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Evan Williams Bourbon Experience Tours

A tour company's tips, reviews, FAQs, & more!

Evan Williams Distillery and Tour Information

The Evan Williams Bourbon Experience is a Bourbon Trail stop along the world-famous Whiskey Row. Owned by parent company, Heaven Hill, the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience is a small example of the company's overall operations, and serves as an introduction to distilling and its rich history. While several bourbon trail stops downtown offer only tastings, the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience is a working distillery - this means you do get to see some production while touring multiple floors of a historic building.

A Brief History

Who was Evan Williams?

Evan Williams was an early settler of Louisville Kentucky in the late 18th century. A businessman, politician, stonemason, and whiskey-maker, Evan was a rather important figure in the fledgling city and was alive to see a lot of its earliest growth. While there are some inconsistencies in dates, firsts, etc., it is mostly agreed that Evan Williams had the first large-scale (for the time) distillery in Kentucky.

Being situated on the Ohio River and eventually making its way to the Mississippi, goods were sent down the Ohio via flatboat well before the invention of the steam-engine. Being a port-city, Louisville took advantage of a natural series of waterfalls, taxing ships that needed to make passage through a sort of natural canal. It is said that Evan Williams oversaw the port of Louisville, being its first Wharfmaster and an early town trustee.

What makes Evan Williams unique, is that he (and his brand) are a great jumping off point for the area that would later become Whiskey Row. And while his whiskey would have been much different than what we’ve grown to love today, Evan’s story embodies the entrepreneurial spirit that the bourbon industry has relied on since its inception.

Evan Williams Tour & Campus Information

The Evan Williams Bourbon Experience - What to Expect

Keep in mind, the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience is rather small, especially compared to the mammoth facilities in its parent company’s portfolio. But, it does have a little bit of everything for an urban distillery experience. You see a little production, learn about the process of making bourbon, do a tasting… all the things you do at a regular distillery. You will see, though, that the experience takes on a bit of a “museum-like experience.” Think models, videos, a few reenactments, and things built to scale. It’s a lot of fun and offers a good amount of variety in a short amount of time. Oh, and of course this tour caps off with a solid tasting!

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What We Love about the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience

There is a lot that we love here! This was one of the first bourbon experiences in the downtown area, and paved the way for others that followed. With that, it’s become a bit of a staple in the downtown area. This also means there is bourbon that has been some decently-old bourbon made at this location which you can try. And with it being a small distillery, there is a lot of experimentation that goes on here which can’t be done at a larger distillery.

The Location

The Evan Williams Bourbon Experience is nestled on Main Street in Louisville right between 5th and 6th street. It’s within walking distance to the Slugger Museum, the Fraiser, the Yum Center and Performing Arts Center. It’s in a very convenient, walkable place and near a ton of other bourbon attractions! So, you really can’t be the location.

The Bourbon

Evan Williams has some great whiskeys in its portfolio. You can try their 12 year bourbon on the tasting, which is one of the best small-batch 12 years we’ve had. Oh, and we love the single barrels. The Square-6 bourbon is all made here, and offers 3 different mashbills with some experimental and limited releases. But not only these, a bunch of the Heaven Hill products make their way into the gift shop and bar, like your Elijah Craigs, Larceny, and more.

The Museum-Like Experience

Maybe this isn’t for everyone, but we love the museum-like atmosphere. There’s something about scaled-down facades, historical reenactments, and videos that clicks with our brains. It’s likely that the experience got some help from the Fraiser, or very closely modeled some of their tour after theirs. But in addition to those, the models of old whiskey row, the building facade, and the speakeasies are really freaking cool.

Relation to the rest of the Bourbon Trail

The Evan Williams Bourbon Experience is one of the most convenient stops on the Bourbon Trail. There are other trail stops within a mile of its location, and all of whiskey row is within walking distance. For many of the bourbon tourists who stay in Louisville, it can easily be done before or after your visits to Frankfort, Bardstown, or any other part of the bourbon trail.

How to book a Evan Williams Experience Tour

You can book a tour at the Evan Williams Experience on their website. There you will see multiple options for experiences, including tasting-only experiences, pairings, classes, tours, and more. We offer visits to Evan Williams on any of our pick-3 or transportation bourbon tour packages that has a Louisville pickup, schedule, or drop-off.

Evan Williams Bourbon Experience

Monday–Thursday 11 AM–5 PM, Friday–Saturday 10 AM–5 PM, and Sunday 1 PM–5 PM.

Location

528 West Main Street, Louisville, KY 40202

Need Transportation for Your Trip?

We would love to be your guides! Evan Williams Tours can be are part of any of our Louisville-area pick-3 tour or transportation options. See our website for pricing and options, or reach out for a quote!

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