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the same divine drink he'd served on their
last turkey hunt. Though the Wild Turkey
plant (now owned by Pernod) is more
industrial-looking than Woodford's, it's still
fascinating to see and smell its immense
copper stills, gigantic steel vats of ferment-
ing mash, and tens of thousands of racked-
up white-oak barrels, slightly charred to
give the whiskey its smoky-sweetness and
reddish hue.
Go south to pick up the scenic Blue Grass
Parkway and zip west about 40 miles (64km)
to the turnoff for state road 49, which leads
south to Loretto, home of another great
small-batch bourbon, Maker's Mark (3350
Burks Spring Rd., Loretto; & 270/865-
2099; www.makersmark.com; closed Sun
Jan-Feb). A rambling set of 19th-century
clapboard buildings centered around an
1805 grist mill, this distillery has a great
backwoods atmosphere, with its antique
grain rollers and cypress-wood fermenting
vats. Even in peak years, this boutique dis-
tillery doesn't turn out more than 38 bar-
rels, so tasting a sample of this silky-smooth
bourbon is quite a treat.
Heading back up toward Louisville, the
bourbon-obsessed may also want to stop
off to visit the more slickly packaged tours
at Heaven Hill Distilleries (1064 Loretto
Rd., Bardstown; & 502/348-3921; www.
heaven-hill.com), the producers of Evan
Williams bourbon, and the Jim Beam Dis-
tillery (149 Happy Hollow Rd., Shepherds-
ville; & 502/543-9877; www.jimbeam.
com). Cheers!
The Wild Turkey distillery in Lawrenceburg,
Kentucky.
cluster of rustic century-old stone buildings
on the banks of a churning limestone creek.
A handcrafted small-batch premium bour-
bon, Woodford Reserve is so prestigious
it's the official whiskey of the Kentucky
Derby. The in-depth tour here is especially
informative, a great crash course in the fine
art of bourbon-making. Take U.S. 62 another
10 miles (16km) west to Lawrenceburg
to visit the Wild Turkey Distillery (1525
Tyrone Rd., Lawrenceburg; & 502/839-
4544; www.wildturkeybourbon.com;
closed Sun). Founded in 1869, the Austin
Nichols distillery rechristened its top whis-
key in 1940, when a distillery executive's
hunting buddies begged him to bring along
( Blue Grass Airport, Lexington (17 miles/
28km).
L $$$ Gratz Park Inn, 120 W. Second
St., Lexington ( & 800/752-4166 or
859/231-1777; www.gratzparkinn.com).
$$ Camberley Brown, 4th St. and West
Broadway, Louisville ( & 502/583-1234;
www.thebrownhotel.com).
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