Now You Can See Buffalo Trace By Boat And Land

Buffalo Trace Distillery, nestled adjacent to the Kentucky River, is partnering with Kentucky River Tours to begin offering tours this summer with rarely seen views of this iconic Distillery. Kentucky River Tour is a newly founded business based in Frankfort, started by the owners of Canoe Kentucky, Nathan and Allison Depenbrock, and Clayton Embly, of Lexington Kentucky. Tours will start in the Buffalo Trace Distillery Gift Shop, and will then shuttle to Buffalo Trace’s on-site boat dock where guests will embark, and later return from, the river tour.

This unique partnership will be one-of-a-kind, as currently no other bourbon distillery offers a boat tour.

Following a brief safety talk, the 45-minute tour of the Kentucky River’s Pool 3 will focus on the history of the river and its impacts on the bourbon industry as a whole. Guests will see the river-side of the Distillery, Lock and Dam #4, Steamboat Bend and enjoy all the sights and sounds of the Kentucky River.

The boat, which is currently without a name, won’t be nameless for long. The employees at Buffalo Trace Distillery are currently submitting names for the tour boat. Once the name submissions have been collected, four of the best contenders will be put to a vote on the Canoe Kentucky Facebook page for the public to decide. The Buffalo Trace employee whose name submission is selected as the winner on Facebook will have the honor of christening the boat upon its launch and official ribbon-cutting this summer and will be a guest on the very first tour.

The vessel in which tours will travel is a USCG inspected 28-foot Carolina Skiff, set up as an 18-passenger tour boat. The boat’s open design is complete with a ¾ roof and open-view railing which will allow for a great view of the river.

Kentucky River Tours expects to launch its first boat by early summer following the official ribbon-cutting and christening, and plans to operate Tuesdays through Sundays, weather permitting, through December. All reservations and tour bookings for the river tour are being handled directly by Kentucky River Tours. Reservations for the river tour will be highly encouraged, and can be made through the new Kentucky River Tours website, www.kyrivertours.com. Private tours and bookings will also be available, and can be arranged through Kentucky River Tours.

Tickets for the River Tour can be purchased from Kentucky River Tours for $14 per person. A portion of each ticket sale will be donated to Woods and Waters, a local non-profit dedicated to protecting and preserving the lower Kentucky River watershed.