Wilderness Trail Distillery Joins Kentucky Bourbon Trail

The Wilderness Trail Distillery in Kentucky, as we highlighted a few years back when it opened its current distilling facility in the city of Danville, has been one of the rising stars of the craft scene in this bourbon loving state for sometime. Craft distilleries eventually get bigger, however, and in the case of Wilderness, they’ve now come of age and size enough to join the other big dogs as part of the primary Kentucky Bourbon Trail.

Wilderness Trail, according to the Kentucky Distillers’ Association trade group, has grown enough to become the first to migrate from the Kentucky Bourbon Trail Craft Tour to the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, the latter of which has among its ranks the likes of Heaven Hill, Jim Beam and Wild Turkey. This brings to 18 the total number of participating distilleries on this tourist whiskey trail.

“We are very excited to be joining the Kentucky Bourbon Trail after years on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail Craft Tour for both our growth as well as the impact to our community,” said Shane Baker, Wilderness Trail Co-Owner and Master Distiller, in a prepared statement. “We excel in offering a unique experience and educational perspective of the Bourbon-making process by focusing on the science in making Bourbon while maintaining a traditional Bourbon distillery process across our 163-acre campus in historic Danville, the birthplace of Kentucky.”

Wilderness Trail, at the time this article was published, produces Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey Single Barrel Bottled in Bond, a Small Batch Bottled in Bond Bourbon, and a Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey, as well as Harvest Rum and Blue Heron Vodka. Open for tours Tuesday through Saturday, the visitor experience will include a 45-minute walking tour and an educational tasting seminar in the Tasting Room.