Two days in Bardstown comfortably fits four distillery tours if you keep one day close to town and spend the other half in the country. Day one pairs Willett’s copper pot still and lunch at The Bar at Willett with a rickhouse tasting at Bardstown Bourbon Co., then a free museum and a guided flight you can walk to. Day two takes the shuttle to Heaven Hill’s new Springs distillery, then drives 35 to 45 minutes to Maker’s Mark to dip a bottle. Run it Thursday and Friday for the best mix of open doors and smaller crowds, and book the tours before you book anything else.
Before you go: the booking checklist
This plan depends on reservations. Lock these in first, in this order, since the first two sell out soonest:
| Book | Where | How far ahead (fall) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Willett tour, 10 a.m. | Willett’s visit page | 30-45 days or more | Not on the Bourbon Trail; closed Sundays |
| Heaven Hill Springs tour, morning | Heaven Hill booking | Several weeks | $55; shuttle only, no walk-up access |
| Maker’s Mark Tour, 1:30 p.m. | Maker’s Mark | 2-3 weeks; longer for hand-dip | Tours start on the half hour |
| Bardstown Bourbon Co., 1:30 p.m. | BBC experiences | 2-4 weeks | No tours Mon-Tue |
| The Bar at Willett lunch | Resy | 2 weeks | Wed-Sat only, up to 8 guests |
| The Rickhouse dinner | Toast | 1-2 weeks | Closed Sun-Mon |
| Circa 1856 guided flight | Resy | A few days | Bar takes walk-ins |
Southern Living quotes a planner who books fall distillery tours about three months ahead because schedules open in 90-day blocks. Our guide to booking distillery tours goes stop by stop.
One more rule: Kentucky allows only one tour experience per distillery per day, so don’t plan a tour and a separate tasting at the same place on the same day.
Day one: Willett, Bardstown Bourbon Co. and downtown
8:30 a.m. Breakfast downtown. Mammy’s Kitchen & Bar on West Stephen Foster Avenue opens at 6:30 a.m. Wednesday through Saturday. Order something sturdy; you have tastings ahead.
9:45 a.m. Drive to Willett. Willett sits on Loretto Road, a short drive south of Court Square on some of the highest ground in Nelson County. Arrive 15 minutes early with photo ID.
10:00 a.m. Willett tour. The standard tour is an all-walking, hour-and-15-minute experience with a progressive tasting at stops along the way. Willett runs a column still, a doubler and its famous pot still, and ages whiskey in eight warehouses on the property. It runs indoors and out, so dress for the weather. Details on our Willett page.
11:30 a.m. Lunch at The Bar at Willett. Stay put. The bar serves vintage whiskey, classic cocktails and small plates Wednesday to Saturday from 11 a.m., and reservations are recommended.
1:15 p.m. Drive across town to Bardstown Bourbon Co. It is at 1500 Parkway Drive, on the east side of town.
1:30 p.m. Core Four Tour ($24, 1 hour) or Rickhouse Barrel Thieving ($30, 1 hour). Core Four shows you the distillery and ends with a barrel tasting in the rickhouse and four whiskeys. Thieving skips the tour for three barrel-drawn pours. If you had a big Willett tasting, Core Four is the gentler choice. See our Bardstown Bourbon Co. guide for the full menu.
2:45 p.m. Back downtown; park once. The public lot at 113 E. Flaget Ave. is a short walk from the Old Courthouse.
3:00 p.m. Oscar Getz Museum of Bourbon History. Free, inside Spalding Hall, open until 5 p.m. on weekdays (4 p.m. Saturdays). Lincoln’s liquor license, moonshine stills and Prohibition-era medicinal whiskey prescriptions make sense of everything you tasted this morning. Allow 45 to 75 minutes. More on our Getz Museum page.
4:30 p.m. Guided flight at Circa 1856. Chicken Cock’s tasting room is in the big yellow house across from the Talbott Tavern, and it is the one Bourbon Trail stop you can walk to. Keep this one light, or sit it out and have a cocktail instead.
5:30 p.m. Downtime. Back to your room for an hour. Nobody regrets this.
7:00 p.m. Dinner at The Rickhouse. Candlelit brick arches in the basement of Spalding Hall, about 150 bourbons, hand-cut steaks and bourbon-glazed pork chops. It is open until 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Book ahead; see our Rickhouse review.
Day two: Heaven Hill Springs and Maker’s Mark
8:00 a.m. Breakfast and a slow start. Drink water. Today includes the longest drive.
9:15 a.m. Drive to the Heaven Hill Bourbon Experience on Gilkey Run Road. It opens at 9:30 a.m. Monday through Saturday.
9:30 a.m. Heaven Hill Springs Distillery tour ($55). Opened to the public in September 2025, this $200 million distillery brought Heaven Hill distilling back to Bardstown for the first time since the 1996 fire. You can’t drive there yourself; the small-group tour leaves from the Experience by shuttle, runs about an hour and ends at the distillery’s signature bar. Before or after, walk the galleries and catch the 11-minute film in the 1935 Distillery Theater. Details on our Heaven Hill Springs page.
11:30 a.m. Lunch at Five Brothers Bar & Kitchen. Deli-style plates on a patio overlooking the rickhouses, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, no reservation needed.
12:45 p.m. Drive to Maker’s Mark. About 21 miles and 35 to 45 minutes through Nelson and Marion County farmland. This is the leg where a designated driver earns their keep.
1:30 p.m. The Maker’s Mark Tour (about 1 hour 15 minutes). The dark-brown, red-shuttered buildings on Star Hill Farm are a National Historic Landmark, and the tour ends with a tasting. Afterward, dip your own bottle in red wax at the gift shop (21+). Our Maker’s Mark guide covers the options.
3:30 p.m. Drive back to Bardstown. You’ll be downtown by about 4:15.
4:30 p.m. Rest, then stroll Court Square. Walk off the day around the old courthouse and the brick storefronts before dinner.
6:30 p.m. Dinner at the Old Talbott Tavern. Built in 1779 and billed as the oldest bourbon bar in America, the Talbott serves fried chicken and hot browns; come for the room and the history as much as the menu. The bourbon bar holds more than 200 bottles and has live music Friday and Saturday from about 7 to 11 p.m. See our Talbott Tavern restaurant page.
Getting around safely
Every distillery in this plan except Circa 1856 requires driving, and you will taste at four of them. Pick a designated driver, split the pours, or hire a driver for day two, the longer day. Kentucky Bourbon Boys is a Bardstown-based private tour company; our tours and transportation guide lists others. Rideshare out to rural distilleries is not something to count on.
If your dates don’t fit
- Monday or Tuesday: replace Bardstown Bourbon Co. with Preservation Distillery (open seven days, tours from $24), and on Monday eat at the Talbott Tavern, since both The Rickhouse and Mammy’s are closed.
- Sunday: Willett is closed. Use Preservation, which opens at 9:30 a.m., and Heaven Hill, which opens at 1 p.m. on Sundays.
- Want a third day? Add the Clermont loop (Jim Beam, Bernheim Forest, Four Roses) from our three-day Bourbon Trail itinerary.
