By Rebecca Herman McBrayer
January 27, 2024, Wayne and I took a 250 mile journey to Augusta, Kentucky. It is about two hours Northeast of Louisville and less than an hour Southeast of Cincinnati. Augusta is a very small town along the south bank of the Ohio River with a population of approximately 1100 people. It is interesting to note that Augusta has a ferry that has operated since 1798 and that is now on our “must do” list when we make our return visit. Fun fact: George Clooney graduated from Augusta High School and his aunt, Rosemary Clooney, called Augusta home the Rosemary Clooney Museum is open to the public.
Distillery Visit
On this trip to Augusta Distillery, we opted to not take the “pardon our dust” tour and instead did a terrific tasting flight. The flight included Augusta Old Route 8, Buckner’s 10-year Single Barrel, and River Proof Series 24 (a wheated bourbon). We enjoyed each of them and decided to take one of each home with us. We later did a more in-depth tasting of the three expressions and you can read about that here.
Their build-out plans look amazing! We look forward to visiting them again once they are further along.
Gift Shop
We love a great gift shop and for a new facility, they had a really nice offering and a good variety. From shirts to hats to glassware. Our purchases included a Glencairn and a Christmas Ornament. They didn’t have a distillery pin for my hat but perhaps they will in the future.
Bottles Available for Sale
Distillery Trail Statistics
Augusta Distillery is our 55th new distillery and our 109th distillery experience. It was added to the Kentucky Bourbon Trail Craft Tour after we completed our book with 42 distilleries. Even so, we were able to get the book stamped: it is our 26th craft distillery and our 44th Kentucky Bourbon Trail stamp.
Pro Tip: Old Pogue Distillery is a mere 17 miles due East. Be sure to give them a visit as well!
Your Bourbon Journey 