The Oxmoor Farm bourbon tour includes a walk through meticulously maintained gardens to view the exterior of the original 1791 portion of the sprawling mansion located just outside of Louisville.

It was built with bricks purchased from a mason named Evan Williams, who also happened to be a whiskey distiller. A harrowing incident from the Civil War is recounted as a bourbon punch made with a 19th-century recipe is served. The concluding tasting is conducted in Kentucky’s most extensive private library, containing 10,000 books. In other words, this bourbon tour is not like any other bourbon tour in Kentucky. Or indeed anywhere.

From 1787 to 2005, five generations of the Bullitt family lived at Oxmoor Farm. Unlike many other colonial farmers, the early Bullitts were not themselves distillers, though they would have sent excess corn harvest to local mills and farm distilleries to be made into whiskey. This family’s contribution to bourbon is that each generation produced a lawyer who contributed to the evolution of the whiskey we know today as bourbon. That history is recounted during a tour of the grand house on the 79-care estate, which is now held in trust and is home to the Oxmoor Bourbon Company.

The rooms visitors are shown through on the tour are largely still furnished as they were when the last family member left the house in 2005. Much of the tour naturally centers on William Marshall Bullitt (1873-1957), whose legal expertise brought him in contact with the bourbon industry in several significant ways.

Among other activities, Willam Marshall helped President William Howard Taft draft the 1909 Taft decision, which defined American whiskey. He subsequently served as Taft’s solicitor general. Less successfully, he represented about ninety percent of Kentucky’s distilleries before the U.S. Supreme Court in the argument against Prohibition. Knowing what would inevitably happen with the enactment of the 18th Amendment, Bullitt had several barrels of whiskey bottled under an Oxmoor Bourbon label for his private consumption.

William Marshall was also a bibliophile and an enthusiastic collector of antiquarian science and mathematics books. Rare editions of works by Newton, Copernicus, and others have been moved to the University of Louisville’s rare book archives, but the grand library that Bullitt’s artist wife Nora built still contains four walls of floor-to-ceiling book-laden shelves. Today, it is a venue for chamber music concerts, meetings, and other private events.

Thomas “Tommy” W. Bullitt, was a member of the final generation to occupy the estate and practice law. Bullitt represented several Kentucky distilleries until his retirement in the mid-1980s. His wood-paneled home office is the gathering point for the bourbon tour. The tour, which lasts a bit over an hour, ends in the library with a tasting of the current expression of Oxmoor Bourbon, one that is sourced and blended from undisclosed Kentucky distilleries. Guests can purchase bottles – currently only available onsite -and purchase a visit-concluding cocktail.

"The tour, which lasts a bit over an hour, ends in the library with a tasting of the current expression of Oxmoor Bourbon, one that is sourced and blended from undisclosed Kentucky distilleries."

— Susan Reigler

How Does It Taste?

Oxmoor had an amazing showing in the Fall 2024 Barleycorn Awards with a solid Gold Medal. For the Oxmoor Bourbon Company Private Stock Volume 3. Judges loved the whiskey’s “impressive balance, creamy mouthfeel, and a robust ‘Kentucky hug’ on the finish.” “A bold and comforting sip, perfect for savoring with good company and maybe a cigar.”
—Barleycorn Society Members

Learn More About Oxmoor Bourbon Company

Former restaurant critic and beverage columnist for the Louisville Courier-Journal, Susan is bourbon columnist for Food & Dining and Covey Rise magazines and also writes for Bourbon+, LEO Weekly, and American Whiskey (tasting notes and ratings). Susan has authored or co-authored six books including Kentucky Bourbon Country: The Essential Travel Guide, The Kentucky Bourbon Cocktail Book, The Bourbon Tasting Notebook, and The American Whiskey Tasting Notebook, and Which Fork Do I Use with My Bourbon? – Setting the Table for Tastings, Food Pairings, Dinner, and Cocktail Parties. Susan is a member of the Order of the Writ, former president of both the Bourbon Women Association and the Kentucky chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier International, an organization of women culinary professionals.