Want to learn about the Kentucky chew, sour mash, sweet mash, single barrel, and small batch? How about cachaca, caipirinha and vela?
These are some of the terms you’ll likely hear during a tour of one of Danville’s distilleries, which produce Kentucky’s famous bourbon as well as another spirit native to a country south of the equator.
Let’s start with the bourbon first. For more than 10 years, Wilderness Trail Distillery on Danville’s west side has been blending old traditions with science to produce bourbon using a unique sweet mash process that has produced award-winning spirits. Their bottled in bond wheated bourbon, bottled in bond high rye bourbon and bottled in bond rye whiskey can all be sampled and purchased at their visitor center. There are tours and tastings offered at Wilderness Trail Tuesday through Saturday, with group sizes limited to 16 people.
For those who like brand-new experiences, keep Luca Mariano Distillery on your radar. Danville’s newest distillery is being developed on the east side of town on nearly 600 acres of property, where corn used to produce the bourbon will be grown in fields that surround the distillery and rick houses. The property is being designed with visitors in mind and will include distillery tours, a boutique hotel, a restaurant and other amenities that will provide memorable experiences for guests.
If you are curious about Luca Mariano bourbon and want to sample it before the distillery is open for tours – sometime in mid-2024 – there are bottles available at various liquor stores.
And now for that mysterious Brazilian spirit called cachaca. At Danville’s Blue Rook Distillery, you’ll find a copper still, but you won’t find any charred white oak barrels aging bourbon. Instead, their still produces cacacha, made from Brazilian sugar cane.
You can book a tour at Blue Rook and learn the story behind how a Brazilian sugarcane distillery found a home in Kentucky’s bourbon country… and sample the five premium cane spirits they produce, which can also be enjoyed in the adjoining restaurant and cocktail bar, The Still at Blue Rook Distillery.
Enjoy all three distillery experiences during a trip to Danville by booking tours online and then cap off the evening at The Still or another restaurant in Danville serving locally distilled spirits, like Copper & Oak or Boogie Knight’s.
Cheers!
