Distillery Tours

Distillery tours are enjoying a surge in popularity these days and with good reason. Wherever you are in the world, there is a liquor the locals are proud of and what better way to explore a culture than through its drink? Visiting a local distillery is a great opportunity to learn not only about the process of distilling spirits (and try a few samples, of course!) but it can also teach you a lot about the local history.

Pearse Lyons Distillery in Dublin, Ireland, is located inside of St. James Church in the historic Dublin whiskey district. It offers a distillery tour that not only gives guests an in-depth look at the various stages of the whiskey distilling process, but is steeped in local history. Tours run hourly and cost $22–34.

Kentucky, home of the Bourbon Trail, is home to dozens of distilleries and plenty of them offer tours for the public. Four Roses Distillery in Lawrenceburg is housed in a historic, Spanish-style building along the Salt River. They have produced small-batch bourbon since 1910 and a tour of this facility gives you a peek into the time-honored Kentucky distilling tradition. One-hour tours cost $10 and include a 1.75-ounce sample.

A Los Angeles favorite is the Lost Spirits Distillery tour. Makers of peated malt whiskeys and high-proof rums, these guys work hard to prove Los Angeles can hold its own among the elite whiskey distilleries of the world. The tour at Lost Spirits not only gives tourists a glimpse into the science of rum and whiskey distilling, it takes you on a magical journey through history that only a distillery in the City of Angels could offer. Tours run $37 per person and last approximately two hours.