The Kentucky Bourbon Trail tour will get an eighth stop - and the first-ever in Louisville - when Heaven Hill’s Evan Williams Bourbon Experience opens this fall at 528 W. Main St.

Main Street in Louisville was once known as “Whiskey Row” for all the whiskey-related businesses that populated several blocks along the Ohio River. The city still produces one-third of the bourbon made in Kentucky and has a thriving Urban Bourbon Trail of 28 establishments that feature bourbon at the bar and in the kitchen. But there have been no working distilleries open for public tours.

That will change when the multimillion-dollar Evan Williams Bourbon Experience opens. Named for Kentucky’s first commercial distiller (and the namesake of Heaven Hill’s popular flagship brand), the attraction will include a fully functioning artisanal pot still distillery, along with historic displays and videos. The exterior will feature a five-story-tall graphic of a bourbon bottle “pouring” into a fountain in the lobby.

The site is almost directly across the street from where Evan Williams established his distillery in 1783.

A record 509,292 people visited Kentucky Bourbon Trail distilleries in 2012, Kentucky Distillers’ Association President Eric Gregory said in announcing the new stop. The other distilleries on the tour are Four Roses and Wild Turkey in Lawrenceburg; Heaven Hill’s Bourbon Heritage Center in Bardstown; Jim Beam in Clermont; Maker’s Mark in Loretto; Town Branch in Lexington; and Woodford Reserve in Versailles.  

(Photo courtesy of Kentucky Distillers’ Association)

I want to thank everyone who entered the Bourbon Babe Birthday Contest - and, indeed, everyone who takes the time to read this blog. But there could be only two winners, and after a random draw from all entries, they were:

Tim Rozmus (@timrozmus), from the Twitterverse, who receives the Just Add Bourbon gear, and

Scott & Nix of Tumblr, who take home the official Kentucky Bourbon Trail tour shot glass holder. (Message me with your mailing info!)

Congratulations!

My sincere thanks also to the folks with the Kentucky Bourbon Trail tour shop and Bourbon Country for their generosity in donating those fabulous prizes.

It’s been a great first year of blogging. Watch for some big changes in the coming year - and keep enjoying America’s only native spirit!

OK, bourbon lovers, today’s the day. You have until midnight to enter the Bourbon Babe Birthday Contest marking the first birthday of this blog.

There are two great prizes: an assortment of “Just Add Bourbon” merchandise from the nice people in Bourbon Country, home of the Urban Bourbon Trail:

and an official barrel stave shot-glass holder donated by the Kentucky Bourbon Trail tour (plus a Kentucky Bourbon Trail glass to get you started):

To enter the contest:

• reblog this entry on Tumblr,
• retweet it on Twitter, or
• share it on Facebook.

But remember: Today is the last day to enter! I will conduct a random draw from all the entries over the weekend and announce the two winners on Monday.

Good luck!

Bardstown has the Kentucky Bourbon Festival. Now, Louisville has the Bourbon Classic.

The Classic, touted as “a connoisseur’s weekend celebrating all things bourbon” and intended to become an annual event, will debut March 22-23, 2013, at the Kentucky Center for the Arts and will feature a World’s Best Cocktail competition featuring mixologists from across the country; a panel showcasing master distillers; “Bourbon University” sessions on topics such as bourbon and food pairings and entertaining with bourbon; and tastings of fine bourbons and gourmet food.

“This will be an experience like no other – a showcase of the art and enjoyment of bourbon,” Tony Butler of FSA Management said as he and The Bourbon Review announced the Classic at a Wednesday afternoon cocktail party in the Center’s lobby. With its rich bourbon heritage and sophisticated bar and restaurant landscape, Louisville is “the ideal host city” for such an event, he said.

The Urban Bourbon Trail is the Classic’s welcoming sponsor; other sponsors are Buffalo Trace, Blanton’s, Four Roses, Maker’s Mark, Michter’s, Old Forester and Woodford Reserve.

To give “a taste of what’s in store in March,” as the Review’s Seth Thompson put it (disclosure: I’m a regular contributor to the magazine), 610 Magnolia chef and “Top Chef” finalist Edward Lee prepared a salad with rock shrimp, sorghum croutons and bourbon vinaigrette, while Silver Dollar co-owner Larry Rice and bartender Susie Hoyt created a welcome punch using Old Charter 10-year-old; an Old Fashioned with Four Roses; and a Bourbon Buck using Weller Antique and ginger beer.

Tickets for the inaugural Bourbon Classic are now on sale at $135 standard/$175 VIP for Friday’s events and $155/$195 for Saturday’s. Packages are also available. For all the details, visit www.bourbonclassic.com.

Photos: Top, Chef Ed Lee and Bourbon Barrel Foods’ Matt Jamie prepare the salads. Center, Silver Dollar’s Larry Rice and Susie Hoyt at the bar. Bottom, Justin and Seth Thompson, co-publishers of The Bourbon Review.

Have you taken the Kentucky Bourbon Trail tour? If you haven’t, well, what are you waiting for? If you have, you likely took home souvenir glasses from each of the six distilleries on the trail: Jim Beam, Heaven Hill, Maker’s Mark, Woodford Reserve, Four Roses and Wild Turkey.

But where to keep them?

The Kentucky Bourbon Trail tour shop has you covered. They’ve taken a barrel stave, above, and drilled holes in it for each of the glasses, with the respective distillery logos branded below. It makes an impressive display.

And you can win one of these nifty barrel staves from The Bourbon Babe. The Kentucky Bourbon Trail tour has donated one - plus an official Bourbon Trail glass for that center slot - to help me celebrate the first birthday of this blog.

To be entered in the random drawing, all you have to do is reblog this post on Tumblr, retweet it on Twitter or share it on Facebook by Friday, July 20. On July 23, I’ll announce the winner of the stave.

I’ll also announce a second winner, who’ll receive a basket of “Just Add Bourbon” merchandise from the nice folks in Bourbon Country (aka Louisville), home of the Urban Bourbon Trail.

Good luck and happy trails!

Love bourbon? Want to tell the world about it? Then you’ll love this prize package I’m offering to mark the Bourbon Babe blog’s first birthday. The folks at Bourbon Country, home of Louisville’s Urban Bourbon Trail, have donated a great assortment of “Just Add Bourbon” merchandise.

To enter the contest, just reblog this entry on Tumblr, retweet it on Twitter, or share it on Facebook by Friday, July 20.

From the pool of entrants, I’ll randomly select a winner for this prize - AND a winner for an official Kentucky Bourbon Trail tour shot-glass holder crafted from a reclaimed bourbon barrel stave (plus a Bourbon Trail glass to get you started).

Winners will be announced on Monday, July 23.

It’s hard to believe, but this blog is a year old this month. It’s been a fun year of tasting bourbons, meeting great people in the industry and connecting with lots of other fans of America’s native spirit. To celebrate, the Bourbon Babe is giving YOU a present - two presents, actually.

My friends in Bourbon Country, home of the Urban Bourbon Trail, have generously donated a collection of “Just Add Bourbon” items, above.

And the nice people with the Kentucky Bourbon Trail tour are providing a choice item from their new online shop. The reclaimed white-oak bourbon barrel stave, above, has a slot for a shot glass from each of the six distilleries on the trail, plus a spot in the middle for the official Kentucky Bourbon Trail logo glass. They’ve agreed to throw in the Bourbon Trail glass to get you started.

You can enter the contest in one of three ways:

• Reblog this post on Tumblr;
• Retweet it on Twitter; or
• Share it on Facebook (don’t just hit “like”).

From that pool of entrants, I will conduct a random draw for the prizes. You must enter by Friday, July 20. The two winners will be announced on Monday, July 23.

Good luck, and thanks for reading!

Louisville freelance writer Dana McMahan spent a whole day drinking along the city’s Urban Bourbon Trail and lived to blog about it. My favorite revelation: President Harry S Truman purportedly started his day with a meal of toast, eggs, bacon, fruit, milk and a shot of whiskey. I knew I liked that guy.

Today is the winter solstice. That means tonight is the longest night of the year, and if that doesn’t call for a bourbon, I don’t know what does.

My suggestion: Black Maple Hill Small Batch, a 95-proof bourbon made by Heaven Hill. Blended from barrels that have aged an average of eight years, it’s smooth and sweet, with notes of butterscotch and vanilla and a nice, lingering finish.

It retails for about $33; I’ve also found it on the bourbon list at Ramsi’s Cafe on the World, 1293 Bardstown Road, one of the stops on Louisville’s Urban Bourbon Trail.

Whatever you choose to sip tonight, Happy Solstice, and may your days be increasingly merry and bright.

As I’ve said many times, I am a student of bourbon, and I love my research. And a fine place to study is Bourbons Bistro, 2255 Frankfort Ave. in Louisville.

One of the stops along Louisville’s Urban Bourbon Trail, Bourbons Bistro is housed in a building that dates to 1877 and celebrates the state’s bourbon heritage with historic photos and memorabilia - even in the restrooms, where the liquid soap is dispensed from Four Roses bottles. The bar is cozy and the dining room warm and inviting, with good acoustics that allow for conversation even when the room is full, as it was the other night with a wine tasting event going on.

Bourbons Bistro stocks more than 130 bourbons, which you may sample individually or in flights of three - choose one pre-selected by the bar or create your own. I found our server to be quite knowledgeable in suggesting brands for a flight that would emphasize fruit notes. In a nice touch, he also brought over a free sample of Angel’s Envy, which is finished in port wine barrels.

The food at Bourbons Bistro is excellent as well, with entrees ranging from steak and seafood to grilled lamb chops and seared pork chops. Even the mixed green salad was a small masterpiece, with button mushrooms, dried cherries and pancetta adding sweet and savory notes to the red wine dijon vinaigrette. When you can make me rave about a salad, you’ve done something.

Bourbons Bistro also holds monthly bourbon dinners, most featuring one distillery whose products are used in and paired with three to five courses.

We finished our research with a pair of bourbon cocktails - the Bourbon Cobbler Apple Crisp and the chocolate-y Bourbon Ball. Who needs dessert?