KY Distillery Tour: Jim Beam and Heaven Hill

The Bourbon Chronicles: Jim Beam & Heaven Hill

Distillery visits: Jim Beam and Heaven Hill

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.

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.

Location of Jim Beam distillery from Lousville, KY.

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.

Jim Beam and Heaven Hill distillery locations – Claremont, KY.

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.

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*

Name	Tour Name	Tour Time	Cost	Address	Hours	Food	Notes
Jim Beam	bourbon distillery tour & tasting	1.5 hrs	$22	568 Happy Hollow Rd, Clermont, KY 40110	Wednesday thru Saturday – 9am-5:30pm(EDT) Sunday – Noon – 4:30pm(EDT) Monday & Tuesday – CLOSED	A full service restaurant, The Kitchen Table, is on site.	Great gift shop & interactive tour.
Heaven Hill	Experience – Whiskey Connoisseur Tasting	45 minutes	$25	1311 Gilkey Run Rd. Bardstown, KY 40004	Monday – Thursday: 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Friday and Saturday: 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Sunday: 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.	Best to eat before arrival. There is only an upstairs bar & patio.	The bar was a highlight; great staff, a live musician and outdoor patio to sit outside.

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.

At Heaven Hill we were only able to do a sit-down tasting and peruse the gift shop. The highlight of our visit was the upstairs bar serving craft cocktails. The bartenders were very attentive and engaging.