Lawrenceburg gives you two famous distilleries 10 to 15 minutes apart, and it is the closest of the big Bluegrass bourbon towns to Bardstown: about 50 minutes to Four Roses and an hour to Wild Turkey. Book a morning tour at Four Roses’ yellow Spanish Mission distillery, then spend the afternoon on Wild Turkey’s patio above the Kentucky River. One warning before you go: Wild Turkey’s tour format has temporarily changed, so check its visitor center’s Facebook page the day before.
How far is Lawrenceburg from Bardstown?
Head east on the Bluegrass Parkway toward Lawrenceburg. Most of the drive is open parkway through farm country, which is why the times are so reasonable.
| Stop | Distance from Court Square | Drive time |
|---|---|---|
| Four Roses Warehouse & Bottling, Cox’s Creek | about 12 miles | about 20 minutes |
| Four Roses Distillery, Lawrenceburg | about 39 miles | about 50 minutes |
| Wild Turkey Distillery, Lawrenceburg | about 46 miles | about an hour |
Both Lawrenceburg distilleries keep Wednesday-to-Sunday schedules, so do not plan this day for a Monday or Tuesday. Everything is on Eastern Time.
Four Roses Distillery
The first thing you notice is the architecture. Four Roses distills in a Spanish Mission-style building from 1910, pale walls and tile roofs that look more California than Kentucky. It is a striking change after Bardstown’s brick and dark rickhouses.
The second thing is the method. Four Roses makes ten distinct bourbon recipes by combining two mash bills with five yeast strains, and that recipe system is the thing to ask your guide about. If you have ever wondered how much yeast matters, this is the place to find out. Kirin has owned Four Roses since 2002, a $55 million expansion finished in 2019 doubled capacity to 8 million proof gallons, and Brent Elliott has been master distiller since 2015.
The official tour page lists hours of 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, with a closure on December 9, 2026. Reservations are required for tours and structured tastings. A BourbonTown Tours guide describes the main options:
| Experience | Length |
|---|---|
| Distillery Tour and Tasting | about 60 to 75 minutes |
| Sensory Tasting Experience | about 45 minutes |
| Sip n Stroll | about 45 minutes |
Prices are shown when you book. Four Roses says there is no charge to visit its visitor centers, browse the gift shop, buy bottles or have a drink at the bar; tickets are only for guided experiences. Bar 1888 and the patio take walk-ins. Guides call Four Roses one of the easier bookings on the trail, with weekday walk-ups often fitting in, but book one to two weeks out for a Saturday.
Wild Turkey Distillery
Wild Turkey sits at 1417 Versailles Road above the Kentucky River. The name dates to 1940, when Austin Nichols executive Thomas McCarthy took warehouse samples along on a wild turkey hunt. Commercial bottling under the name began in 1942, and Campari has owned the brand since 2009, investing more than $160 million in the campus.
The draw now is the visitor center, opened in May 2024: two floors, twin bars and a patio that hangs out over the river valley. On a clear fall afternoon it is one of the best places on the whole bourbon trail to sit with a pour.
The river has a darker chapter too. On May 9, 2000, a warehouse fire sent bourbon into the Kentucky River and killed an estimated 228,000 fish, a story worth knowing when you look down at the water from the patio.
Check before you drive. Lawrenceburg tourism’s listing says the days and format of tours and tastings have temporarily changed and sends visitors to the Wild Turkey visitor center’s Facebook page. Recent schedules have been Wednesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m., with a one-hour distillery and rickhouse tour at about $25 and the Russell’s Reserve “Born from the Barrel” tour at about $65. Treat those as a guide, confirm on the booking page, and email [email protected] with questions.
Four Roses or Wild Turkey: which one if you only have time for one?
Pick Four Roses if you care about how bourbon is made. The ten-recipe system is unusual, guides call it one of the easier tours to book, and the Mission-style buildings look like nowhere else on the trail. It is also the better choice early in the day, since it opens at 9 a.m. Wednesday through Saturday.
Pick Wild Turkey if you want a view with your pour. The river-view patio is the draw, and the two-floor visitor center with its twin bars is built for lingering. The catch is the changed tour format, so confirm before you commit a morning to the drive.
Pick both if you can. At 10 to 15 minutes apart, they are the easiest two-distillery pairing in the Bluegrass, and two tours with a relaxed lunch between them leaves room to enjoy the drive home.
See both halves of Four Roses
Here is the Bardstown advantage. Four Roses distills in Lawrenceburg, but its barrels age and its bourbon is bottled at the Four Roses Warehouse & Bottling Facility in Cox’s Creek, on US 31E about 20 minutes north of Court Square. It keeps the same Wednesday-to-Sunday hours and offers a 60-minute warehouse and bottling tour with a tasting.
Do Cox’s Creek on a separate morning, or on the way out of town, and you will have followed a Four Roses bourbon from grain to bottle. Staying in Bardstown is what makes the pairing easy.
A Lawrenceburg day from Bardstown
- Leave Bardstown around 8:30 a.m. and reach Four Roses in about 50 minutes for a 9:30 or 10 a.m. tour.
- Eat lunch in Lawrenceburg, and eat properly; you have another tasting ahead.
- Drive 10 to 15 minutes to Wild Turkey for an early afternoon tour, then linger on the patio.
- Head home on the Bluegrass Parkway, arriving in Bardstown for dinner.
Want more? Frankfort and Buffalo Trace are a short run north of Lawrenceburg; the Frankfort guide covers that stop. Woodford Reserve in Versailles is also close. But three distilleries in a day is the upper limit, and two with a long lunch is the better trip.
Getting there and back safely
This is a driving day on fast parkway, with tastings at both stops. Decide on the designated driver before breakfast, or hire one; our bourbon tours and transportation guide lists tour companies and private drivers. Tasters must be 21 with valid ID, and Kentucky’s rules for visitors are on the drinking responsibly page.
Pair it with
Round out your Four Roses day with a Bardstown distillery the next morning, such as Willett, and use our Kentucky Bourbon Trail guide to see how the Lawrenceburg stops fit into the trail’s free online trip planner.
