Tips For An Awesome Bourbon Tour With Friends

Bourbon tours are so much fun with friends. You visit a couple of different distilleries, learn about their histories, and of course, taste plenty of bourbon. If you have never been on a bourbon tour before, don't worry — you'll settle in quickly! You will also benefit from following these tips.

Look for a tour that goes to large and small distilleries.

There are so many different bourbon distilleries in Kentucky and almost as many different tour routes to pick from. You really want to choose one that goes to a few larger distilleries and also some smaller ones. There's something special about visiting the classic distilleries whose products are so common, but the smaller distilleries have a friendly, local charm, too. The best tour shows you the best of both worlds.

Visit five distilleries in a day, at most.

Here's the ironic thing about distillery tours: the first few get more and more fun, and then the last few get less and less fun as you've had too much to drink. Five seems to be a good maximum number of distilleries to visit in the same day. If you want to see more than that — for instance, if you want to visit all 9 distilleries on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail — then you really need to spend two days touring. Luckily, there are some two-day tours you can book, so look into that option.

Do not rush.

Book your bourbon tour for a day when you don't have anything else going on and can finish whenever you finish. This way, if you are at a particular distillery you find interesting, you can stick around a little longer without feeling guilty. You can also linger and space your drinks out a little more, which is important because the pours on many of these tours can be quite generous!

Start with a guided tasting.

At many of the distilleries you visit, you will get to choose between a more in-depth, guided tasting and an independent tasting. Even if you have tasted bourbon before, it is a good idea to opt for the guided tasting, at least at the first stop. This way, you will refresh your bourbon tasting techniques and be prepared to taste properly at the other distilleries. And if you're a first-time taster, a guided tasting is key to make sure you're tasting the best way.

With the tips above, your bourbon tour will be more than fun. It will be phenomenal.