Kentucky's Top Distillery Tours: Which Five to Book
Updated November 2026 · BourbonTown Tours
Kentucky's top distillery tours are the ones that hand you something to do or show you something you cannot see anywhere else: the Maker's Mark Tour and bottle dipping at Maker's Mark, Path to Flavor or Barrel to Bottle at Woodford Reserve, the Knob Creek bottling line at James B. Beam, the Trace Tour at Buffalo Trace, and the production tour or a rickhouse visit at Wild Turkey. The five sit in different parts of the state, so the tour you pick also decides your route.
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BourbonTown Tours has run 3,000+ private tours since 2012. Below is what each of these five tours covers, how long to allow, and which ones share a day. The directory of bourbon distilleries in Kentucky lists the stops beyond these five, sorted by the driving cluster each sits in.
Top Distillery Tours at a Glance
- Maker's Mark, Loretto: the Maker's Mark Tour, about an hour and fifteen minutes, then bottle dipping in the gift shop. Allow two hours. The dipped bottle is one you buy.
- Woodford Reserve, Versailles: Path to Flavor, 70 minutes, or Barrel to Bottle in Warehouse C, 90 minutes.
- James B. Beam, Clermont: the anchor tour, about 75 minutes, plus the Knob Creek bottling line, about 30 minutes. The bottle is bought separately.
- Buffalo Trace, Frankfort: the Trace Tour, about 75 minutes. Allow two hours for the stop.
- Wild Turkey, Lawrenceburg: the production tour, a rickhouse visit, or the Russell's Reserve maturation tour.
On a BourbonTown Tours private day, the distillery tickets for all five are included in the rate.
Maker's Mark Distillery Tour
Maker's Mark sits on Star Hill Farm at Loretto, about 30 minutes south of Bardstown, and the distillery is a National Historic Landmark. The classic Maker's Mark Tour runs about an hour and fifteen minutes, from grain to bottle across the campus, and closes with a tasting. In the gift shop you can dip a bottle into the signature red wax yourself and walk out with it. That bottle is one the guest buys; the visit itself is covered by our rate.
The dipping is not a gimmick. The red wax on production bottles goes on by hand, so you are repeating a step the distillery does on every bottle that leaves. Every barrel here is rotated by hand through the warehouses as it ages, and the secondary grain is red winter wheat rather than rye, which is why the whiskey lands softer. Star Hill Provisions, the distillery restaurant, serves lunch daily. Allow two hours: the checkout lines and the dipping stretch the stop, not the tour. The Maker's Mark distillery guide covers every tour on offer.
Woodford Reserve Distillery Tour
Woodford Reserve sits on Glenn's Creek outside Versailles, on a site that is a National Historic Landmark. The distillery dates bourbon-making here to 1812, when Elijah Pepper set up on the creek. Dr. James Crow later worked at the distillery and is credited with bringing scientific methods to whiskey making. The tours still pass through the historic barrelhouse beside the creek.
The flagship tour, Path to Flavor, runs 70 minutes around Woodford's five sources of flavor: grain, water, fermentation, distillation and maturation. For the hands-on piece this list is built on, book Barrel to Bottle instead: 90 minutes, with whiskey thieved from an active barrel in Warehouse C and tasted beside the finished bottlings. The distillery is open seven days a week from March to December, and Thursday to Monday in January and February, and tours need a reservation. There is a cocktail bar with light bites but no restaurant on site, and the gift shop and bar need no reservation. Woodford has been the official bourbon of the Kentucky Derby since 1999. Our Woodford Reserve distillery guide has more on Glenn's Creek and both tours.
James B. Beam (Jim Beam) Distillery Tour
The James B. Beam campus sits in Clermont, about 30 minutes south of Louisville off I-65, between Louisville and Bardstown. The company dates the family's whiskey to 1795, when Jacob Beam is said to have sold his first barrel, and counts seven generations since. The anchor tour runs about 75 minutes through the production buildings and the rackhouses, with tastings of Jim Beam and other bourbons from the campus portfolio poured along the way.
The reason to book it is the Knob Creek bottling line: about 30 minutes on the line, and what leaves with you is a bottle of Knob Creek you filled yourself and sealed by pressing your thumbprint into the warm wax. It can sell out on weekends and in peak seasons. The Knob Creek you fill is a separate purchase at the distillery. The craft distillery on the Clermont campus, opened in 2021, runs a separate 60-minute tour of the small-batch side, and The Kitchen Table serves a sit-down lunch on the campus. Our Jim Beam distillery guide has more on the Clermont campus.
Buffalo Trace Distillery Tour
Buffalo Trace in Frankfort describes itself as the oldest continuously operating distillery in America, holds National Historic Landmark status, and is where Pappy Van Winkle is made. The tour we book is the Trace Tour. It runs about 75 minutes as the distillery's introduction to the history and science of bourbon, walks you into the aging warehouses, and ends with a tasting, which is why it suits first-timers and groups with mixed levels of interest. The Hard Hat tour goes deeper into production, and the Old Taylor tour is a history walk rather than a production walk; even for groups serious about the process, the Trace Tour is the one we book.
Allow two hours for the stop. Buffalo Trace is open 9 to 5 Monday through Saturday and Sunday 11 to 5, and the gift shop sits inside Warehouse A, an aging warehouse built in 1881. Allocated bottles appear there sometimes, never as a promise. If Buffalo Trace matters to you, reach out at least 10 weeks ahead. The Buffalo Trace distillery guide has the rest.
Wild Turkey Distillery Tour
Wild Turkey sits in Lawrenceburg with a long view over the Kentucky River. One family has worked here since 1954. The production tour walks through how the bourbon is made, from the corn, rye and barley to the barrels, past memorabilia from before Prohibition, and closes with a tasting flight, which suits most first-time visitors.
The rickhouses are seven stories tall, and the rickhouse visits explain why a barrel's height in the house changes its flavor. A Russell's Reserve maturation tour arrived in May 2024 together with the renovated visitor center, which has indoor and outdoor bars and a pavilion and terrace over the river. The distillery is closed Monday and Tuesday. Four Roses is a short drive away in Lawrenceburg. Our Wild Turkey distillery guide has more on the Lawrenceburg visit.
Which Top Tours Share a Day
A real day gets built inside one driving cluster, because windshield time, not distance, decides what fits. Custom tours typically run three stops, and we can add or subtract on your planning call.
- Maker's Mark and James B. Beam both sit in the Bardstown and beyond cluster, so they share a day well, with Bardstown's own distilleries in between.
- Buffalo Trace and Woodford Reserve sit in the Frankfort and Versailles cluster, about 25 minutes apart, with Castle and Key close by.
- Wild Turkey pairs with Four Roses in Lawrenceburg, about 30 minutes from Lexington.
- Maker's Mark and Buffalo Trace are about an hour and fifteen minutes of driving apart, and each needs about two hours on site, so we split them across two days or pick one.
How BourbonTown Tours Builds a Day Around These Tours
BourbonTown Tours is a private bourbon tour company based in Louisville, Kentucky, with 3,000+ private tours since 2012. Every tour is private to your group and never mixed with strangers. We pick you up at your hotel or your door in Louisville, Bardstown or Lexington, book the distillery tickets once your tour is confirmed, and book and confirm the lunch table; the meal itself goes on your tab. Distillery tickets are included, and the rate covers everything except lunch and driver gratuity.
The Benefits of a Private Tour Experience
A private tour carries your group and nobody else, which changes the day in three ways.
You get attention and flexibility. With no strangers in the vehicle, your group can ask questions and talk through the bourbon-making process, the history and the culture without feeling rushed. The day can follow your interests rather than a fixed route.
You set the pace. A shared tour runs to a schedule that leaves little room for an extra half hour where something catches your eye. On a private day, you decide how long to spend at each stop, from a second pour to a photo on the grounds.
Nobody has to drive. Most distillery visits end with a tasting, so a designated driver becomes essential once a day takes in more than one stop. A private tour puts a professional driver behind the wheel for the whole day, so no one in your group has to sit out the tastings or navigate unfamiliar roads.
How to Plan
- Pick a cluster first. Choose the cluster that holds two or three of the distilleries you most want to see, then check the drive from your pickup city. From Louisville, Bardstown, the gateway to Maker's Mark, is about 50 minutes, the Buffalo Trace and Woodford Reserve cluster about 60, and downtown Lexington, 30 minutes from Wild Turkey, about 90.
- Decide on tour options. Most distilleries run a standard tour that covers production and ends with a tasting, and some add deeper tours or seated tastings. Pick the one that matches your group.
- Build the itinerary. Count stop length as well as drive time: Buffalo Trace and Maker's Mark each need about two hours, so two long stops and one short one make a full day. Leave room for lunch.
- Watch for special events and closures. Many distilleries hold events through the year, and some close on set weekdays: Wild Turkey and Castle and Key on Monday and Tuesday, and Bulleit on Tuesday; Four Roses runs no tours on Monday or Tuesday. Woodford Reserve is open seven days a week from March to December, and Thursday to Monday in January and February. Sunday hours are shorter and vary by distillery.
- Book ahead. Most of the year books 2 to 4 months out; fall and spring weekends need more notice, and Derby week 4 to 6 months. On a private tour, we book distillery tickets once your tour is confirmed.
- Sort out transportation. Driving yourself means one person skips the tastings. A private tour with a professional driver means nobody does.
- Pack for working buildings. Closed-toe shoes are required, and layers help, because a rickhouse sits at whatever temperature the day outside is. See what to wear on a bourbon tour.
Our guide to planning a Kentucky bourbon tour walks through each of these steps in more detail.
More Distillery Guides
- Heaven Hill distillery guide: You Do Bourbon, the hands-on bottling experience in Bardstown.
- Castle and Key distillery guide: the restored 1887 Old Taylor estate in the Frankfort and Versailles cluster.
- Four Roses distillery guide: the ten-recipe system, explained at the tasting.
- Willett distillery guide: the family distillery on some of the highest ground in Nelson County, with tours on the hour.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Kentucky distillery tours should you book first?
Start with the five that hand you something to do or see: the Maker's Mark Tour and bottle dipping, Path to Flavor or Barrel to Bottle at Woodford Reserve, the Knob Creek bottling line at James B. Beam, the Trace Tour at Buffalo Trace, and the production tour or a rickhouse visit at Wild Turkey. The five sit in different driving clusters, so the tours you pick also set your route.
Can you visit Maker's Mark and Buffalo Trace on the same day?
We split them. They sit about an hour and fifteen minutes of driving apart, and each needs about two hours on site, which leaves no room for a third stop in a 6 to 8 hour day. Maker's Mark shares a day with James B. Beam and Bardstown's distilleries. Buffalo Trace shares one with Woodford Reserve and Castle and Key, about 25 minutes away.
How long does each of the top five tours take?
The Maker's Mark Tour runs about an hour and fifteen minutes, and the stop takes two hours once you dip a bottle. Woodford Reserve's Path to Flavor runs 70 minutes and Barrel to Bottle 90. The James B. Beam anchor tour runs about 75 minutes, plus about 30 on the Knob Creek line. Buffalo Trace's Trace Tour runs about 75 minutes, and the stop takes two hours.
Which of these distilleries close on certain days?
Wild Turkey and Castle and Key close Monday and Tuesday, Bulleit closes Tuesday, and Four Roses runs no tours on Monday or Tuesday. Woodford Reserve is open seven days a week from March to December and Thursday to Monday in January and February. Buffalo Trace opens all seven days, 9 to 5 Monday through Saturday and 11 to 5 on Sunday. We book every stop against your actual date.
Are distillery tickets included on a BourbonTown Tours private day?
Yes. Tickets for all five are included, and we book them once your tour is confirmed. A private day built around any of these five runs $275 to $425 per person depending on group size, plus 6% KY sales tax and a 3% booking fee, and only lunch and driver gratuity sit outside the rate. The bottle you dip at Maker's Mark or fill on the Knob Creek line is yours to buy.
How far ahead should you book a distillery tour?
Two to four months ahead is best. Fall and spring weekends fill first, so plan earlier for those seasons. We can sometimes build a day on a week's notice, but distillery tours may already be full. Derby week needs 4 to 6 months. If Buffalo Trace matters to you, reach out at least 10 weeks ahead. Send your dates and the distilleries on your list, and we reply the same day between 8 AM and 8 PM Eastern. The Knob Creek bottling line at James B. Beam can sell out on weekends and in peak seasons, so name it early if it is on your list.
Plan your private bourbon day
BourbonTown Tours has run 3,000+ private tours since 2012. Every tour is private to your group, never mixed with strangers, and covers everything except lunch and driver gratuity. Distillery tickets are included.
Private tours run $275 to $425 per person depending on group size, plus 6% KY sales tax and a 3% booking fee.