Bourbon Tour Cost: Kentucky Prices by Group Size
Updated November 2026 · BourbonTown Tours
TL;DR: A private Kentucky bourbon tour costs $275 to $425 per person depending on group size, plus 6% KY sales tax and a 3% booking fee, with the figure for every size from two guests up to ten or more. Below are what the rate carries, what sits outside it, the deposit, and the rates for the Barrel Crawl, transportation only and Derby transportation.
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Quick Facts
- Per person: $425 at two guests, falling to $275 at ten or more, plus 6% KY sales tax and a 3% booking fee.
- The rate covers everything except lunch and driver gratuity.
- A tour day runs 6 to 8 hours. Custom tours typically run three stops, and we can add or subtract on your planning call.
- Barrel Crawl: $299, $269 or $239 per person by group size, minimum 4 guests, tastings only, plus 6% KY sales tax and a 3% booking fee.
- Transportation only: SUV for 1 to 5 guests, $100 an hour. Van for 6 to 14 guests, $150 an hour. 4-hour minimum, plus 6% KY sales tax and a 3% booking fee. Billing runs from the time our vehicle leaves our garage until it returns.
- A deposit reserves your date. Your quote includes the full details. The deposit terms are in our FAQ.
- Groups over 14 travel in multiple vehicles or a bus or motor coach we contract.
What a bourbon tour costs
A full day with BourbonTown Tours is $425 per person for two guests, $375 for four, $325 for six, $295 for eight and $275 once a group reaches ten or more, plus 6% KY sales tax and a 3% booking fee. The rates for three, five, seven and nine guests sit in the table below, so the whole sheet is on this page rather than behind a quote form.
Group size is the only thing that sets the per-person rate on a custom private bourbon tour. A day is a day: 6 to 8 hours on the road, typically three distilleries, tickets booked against your actual dates and a vehicle carrying your group and nobody else.
Two charges are added on top of the per-person figure, and a few costs stay outside it. The 6% sales tax and the 3% booking fee are the additions. Lunch, driver gratuity and any bottle a guest buys are the exclusions. Each is set out below.
Price by group size
These are the per-person rates for a custom private tour, before 6% KY sales tax and the 3% booking fee.
| Guests | Per person |
|---|---|
| 2 | $425 |
| 3 | $389 |
| 4 | $375 |
| 5 | $355 |
| 6 | $325 |
| 7 | $305 |
| 8 | $295 |
| 9 | $285 |
| 10 or more | $275 |
The drop is not even, which is worth knowing while your headcount is still moving. A third guest takes $36 off everyone's rate, the biggest single step on the sheet. A fourth takes off $14, a fifth $20, and a sixth another $30, the second-biggest step. After that the sheet flattens out: a seventh guest saves $20 a head, and the eighth, ninth and tenth take off $10 each. Every figure here is before the 6% KY sales tax and the 3% booking fee.
Groups over 14 are covered with multiple vehicles or a contracted bus or motor coach, quoted on your planning call.
Multiply the rate by the headcount and you have the group subtotal before tax and the booking fee: $850 at two guests, $1,167 at three, $1,500 at four, $1,775 at five, $1,950 at six, $2,135 at seven, $2,360 at eight, $2,565 at nine and $2,750 at ten, each plus 6% KY sales tax and a 3% booking fee.
If you are working to a budget, the lever is the headcount you bring, and ways to keep a Kentucky bourbon trip affordable covers the rest of the trip.
Sales tax and the booking fee
Two charges sit on top of every tour figure on this page. Kentucky sales tax of 6% applies to every product we sell: the custom private tour, the Barrel Crawl and transportation only. The 3% booking fee applies to every sale, and it is charged on the deposit and on the balance, Derby bookings included.
Neither is folded into the per-person rate, so the table above is a pre-tax figure. The Derby rates further down are the one exception on this page: those print with tax and gratuity already inside them, and only the booking fee is added.
What the rate covers, and what it does not
The quoted rate carries everything except lunch and driver gratuity, and the only other costs are the tax, the booking fee and any bottle you choose to buy. Inside the figure sit the distillery tickets, the tasting fees, trip planning by a Bourbon Experience Coordinator, the private vehicle with a professional guide who drives the tour, and a confirmed lunch reservation; what every tour day includes sets that list out in full.
Lunch works one way. We book the restaurant and confirm the table as part of building your day, and the meal itself is settled at the restaurant, so it never lands on your quote. Where the route leaves no sensible window to sit down, a box lunch can be built into the quoted price on request.
Driver gratuity sits outside the quoted rate. Bottles and anything else you buy in a gift shop are your own, as at any distillery.
The Barrel Crawl, transportation only and Derby transportation
Barrel Crawl
The Barrel Crawl is $299 per person for 4 to 5 guests, $269 for 6 to 9 and $239 for 10 or more, plus 6% KY sales tax and a 3% booking fee, with a minimum of 4 guests. It is tastings only, with no distillery tours, and it costs less per person than a custom tour at every matched group size. How the Barrel Crawl day runs has the detail.
Transportation only
Transportation only: SUV for 1 to 5 guests, $100 an hour. Van for 6 to 14 guests, $150 an hour. 4-hour minimum, plus 6% KY sales tax and a 3% booking fee. Billing runs from the time our vehicle leaves our garage until it returns. That minimum comes to $400 or $600 before tax and the booking fee. You get a driver and a vehicle for an itinerary you have already built, with no guide narration, and distillery tickets and lunch are on you. Transportation-only bourbon tour drivers covers the format.
Derby transportation
On Derby, BourbonTown Tours provides transportation only: our vehicles are hired to get your group to and from Churchill Downs, and that transportation is priced per vehicle rather than per person. Distillery days the week before or after Derby are normal custom tours at the per-person rates above.
| Booking | Vehicle | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday, single day | SUV, 1 to 5 guests | $2,000 |
| Thursday, single day | Passenger van, up to 14 guests | $2,600 |
| Oaks and Derby, two days | SUV, 1 to 5 guests | $4,000 |
| Oaks and Derby, two days | Passenger van, up to 14 guests | $5,200 |
Those figures include tax and gratuity, and the 3% booking fee applies to them as well. How those vehicles carry your group to and from Churchill Downs on Oaks and Derby days is set out on Kentucky Derby transportation.
Deposit and balance
A deposit reserves your date. Your quote includes the full details. The 3% booking fee applies to the deposit and the balance alike. The deposit terms, and what happens if you need to cancel, are set out in our FAQ.
What we quote separately
Some things carry no printed price.
Multi-day trips are quoted rather than priced by the day, because what fits changes with the hotel you base in and the clusters you pick.
Standard distillery experiences are included; premium and VIP add-ons are quoted on your planning call. Any bottle a guest buys or dips is the guest's to pay for. The VIP experiences we can book describes each one.
Groups over 14 travel in multiple vehicles or a bus or motor coach we contract.
Corporate days are priced from the same sheet as any other custom tour, with no separate rate card; corporate and group bourbon experiences covers how those bookings are arranged.
A real person answers 1-844-BOURBON if you would rather talk the numbers through than read them.
Frequently asked questions
How much do bourbon tours cost?
A private Kentucky bourbon tour is $425 per person for 2 guests, $389 for 3, $375 for 4, $355 for 5, $325 for 6, $305 for 7, $295 for 8, $285 for 9 and $275 for 10 or more guests, plus 6% KY sales tax and a 3% booking fee. That rate covers everything except lunch and driver gratuity. A deposit reserves your date. Your quote includes the full details.
What gets added to the per-person rate?
Two charges: Kentucky sales tax of 6% and a 3% booking fee, with the fee charged on the deposit and on the balance. Past those, what is left with you on the day is lunch, driver gratuity and any bottle you decide to buy. Distillery tickets, tasting fees, the vehicle and your guide are already inside the per-person figure.
Why does the per-person rate drop as the group gets bigger?
The rate is set by group size alone, and it settles at $275 once a group reaches ten, plus 6% KY sales tax and a 3% booking fee. The steps are not even: a third guest takes $36 off each person, a sixth takes another $30, and the eighth, ninth and tenth take $10 each.
Is lunch included?
No. Lunch and driver gratuity are the two costs the per-person rate leaves out. We reserve a table at a restaurant along your route, and your group pays the restaurant directly, so the meal never shows up on your quote. Rather skip the stop? We can add box lunches to your quote, and they are then priced into the figure you approve.
When is payment due?
A deposit reserves your date. Your quote includes the full details. The 3% booking fee is not a one-time charge on the deposit: it applies to the balance payment as well. Send your dates and your group size and the written quote that comes back is priced for that exact headcount. The full bourbon tour FAQ sets out the deposit and payment terms.
Get your price
Tell us your dates and how many people are coming, and the quote you get back is priced for that headcount, with the tax, the booking fee and the deposit named. We reply the same day between 8 AM and 8 PM Eastern. Requests after 8 PM get a reply the next morning.
Your tour includes:
- Trip planned by a Bourbon Experience Coordinator; a professional guide drives the tour
- Distillery tickets booked for you
- Lunch reservation made (meal on your tab)