Michter's is worth checking out. I've never been on the tour, but trying to get a "You Do Bourbon" bottling is supposed to be great. They often release their allocated products at open and throughout the day in the gift shop.

We did a speakeasy experience at Evan Williams downtown which was cool, and following that we were able to purchase (then allocated) McKenna & Elijah Craig Toasted Barrel which was a lot of fun. NuLu and Pursuit are newer to the area that really seems to be expanding.

https://www.reddit.com/r/bourbon/s/VRIqsxN1cO has some interesting information.

If you've never done a bourbon tour then do Old Forester. Great for everyone, you see the whole process, get tasting at the end. It's all encompassing and they do a great job.

Peerless does a fun tasting. Very informative and there's lots of history to learn.

Bardstown has a tasting room/bar. The bar is nice and has good selection. They do an origin series tasting a few times a day. So if you haven't had much of their stuff it's a good try because you get some of it all.

Michters is small. They have a bar upstairs. Most people go start of day because they're the best at doing "drops" as they almost do one everyday. Since most know that there's usually a good line most mornings.

Whiskey Thief has a setup in downtown Louisville also. Very cool experience. You get to thief and try 4-5 barrels straight from the barrel. Get the option to bottle your own if you like it.

Angels Envy is downtown too and has a big shop and good size bar that looks out to the river upstairs. Tours are hit or miss.

Thanks for all the replies! That gives me a great place to start from. We still have w 8 hours or so of driving today so hopefully we can make some plans.

I'd consider one tour. They can get repetitive if you do several. Many of the distilleries offer other experiences (tasting only, cocktail making, meet a distiller, rickhouse tour, etc) and those can be fun and provide variety. As mentioned, Michter's has a great bar, as does Bardstown. OF does random drops. Michter's typically does a drop at opening and sometimes during the day but it's random. I did the fill a bottle at Michter's and it was great but they only had a few slots at the start of the day. It varies. Have fun!

I have done a lot of distillery tours and my two favorites are the Buffalo Trace hardhat tour and Makers Mark tour.

This isn't relative to touring distilleries in Kentucky, but I recently took a tour of the High West distillery near Park City, Utah. It was a fun tour and very short. It's a small operation, but the tasting was fantastic. They served the Midwinter Nights Dram and the Prisoner's Share at the tasting. Both were fantastic. The Bourey was great too. They were sold out of the MWND and won't release the next batch until October, but they had just released the new Prisoner's Share so I bought a few of those to bring home with me. So if any of you make it to Salt Lake anytime, I highly suggest making the 45 minute trip to visit their distillery in Wanship, UT.

Love that facility/setting. Jealous of the Prisoners Share, too. My favorite.

It's a beautiful distillery. Taking some family there next week while they visit us. One of my friends is getting married at the distillery in August which will be fun too! Prisoners Share is all over Utah.

I have a prisoners share from earlier this year. I've drank about 2/3 and don't want to finish the rest because I've enjoyed it so much. Good to know it's on site.

I was there in March and they didn't have any. I was bummed.

Where are you at, Beta? Those look epic.

moo said:

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Where are you at, Beta? Those look epic.

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I told him he better bring me something back! What a trip (jealous).

Has anyone seen any

Elijah Craig Barrel Proof B525

in the DFW market?

And if so, what was the pricing?

Thanks !

betadawg1 said:

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It was a good morning.

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Oh Damn! A Very good Morning!

So…ehhh when's the bottle share?

RED AG 98 said:

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Thanks for all who recommended the tour at Old Forester. We had a great time today and the guide was fantastic. Unfortunately the allocated pick was sold out by the time we finished mid afternoon (100 proof single barrel). I'll try a few more times during the morning to see if I can score something.

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FWIW, those 100 proof single barrels can be found in Krogers and Evergreen Liquor locations throughout Louisville. Some are even store picks.

Hot take but i prefer the 100 proof OFSB over the barrel proof.

Pun intended? I haven't been able to find the 100 proof, but I really like the barrel strength.

I completely agree with this. Normally I like the higher proof but the 100 proof sb is quite good.

Have any of you tried fat washing a bourbon? I have a bottle of Elijah Craig Barrel Proof Private Select/Store Pick that just is not a great sipper; thinking about making it into a batched fat washed old fashioned for a 4th of July party. Curious though if anyone else has experimented with fat washing.

What makes it a bad sipper? Those bottles are always incredible. You're better off just making cocktails or leaving it for someone who enjoys that pour over the risk of wasting an $80 bourbon. My two cents.

Blended a K5 black label with a 126proof K6 blue label recently and it's perfection.

I don't know what fat washing is, but I recently look one and finished it with heavy char spirals to make a poor man's Parker's heritage and it turned out fantastic. Definitely upgraded an already good bottle.

Yeah I thought it would be a pretty good bottle- it is a Goody Goody store pick and the label says it is 10 yrs aged, 126 proof straight from the barrel. Only way I can describe it is it just has a kind of abrasive, alcohol forward quality that kind of overpowers the flavor that I don't find in other similar proofed or even higher proof bottles I have. And since I have a number of other high proof/barrel proofs that I reach for over this one, that is why I figure it is a good candidate for an "experiment".

I've done a bacon fat washing and a milk clarified before. The bacon fat washed didn't make any major change in my opinion aside from a hint of salt and smoke.

The milk clarified was an amazing change despite the horrendous appearance of the process. It smoothed out and gave a very silky finish to cocktails (mostly old fashioneds).

I have watched a video on milk clarifying and it looks terrifying, but it sounds like it might give a better result than fat washing- would you agree with that?

Based on your description, milk clarified may make it more palatable for you and help remove the astringency/alcohol abrasiveness

The way Ive done it the past, usually about 2 cups bourbon, juice from half an orange, and cup of whole milk. Pouring the acidified bourbon onto the milk, stir and I let sit room temp for about 30 minutes before fridge for about 2-3 hours. Stirring occasionally then letting it settle for about an hour before I filter. Usually a cheese cloth filter for the large curds, then second filter through a coffee filter that will have you wondering if it will ever finish.

You'll be left with very clear, yellow liquid that no longer looks like bourbon but will make an excellent old fashioned!