When doing a whiskey-themed visit to Kentucky, there are many famous whiskey distilleries to visit. These include Wild Turkey, Woodford Reserve, Buffalo Trace, Four Roses, and many others. I recommend that most travelers start with the brands that you have have heard of and enjoy drinking. These distilleries will have the biggest displays and the most numerous tour/tasting opportunities. However, once visitors have seen the large distilleries, I recommend looking at some of the smaller, more artisan whiskey distilleries. An example is the Kentucky Artisan’s Distillery.
Kentucky Artisan is a small whiskey distillery that performs contract distilling. This means they don’t produce anything under their own name. However, this doesn’t mean that you won’t have heard of anything that they make. Their most famous whiskey is the Jefferson’s brand. This includes Jefferson’s Very Small Batch, Jefferson’s Reserve, Jefferson’s Ocean, and Jefferson’s Ocean Rye. Other lesser-known whiskeys that are produced by Kentucky Artisan include Whiskey Row Bourbon and Billy Goat Strut. Many may not have heard of these brands. This gives visitors the option to branch out in their Kentucky Bourbon Trail experience. The following is a full review and summary of what to expect in a visit to Kentucky Artisan Distillery.
History
Kentucky Artisan is a relatively new whiskey distillery as it was only started in 2012. Three founders came together looking to make a contract whiskey distillery. There were no other contract distilleries in Kentucky at the time. When the founders were trying to find a property for the distillery, they stumbled on the old Crestwood Kentucky Ice Cream Distributors building. This old property seemed to be exactly what they wanted, and Kentucky Artisan Distillery was founded.
As a contract distillery, Kentucky Artisan has produced a number of whiskeys. Due to their small size, they are able to produce this variety (including a lot of small-batch products). Everything is distilled in pot stills instead of the larger and more expensive column stills used by the major whiskey producers. Continuing the small batch theme, everything else is hand produced as well. This includes grain mixing, fermentation, and bottling. Many of the large distilleries are starting to have the look of factories. Kentucky Artisan is staying much closer to what the traditional Kentucky distillery looked like 50 – 100 years ago.
Tour, Tasting, or Something Else?
At Kentucky Artisan, there is really only one option: the tour and tasting combination. As is typical, when visitors enter the distillery, they are in the distillery store. All the whiskey produced by Kentucky Artisan is available for purchase in the store. This also includes some specialty signed bottles of Jefferson’s Ocean. The distillery is open Wednesday – Saturday from 10 AM to 4 PM and on Sundays from 12 PM to 4 PM.
Combo Tour and Tasting
All visitors who want to venture beyond the visitors center will need to purchase a tour/tasting ticket. These tickets are inexpensive at $12 per person. The tours are run at the top of each hour from 10 AM to 3 PM (or starting at noon on Sundays). The tours are led by a member of the staff who has been involved in the whiskey-making process. Because the distillery is so small, all visitors are able to get up close and personal with the processes and equipment.
Visitors are able to walk around the facility as forklifts are moving the grain around. When whiskey is being actively produced, the open-topped fermentation tanks can also be viewed. Similarly, when the bottling line is in use, that operation is out in the middle of the distillery floor and completely observable to all visitors. This tour will put visitors closer to the action than almost any other Kentucky distillery tour (there isn’t any glass separating you and the production process here).
At the culmination of the tour, visitors are able to taste four of the whiskeys made at Kentucky Artisan. Since Kentucky Artisan really enhanced its name by being the exclusive maker of Jefferson’s, at least two of the samples are usually from that label. The other two tend to be randomly selected but are usually from the other labels. This is nice in that it exposes you to something that you likely haven’t tasted before from the Whiskey Row or Billy Goat Strut lines.
Quick Review
Overall, this visit is a refreshing change from mega-whiskey distilleries that dominate many of these trips. Kentucky Artisan can’t compete an operation the size of Makers Mark in slick presentations, tasting rooms, and variety of product. However, a craft distiller like Kentucky Artisan gives visitors the “mom & pop” whiskey producer feeling. I recommend a trip to a smaller producer if you really like whiskey and want to get closer to the actual production process. However, if you just enjoying a casual weekend and just want the prototypical distillery experience, this stop will stick out among the rest of your itinerary.
Reservation Process
Reservations for the tours and tasting at Kentucky Artisan Distillery can be made online at their Kentucky Artisan website. While the busy times for Kentucky whiskey tours and tastings are the summer and fall, Kentucky Artisan is less busy than most other distilleries in the area. Since they have less name recognition than other distilleries producing under their own name, reservations are routinely available for those who walk up. However, since reservations are taken ahead of time, I would definitely check that spots are available for the itinerary that you want to have. If you have a short timeline or limited availability, go ahead and make the reservation.
For those who are traveling during peak seasons and are unable to get reservations at other distilleries, the smaller artisan distilleries (like Kentucky Artisan) are a great option. Their distilleries will continue to have availability after many other locations book up. Keep these in mind if you are a late planner or taking a spontaneous trip to Kentucky bourbon country.
Cost
The tour and tasting at Kentucky Artisan is $12 per person. This is fairly average and seems fair for the more intimate experience you get at this distillery. For comparison, a tour and tasting at Wild Turkey will cost visitors $37 per person. On the cheaper side of the major distilleries is Four Roses which offers its tour and tasting at $18 per person. All in all, I consider the $12 price to be very appropriate. While this distillery probably doesn’t make the short list for someone’s first trip to Kentucky (unless they are a Jefferson’s fan), this is definitely a distillery to keep in mind for subsequent visits.
