The Woodford Reserve (formerly Labrot & Graham) is a restored historic distillery and a showplace of the distiller's art and Kentucky bourbon heritage. This small, picturesque distillery is nestled along Glenn's Creek at the site where Elijah Pepper, one of the famous early Bluegrass distillers, set up his distillery in 1812. The Labrot & Graham name goes back to 1878 when James Graham and Leopold Labrot bought the property.

Re-opened in 1996 by the Brown-Foreman Corporation, the Woodford Reserve Distillery gives visitors a sense of what bourbon making was like in the 1800s. With its small-scale production, old-fashioned copper pot stills, longer fermenting and distilling time, and hand-bottling, Woodford Reserve Distillers Select Bourbon is made much as Pepper's bourbon was in the 1800s.

The tour, leisurely in pace and sprinkled with fascinating distilling history and terms, covers the process from sour mash starter to "farewell" (the residue of aroma left in an empty barrel). A small bus transports you from the visitors center to the distillery buildings, minimizing walking and weather problems. The tour begins and ends at the visitors center, where exhibits explain bourbon making and bourbon history and a long porch offers a scenic overlook of the whole operation. The large gift shop includes a wide variety of Kentucky crafts.

The Woodford Distillery is open to visitors from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. It's open on Sundays from April through October. Three different tour options are available, priced at $5 per person age 18 and older (under 18 are free). If you are 21 or over, you are invited to sample. For more tour info, go to the Woodford Distillery Web site.