The Bourbon Chronicles: Jim Beam & Heaven Hill Distilleries

At the time of this post, it’s 2022 and businesses and distilleries have begun to open back up. As new locals to the Louisville area, we’re taking mini trips to visit various bourbon distilleries. For reference, the Kentucky Bourbon Trail website is our primary resource.

Bourbon Trail Location

We specifically chose to group a visit (tour + tasting) to these two distilleries in one day because of their approximation to each other and the fact that they’re located an hour from Louisville, KY. Here’s a map to illustrate our drive south to Claremont from Louisville.

Once you’re in the area, you can see the distance between the two distilleries is roughly 17 miles, travel time less than 30 minutes. Pro tip: make sure you have a full tank of gas for this trip. Gas stations were sparse in the area surrounding Heaven Hill.

Bourbon Trail Pro tip: The Heaven Hill Bourbon Experience is located at 1311 Gilkey Run Road, Bardstown, KY 40004. Double check to make sure this is the address in your GPS so that you get to the right location.

Bourbon Tasting & Tour – Jim Beam

Below is my quick reference guide on things like the per person cost of the tour and whether or not there are food options available on site. *Always check the official distillery website for updated pricing, hours and operating information*

One of the highlights of the Jim Beam tour was me getting to “catch” the bourbon coming out of the barrel. I’m glad that’s not my day job 😉 we had a fabulous tour guide and really enjoyed taking in the facilities and operations of this distillery.

Check out more highlights of our visit on my Instagram stories.

Bourbon Tasting – Heaven Hill

At Heaven Hill distillery, due to time constraints, we were only able to do a sit-down bourbon tasting (no tour) and peruse the gift shop. The highlight of our visit was the upstairs bar, Five Brother’s Bar & Kitchen, serving craft cocktails. The bartenders were very attentive and engaging. At the time of our visit, there was not a food option but it appears now there is a menu.

Louisville bourbon trail distillery rating

We give Jim Beam the full 5 out of 5 ice cube rating. It’s one of the largest bourbon distilleries operating on the bourbon trail today. We’ve come back and brought friends on the tour and had the chance to enjoy their on-site restaurant, The Kitchen Table. Their gift shop has lots of great items, books, apparel and glassware to pick up. The tour and tasting experience is our favorite one to recommend and bring our guests to.

We gave Heaven Hill a 3 out of 5 ice cube rating. It will stay there until we have a chance to return and take their tour and hopefully also try the restaurant on site. But otherwise, it’s a great experience.

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