Chef Edward Lee’s Kentucky Bourbon Experience
You're Invited
“Too much of anything is bad, but too much good whiskey is barely enough.” – Mark Twain
This is a Bourbon lover’s ultimate dream tour. Join Chef Edward Lee as he takes you behind the scenes to some of Kentucky’s finest Bourbon distilleries for insider’s tours, tastings and experiences that are not available to just anyone. This is Chef Lee’s world of Bourbon, and it is unlike anything you will find anywhere. From identifying single flavors, to tasting straight from the barrel, to creating a signature blend, each day has been curated by Chef Lee to provide a 360 perspective as you eat, drink, and breathe all things Bourbon. Chef Lee will add his unique perspective as he accompanies you throughout and share his “cooking with Bourbon” philosophy as he cooks for you at his restaurant, 610 Magnolia. Whether you are a beginner or expert, this is a once in a lifetime chance to experience the world of Kentucky Bourbon alongside Chef Edward Lee.
Limited to 20 guests
Trip Details
Dates
September 29-October 3, 2022
Duration
5 days, 4 nights
Prices Per Person
$4,995 double occupancy
$5,845 single occupancy
Deposit
$500 per person
Highlights
Itinerary
Day 1: Welcome to Kentucky
After arriving on individual flights, check in to the Omni Hotel, Louisville’s premiere hotel in the heart of downtown. Gather in the lobby in the late afternoon to meet your fellow travelers as you start your Bourbon adventure. Just as important as the bourbon itself, are the barrels it’s aged in. The rules are clear: the wood must be new, charred, and oak, or else what comes out can’t be called bourbon. By special arrangement, tour the Brown-Forman Cooperage, where you will see where most of the country’s bourbon barrels are made. Continue to Chef Edward Lee’s modern approach to the Southern Table, 610 Magnolia. Meet Chef Lee and his team for a private dinner as they prepare a seasonal tasting menu with Jefferson’s Reserve Bourbon pairings including Lee’s very own, Chef Collaboration Blend. You will be joined by Jefferson’s Reserve founder Trey Zoeller and Chief Barrel Officer Dan Burke to taste through barrel samples and the brand’s hallmark experimental blendings.
Overnight Accommodation: Omni Hotel
Included meal: Dinner
Day 1: Welcome to Kentucky
After arriving on individual flights, check in to the Omni Hotel, Louisville’s premiere hotel in the heart of downtown. Gather in the lobby in the late afternoon to meet your fellow travelers as you start your Bourbon adventure. Just as important as the bourbon itself, are the barrels it’s aged in. The rules are clear: the wood must be new, charred, and oak, or else what comes out can’t be called bourbon. By special arrangement, tour the Brown-Forman Cooperage, where you will see where most of the country’s bourbon barrels are made. Continue to Chef Edward Lee’s modern approach to the Southern Table, 610 Magnolia. Meet Chef Lee and his team for a private dinner as they prepare a seasonal tasting menu with Jefferson’s Reserve Bourbon pairings including Lee’s very own, Chef Collaboration Blend. You will be joined by Jefferson’s Reserve founder Trey Zoeller and Chief Barrel Officer Dan Burke to taste through barrel samples and the brand’s hallmark experimental blendings.
Overnight Accommodation: Omni Hotel
Included meal: Dinner
Day 2: Over 200 Years and Counting…
The art of making fine Bourbon first took place on the site of the Woodford Reserve Distillery, a National Historic Landmark, in 1812. The perfectly balanced taste of their Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey is comprised of more than 200 detectable flavor notes, from bold grain and wood to sweet aromatics, spice, and fruit & floral notes. Led by Master Distiller Chris Morris or Elizabeth McCall, experience a private tour and tasting created exclusively in partnership with Chef Lee as you learn to identify singular flavors that comprise this complex spirit. Grab a bite from Ouita Michel’s Wallace Station Deli and Bakery before exploring Castle and Key, a distillery originally founded in 1887, but has been rediscovered and reimagined just in the last decade. This Experience will explore the rich history of Castle & Key Distillery along with their current production process. Guests will be able to see the thought in every detail, from grains to glass. En route back to Louisville, enjoy a private dinner curated by Chef Michael Crouch at Watch Hill Proper, a brand-new premiere bourbon club that boasts over 1500 whiskies and “nothing foreign, nothing clear, no beer.”
Overnight Accommodation: Omni Hotel
Included meal: Dinner
Day 2: Over 200 Years and Counting…
The art of making fine Bourbon first took place on the site of the Woodford Reserve Distillery, a National Historic Landmark, in 1812. The perfectly balanced taste of their Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey is comprised of more than 200 detectable flavor notes, from bold grain and wood to sweet aromatics, spice, and fruit & floral notes. Led by Master Distiller Chris Morris or Elizabeth McCall, experience a private tour and tasting created exclusively in partnership with Chef Lee as you learn to identify singular flavors that comprise this complex spirit. Grab a bite from Ouita Michel’s Wallace Station Deli and Bakery before exploring Castle and Key, a distillery originally founded in 1887, but has been rediscovered and reimagined just in the last decade. This Experience will explore the rich history of Castle & Key Distillery along with their current production process. Guests will be able to see the thought in every detail, from grains to glass. En route back to Louisville, enjoy a private dinner curated by Chef Michael Crouch at Watch Hill Proper, a brand-new premiere bourbon club that boasts over 1500 whiskies and “nothing foreign, nothing clear, no beer.”
Overnight Accommodation: Omni Hotel
Included meal: Dinner
Day 3: Louisville Craft
Start your day at Kentucky Peerless Distillery, Co., for a behind the scenes, grain-to-bottle tour of the Global Craft Whiskey Producer of the Year. Meet with Corky and Carson Taylor, the 4th and 5th generation owners, take a deep dive into fermentation and distillation with Caleb Kilburn, the youngest Master Distiller in Kentucky, and enjoy an exclusive tasting with Single Barrel Curator, John Wadell from barrels that have yet to be bottled. Kick back with some of Louisville’s best BBQ before you cap off your afternoon at Angel’s Envy. The first fully operating distillery on Main Street since Prohibition, Angel’s Envy is known for their meticulous craft and sampling each barrel through the finishing process until it’s perfect. Try your hand at perfection during a specially arranged cocktail class in their Toasting Bar, not open to the public. Dinner is on your own to explore any one of Louisville’s great restaurants.
Overnight Accommodation: Omni Hotel
Included meal: Lunch
Day 3: Louisville Craft
Start your day at Kentucky Peerless Distillery, Co., for a behind the scenes, grain-to-bottle tour of the Global Craft Whiskey Producer of the Year. Meet with Corky and Carson Taylor, the 4th and 5th generation owners, take a deep dive into fermentation and distillation with Caleb Kilburn, the youngest Master Distiller in Kentucky, and enjoy an exclusive tasting with Single Barrel Curator, John Wadell from barrels that have yet to be bottled. Kick back with some of Louisville’s best BBQ before you cap off your afternoon at Angel’s Envy. The first fully operating distillery on Main Street since Prohibition, Angel’s Envy is known for their meticulous craft and sampling each barrel through the finishing process until it’s perfect. Try your hand at perfection during a specially arranged cocktail class in their Toasting Bar, not open to the public. Dinner is on your own to explore any one of Louisville’s great restaurants.
Overnight Accommodation: Omni Hotel
Included meal: Lunch
Day 4: Star Hill Farm
Spend the day at Star Hill Farm in Loretto, home to Maker’s Mark. On a behind the scenes tour of the Historic National Landmark distillery led by Maker’s Mark Distillery Diplomat Chaz Fister, you will get to talk all things Bourbon from production to packaging. Enjoy a private lunch featuring local ingredients, some of which have been grown on the Star Hill Farm grounds. Participate in a private advanced tasting focused on Maker’s Private Selection Program. Then you will have the chance to put your knowledge from the preceding days to the test as your group will have the unique opportunity to craft a signature Bourbon blend and lay down the barrel. After it has seasoned for several months, it will be sold exclusively at Maker’s Mark… so it had better be good! Celebrate your new status as distillers with a farewell dinner at Bar Vetti.
Overnight Accommodation: Omni Hotel
Included meals: Lunch, Dinner
Day 4: Star Hill Farm
Spend the day at Star Hill Farm in Loretto, home to Maker’s Mark. On a behind the scenes tour of the Historic National Landmark distillery led by Maker’s Mark Distillery Diplomat Chaz Fister, you will get to talk all things Bourbon from production to packaging. Enjoy a private lunch featuring local ingredients, some of which have been grown on the Star Hill Farm grounds. Participate in a private advanced tasting focused on Maker’s Private Selection Program. Then you will have the chance to put your knowledge from the preceding days to the test as your group will have the unique opportunity to craft a signature Bourbon blend and lay down the barrel. After it has seasoned for several months, it will be sold exclusively at Maker’s Mark… so it had better be good! Celebrate your new status as distillers with a farewell dinner at Bar Vetti.
Overnight Accommodation: Omni Hotel
Included meals: Lunch, Dinner
Day 5: Departure
Check out of your hotel at your leisure and transfer independently to the airport for flights home or onward.
Day 5: Departure
Check out of your hotel at your leisure and transfer independently to the airport for flights home or onward.
Your Culinary Host
For more information about Chef Edward Lee, please visit: https://chefedwardlee.com
Twitter: @chefedwardlee
Instagram: @chefedwardlee
Facebook: Chef Edward Lee
Edward Lee
Edward Lee is the chef/owner of 610 Magnolia and Whiskey Dry in Louisville, KY and the Culinary Director for Succotash in National Harbor, Maryland and Penn Quarter, DC.
Chef Lee was the recipient of the 2019 James Beard Foundation Award for Writing for his book Buttermilk Graffiti: A Chef’s Journey to Discover America’s New Melting Pot Cuisine. Lee has also been a six-time finalist for the James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef: Southeast. In 2018, Food & Wine Magazine named 610 Magnolia one of the country’s most important restaurants of the past 40 years. The Michelin Guide DC awarded Succotash a Bib Gourmand in 2019.
Chef Lee appears frequently in print and television and his writing has been featured in The New York Times, Esquire, Food & Wine and many other national publications. He was nominated for a daytime Emmy for his role as host of the Emmy-winning series, Mind of Chef on PBS. He has hosted and written a feature documentary called Fermented.
His philanthropic work includes the Lee Diversity Scholarship to support the Southern Foodways Alliance Oral History Workshop. In 2018, Chef Lee launched The LEE (Let’s
Empower Employment) Initiative, which works to bring more diversity and equality to the restaurant industry.
Chef Lee is the author of Smoke & Pickles: Recipes and Stories from a New Southern Kitchen (Artisan Books, May 2013) and of Buttermilk Graffiti: A Chef’s Journey to Discover America’s New Melting Pot Cuisine (Artisan Books, April 2018).
His luxury small batch bourbon created with Trey Zoeller is called Chef’s Collaboration Blend with Jefferson’s Reserve and is sold wherever fine whiskey is sold.
Reserve Your Space
1155 Connecticut Ave NW, Suite 300
Washington, DC 20036
Accommodations
Situated in the heart of downtown, the upscale Omni Louisville Hotel blends historic surroundings with modern comfort reflecting the city’s warmth and hospitality. This new cornerstone hotel is within easy walking distance to Main Street and Whiskey Row’s many popular distilleries. In addition to six restaurants offering everything from a premier steakhouse to poolside fare to a speakeasy-style bowling lounge, the hotel has a popular rooftop pool, an urban food market, fitness center, and full-service luxury spa. Guest rooms offer views of the Louisville skyline, flat-screen TV, high-speed internet access, coffee maker and in-room safe.
What's Included
- All accommodations and meals with drinks as outlined in the itinerary
- Bourbon tastings
- All ground transportation within the itinerary unless otherwise indicated
- All sightseeing as specified in the itinerary
- Entrance fees
- Gratuities to porters, guides, drivers, wait staff in restaurants during group meals, housekeeping at group hotels
- The assistance of an ATA tour manager
- Quietvox listening devices to facilitate audibility and social distancing while touring
- The assistance of an ATA professional travel team to assist with pre-trip questions, travel arrangements, including flights, extra hotel nights and other services
- Comprehensive pre-departure mailings and materials with information about the destination
and what to expect on tour, including a suggested reading list. - Emergency evacuation insurance
- Fully vetted program that meets COVID-19 health and safety protocols
FAQs
This trip has a maximum group size of 20.
The safety and security of our travelers and tour staff are of the utmost importance. We have developed extensive policies and procedures for traveling during the pandemic in accordance with the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) Safe Travels protocols. All trip participants must show proof of having received a full dosage of a COVID-19 vaccine at least 14 days before the start of the trip. Everyone will be required to follow local regulations with regard to wearing face coverings and will be encouraged to wear them in crowded indoor settings such as airports and train stations. We continue to monitor developments regarding COVID-19, using many information sources, including the U.S. Department of State, CDC, WHO, and our in-country contacts. If you have questions or concerns, please contact us at 877-298-9677.
Yes, absolutely! There are always a good number of solo travelers on our trips, and they are welcomed with open arms. Group meals generally take place at medium to large tables, and our Tour Managers ensure that everyone is included in conversation. Because our trips are priced for doubles sharing a room, there is a supplemental cost for those who choose not to share.
Our days usually involve up to 2 miles of walking (with stops) over uneven terrain, including some stairs. In city centers, we do try to walk from place to place due to traffic restrictions and also in keeping with our commitment to environmental sustainability. Please let us know if you’ll need any special accommodations.
Our trips are designed to give our travelers special insight and understanding of the places we visit. The talks and commentary by our hosts and local guides are what make our itineraries special, and this kind of curated experience cannot be obtained on one’s own. For this reason, our trips generally do not incorporate long periods of free time during the day, although night times and some meals will be at leisure.
Every effort will be made to try to accommodate any special diet requests you may have (e.g., low salt, vegetarian or vegan). Please discuss your requests with us when signing up for a trip.
Yes, absolutely! If you wish to arrive early at the first hotel on the itinerary or stay on at the last hotel, our partner travel agency will be happy to facilitate the reservation of extra nights. Additional nights will be paid by you directly to the hotel. Room upgrades are also available for an additional cost.
Don’t worry. We’ll send you a detailed clothing and equipment list well before departure so you know what you’ll need. We provide the rest: comfortable accommodations, an engaging daily itinerary, expert trip management and access to people and places that will thrill and delight you.
Yes! Tips to local guides, restaurant staff, bell staff and drivers are all included in the trip price. Edward Lee and your Tour Manager however, will not accept tips. The only time tips are not included is during free time and meals on your own.
Well, it’s a bourbon tour, so yeah, there will be some drinks. In addition to all of the tastings, feel free to order a beer at lunch and wine, beer, and a bourbon cocktail or two are included with group dinners. If you want a Pappy Van Winkle though, you’re on your own.
Airfare to and from the starting and ending point of the program is not included in the price in order to give you maximum flexibility in choosing your preferences for air travel. This way you can use frequent flier upgrades, depart from your airport of choice, or add pre- and post- trip extensions with no constraints. Please refrain from booking your airfare until your Guest Services Advisor reaches out to confirm your departure.
We currently have a flexible booking policy in place that allows you to cancel and receive a full refund up to 60 days prior to your scheduled departure. As always, you have the option to transfer your full deposit to a new departure. There is no refund for cancellations within 60 days of departure.
We strongly suggest purchasing travel insurance to help protect your investment and provide you with financial recourse should you face trip cancellation or interruption due to sickness or quarantine. When purchasing a policy, please consult with a trip insurance agent to review what COVID-19- related contingencies are covered. While ATA will do our best to recover any unused portion of your trip due to sickness, it is often the case that payments cannot be refunded. We recommend using our partner insurance provider, Travel Insurance Services, which offers three different policies for you to choose from.
After you reserve your trip and pay your deposit, you will be sent detailed information about your itinerary and destination, insurance information, a Participant Information Form, a packing list, and other information needed to prepare for your trip. Your Guest Services Advisor will reach out when it’s time to book airfare after a minimum of 10 travelers have enrolled on your departure. Final trip details will be sent roughly 2-3 weeks before departure.