Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Distilleries
407
A Bourbon Tour of Bluegrass Country
The Whiskey Rebellion
Lexington, Kentucky
It was the Whiskey Rebellion that did it.
That 1791 excise tax on whiskey sent
droves of spirit-makers from the Northeast
into the frontier territory of Kentucky to
escape the tax. When they tasted the first
whiskies made with Kentucky's clear lime-
stone waters, mashed from its native corn,
rye, and barley, and aged through its dis-
tinct cycle of seasons—well, they never
budged again. Most of the territory at that
time was called Bourbon County, named
after the French dynasty. When Kentucky
whiskey was rafted down the Ohio River to
the Mississippi and on south, it got called
“Bourbon whiskey,” and the name stuck.
(By a weird twist of history, the much
smaller modern-day Bourbon County is
“dry,” meaning alcohol can't be served in
public or sold.)
Several of America's finest distilleries are
tucked around the bucolic rolling landscape
between Lexington and Louisville, also
revered for its Thoroughbred horse farms.
Though distances are short, visiting them
all would take a couple of days; bring a
designated driver if you plan to indulge in
the tasting sessions. Take U.S. 60 about 10
miles (16km) west of Lexington to visit
the state's oldest distillery,
Woodford
Reserve
(7855 McCracken Pike, Versailles;
&
859/879-1812;
www.woodfordreserve.
com; closed Mon, closed Sun Nov-Mar).
This picturesque distillery, a National His-
toric Landmark dating back to 1812, is a
Casks of bourbon at Woodford Reserve.
