My first post revisiting our trip last summer on the
Kentucky Bourbon Trail was devoted entirely to the Jim Beam distillery in Clermont. The second post of the series
will be devoted to two more brief stops along the way – the first being the
Heaven Hill Distillery and Bourbon Heritage Center in Bardstown, and then the
Maker’s Mark distillery near the small town of Loretto.
After we left the Jim Beam distillery, Punky and I headed
to Bardstown where we checked in to the historic Talbott Inn (more on that in a
future blog post), got our bearings and determined we could fit in one more
stop along the trail before closing time.
I found it a little odd that even at the height of a tourism weekend,
many visitor’s centers along the trail close at 5 p.m. or even earlier.
Fortunately, Heaven Hill was just minutes away on the
south edge of Bardstown. All it took was
a drive past My Old Kentucky Home State Park and historic site, then south on
Ky. Hwy. 49 past the state park’s campground and once the woods clear …
… you’ll see rows and
rows of rickhouses in the fields and on the surrounding hillsides. With all this bourbon being stored and aged
around you, the name Heaven Hill seems fitting.
Still, the sheer quantity was a little surprising, until
we got inside and realized just how many bourbons both well-known and
hard-to-find are made under the Heaven Hill banner.
Compared to the Jim Beam grounds, which looked somewhat
like a combination of a palatial estate and a bourbon lover’s theme park, I was
a little taken aback to see such a … well … ordinary, almost office-like
building housing the Heaven Hill visitor’s center. But in this case, looks were definitely deceiving.
It turns out that we just happened to be visiting during
a major expansion project that promises a much more elaborate bourbon heritage center when completed. But even with
major portions closed off due to construction, it was still a worthwhile stop. Pioneer’s Row, for instance, offered a
concise history of each major Heaven Hill brand. Good reading and shopping.
And the checkout counter at Heaven Hill was probably the one
that looked the most impressive of any we saw on the entire trail.
We continued our tour of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail the
next morning and … somehow … got up early enough through a bourbon-induced fog
to be at our first stop of the day right when the grounds opened. The drive took us further south on Ky. Hwy.
49, a narrow two-lane road much like most state highways in Kentucky, the ones
that hug the hills, curve on a whim and occasionally give you the feel of a
rollercoaster ride. As such, the 16 miles
to Loretto took almost 30 minutes. And
three miles beyond Loretto – or another 15 minutes’ drive – is where you’ll
find the Maker’s Mark distillery.
If any place on the bourbon trail can adequately be
described as being in the middle of nowhere, Maker’s Mark would be it. But thanks to its remoteness, it’s also
easily the most scenic and beautiful stop we saw in two days on the trail. The green home in the background is the
master distiller’s home on the site, and this picture simply does not even
remotely capture the beauty of the grounds.
Ironically, for such a remote place, the Maker’s Mark
visitor’s center got crowded quickly enough.
We were very fortunate to be among the first few to pull into the
parking lot and walk up to the entrance.
Flowers lined the walkways all over the site, which added floral notes
to the sweet mash scent easily detected in the breeze.
As we watched the first tour group take off from the
visitor’s center down the valley to the distillery, a historic landmark itself
…
… I kept thinking how picturesque the site also known as
Star Hill Farms was. It almost felt like walking through a botanical garden or
arboretum.
Before we left, we briefly toured the master distiller’s
home, which is almost as beautiful on the inside as it is one the outside. My favorite part was the custom-built
bar. That sure looks like a bar worthy
of a master distiller to me. I might
have taken more photos, but crowds seemed to be gathering in front of almost
anything picture-worthy by this point.
Oh well, we had more stops on our itinerary anyway.
Clearly, Marker’s Mark is a spot on the Kentucky Bourbon
Trail where you should plan to spend some time and do a full tour. Unfortunately, we had not prepared to do either,
and time was not on our side. But seeing
the grounds alone was worth the trek. We
left determined to return someday, while also committed to devoting enough time
to the next stop where Punky’s favorite bourbon is made. Onward to Lawrenceburg, Ky., where Wild
Turkey was calling us.
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