About | Unfiltered Ky Tours

About Unfiltered KY Tours

Your trusted guides to the bourbon trail

At Unfiltered KY Tours, we’re simply a group of folks from the bourbon industry who love sharing our piece of American culture with the rest of the world. Our team is composed of employees, students, and stewards of our industry, and we believe our love for bourbon sets us apart from other tour companies.

Our company is a true small business. We may not have the "prestige" of some of the big names, but we make up for it in value, hospitality, and hard work. In reality, we have to work harder for our clients than others, and we're glad to offer the same service for less.

We are entirely devoted to making our client’s time on the bourbon trail as safe, convenient, and effortless as possible. We hope to be your guides someday, or that we at least make planning your trip a bit easier.

Thanks for being here!

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Who We Are

Industry folk

A requirement to work with Unfiltered KY Tours is that you spent time working in the bourbon or spirits industry prior to running tours. Our team comes from a variety of distilleries, breweries, bourbon bars, bottle shops, and other tour companies!

Industry involved

While we aren’t certificate-chasers, we like to stay involved in the community as members of our local tourism and whiskey groups. Together, our team holds certificates to or belongs to societies such as Whiskey University, the Kentucky Derby Ambassadors, Stave & Thief Society, and have represented nearly a dozen whiskey brands as ambassadors.

Friends & family

We were essentially founded by a team of decades-old friends who wanted to share our passions for whiskey with the world. There is a strong sense of friendship, trust, support, and cooperation within our business. And it’s a lot more important than you’d think!

Students of whiskey

We spend countless hours attending whiskey talks, listening to podcasts, visiting distilleries, publishing articles, and researching local history. We try to visit every distillery in our service region, not just once, but every year as things change. We haven’t lost our curiosity about whiskey and are learning more every day!

Meet Our Owner

Hey there! I’m Chuck, the owner/operator of Unfiltered KY Tours. I grew up here in Kentuckiana with bourbon in my backyard. Growing up, my family was a Maker’s Mark family. I remember being on the ambassadors’ list long before what it was today. They would send us items such as bottle sweaters, bourbon ball makers, and ice cube trays around Christmas time - It was fun getting those as a kid and trying to figure out what they were used for. In short, whiskey has always been around in my world.

I worked in hospitality on-and-off from the time I was 15 until just recently. I attended the University of Louisville Business School on scholarships and have been working with small businesses in this region ever since. Marketing for local brands like Dan-O's Seasoning, running pizzas at Mellow Mushroom. You know, Kentucky stuff!

As for whiskey, my roommates and I drank the cheap stuff in college, but I eventually got into better drams after graduating. Soon after, I got involved with some local bourbon clubs and started collecting bourbon. It wasn’t long before I set my eyes on the industry to be more involved with my favorite drink!

Prior to covid, I got a gig with a Diageo subsidiary doing promo and marketing work for some of their whiskey brands. And not long after that, I got hired by a local bourbon tour company where I fell in love with the job. From there, I decided the only way to really make touring my own and to get my friends involved was to start something of my own. So, my first business, Unfiltered KY Tours was born!

Now in 2026, our business is going into its 3rd full year of operations. We're getting better every trip we book, and we're really firing on all cylinders. It's safe to say that our hard work is paying off, and our service is as good as any. And I can attribute that to our team and the countless hours we put into this.

I'm really just happy to be here. I know that while I might get to visit distilleries multiple times a week, our guests might only get a chance to visit the Bourbon Trail once. So, I will continue to work tirelessly to make sure that visitor's one trip here is memorable, meaningful, and planned with love for exactly them. And will lose sleep if they don't leave wanting to come back.

Thanks for being here and for your interest in our small business. And if not on a tour, I hope to see you on the bourbon trail someday!

- Chuck (Owner/Operator)

Raising a glass to to the best man I knew

I like to think that my Grandfather, Charley Reisert, was the source of my entrepreneurial spirit. And may have been my source of my curiosity that led me to having bourbon as a hobby. He was the first person to talk bourbon with me, and not about how it makes you feel... About the craftsmanship, how it's made… what makes it so special.

Charley was the sort of patron-saint of our family. When my single-parent family needed help, he would always extend a hand - the same way he helped everyone in his reach. A one-time humanitarian of the year in the state of Indiana, a museum-curator, Indiana real-estate hall of famer, board member of his local library, Clark County Youth shelter, the Rotary Club.. countless other clubs and awards… he had such a passion for everything he did.

My Grandpa would take Wednesdays off work in the summer to take me and my brother to all of the local attractions while we were out of school. Spring Mill, Locust Grove, the Gus Grisham memorial, everything within a few hours of Louisville that was kid-friendly and had local history behind it. I often think of these memories when I’m taking clients out to stops along the bourbon trail, with his passion for local history and culture living through me.

I do wish that he could see me following his footsteps of becoming a business owner. And that I could take him out to all the distilleries the way he took me to his favorite places as a kid. But I know he’s proud of me up there. And sorry Grandude, I would take our clients out in Cadillacs the way you did yours, but Fords are more reliable. Maybe one day..

Thanks for being an example of what a great man is and helping to get me on this path. Forever raising a glass of Maker’s for you.

- In memory of Charley Reisert (1941-2011)