Preservation – Craft Bourbon Tour #1

After seeing how many distilleries were suffering from covid lockdowns I was afraid this would become a boring stay in Louisville. After all, bourbon is kind of king around here. I guess you could include horses and basketball, but I’ve got a sneaky suspicion enjoying those in person would be just as difficult. The countryside is gorgeous if nothing else so I figured I’d go see if I could take some cool photos and it lead me to a new quest. I figured I’d drive by Bardstown since I knew a bit about that area and I’d get to drive by Barton since they typically march to their own drum. I’ll never forget sharing one glencairn of fresh white dog right off the still with the whole tour group the last time I was there.

The gift shop was open but no tours today.

Not much to photograph or spend a lot of time on so I figured I’d drive around the east side of their property on my way to Bardstown. I found a train station at Deatsville that was worth a visit.

From there I drove passed the Barton Distillery but I had already placed an online reservation for a tour for the following week so I just drove west. However, one of the brown tourist sights caught my eye. It said “Preservation Distillery”, stating it was on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail Craft Tour. I didn’t know anything about that so I immediately pulled over.

There were multiple cars in the lot so that seemed promising.

I love the old vehicles that I’ve come to realize is part of the charm for all of these places.

Production is inside that building and the gift shop and tasting is inside this one below.

I somehow failed to take any photos inside. I guess I was so excited to see the inside of a gift shop I lost track of if. They have quite a few “expressions” and I paid to taste some. Some were quite good and the prices reflected it. It was very welcoming and I intend to return for a full fledge tour.

On their shelf was this passport. It was different than the normal Bourbon Trail passport because it had all of these craft distilleries that I’d never heard of.

And it wasn’t free. The young lady explained that for the nominal $3 fee you can go visit 20 different distilleries in four different regions. Once you collected a stamp from each of the distilleries in a given region you’re awarded a challenge coin.  Get all four and the last place will also give you a barrel stave with holes drilled in to display the four coins.

I’ve loved coins like that since the military. Back then you carried one on trips to bars or pubs that typically had your unit on them. If somebody asked to see your coin and you were unable to produce it you bought rounds for the table. If everybody had one the guy how brought it up, “issued the challenge”, had to buy. You couldn’t just buy one, either. They were awarded for various things usually loosely attached to how well you fit in with your unit.

I had stumbled upon a quest worthy of my time! I had finished the Bourbon Trail last time in Louisville and I have to admit that the shirt for that was nowhere as cool as a barrel stave full of challenge coins.

Preservation Distillery and Farms
426 Sutherland Rd
Bardstown, KY
preservationdistillery.com

Preservation is part of the Central Region.

Challenge accepted. One down, twenty to go. I can’t wait to tell my friends at work.

~ Freddy