Our visit to Wild Turkey was sadly a short one. We had a packed schedule that day and if we were to make all of the stops we’d planned, we’d need to have arrived bang on time to hit the tour running. As it happened, we arrived just as the tour minibus left the car park. Bummer. What wasn’t a bummer, however, is where Wild Turkey are located - above the Kentucky River valley, and this fabulous view: The valley sides are dotted with towering seven-storey rickhouses, all slowly turning black - the growth of “distiller’s mould” - a fungus that grows on rickhouse walls, encouraged by the evaporating spirits inside.

If the Woodford Reserve distillery was an example of big-business trying to run an authentic shop the modern way, then Town Branch is the same concept, but taken fully modernised and industrialised - albeit on a small(-ish) scale. The Town Branch distillery is an offshoot of the Town Branch Brewery, which itself is a sub-division of the Alltech livestock and poultry feed and nutrition company. The what-what now? An animal feed company making whiskey?

Our visit to Woodford Reserve presented an altogether different kind of approach to the distillation process. In stark contrast to Buffalo Trace, everything at Woodford Reserve is spotless, new, and highly finished. The entire tour environment is geared for visitors, whereas at the ‘Trace it definitely felt more like you were visiting a real-deal workplace. Even the welcome centre is styled like a modern, colonial homestead, and the gift shop and waiting area is furnished with beautiful leather loungers and an impressive feature fireplace.

The Buffalo Trace distillery is a huge facility located on the outskirts of Frankfort, KY. Buffalo Trace don’t take part in the officially endorsed ‘Kentucky Bourbon Trail’, preferring to stand alone. It’s not like they need the marketing assist after all, as they produce the now-legendary Pappy Van Winkle line of whiskey, which is so ridiculously in-demand and in short supply that bottles exchange hands for many times their true retail price - that is, if you can even find any at all.