The American Whiskey Trail is the name of a promotional program supported by the
Distilled Spirits Council of the United States
The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS) is a national trade association representing producers and marketers of distilled spirits sold in the United States. DISCUS was formed in 1973 by the merger of three organizations (the B ...
that promotes the
distilled beverage
Liquor (or a spirit) is an alcoholic drink produced by distillation of grains, fruits, vegetables, or sugar, that have already gone through alcoholic fermentation. Other terms for liquor include: spirit drink, distilled beverage or hard li ...
industry in the
U.S
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
. The Trail was first promoted to the public on September 28, 2004.
Key sites along the trail
The American Whiskey Trail consists of various historical sites – some with operating distilleries – that are open to the public for tours. Sites along the American Whiskey Trail can be visited in any order or sequence desired, although the George Washington Distillery is promoted as the "gateway" to the trail and is a common starting point.
*
Fraunces Tavern Museum in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
*
Gadsby's Tavern Museum
Gadsby's Tavern is a complex of historic buildings at 134 and 138 North Royal Street at the corner of Cameron Street in the Old Town district of Alexandria, Virginia. The complex includes a c.1785 tavern, the 1792 City Tavern and Hotel, and an 1 ...
in
Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Downto ...
*
George Washington Distillery Museum in
Mount Vernon
Mount Vernon is an American landmark and former plantation of Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States George Washington and his wife, Martha. The estate is on ...
, Virginia
*
Oliver Miller Homestead in
South Park, Pennsylvania
*
Oscar Getz Museum of Whiskey History in
Bardstown, Kentucky
Bardstown is a home rule-class city in Nelson County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 11,700 in the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Nelson County.
Bardstown is named for the pioneering Bard brothers. David Bard obtained a l ...
* West Overton Village & Museums in
Scottdale, Pennsylvania
Scottdale is a borough in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, southeast of Pittsburgh.
Early in the 20th century, Scottdale was the center of the Frick coke interests. It had steel and iron pipe mills, brass and silver works, a casket facto ...
*
Woodville Plantation Woodville may refer to one of the following:
Places Australia
* Woodville, New South Wales
*Woodville, South Australia, a suburb of Adelaide
** Woodville railway station, Adelaide
Canada
*Woodville, Ontario
*Woodville, Nova Scotia
New Zealand
*Wo ...
(John and Presley Neville House) in
Bridgeville, Pennsylvania
Bridgeville is a borough in Allegheny County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The population was 4,804 at the 2020 census.
Geography
Bridgeville is located along Chartiers Creek, about southwest of downtown Pittsburgh at .
According to the ...
*
Bradford House Museum in
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
,
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
*Allegany Museum in
Cumberland, Maryland
Cumberland is a U.S. city in and the county seat of Allegany County, Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its s ...
Besides recognized historic sites, a number of operating whiskey distilleries are open to the public for tours and, in many cases, tastings. Most are located in close proximity to each other in Kentucky, although a few are located in Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Utah, and West Virginia.
*
Buffalo Trace in
Frankfort, Kentucky
Frankfort is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, United States, and the seat of Franklin County. It is a home rule-class city; the population was 28,602 at the 2020 census. Located along the Kentucky River, Frankfort is the prin ...
*
George Dickel
George Dickel is a brand of Tennessee whisky produced in Tullahoma, in Coffee County, Tennessee. Today owned by Diageo, the modern brand was introduced in 1964, though the distillery has a longer history. Whisky production and aging takes pl ...
in
Tullahoma, Tennessee
Tullahoma is a city in Coffee and Franklin counties in southern Middle Tennessee, United States. The population was 20,339 at the 2020 census. In 2019, the population was estimated to be 19,555. It is the principal city of the Tullahoma micropo ...
*
Jack Daniel's
Jack Daniel's is a brand of Tennessee whiskey. It is produced in Lynchburg, Tennessee, by the Jack Daniel Distillery, which has been owned by the Brown–Forman Corporation since 1956.
Packaged in square bottles, Jack Daniel's "Black Label" T ...
in
Lynchburg, Tennessee
Lynchburg is a city in the south-central region of the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is governed by a consolidated city-county government unit whose boundaries coincide with those of Moore County. Lynchburg is best known as the location of Jack Dan ...
*
Jim Beam
Jim Beam is an American brand of bourbon whiskey produced in Clermont, Kentucky, by Beam Suntory. It is one of the best-selling brands of bourbon in the world. Since 1795 (interrupted by Prohibition), seven generations of the Beam family have be ...
American Stillhouse in
Clermont, Kentucky
Clermont is a USGS-designated populated place (one of 32) in Bullitt County, Kentucky, United States, south of Louisville. It is an unincorporated community.
Geography
Clermont is located at (37.5547, -85.3910) and is 531 feet (162 meters) ...
*Jim Beam Urban Stillhouse in
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...
*
Maker's Mark
Maker's Mark is a small-batch bourbon whisky produced in Loretto, Kentucky, by Beam Suntory. It is bottled at 90 U.S. proof (45% alcohol by volume) and sold in squarish bottles sealed with red wax. The distillery offers tours, and is part of ...
in
Loretto, Kentucky
Loretto is a home rule-class city in Marion County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 713 at the 2010 census.
It is best known as the home of the Maker's Mark bourbon distillery. The current mayor is Tom Brahm.
History
The city ta ...
*
1792 Bourbon Distillery in
Bardstown, Kentucky
Bardstown is a home rule-class city in Nelson County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 11,700 in the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Nelson County.
Bardstown is named for the pioneering Bard brothers. David Bard obtained a l ...
*
Wild Turkey
The wild turkey (''Meleagris gallopavo'') is an Upland game bird, upland ground bird native to North America, one of two extant species of Turkey (bird), turkey and the heaviest member of the order Galliformes. It is the ancestor to the domestic ...
in
Lawrenceburg, Kentucky
Lawrenceburg is a home rule-class city in Anderson County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 10,505 at the 2010 census. It is the seat of its county. Lawrenceburg is part of the Frankfort, Kentucky, micropolitan statistical area.
His ...
*
Woodford Reserve
Woodford Reserve is a brand of premium small batch Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey produced in Woodford County, Kentucky, by the Brown-Forman Corporation. It is made from a mixture of copper pot still spirits produced at the company's Woodford ...
in
Versailles, Kentucky
Versailles () is a home rule-class city in Woodford County, Kentucky, United States. It lies by road west of Lexington and is part of the Lexington-Fayette Metropolitan Statistical Area. Versailles has a population of 9,316 according to 2017 cen ...
*
Wigle Whiskey
Wigle Whiskey (pronounced "wih-gul") is an artisan small batch whiskey distillery in the Strip District, Pittsburgh, Strip District neighborhood of Pittsburgh. Wigle Whiskeys are the flagship products of Wigle Whiskey, which is entirely family own ...
in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
*
Four Roses
Four Roses is a brand of Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey produced in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky. Its Spanish Mission-style distillery was built in 1910 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Old Prentice Distillery. The ...
in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky
*
Old Forester
Old Forester is a brand of Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey produced by the Brown–Forman Corporation. It has been on the market continuously for longer than any other bourbon (approximately 150 years as of 2020), and was the first bourbon so ...
in Louisville, Kentucky
*Angel's Envy in Louisville, Kentucky
*
Bulleit Frontier Whiskey Experience (
Stitzel-Weller Distillery) in Louisville, Kentucky
*
Town Branch
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than city, cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
Origin and use
The word "town" shares ...
in Lexington, Kentucky
*O.Z. Tyler in Owensboro, Kentucky
*
High West Distillery
The High West Distillery & Saloon in Park City, Utah
High West Distillery is a manufacturer of distilled spirits located in Park City, Utah, United States. It is the first legally licensed distillery in Utah since the end of the American Proh ...
in Wanship, Utah
*Smooth Ambler Distillery in
Maxwelton, West Virginia
Maxwelton is an unincorporated community in Greenbrier County, West Virginia, United States. Maxwelton is located on U.S. Route 219, north-northeast of Lewisburg. Maxwelton has a post office with ZIP code 24957.
A former variant name was Hat ...
Distilleries connected to the trail
In addition to sites and distilleries tied to the history of American whiskey production, the Distilled Spirits Council provides information and promotes a range of other distilleries around the country in conjunction with promotion of the American Whiskey Trail. The list includes two key rum distilleries –
Bacardi
Bacardi Limited (; ) is one of the largest privately held, family-owned spirits companies in the world. Originally known for its Bacardi brand of white rum, it now has a portfolio of more than 200 brands and labels. Founded in Cuba in 1862 an ...
in
Catano, Puerto Rico, and
Cruzan in
St. Croix
Saint Croix; nl, Sint-Kruis; french: link=no, Sainte-Croix; Danish and no, Sankt Croix, Taino: ''Ay Ay'' ( ) is an island in the Caribbean Sea, and a county and constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI), an unincor ...
,
U.S. Virgin Islands – along with various small distilleries. Examples include Golden Moon Distillery, a
gin and
liqueur
A liqueur (; ; ) is an alcoholic drink composed of spirits (often rectified spirit) and additional flavorings such as sugar, fruits, herbs, and spices. Often served with or after dessert, they are typically heavily sweetened and un-aged beyond ...
producer in
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...
; Koloa Rum Company, a
rum
Rum is a liquor made by fermenting and then distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice. The distillate, a clear liquid, is usually aged in oak barrels. Rum is produced in nearly every sugar-producing region of the world, such as the Ph ...
producer in
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...
; Limestone Branch Distillery, a whiskey producer in
Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...
; Black Button Distilling, a whiskey and gin producer in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
; and Tenn South Distillery and
Nelson's Green Brier Distillery
Nelson's Green Brier Distillery is popular whiskey distillerylocated in downtown Nashville, Tennessee that produces different varieties of Tennessee whiskey and bourbons. The distillery, located a1414 Clinton St. Nashville, Tennessee 37203 offers ...
, two whiskey producers in
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
.
See also
*
American whiskey
American whiskey is whiskey (a distilled beverage produced from a fermented mash of cereal grain) produced in the United States. American whiskeys made from mashes with at least 51% of their named grains include bourbon whiskey, rye whiskey, ...
*
Kentucky Bourbon Trail
The Kentucky Bourbon Trail (sometimes informally shortened to "the Bourbon Trail") is the name of a program sponsored by the Kentucky Distillers' Association (KDA) to promote the Bourbon whiskey industry in Kentucky. The KDA has registered the ...
References
Further reading
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External links
American Whiskey Trail (official website) Distilled Spirits Council of the United States
{{Whisky
Alcohol in the United States
Drinking culture
Historic trails and roads in the United States
Whiskies of the United States
Whisky trails