Ever since I was old enough to enjoy good bourbon (which
is very different than simply being old enough to drink bourbon), I had always
wanted to hit the road for a weekend exploring as many distilleries as I could
on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. I’ve been
to and through Kentucky more times than I can count due to my family’s
connections there and its proximity to my home state of Illinois, but the many
famous (and some less famous) and historical distilleries where I believe the
best bourbons are made had always eluded my radar.
Last summer, Punky convinced me to finally pull the
trigger on just such a trip over Memorial Day weekend, and it turned out to be
one of the many travel highlights of the year.
We decided to make historic Bardstown, Ky., the epicenter of our trip,
selected a handful of distilleries near Bardstown and the state capital of Frankfort
from our “most wanted” list and plotted our course for two full days of touring.
We chose to make the Jim Beam distillery in Clermont as
our first stop on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, partly because of its name
recognition, partly because of its proximity to Bardstown and partly because of
the route we chose to get there … we really wanted to avoid Louisville and
really wanted to stop for lunch at the Moonlite Bar-B-Q Inn in Owensboro. Once we were past Owensboro, it was an easy
and scenic drive on Kentucky’s parkway system to Elizabethtown, then just 20
minutes up Interstate 65 to the Clermont exit.
It’s safe to say without Jim Beam Clermont would probably
not even exist anymore. As it is,
Clermont is an unincorporated village off the side of Ky. Highway 245 as the
road meanders east the interstate to Bardstown.
Before you get in the thick of the woods that comprise the Bernheim
Forest, look off to the north for the first signs of Clermont and its most
famous (if not only) business.
