Heaven Hill Bourbon Experience
Where Bourbon Doesn’t Just Pour—It Tells Its Story
Welcome to Bardstown, Kentucky—the Bourbon Capital of the World®—where limestone water runs deep, rickhouses stretch toward the sky, and the air itself smells faintly of char and sweet corn. This is holy ground for bourbon, and standing firmly at its center is the Heaven Hill Bourbon Experience—a destination built not just to serve whiskey, but to honor it.
This isn’t a tasting room.
It’s a bourbon campus.
A living archive of America’s native spirit.
Family-owned, fiercely independent, and deeply rooted in Kentucky soil, Heaven Hill invites you to step inside the barrel and experience bourbon from the inside out—grain, fire, oak, time.
Whether you’re new to bourbon or already fluent in mashbills and warehouse floors, this is one of the most essential stops on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail®.
🥃 A Bourbon Journey, From Mash to Memory
The Heaven Hill Bourbon Experience doesn’t rush you. It lets bourbon unfold the way it always has—slowly, deliberately, and with purpose.
Here, you don’t just hear about bourbon.
You smell it fermenting.
You see it aging.
You taste the years.
Every tour, tasting, and experience is designed to deepen your connection to what’s in the glass.
🔸 The Classic Bourbon Tour
Where Every Bourbon Journey Begins
This is bourbon in its purest narrative form.
Walk through the full distilling story—from raw grain and bubbling mash to the quiet patience of oak barrels resting in time. Learn how Heaven Hill grew into the largest independent, family-owned distillery in America, without ever losing its Kentucky soul.
You’ll finish the journey the only proper way:
With a guided tasting of Heaven Hill icons like Evan Williams, Larceny, and Elijah Craig—each a chapter in the distillery’s living legacy.
🔸 The Magic of the Mashbill
Flavor Starts With Grain
Bourbon may age in barrels, but it’s born in the mashbill.
This guided tasting dives deep into how corn, rye, wheat, and malt shape bourbon’s personality long before the barrel ever closes. Sip side-by-side expressions that share barrels and age, yet taste worlds apart.
Sweeter. Spicier. Rounder. Bolder.
Same distillery. Different soul.
Perfect for anyone who wants to understand why bourbon tastes the way it does—one grain at a time.
🔸 Bottled-in-Bond Tour & Tasting
Bourbon With a Backbone
Travel back to 1897, when bourbon needed protecting and authenticity mattered enough to become law.
This immersive experience explores the Bottled-in-Bond Act, the legislation that defined quality, transparency, and trust in American whiskey. Taste Heaven Hill’s Bottled-in-Bond expressions—each one distilled in a single season, aged at least four years, and bottled at exactly 100 proof.
This is bourbon with rules.
And character.
🔸 Whiskey Connoisseur Tasting
For Those Who Chase the Exceptional
This experience is for the devoted—the collectors, the note-takers, the barrel-chasers.
Led by Heaven Hill’s expert brand ambassadors, this elevated tasting opens the door to limited, small-batch, and premium releases, exploring aroma, texture, finish, and the subtle decisions that separate great bourbon from unforgettable bourbon.
Less education.
More reverence.
🔸 You Do Bourbon
Bottle Your Own Piece of Kentucky
Few bourbon experiences are as personal as pulling whiskey straight from the barrel.
Select from a curated lineup of barrels, fill your bottle by hand, and customize it with your own label and seal. It’s bourbon at its most intimate—untouched, unfiltered by memory, sealed by you.
A true liquid souvenir.
A bottle that will never taste the same again.
🔥 Beyond the Glass
More Bourbon, More Reasons to Stay
Throughout the year, Heaven Hill offers rotating experiences that bring you even closer to the barrel:
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Behind-the-scenes production tours
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Warehouse walks heavy with angel’s share
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Exclusive pairing events and seasonal releases
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Limited-edition tastings you won’t find anywhere else
Every visit offers something new—another reason to come back.
🍽 Bourbon, Paired Properly
At the on-site café, bourbon meets the plate. Thoughtfully crafted dishes and seasonal small bites are designed to complement Heaven Hill’s lineup, proving that bourbon doesn’t just belong after dinner—it belongs at the table.
🛍 Take Bourbon Home With You
No pilgrimage ends without a keepsake.
The Heaven Hill Bourbon Shop offers an expansive selection of core expressions, Bardstown-exclusive releases, and hard-to-find bottles you won’t see elsewhere. Add barware, glassware, apparel, and gifts worthy of the whiskey lover in your life—or yourself.
📍 Plan Your Pilgrimage
Heaven Hill Bourbon Experience
1311 Gilkey Run Rd.
Bardstown, KY
Hours:
Monday–Saturday: 9:30 AM – 5:00 PM
Sunday: 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM
(Last tour or tasting begins one hour before closing)
✨ Why Heaven Hill Belongs on Every Bourbon Trail
Because bourbon isn’t just something you drink—it’s something you understand.
At Heaven Hill, you don’t just taste whiskey.
You trace its lineage.
You feel its patience.
You leave with a bottle—and a deeper respect for what’s inside it.
Come for the bourbon.
Stay for the stories.
Leave carrying Kentucky, sealed in glass.