodies and bourbon enthusiasts seeking elevated dining experiences find their bourbon-infused bliss in Covington, Frankfort, and Bardstown. Many restaurants and bars in these bourbon-centric cities showcase unique takes on pairing bourbon with meals, specialize in bourbon-infused menus, and feature dishes that amplify bourbon flavors. Additionally, these three cities offer bourbon experiences that bourbon lovers aren’t likely to find anywhere else. SIGNATURE SPINS In Newport, the team at Purple Poulet Southern Bourbon Bistro , led by Chef Rick Zumwalde, loves a good splash or three of bourbon in dishes like fried chicken and waffles with maple bourbon syrup, “Swanky” Shrimp-n-Grits with bourbon-cream pan gravy, hickory-smoked beef brisket with bourbon-peach jus, a Casino-style market catch with bourbon-bacon-maple broth, and bourbon mashed sweet potatoes. Likewise, the team at Beehive Augusta Tavern shows its unbridled enthusiasm for Kentucky bourbon by incorporating it into multiple dishes: bourbon-braised short ribs, bourbon carbonara, bourbon-glazed bone-in pork chops, bourbon-glazed salmon, a bourbon bordelaise burger, and honey bourbon fried chicken. Even sides like the honey bourbon bacon brussels get a dousing. At the Kitchen & Bar at Bardstown Bourbon Company (BBCo.), Kentucky’s first distillery-based restaurant, Chef Stu Plush likes to bring out bourbon tasting notes through various dishes. For instance, the menu suggests BBCo. Origin Series Bottled-in-Bond or Prohibited Paradise for country ham carbonara and BBCo. Origin Series Rye Whiskey or Feel the Heat for its Southern fried chicken. At HOC (House of Commons): A Bourbon Library in Frankfort, Founder and Proprietor Dave Sandlin brings encyclopedic knowledge to the bourbons he stocks. Additionally, this bourbon barkeep knows how to spin a good yarn. “Everyone has a story to tell, and every bourbon has a story to tell,” said Sandlin. “Our storytelling is the framework around the more than 315 Kentucky whiskeys we have on the shelf, why we have them, why each is special, rare, or different.” Visitors to HOC won’t find food and bourbon pairings (although Sanders is happy to share restaurant recommendations); this bourbon bar is about pairing bourbon to people’s palettes. “People come in and tell us what they like, and we formulate a taste profile for them,” said Sanders.

Bourbon Basics: How to Taste, Pair, and Enjoy Like a Pro

April 23, 2025
Planning your first distillery visit or considering a journey along the Kentucky Bourbon Trail®? Bourbon has a built-in mystique and culture that might give the bourbon-curious and aspiring aficionados pause in taking that first step into the world of America’s Only Native Spirit. BOURBON 101 The variety of distilleries and their unique experiences may seem daunting, and terms like “nosing” and “Kentucky chew” baffling, but part of the fun of bourbon is in the learning. Beginners can get their feet wet in Frankfort at Buffalo Trace Distillery , with an intro to the history and science of bourbon, and at Castle & Key with an interactive Cocktail Therapy class to elevate sensory awareness. The Old Pogue Experience on Northern Kentucky’s The B-Line ® in downtown Maysville offers a different perspective, combining the Bourbon History Galleries, which delve into the 1791 Whiskey Tax Act Rebellion and Prohibition, with an (optional) tasting of an original Kentucky bourbon—Old Pogue Master’s Select. In the Bourbon Capital of the World, Lux Row Distillers in Bardstown gives an insider’s view of the bourbon making process from start to finish on its Grain to Barrel Tour, followed by an educational, guided tasting experience. Here is a guide to some bourbon basics that will help you look more natural than novice when sitting down to a tasting and will soon have you pairing like a pro.
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