Bourbon tourism booming as visitors flock to Kentucky distilleries

The Jim Beam visitors centre in Clermont, Kentucky (Bruce Schreiner/AP)

Bourbon tourism reached new heights last year in Kentucky, where visitors flocked to distilleries as the whiskey-making attractions shook off any pandemic-era hangover.

Attendance at distilleries along the Kentucky Bourbon Trail exceeded 2.1 million last year, easily beating the pre-pandemic record of 1.7 million in 2019, the Kentucky Distillers’ Association said.