Tour and lunch under one roof
Bardstown Bourbon Company, at 1500 Parkway Drive, pairs a distillery tour with a scratch-kitchen restaurant and bar, the Kitchen & Bar, which keeps its own hours. Lux Row Distillers is about five minutes away. Put those together and you get the most efficient two-stop combination in Bardstown: tour, lunch, and a second distillery with almost no driving in between.
The shortest hop in Bardstown
Most Bardstown days lose time to small drives between stops. Here the second stop is five minutes away. Reserve a late-morning tour, eat at the Kitchen & Bar, and take the short ride to Lux Row for an afternoon tour. The long drive home is the only leg of the day that takes real time, and nobody in your group is behind the wheel.
The Bardstown distillery versus the Louisville tasting room
Bardstown Bourbon Company also runs a tasting room on West Main Street in downtown Louisville, which the Kentucky Bourbon Trail lists separately. That is a tasting room, not the distillery. If your reservation says Louisville, you are staying downtown; if it says Parkway Drive, you are heading to Bardstown. We can drive you to either, but tell us which address is on your confirmation.
Getting there
From downtown Louisville, the drive is about 65 minutes, roughly 45 miles. From SDF, about an hour. From downtown Jeffersonville, about 65 minutes. Samuels Field, the Bardstown airport, is nearby for private flyers.
Pickups
Louisville hotels, homes on either side of the river, and SDF arrivals with flight tracking all work. If you are landing and heading straight to Bardstown, our SDF-to-Bardstown article covers that transfer.
Planning the visit
The Kitchen & Bar's hours differ from the visitor center's, so check both before you plan lunch. If anyone in your group is not tasting, read the distillery's FAQ before you go; its rules for non-tasting guests are posted there. Bring a valid photo ID for the tasters.
Pairing with Lux Row or Heaven Hill
Lux Row Distillers is about five minutes away. Heaven Hill's Bourbon Experience is about 10 minutes away. Our Bardstown day from Louisville offers this pairing as its main swap.
A sample day, leg by leg
From downtown Louisville, the day might run like this. Pick up in the morning and drive about 65 minutes to Parkway Drive for a late-morning tour. Eat at the Kitchen & Bar, then take the five-minute ride to Lux Row for an afternoon tour. The ride back to Louisville is about an hour. Two stops make for roughly two hours and ten minutes of driving. If the group wants a third stop, Heaven Hill is about 10 minutes from Lux Row and adds very little driving.
SDF arrivals can reach Bardstown Bourbon Company in about an hour, which makes it a practical first stop for guests who land in the morning and want lunch at a distillery. Our SDF-to-Bardstown article covers the transfer itself.
Timing the tour around lunch
The Kitchen & Bar is the reason to schedule this stop around the middle of the day. A tour that ends shortly before lunch lets the group sit down without a separate restaurant search, and the short hop to Lux Row afterward means nobody feels rushed. If your group would rather eat later, flip the order: Lux Row in the late morning, then Bardstown Bourbon Company for an afternoon tour and a late lunch. Send us whichever order you reserve and we will plan the drives around it.
Reserve your tour directly
Reserve your tour and tasting directly with Bardstown Bourbon Company on its website. Send us your times, and your chauffeur handles the driving and the timing between stops.
Choosing a vehicle
A friends trip or a company outing that wants to arrive together usually rides a shuttle. Two couples splitting a day are comfortable in a luxury SUV. See our fleet page for vehicle sizes. Every chauffeur is background-checked and trained; our safety standards are on the safety page.
Keep planning
Frequently Asked Questions
Can we have lunch at Bardstown Bourbon Company?
Yes. Its Kitchen & Bar restaurant is on site. Check the distillery's website for kitchen hours.
What's closest to Bardstown Bourbon Company?
Lux Row Distillers is about five minutes away.
Is the Whiskey Row tasting room the same as the Bardstown distillery?
No. The Louisville tasting room is separate from the Bardstown distillery. We can drive you to either.