Wednesday, October 16, 2013

New and Improved Map of Kentucky Distilleries



View Kentucky Distilleries in a larger map

I created this Google Map late last year. I'm reposting it because I have made a few additions.

First, what this map is. It shows the location of every distillery in Kentucky, both craft and major producers. Red pins are micro-distilleries, blue pins are major distilleries, green pins are inactive distilleries. Click on the pin to see the name of the distillery and whether or not it is open to the public. Where available in Google Maps the exact address is included, along with other listing information.

'Inactive' means the distillery part of the operation is inactive; and not just inactive but demolished in most cases. The ones included are mostly still owned by major producers and used for maturation. I added several more of those, all in the Bardstown area. Included is the name by which that distillery was best known.

There are no inactive micro-distilleries, so all of the green pins are sites of inactive major distilleries. Most of them stopped distilling in the 1970s. Heaven Hill in Bardstown is a green pin because the distillery there was destroyed by fire in 1996, but Heaven Hill still has a lot going on at that site including maturation, bottling, offices, and the Bourbon Heritage Center.

In all cases, I have tried to be as accurate as possible as to the locations, so if you ever want to visit them you can. Most are not open to the public but the sites can be thoroughly viewed from the public right of way. Please do not trespass! The whiskey in those warehouses is worth a lot of money. Even though security seems lax, don't be surprised if guys in pickup trucks show up suddenly if you get too close.

I've only included places where there is something left to see and where you can see it from the street.

Where I still need to do some work is around Louisville and Shively. Maybe next year.

9 comments:

  1. The blue Four Roses pin is hiding behind the green Old Joe pin, but it's there. You just have to zoom way in. The maturation and bottling facility at Lotus is also shown.

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  2. Hey, you have Old Joe on there. Cool.

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  3. Going to do the hard hat tour at Buffalo Trace in a few weeks, and have time to tour one more in the immediate area. Out of Four Roses, Wild Turkey, and Woodford Reserve, do you have a recommendation tour-wise? FR makes my favorite whiskey of those three . . . Thanks!

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  4. Woodford because it's the exact opposite of BT.

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  5. Thanks. That's a good way to think about it.

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  6. Chuck, thank you for the map. We are planning a KY bourbon tour this spring and look forward to using your helpful map. I am a St. Louisan and I remember 1843 by Stitzel-Weller Distilleries (David Nicholson). Is it being produced under a different name? I was told that Old Fitzgerald was close to the 100 proof 1843. Any suggestions? Thanks, ed

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  7. Either a Fitzgerald or Weller product should compare favorably to the Nicholson.

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  8. The Old Crow Distillery building is now home to Glenns Creek Distilling. They're cooking up some good stuff there! They're not officially open to the public, but John & Dave are usually there and don't mind drop ins.

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