The air was crisp, the sun was shining, and the whiskey was flowing at Bourbon Lore’s® fall luxury weekend in Kentucky in October. We partnered with Heaven Hill, one of the country’s top distilleries, to present our guests with an experience they won’t soon forget.
The Myriad, a new boutique hotel in the Highlands district of Louisville, served as our home base. A former disco ball factory, the Myriad blends quirky charm with top-notch accommodations and attention to every detail. After being met on Friday at the airport by private transportation, guests arrived at a private entrance to the hotel, where they traded their luggage for a poolside cocktail, small bites and a session with River City Tiptype.
That evening we shuttled to Heaven Hill’s downtown Evan Williams Experience, where we tasted through some of the distillery’s oldest and rarest releases, including Evan Williams 12 and 23 year old bourbons. What started off as a “bar crawl” through the building ended with dinner in the basement speakeasy, where in between songs by historian Bernie Lubbers and his band the Bottled-in-Bond Boys, we sampled everything from new-make Heaven Hill to the latest in the Parker’s Heritage collection, a straight malt whiskey finished in cognac barrels.
We woke bright and early the next morning. Following a unique exercise in coffee cupping at the Myriad cafe to energize our palates, we headed to Heaven Hill’s Bernheim plant, the country’s largest single bourbon distillery. Rarely seen by the public, Bernheim is steeped in lore and history, a sort of Willy Wonka’s for whiskey. We split into two tours, one led by Bernie, the other by Conor O’Driscoll, the master distiller, then met in one of the century-old rickhouses to draw and sample whiskey straight from the barrel.
Then it was back into the vans for a trip to Heaven Hill’s welcome center in Bardstown, where we were met by the distillery’s legendary executive chairman, Max Shapira. Over a lunch curated by Chef Ed Lee, Max regaled us with stories from the long history of Heaven Hill, which his father and his four uncles founded after Prohibition. That was followed by yet another tasting, this time starring – among others – the Parker’s Heritage Promise of Hope release, widely considered one of the best whiskeys ever to come from Heaven Hill. Afterward we made our way to a nearby rickhouse, where we sampled Bourbon Lore’s® exclusive blend with Heaven Hill, bottles of which will go to each of our guests. Finally, on our way out of town we stopped by the site of the forthcoming Heaven Hill Springs Distillery, a massive cathedral to whiskey built to Conor’s specifications. And, of course, we had yet another tasting, this time of the latest release from the William Heavenhill line, a very limited series for sale only at Heaven Hill itself.
Throughout the weekend, guests found themselves showered with unexpected gifts, left in their rooms while they were out exploring – bottles of limited-edition Heaven Hill whiskey, a flask and whiskey tote from Tom Beckbe, and a print by the artist Damasso Sanchez of Lincoln Design.
That evening came the piece de resistance: A dinner and concert at Hermitage Farm, one of the country’s top stud-horse farms. After cocktails and an introduction to the horses by Hermitage’s renowned team, we sat down to a meal in the carriage house prepared by Chef Seth Kinder – and, of course, more whiskey, including an extremely rare bottle of Rittenhouse 25-year-old rye. To cap off the night, we settled in for an intimate performance by the award-winning Nashville singer-songwriter Jimmy Charles, set against a backdrop of one of Hermitage’s iconic black-and-red barns.
As guests prepared to depart the next morning, they met up in the Myriad cafe – tired, perhaps, but excited by what they had seen, the whiskeys they had tasted and the friendships they had made. Then they were whisked back to the airport, already planning their next Bourbon Lore® experience.
