We’re Recapping ELEVATE 2023: Bardstown Bourbon Distillery Tour & Hirsch Tasting

ELEVATE bartenders spent a morning at Bardstown Bourbon Company in Bardstown, KY, the bourbon capital of the world.

The company was founded in 2014, and today, its state-of-the-art facility sits on a 100-acre property and produces more than 50 different mashbills. It is the first Napa Valley-style destination on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, combining distilling, culinary, and beverage for a modern bourbon experience.

Certified bourbon stewards guided ELEVATE attendees across the sprawling property to showcase how the company creates, ages, develops, and finishes their products in the country’s most technologically advanced distillery. The tour ended in the newly constructed rickhouse tasting room, where the bartenders were treated to a bourbon sample straight from the barrel.

After the tour, bartenders headed inside to taste various pours of Hirsch selected whiskeys. Hirsch, explained head distiller Kevin Aslan, was founded by A. H. Hirsch in 1974. “We’ve been working with Bardstown Bourbon Company since about 2017,” he said. “We’re so glad we partnered with them to make our Kentucky bourbon.”

Hirsch currently offers five types of whiskey, all of which feature revamped packaging that features notches on both sides and a sextant on the label. “We wanted the bottle to reflect travel,” Aslan said. “It’s supposed to be the shape of the flask, and on the bottom it says, ‘no stone left unturned.’”

The whiskey names are on theme as well. The Horizon is a 92-proof, high-rye, straight bourbon that boasts a classic bourbon profile with sweet cornbread and vanilla on the nose. There is also The Bivouac, which refers to a temporary camp without a tent or cover. The 100-proof, high-malted barley straight bourbon is a blend of two mashbills. The finished product features an aroma of barley, cinnamon, cherry and vanilla; and a maple pecan, peanut-forward flavor with light notes of citrus, stone fruit, and honey.