Kentucky Bourbon Trail Photography

A day full of photography, bourbon tasting, and food from The Kitchen Table? Who could ask for more. This year Telegraph Visuals had the distinct pleasure of supporting a Savona Communications PR event at the James B. Beam Distilling Co. in Clermont, Ky. While we are no strangers to Bourbon industry photography, any day photographing the Kentucky Bourbon Trail is a good one. 

I arrived early and spent some time wandering the gorgeous of grounds of Beam Suntory’s picturesque Jim Beam distillery with my camera. The smells and sounds particularly of the distillery are really just pure magic. Being a photographer in Louisville means spending lots of time on the Bourbon Trail. There’s something g special, however, about the Beam distillery. Maybe it’s the fact it is nestled on a hillside overlooking Bernheim Forest. Or maybe it’s the fact that it’s home to more the 100 years of Bourbon history. Either way, it was great to be back. 

The tour group that I was tasked with following arrived and spent some time in Beam’s stellar shift shape, The American Outpost. I took a few photos inside and was seriously tempted by a bottle of Booker’s Little Book. Next came the tour where we learned about the history of the Noe family’s proprietary yeast, and admired the beautifully restored Cadillac that belonged to Booker Noe. Our stellar tour guide walked us through the fermentation process and the still house before escorting the group to the Fred Noe experimental distillery. 

It was there we met Beam Distilling heir Freddie Noe. For more than hour he walked us through a tasting of Beam’s newest releases like Little Book Infinite, Booker’s Reserve, and the incomparable Little Book Chapter 8. In addition to sampling some world class bourbon, we were also treated to fascinating behind-the-scenes stories about the trial and error of the creative distilling process.

After the tasting we were treated to lunch with the father-son duo responsible for Jim Beam’s success in the modern era: Fred and Freddie Noe. Shaded by the tree and enjoying the beautiful Kentucky weather, lunch from The Kitchen Table was served over three courses. Bacon wrapped duck, pulled pork empanadas, Kentucky Hot Brown pizza, and a scrumptious mascarpone cake were just a few of the highlights.

Thank you to Manuela and Stephanie at Savona Communications for having us back for the third year in a row. It truly is one of our favorite days of the year. A day spent producing photography of Kentucky’s Bourbon Trail never gets old!