Perhaps you know Mint Julep Tours for our great Bourbon Country and Horse Farm tours. We pride ourselves on providing some of the best tour guides and excursions to educate and entertain on the things that make Kentucky so special.

What you may not know, however, is that we also have a great location for you to visit in downtown Louisville.

Our retail store–located inside the Galt House–is a great place to get a sampling of the fine foods, spirits, and crafts of our Commonwealth. Whether you’re looking for a bourbon sauce, handmade candies, cookbooks, candles, equestrian-themed goods, toys, clothing, or just an off-the-wall item, we have something to offer you in our store.

One of our most popular items that I wanted to share with you is something called Whiskey Rocks. These are rocks, made from soapstone, that can be frozen and then placed in a glass of bourbon to chill your drink. Unlike ice, they won’t dilute your beverage, making them a preferred way of cooling your bourbon. As they say, “Ice melts. Whiskey Rocks!”

If you’re in town for an event, staying at the Galt House, or visiting downtown for an event at the new arena, take a few moments to visit our store and say hi. We’d love to see you and show you what we have to offer.

We’re just a couple days away from another Best of Kentucky Tour! As I spoke of last week, we’re excited to partner with 21C hotel in downtown Louisville to provide this special tour package. We had a great tour last weekend, and we’re looking forward to our second tour this weekend.

This week, we’ll be heading to Clairborne Farm, the horse farm where the infamous Secretariat retired and is now buried. It’s an awe-inspiring farm, with the rolling bluegrass of Kentucky setting the canvas for world-class thoroughbreds graze. If you’ve never been to a true Kentucky horse farm, this visit to Clairborne Farm is ideal for you and a few guests.

Afterward, we’ll head to Buffalo Trace, Kentucky’s oldest bourbon distillery. This is one of our featured stops on our Bourbon Trail Tours, and you’ll see why if you get the chance to join us. Buffalo Trace is a unique distillery is known for its many “firsts,” including being the first distillery to use steam power for distilling, the first to ship whiskey down the Mississippi River, and the first American distillery to be named the “Distillery of the Year.”

While there, you’ll enjoy lunch at their newest restaurant, Firehouse Cafe. With plenty of bourbon-themed menu items, this new restaurant will probably become a tour favorite, and this weekend, you’ll get the opportunity to discover your own favorite menu items.

If you’re not able to be a part of this weekend’s Best of Kentucky Tour, worry not! We also have a Southern Bourbon Trail Tour planned for this weekend. On that journey, we’ll stop by the Jim Beam and Maker’s Mark distilleries. You can learn more about our bourbon trail tours by clicking here.

If you want to sign up for any of our weekend packages, let us know. To reserve your space at 21C for this weekend’s Best of Kentucky Tour, click here.

It’s hard to believe that the 2010 FEI World Equestrian Games are just over two months away! As it gets closer, the buzz is really starting to grow. In fact, it’s really exciting for us to see how the region is beginning to recognize what a special and unique opportunity this is to showcase all that makes this state great.

As I’ve mentioned before, we’re really excited to be the official tour provider for the event. We’ll have special tours going on throughout the event, where we’ll showcase some of our best-loved tours. We’ve put together a sheet on the special tours we’re offering, and if you’d like to read more about them, click here for a downloadable PDF.

The WEG will bring in thousands of enthusiasts from around the world, but this is also a time to celebrate if you’re a native. If you haven’t discovered the rich history of the area, and of the horse and bourbon industries, then one of our tours is the perfect way to discover the Commonwealth’s heritage, and to build excitement for the equestrian games and the upcoming Breeder’s Cup in November.

At Mint Julep Tours, we love the thoroughbred industry as much as we love the bourbon industry. So we’re truly excited that the Breeder’s Cup World Championships will be returning to Churchill Downs this fall. The two-day event will invite the champions of thoroughbred racing for a culminating series of championship races.

The 2010 Breeder’s Cup will prove to be an exciting two days here in the Bluegrass State-which is vying to keep the Breeder’s Cup for the long-term. Churchill Downs has already been slated as the site for the 2011 event, and I have heard that there are talks going on that would keep the event in Louisville permanently.

We hope you’ll be making a trip to Louisville for the November 5 and 6 festivities. While you’re here, you should consider learning more about the rich thoroughbred industry in Kentucky with one of our Horse Farm Tours. You’ll also want to check out our tours in Bourbon Country, or discover the history of Churchill’s home on our Louisville City Tour.

Between the World Equestrian Games and the Breeder’s Cup, Kentucky will truly be the Horse Capital of the World this fall. We hope you’ll join us for the celebration, and on an upcoming tour!

Kentucky is known for many things. Great basketball. A rich thoroughbred history. Its signature foods like hot brown and Kentucky Fried Chicken. But, as I’ve mentioned before, we’re becoming more and more known for being bourbon country.

So, what is bourbon, and why is this area known as “bourbon country”? Here’s a quick history lesson.

Bourbon is actually the American version of whiskey. To be considered bourbon, the spirit must be made primarily of corn, and distilled to less that 160 proof. The whiskey, when distilled, is colorless, but gains its distinctive amber tones from the aging process, which takes place inside a charred oak barrel. Depending on the process of aging, the results are defined as bourbon or “straight bourbon.” The name itself comes from Bourbon County, Kentucky, and while it has been in production throughout the nation since the 1700s, it is most closely related with this area.

We’re known as bourbon country for good reason, too. We have some of the best known and most beloved breweries of bourbon right in our own backyards. From Maker’s Mark to Buffalo Trace, Haven Hill to Brown Forman to Jim Beam, and several others in-between-the Commonwealth boasts some of the best spirits available.

At Mint Julep Tours, we love to show off our bourbon country with our guided tours of these and other distilleries. Whether you’re looking to learn more about the history, the process, or are just hoping for a tasting, our bourbon tours will give you the sites, sounds, smells, and flavor of bourbon country.

We’ve got tours coming up, so check our event calendar to plan your bourbon country visit.

Summertime is a popular time for outdoor events, festivals, and concerts. In the coming months, two local wineries will be welcoming some talented artists and acts, and Mint Julep Tours is attending!

Equus Run Vineyards in Midway, Kentucky, will be hosting a number of concerts through the coming months, including:

July 15 - Mary Chapin Carpenter’s Encore Performance

July 17 - Swing Street

August 14 - The Johnson Brothers

September 18  - TeeDee with Scandalous

Elk Creek Vineyards in Owenton, Kentucky, is also offering several Summertime concerts. They include:

July 3 - The Torques (with 4th of July fireworks)

July 17 - The Four Tops

July 31 - A1A: The official Jimmy Buffett Tribute Band

August 7 - The Lettermen

August 21 - Three Dog Night

With all this fine music, and fine wine, these are certain to be great evening events for you to enjoy. We at MJT want to make it an even more enjoyable event for you and your party by providing transportation to and from the events. We want to ensure your experience is a safe one, so prior to and following each concert, MJT will be available to provide transportation for you and your guests.

To find out more about the concerts, visit the wineries’ website through the links above. To find out how to take advantage of Mint Julep Tours’ transportation services, contact us.

Summertime is upon us, and that means it’s a great time to visit some key Louisville attractions. Let Mint Julep Tours be your guide to all the Louisville attractions that will result in fun adventures and lasting memories.

The first of the Louisville attractions I was thinking about was the Brown-Forman Cooperage. I’ve mentioned this in the past, but wanted to re-emphasize what a great spot this is.

As a brief explanation, a cooperage is the location where wooden barrels are created. For Brown-Forman, white oak is used to create the barrels. During that process, the barrel is charred inside using a burning method. This char is left in the barrel, and plays a large portion of what gives bourbon its distinct flavor.

When you visit the cooperage, you’ll get to experience the process and see what goes into barrel making.

If you’re looking for one of the coolest trademark Louisville attractions, you should plan a visit to the newly-reopened Churchill Downs Museum. Reopened just a few months ago after a lengthy renovation, the Churchill Downs Museum offers an interactive learning experience. Church Downs is the home of the Kentucky Derby, and when you visit the museum, you’ll learn the rich history of the Derby, the Downs, and the horse industry in Kentucky.

USA Today covered this recently, and if you’d like to read their article on the museum, click here.

When you are ready to visit one of these Louisville attractions, let us know. We’d love to give you a tour.

We’re excited today to announce that MJT has been selected as the official tour provider for the hospitality program at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in Lexington. This is a great honor, and we’re so pleased that the WEG has recognized our services and our tours to be their official tour provider.

If you’re unfamiliar, the World Equestrian Games begin on September 25 and run through October 10. Held every four years, the WEG features competitors from around the globe, and crowns the world champion in eight equestrian events. The 2010 games are being held in Lexington and the Kentucky Horse Park.

During the event, we will be embarking on some of our most-requested tours, including our Bourbon Distillery tour, our Horse Farm & Best of Kentucky tour, and some special lunch and dinner events that are sure to give every participant a taste of what makes the bluegrass state so amazing.

We’ve put together two documents that describe the tours and dates they are scheduled. Click here and here to download a copy.

We’ll be talking a lot more about this great event, and our involvement, in the coming weeks. Be sure to check back often for updates.

We were very excited to learn recently that the bourbon tours of Mint Julep Tours were featured in the Travels section of New York Magazine.  We’ve known for years that Kentucky’s rich history in bourbon creation makes it ideal for travelers to visit. Now, it’s becoming more trendy, and we are happy to know that our bourbon tours are recognized for their world-class experience.

In the article, they spoke of one of our unique bourbon tours, which takes you to visit the Brown-Forman Cooperage. This is the location where their bourbon barrels are formed and given their char. It’s a tour you can only see with one of our bourbon tours.

They also wrote about other stops on our bourbon tours, such as the Woodford Reserve, Heaven Hill, Buffalo Trace, and Oscar Getz Museum of Whiskey History. We love sharing these Kentucky treasures, so we hope you’ll join us for one of our upcoming bourbon tours.

If you’d like to learn more about our bourbon tours, click here.