Bourbon Bike Trip Day 3

With fresh legs and cooler temperatures, we took off Sunday morning for our first stop of the day at Four Roses distillery, a 23 mile journey. The terrain was much easier, as the hills were more the "rolling" type we anticipated overall, and there were more straights to enable us to catch our breath. We made great time and had a nice break before the tour to have a bite to eat and recharge.

Four Roses was another very old company, and the main distillery building was a National Historic Landmark. It had a completely different look, with Spanish-style buildings that the original owners fell in love with when they visited California a long time ago. (click the pictures below to enlarge!)

We headed out from Four Roses to get to our last destination of the trip: Woodford Reserve. It was 8 miles to Wild Turkey then another 11 on to Woodford Reserve. We stopped at Wild Turkey and called Hank to pick us up for a few reasons: the long rest made our legs incredibly stiff; the hot midday sun was now beating down; and Woodford's last tour of the day was at 3pm and we wouldn't have made it in time if we biked the whole way. As it was, we ran into the building just as the final tour was called to line up and ready to depart...we made it just in time! Woodford Reserve contained beautiful, old limestone buildings that referenced back to the original owner's Irish heritage. We were so lucky we made this tour because we finally got to see a distillery during production! All were shut down for a few weeks as they normally do in the hottest summer months, so Woodford was the only one where we got to see the whole bourbon-making process at work. It is also the only bourbon distillery that uses a triple-distilled process, as you can see with the three, big, copper distillers below.

Our bourbon bike trip was now complete! We stopped shortly down the road to eat and change, then drove back to Kent and back to reality. In all we biked 75 miles in two days over terrain that none of us ever wish to embark on again! We were able to visit six distilleries and add in some other historical stops along the way. As someone who hates the taste of bourbon and whiskey, I would still highly recommend a weekend trip on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail to anyone! It is a fascinating process rich in history and tradition, and can only be truly and fully experienced here in central Kentucky in the United States. I hope you all enjoyed the recap of the trip. I'm working on a video and should have that up soon! Stay tuned for more adventures and trips along the way...as always, thanks for reading!