Bourbon Tours for Non-Drinkers and Designated Drivers

Quick Facts

• Tasting is optional: the tasting comes at the end of a distillery tour, and any guest can skip it.
• Woodford Reserve: a designated driver can sit in on the tasting or opt out entirely; the Visitor Center cocktail bar serves non-alcoholic pours.
• Angel's Envy: guests who skip the tasting get water and chocolates.
• Buffalo Trace: the John G. Carlisle Cafe is open daily 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. inside the Elmer T. Lee Clubhouse.
• No designated driver needed: BourbonTown Tours drives the whole day, and water is stocked in every vehicle.
• Age rule: Guests under 21 can come along but can't drink, and some distillery experiences require everyone to be 21, so we confirm that when we build your itinerary.
• Price: non-drinkers pay the full per-person rate.

What a non-drinker does on a distillery tour

A distillery tour is mostly a walk through how bourbon gets made: the grain, the fermentation, the still, the barrel and the warehouse where it ages. The tasting comes at the end, and it is optional. A non-drinker sees everything the rest of the group sees, hears the same history, and smells the same fermenters and barrels.

Distilleries plan for guests who pass on the pour. Woodford Reserve gives its designated driver the option to sit in on the tasting or opt out entirely, and asks guests not to share their bourbon and rye samples. Angel's Envy offers water and chocolates to guests who skip the tasting. Our beginner's guide to a first bourbon tour walks through each part of a standard tour.

Where non-drinkers can sip or eat at a distillery

• Woodford Reserve (Versailles): the cocktail bar in the Visitor Center serves cocktails, non-alcoholic pours and flights, and the Cocktail Lounge has light bites. Woodford does not allow outside food inside the facility. Our Woodford Reserve distillery guide covers the rest of the visit for a guest who skips the pour.
• Buffalo Trace (Frankfort): the John G. Carlisle Cafe is open daily from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. inside the Elmer T. Lee Clubhouse. Our Buffalo Trace distillery guide has the rest of the visit, tasting or not.
• Angel's Envy (Louisville): water and chocolates for guests who skip the tasting.
• In the vehicle: water is stocked in every BourbonTown Tours vehicle.

Lunch is a reservation we book for your group, with the meal on your tab, so a non-drinker orders whatever they like.

Which BourbonTown Tours format fits a mixed group

Pick a standard custom tour, not the Barrel Crawl. The Barrel Crawl is tastings only, with no distillery tours, so a guest who does not drink would sit out most of the day. A standard custom tour includes the distillery tours, and the production walk is where a non-drinker gets the most out of the day.

Custom tours typically run three stops, and we can add or subtract on your planning call. Tell us there is a non-drinker in the group and we weight the day toward full production tours rather than tasting-only sessions. Non-drinkers pay the full per-person rate. The price is per person by group size: $425 per person for two guests down to $275 per person at ten or more, plus 6% KY sales tax and a 3% booking fee.

What we tell groups with a non-drinker

Nobody in your group has to be the designated driver. That is the point of a private driver: the guest who would have driven gets the same day as everyone else, from pickup to drop-off.

The age rule still applies. Guests under 21 can come along but can't drink, and some distillery experiences require everyone to be 21, so we confirm that when we build your itinerary. Build the guest list around that before you book.

Tell us on the planning call who is not drinking. It changes which stops we pick, not the shape of the day. Compare formats on our compare tours page.

Frequently asked questions