You can get a real taste for the history and production of America’s only native spirit along the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, an affiliation and tour that the Kentucky Distillers’ Association formed in 1999. The trail is made up of eight distilleries, four clustered around Bardstown, Ky., and four in central Kentucky.

Bourbon is “linked to Kentucky and helped Kentucky’s identity across the world,” says Jeanine Scott, who is writing a book about the Bourbon Trail and works with the Kentucky Historical Society. The trail “attracts people from all across the world.”

The success of California’s wine country inspired the Bourbon Trail. Opened in 2004, the Heaven Hill Bourbon Heritage Center just outside Bardstown contains a museum of bourbon-making. There you’ll see a film about Elijah Craig, a Baptist preacher said to have been the first to store bourbon in charred oak because he was too frugal to throw out burned barrels; and learn that “whiskey” is from a Gaelic word meaning “water of life.”

Stops on the Bourbon Trail

• Buffalo Trace: 1001 Wilkinson Blvd., Frankfort, Ky. 800-654-8471, www.buffalotrace.com. Tours: On the hour, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Sat. Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s days.

• Four Roses: 1224 Bonds Mill Road, Lawrenceburg, Ky. 502-839-3436, www.fourroses.us. Tours: On the hour, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Mon.-Sat. No tours Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s days.

• Heaven Hill Bourbon Heritage Center: 1311 Gilkey Run Road, Bardstown, Ky. 502-337-1000, www.bourbonheritagecenter.com. Tours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Sat., year-round; noon-4 p.m. Sun., March through December. Closed Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

• Historic Tom Moore: 300 Barton Road, Bardstown, Ky. 502-348-3774, www.cspirits.com. Tours: 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Mon.-Fri. by appointment only.

• Jim Beam: 149 Happy Hollow Road, Clermont, Ky. 502-543-9877, www.jimbeam.com. Tours: 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 1-4 p.m. Sun. (no sales or samples). Closed Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Day and Sundays in January and February.

• Maker’s Mark: 3350 Burks Spring Road, Loretto, Ky. 270-865-2099, www.makersmark.com. Tours: Every hour on the half-hour from 10:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Mon.-Sat. and 1:30, 2:30 and 3:30 on Sun. Closed Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Day and Sundays in January and February.

• Wild Turkey: 1525 Tyrone Road, Lawrenceburg, Ky. 502-839-4544, www.wildturkey.com. Tours: 9 and 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 and 2:30 p.m. Mon.-Sat. Closed all major holidays.

• Woodford Reserve: 7855 McCracken Pike, Versailles, Ky. 859-879-1812, www.woodfordreserve.com. Tours: 10 and 11 a.m. and 1, 2 and 3 p.m. Tue.-Sat.; 1, 2 and 3 p.m. Sundays from April to October. Closed major holidays.