Bardstown and Bourbon

Oh what a difference a year makes! We visited here last summer and while a reservation for tasting was recommended  - you could just walk into many of the distilleries. Now, very limited small group, social distanced, masked experiences with temperature checks... we booked 5 distilleries before leaving Arkansas with hopes of dropping into a few small off the beaten path places. No such luck!  Darn Covid- this sign is soooo true! 

We started our day at Preservation, a woman owned and founded distillery. Marci Palatella makes very small batch 1 to 3 barrels bourbon. And as a side note, she was charged in the college admission cheating scandal! Guess Marci may have to allow her head distiller take over for a while! Oops. 

Next was 1792.  This distillery was named for the year Kentucky became a state. Not a large portfolio of bourbon but tasty and we bought the only thing that is not sold outside of the tasting room - chocolate bourbon cream. I think this will make a great holiday cocktail! 

We had lunch at the Old Tabbot Tavern. The Old Talbott was built in 1779 and is oldest western stagecoach stop in America. Now it is a restaurant and tavern said to be the oldest whiskey bar is the US.  I selected Hot Brown  because well ... when in Rome - I mean Kentucky you have to!   And when Mark is at the oldest bourbon bar you get to have an old fashioned with lunch. 

After lunch we roamed around the small quaint and historic downtown area. Stumbled across an old 1700’s cemetery and a one room school house.

I thought the old jail gate was cool- 

The Bardstown girls soccer team is headed to the state tournament and people started gathering for a parade for the team. Yep this is a very small community! We decided it was a good time to head back to the campground before we got stuck!