Evan Williams distillery puts Louisville on Kentucky Bourbon Trail

Louisville is to become a part of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail for the first time, with the addition of the soon-to-open Evan Williams experience.

The Evan Williams Bourbon Experience will open in Louisville in October

The US$10 million visitors centre and micro-distillery will become the eighth stop on the famous Bourbon tourism circuit when it opens in October.

Brand owner Heaven Hill anticipates around 100,000 visitors a year to the attraction, which will feature interactive exhibitions and video displays of Evan Williams’ heritage, tutored tastings, a retail space plus basement speakeasy-themed event space.

In an attempt to catch the eye of passers-by, the building will also feature a five-storey high graphic of an Evan Williams bottle pouring liquid into a giant glass below.

“I think this is the missing link that we’ve been looking for the past few years, especially with Town Branch Distillery coming into Lexington,” Eric Gregory, president of the Kentucky Distillers’ Association told the Lexington Herald-Leader. “Now you get two major cities where people start and finish the trail. I think it will be a tremendous boost in tourism to our distilleries and a big impact on the city.”

Marcheta Sparrow, Kentucky secretary for Tourism, Arts and Heritage, added that the Kentucky Bourbon Trail could soon become a bigger tourist attraction than the Napa Valley wine region.

Heaven Hill’s visitor centre in Bardstown is already a part of the Trail, along with the Four Roses and Wild Turkey distilleries in Lawrenceburg; the Jim Beam distillery in Clermont; the Maker’s Mark distillery in Loretto; the Woodford Reserve Distillery near Versailles; and the Lexington Brewing and Distilling Company in Lexington, which joined the Trail just last year.

In October, a Craft Bourbon Trail was launched to recognise the growing number of craft distilleries in the Kentucky region;.