Bardstown’s Newest Hotel Is a Bourbon Lover’s Dream

There’s no mistaking the theme of the new Trail Hotel in Bardstown, Kentucky. From the moment you step into the soaring lobby—with a copper column still salvaged from Green River Distilling stretching toward the ceiling—you know you’re in the heart of bourbon country. The selection at the lobby bar, Embers, one of five bars on-site, reads like a who’s who of Kentucky distillers and includes the Trail’s own signature bourbon and rye. Half-walls studded with bourbon barrels, some fitted with transparent heads and illuminated from within, cordon off intimate seating nooks.

Down a nearby hallway, floor-to-ceiling windows frame a view of the courtyard pool, oversized hot tub, and cabana bar. On the opposite wall, a framed photograph of a fermentation vat swings open to reveal the entrance to the Bourbon Vault speakeasy. Inside the cozy bar, a display of branded barrel heads pays tribute to the twelve distilleries within a fifteen-mile radius of Bardstown—Heaven Hill, James B. Beam, Preservation Distillery, Lux Row, and the new Chicken Cock microdistillery and bar, among them.

The ninety-five-room property includes eight bourbon-themed suites, such as the oak-accented Cooperage Suite, as well as a dedicated Bourbon Butler service to help guests arrange tours, tastings, dinner reservations, and more.

“It’s the first fully bourbon-centric hotel that’s ever been built,” says co-owner Will Hardy. “Bardstown is the Bourbon Capital of the World, and we take a lot of pride in that. What was missing was a high-end lodging experience that immerses guests in a full-on bourbon atmosphere.”

Bardstown-area natives—including Hardy and business partner Nathan “Ejo” Edmonds—likely know the property as the site of the former Holiday Inn Bardstown, which opened in 1970 and served as a local hot spot for decades. “Friday and Saturday nights back then, this was the place to be,” Hardy recalls. By the late ’90s, though, the hotel had fallen out of favor, and it sat abandoned for years before Hardy and his partners purchased it at auction.

Rather than raze the old hotel, they chose to build around its bones, preserving its historic designation while giving it an upscale makeover. “That led us to explore a mid-century-modern look, which ended up being a really cool vibe,” Edmonds says.

Working with Joseph & Joseph Architects—a Kentucky-based firm known for its designs for Bardstown Bourbon Co. and the new Heaven Hill Springs Distillery, among others—they flipped the building’s orientation to create a dramatic new front entrance and expanded lobby, flanked by an outdoor space called Bourbon Alley, with firepits and Adirondack chairs. Beyond the lobby, you’ll also find the Bourbon Lounge, stocked with rare bottles, and Par and Pour, a golf simulator where guests can practice their swing between sips. If all that sounds like you might need a pick-me-up, there’s the Rejuvenation Room, offering IV drips, an oxygen bar, cryotherapy, and a sauna. As for dining, chef Marvin Woods helms Oak & Ember, the hotel’s Southern-inspired steak house, where you’ll also find tuna sashimi, oysters, burgoo, and, of course, lots more bourbon.

With its central location along the Kentucky Bourbon Trail—which has now grown to some sixty stops across the state, each with its own tour calendar—the hotel aims to ease the legwork of planning excursions. A daily trolley shuttles guests to two local distilleries on a rotating schedule, with tour tickets included, and groups can also arrange customized itineraries through the Bourbon Butler service. “We can curate a special package that might include distillery visits, a private tasting with a master distiller, farm-to-table meals, shopping, clay-pigeon shooting, golfing, spa—whatever you want,” Hardy says. “We wanted to bring something different to the Bourbon Trail. Not just a unique property, but a true one-stop-shop experience.”