The Kentucky Bourbon Trail® – KBT was created in 1999 by the Kentucky Distillers’ Association – KDA. In the beginning, there were seven participating distilleries, there were no schedules, no tour guides, no experiences. The ‘tour’ would often be led by whomever answered the knock on the door. That might be the person working at the front desk or if you were lucky, it might just be the master distiller. A 1999 brochure said you should “allow at least two days to visit all our historic distilleries.”
Fast forward 25+ years and times have changed. The Kentucky Bourbon Trail welcomed more than 2.7 million visitors last year. A typical tour to a heritage distillery is choreographed like a Broadway show from the time you walk in the door until you finally get to put lips to sips (as in bourbon in your mouth). Today, pre-booking a tour to multiple distilleries isn’t really a suggestion, it’s more of a requirement. Tours fill up fast and getting 2-4 people in at a time can be a challenge during peak months. And that two-day adventure is more like two weeks if you really want to visit the 60+ stops on today’s Kentucky Bourbon Trail.
The Napa-fication of Kentucky
The Kentucky Bourbon Trail is redefining what a visit to Kentucky is all about. Yes, visitors come to the Kentucky Bourbon Trail for the bourbon, but they are also coming for the experience, the bourbon lifestyle, and the southern charm. For years, the KDA, its members, and tourism officials at the local and state level have yearned for a Napa Valley like experience for Kentucky. Sometimes referred to as the Napa-fication of Kentucky. As time goes by and laws have changed, the dream of that experience is becoming more of a reality and it shows in the growth in bourbon tourism.
According to the KDA, 62% of Bourbon Trail visitors have incomes above $100,000 and they spend between $600-1,400 on dining, entertainment, lodging, and transportation. 76% of visitors come from outside of Kentucky, 89% travel by car, they stay in the region for 3 to 5 days, most commonly travel with 2 to 4 adults, and 84% stayed in hotels or other rental facilities like an Airbnb or Bed & Breakfast.
DistilleryTrail.com has covered the Kentucky Bourbon Trail for more than a decade now and one of the most common questions we get, other than what’s your favorite bourbon is, where should I stay?
The answer to the first question is easy, the one in my glass. The answer to the second question depends on where you will be staying. If the answer is Bardstown, up until now, the places to stay that are truly bourbon centric is limited. But, beginning May 2025, there is a new answer – The Trail Hotel.
‘The Trail Hotel’ is Distilled to Perfection
Making good bourbon doesn’t happen overnight. It takes years to mature into the perfect bourbon. The same could be said about hotels. Some may argue the classics are best, they have a little history on them, a little age, a few stories, and old-time charm. While others would argue you need something more modern with all the latest amenities and modern-day experiences.
When Will Hardy, Ejo Edmonds, and Brook Smith purchased a dilapidated 1970s roadside Holiday Inn at auction, they thought for sure, they would be tearing it down and starting anew. As they got to know the hotel and heard countless stories and fond memories from local community members, they shifted gears and decided to save the old hotel from the wrecking ball and bring it back to life. But don’t let that fool you, the bones may be classic 1970 but pretty much everything from the I-beams out is new. The charm, yes, it’s still there with its original classic roadside u-shape design but, it’s been completely revamped and is set to become the defacto ‘Bourbon Capital of the World’ bourbon-centric hotel, bar, restaurant, and event venue.
A Phoenix Rising from the Ashes
“I’m smiling when I talk about the old Holiday Inn because it is so important to the Bardstown community. It was disappointing when it shut down years ago.
The new life that it has right now it’s like a Phoenix, it really is rising out of the ashes. I can’t wait to see its next chapter. For a long, long time, we’ve been waiting for this. This takes us to a whole new level. It’s going to be the epicenter of fun and bourbon for Bardstown. This elevates the Bardstown visitor experience.”
~ Kim Huston, Consultant, Author, and Former President of the Nelson County Economic Development Agency
“The Trail Hotel is a full bourbon centric hotel concept based in Bardstown, Kentucky, the Bourbon Capital World,” explained The Trail Hotel Co-Owner Will Hardy. “We have 95 rooms, eight of those are suites, all bourbon branded. We’ve got five different bars on-site, we have a high-end steakhouse, called Oak & Ember, and we’re opening May 16th, so we’re very excited.” The suites each have their own theme with names like Mash Bill Suite, Cooperage Suite, Single Barrel Suite, and Distillers Den Suite.
What Genre is The Trail Hotel?
“The hotel design is mid-century modern,’ said The Trail Hotel Co-Owner Ejo Edmonds. “We are geared toward a historic theme because we discovered there were historic tax credits that helped to fund the project. When we first bought the hotel, we really thought we were just going to bulldoze the place down because it was in such bad condition. After meeting people from the community, learning the history of the hotel and what a staple it was in the community, how many memories there were in the hotel and how much it meant to the people of Bardstown, Nelson County, we had to save it.
“Everybody we talked to has a memory of this place. It was really wild and surprising how many memories people had from this place and how special it was to the community. We couldn’t tear it down after we heard all the stories and decided to keep it up. And then we learned there was an opportunity for historic tax credits to step in and help out. It kept us confined within a certain parameter in how we had to finish the hotel. It worked out well so now we are in this mid-century modern theme.”
The Trail Hotel is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Bourbon Butler at Your Service
The Trail Hotel will offer many experiences that are focused on bourbon, Bourbon Trail experiences, and other Kentucky travel adventures. To guide visitors on their bourbon journey the hotel will offer The Bourbon Butler, the hotel’s own concierge service.
The Trail Hotel’s Bourbon Butler will offer two different versions of experiences. The first is totally custom to each guest experience and the second is a standard distillery tour offering from multiple distilleries.
“The Bourbon Butler will hold you by the hand and do a complete custom trip however you want it,” said Edmonds. “We’ll reach out to our guests once they book a visit to get ahead of their visit. We are not waiting for them to arrive; our guest services will reach out and help to plan in advance.”
“We will also offer a simplified version where we’re going to have our own in-house buses that are on a scheduled tour that go around to distilleries, each day, twice a day. It’ll take you on a 2-hour tour.”
“It’s kind of like Disney,” added Hardy. “If you get there, you can take the tram to Epcot and from Epcot hit animal Kingdom. It’s kind of like if you show up accidentally to the Trail Hotel and you didn’t make any previous plans, we have a daily rotation of tours and tastings that we automatically are taking people on that you can jump on. So, everybody’s going to be able to hit the trail while they’re here, even if it’s a last minute, concept.”
The Trail Hotel Opening May 2025
The Trail Hotel is Bardstown’s premier destination for bourbon enthusiasts and travelers seeking a luxurious experience in the heart of Kentucky’s Bourbon Trail. The Trail Hotel will have a soft opening on May 16, 2025, with their official opening during Memorial Day Weekend.
Related Stories
– What is the Napa-fication of Kentucky?
– The Kentucky Bourbon Trail Celebrates its 25th Anniversary and Announces Major Changes on the Way [Full Video]
– BARDSTOWN – The Definitive Coffee Table Book on ‘The Most Beautiful Small Town in America’ Sep 2020
View all Bardstown/Nelson County Distilleries.
View all Kentucky Distilleries.
View all U.S. Distilleries.
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