After a fun-filled Friday, my husband and I woke up bright and early Saturday to visit another distillery. Located in Lawrenceburg, about an hour outside downtown Louisville, Four Roses Distillery makes three standard bourbon offerings, as well as a handful of special, limited-edition offerings each year. The distillery is currently expanding its operations and while construction takes place, the distillery tour has been modified and does not include the stillhouse. My husband and I didn’t want to wait until the hourly distillery tour, so we opted for the tasting only.

Outside on a covered patio, we received an education in the history of the Four Roses Distillery, from its romantic origin to its place of prominence in one of the most famous American photographs ever taken. Complimentary Four Roses tasting glasses were passed out and our tasting host walked us through Four Roses Yellow Label, Small Batch and Single Barrel offerings.

A short drive away through beautiful horse country and back roads, Woodford Reserve Distillery offers tours throughout the day. Unfortunately, we hadn’t made a reservation, and when we arrived the distillery was overrun with visitors and tour buses.  I’d highly recommend reserving your tour online, which you can do the day before (or even earlier). We did check out the gift shop, and from what we saw the facility looked gorgeous. I’d definitely like to come back for the full tour.

Heading back into Louisville, we visited the Louisville Slugger Museum, which was about a 15-minute walk from our hotel. The museum offers a factory tour, which provides information on the history of the brand and how they manufacture baseball bats today, as well as how bats have been made through the years. An exhibit showcases special bats made for the greats of baseball, and when the tour is over, visitors have the chance to pose with bats used by various heavy hitters.

The home team was in town, so after our museum visit we headed back down Main Street to Louisville Slugger Field to see the local team, the Bats, who are the AAA affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. The stadium was gorgeous, and offered a special package with a premium game ticket, hot dog, soda, program and Bats hat for $25 a person. My husband and I had a great time at the game – there’s nothing better in the summertime than a baseball game, hot dogs and cold beer! Local brewery Against the Grain, which has a brewery and smokehouse attached to the stadium, offers beers inside the stadium as well. Unfortunately, the “Bats Win” golden ale I bought wasn’t enough of a good luck charm – the Bats were shut out by their opponents.

We headed back to our hotel after the game and woke up bright and early on Sunday, ready for our 7 1/2 hour drive back to Richmond. If you’re making Louisville a weekend road trip and planning to grab some bourbon souvenirs, be aware that many liquor stores outside the city don’t open until 1 pm, and some counties don’t sell liquor at all on Sundays.

Our quick weekend getaway was a great time. We both decided we’d love to go back to check out more distilleries. Next time, we’ll be sure to pre-reserve our tours, especially in the busy summer season.