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Louisville Water & Bourbon Tourism? Yes!
In Kentucky, bourbon is big business. In 2023, bourbon experiences created 2.5 million visitor experiences which supported the $9 billion signature industry. With 100 licensed distilleries and counting, bourbon now generates more jobs, payroll, tax revenue, and tourists in more Kentucky counties than ever before.
The Kentucky Bourbon Trail®, a route that takes visitors to bourbon distilleries throughout the state, recently surveyed its tour-goers and found that 76% come from outside Kentucky.
Bourbon tourists are also trending younger, spending more dollars, and staying longer compared to other tourism attractions, according to the Kentucky Distillers’ Association, which trickles down to the local economies.
One of the key factors people choose to visit Louisville is bourbon. Bourbon tasting and distillery tours made up about 35% of tourism activities from Oct. 2023 to Sept. 2024, according to data from Future Partners and Louisville Tourism.
The bourbon experience starts with water
One distillery proudly using Louisville Water is Michter’s Distillery, just steps away from the official starting point of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.
Like many others, Michter’s has doubled its tour size due to demand and is now open seven days a week versus five.
Ironically, your first sip on a Michter’s tour isn’t bourbon. It’s water.
“It’s the first thing we talk about on our tour because it’s the first thing we all start with when we make whiskey,” said Jacqueline Cavalani, Michter’s Guest Experience Manager.
Louisville Water’s partnership with Michter’s began in 2019 after Andrea Wilson, Michter’s Master of Maturation, participated in a water tasting. Wilson wanted to highlight how the quality of our water plays a role in creating the perfect bourbon. Today, a permanent water display and Louisville Water-branded bottle lids help tell that story on every tour.
“We want (guests) to realize, if they’re staying in a hotel downtown, the water that we’re using at our distilleries to make our whiskey is that same water they get right out of the tap,” Cavalani said.
Louisville Water recently hosted Michter’s visitor experience team – a mix of visitor guides, bar managers, and retail managers – for a water tasting and tour of Louisville Water Tower.
Michter’s Director of Hospitality and Guest Experience Vicky Fugitte said the goal of the tour was to make the connection between water and bourbon even stronger. The more education and training, the better the overall visitor experience.
During the tasting, each attendee was instructed to hold their cup to the light, examine its color, take a sniff, and then drink.
Words like “processed, thick, crisp, iron, and alkaline” were used to describe some of the bottled waters sampled.
Kelley Dearing Smith, Louisville Water’s Vice President of Strategic Communications and Marketing, led the tasting and explained the total dissolved solids in a liquid (TDS) is one of the factors that impacts taste and odor.
High TDS levels can give water a bitter, salty or metallic taste, whereas lower levels may give it a flat taste. Louisville Pure Tap® sits right in the middle with levels averaging 225 parts per million (ppm), which is an “excellent” rating, according to the World Health Organization.
Dearing Smith saved Louisville Pure Tap for last.
“Tastes like home,” said one attendee with relief.
Bourbon’s best friend
While water is an important part of bourbon’s story on a tour, it’s even more important to the production process and the spirit’s flavor profile.
Louisville Water serves nearly 20 distilleries throughout the region, with six among its top 200 water users. In 2024, distilleries in the service area used 535 million gallons of water, averaging about 1.4 million gallons per day.
With 95% of the world’s bourbon supply right here in Kentucky, a reliable, high-quality water source is vital to the success of the billion-dollar industry.
Louisville Water is proud to partner with brands like Michter’s who value and celebrate water as bourbon’s best friend.
Learn more about how water grows Kentucky’s economy. Interested in hosting your own water tasting? Schedule your experience at LouisvilleWater.com.
