Teetotalers may have a hard time swallowing the fact that the legendary creator of Kentucky bourbon was a Baptist minister in Georgetown. In 1789, the Reverend Elijah Craig is said to have created a brand-new taste in whiskey by blending corn, rye and barley malt, the same grain mixture used by modern distillers.

In the late 1790s, Kentucky’s Scotch and Irish settlers discovered that their corn crop was much easier to transport and much more valuable when distilled into whiskey. Thousands of small distilleries sprung up in the state, each producing its own special blend to ship downriver to New Orleans for sale all over the world. Once the practice of using charred oak barrels was adopted, bourbon was born.

By 1919 there were 56 Kentucky distilleries when the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution mandated Prohibition, devastating the state’s economy. Although it was repealed in 1933, few distilleries survived. Today, only 10 remain.

Despite that fact, bourbon is one of Kentucky’s largest export items, accounting for 95 percent of the world’s supply. The same limestone-fed streams that have contributed to its position as the thoroughbred horse-breeding capital of the world also serve as natural purifiers in the production of "Kentucky champagne," as sour mash bourbon is often called. (Sour mash means that a small amount of every batch is set aside and used to start the next.) Considered a Kentucky craft, bourbon is indeed a handcrafted product, much of it still made in small batches with fastidious quality control.

"It’s truly a labor of love," says Peggy Noe Stevens, director at Labrot & Graham Distillery, "because we have to wait so long for it."

Just for clarification, bourbon is a whiskey, but not all whiskey is bourbon. Federal law dictates that in order for whiskey to be called straight bourbon, it must be manufactured in the United States, contain at least 51 percent corn (the rest can be barley, rye or wheat), and be stored at 160 proof or less for a minimum of two years in new, charred, white oak barrels. Charring caramelizes the wood, thus giving bourbon its rich color and distinctive flavor that hints of caramel and vanilla.

All distilleries use the same basic steps: grain handling and milling, mashing, fermentation, distillation, aging and bottling. However, each master distiller employs his own "secret recipe," i.e. confidential production techniques and formulas. At every stage the whiskey is tasted and meticulous records are kept for each batch. David Scheurich, Labrot & Graham’s master distiller, explains, "It’s part art and part science."

And if you’re a bourbon fan, part heaven, for that’s where you’ll think you’ve landed when you step into a distillery’s aging room and inhale. According to Belinda Osborne, a tour guide at Maker’s Mark, the thick, sweet aroma of mellowing whiskey is called the "angel share" of bourbon, perhaps for that reason.

In order to raise public awareness about this fascinating, 200-year-old-plus process, a number of Central Kentucky distilleries are working together to promote the bourbon industry by providing hands-on experience at facility tours along the newly-formed Kentucky Bourbon Trail.

The following are participating distilleries on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. All offer tours of varying lengths, but always call ahead, if possible.

Labrot & Graham

Nestled amid the bluegrass farms of Woodford County, frisky thoroughbreds mature alongside bourbon at the 42-acre Labrot & Graham property, which takes pride in being both the oldest and smallest operating distillery in the state. Here, eight employees team up to make 11 barrels a day, using the only copper pot stills in America to create the country’s only triple-distilled bourbon.

Founded in 1812, the old stone buildings of Labrot & Graham have been restored by their current owner, Brown-Forman Corporation, as a showplace for the old methods of making premium bourbon whiskey. Tours begin with a short video detailing the notable site’s history, then tour guides, many of whom have generational ties, entertain with anecdotes and personal experiences as they lead visitors past huge vats of bubbling mash. (My guide was Sherman Dozier, an animated, retired NASA engineer, whose great-great grandpa managed the distillery and whose father was born on the grounds.)

As the white oak barrels used to age Labrot & Graham’s Woodford Reserve bourbon for its five- to eight-year process cannot be used again for that process, the distillery sells them to Scotland for making scotch whiskey. "We like to say there’s a little bit of bourbon in every bottle of scotch," Scheurich quips.

After a tour, gentlemen can kick back in a comfy old rocking chair on the wide veranda of the handsome stone visitor center while their ladies peruse the selection of fine gifts inside.

Makers Mark

With its array of shuttered, sturdy wood frame buildings clustered in the heart of picturesque Happy Hollow, Makers Mark looks like the National Historic Landmark it is. Established in 1805 near Loretto as a water-powered gristmill/distillery, it’s the nation’s oldest working distillery on its original site, and boasts a number of beautifully restored historic structures, including a toll house, original owner’s Victorian house and the Quart House, believed to be America’s oldest package liquor store.

Bill Samuels, Jr., president of Makers Mark and creator of the unconventional ads that have put the company on the map, comes from a long line of bourbon makers stretching back to 1780. In the 1950s his father, Bill Sr., pitched the old family recipe, concocting a new one based on locally grown corn, red winter wheat and malted barley, which resulted in the gentler tasting, highly sought-after bourbon now produced here.

Visitors can ogle the polished copper still (a magnificent cylinder three and a half feet in diameter), feel the heat from vast cypress fermentation vats, see freshly-brewed whiskey surging through glass-and-copper boxes (or "tails") on the still and into pipes leading to the barreling shed, inhale the perfume of angel share wafting from 500-pound, 53-gallon capacity barrels where the bourbon ages for a minimum of four and a half years, and watch every bottle of Makers Mark being hand-dipped in its trademark red wax.

"There’s lots of TLC in every step of our old-time bourbon-making process," says Donna Nally, director of tourism and public relations for Makers Mark.

While on the tour, chat with employees who are labeling, dipping and boxing. Then abuse your credit card on goodies from liquor to bourbon-dipped cigars to Panama hats at the red- themed gift shop.

Jim Beam

Just south of Louisville lies the Jim Beam American Outpost in Clermont. In a film called "American Spirit," sixth generation master distiller emeritus Booker Noe, grandson of legendary Jim Beam, tells the history of the colorful Beam family and explains the bourbon- making process. For a real up-close experience, the movie even offers a peek inside a mash cooker.

Tour the elegant yet comfortable 1911 T. Jeremiah Beam home, lovingly restored to its 1911 character. Check out one of the country’s oldest "moonshiner’s still" that outdates one on display at the Smithsonian. Admire Beam’s collection of over 500 world-famous collector decanters. And learn about the 1800’s art of barrel-making at the Hartmann Cooperage Museum.

Heaven Hill

Founded in Bardstown by the five Shapira brothers shortly after Prohibition, Heaven Hill has become the largest family-owned producer and marketer of distilled spirits, with the second largest supply of aging bourbon in the world.

Here you can time travel back to the beginnings of bourbon in Kentucky, and meet company namesake William Heavenhill and the father of bourbon himself, preacher Craig. In the distillery’s "dump room" see how aged Bourbon barrels are opened and emptied under the scrutiny of seventh generation master distiller, Parker Beam. Then marvel at the rows of open-rick warehouses where over 600,000 barrels are maturing.

Four Roses

Classic hacienda-style construction distinguishes Four Roses near Lawrenceburg, providing a surprising contrast to its quiet, green, bucolic surroundings.

Tours start at the towering grain silo where corn, rye and malted barley are stored. Once mashed, the grains are mixed with Kentucky limestone water in a huge atmospheric cooker. Cooked mash passes into large cypress wood vats, where a secret strain of yeast begins the fermentation process.

Many say that bourbon has a mystique about it. The fact that at Four Roses the master distiller uses no less than 10 different recipes certainly lends credence to that belief.

Austin Nichols

Formerly the Wild Turkey Distillery, Austin Nichols sits smack on Wild Turkey Hill atop an imposing 300-foot gorge overlooking the Kentucky River near Lawrenceburg.

In 1893, bourbon made here -- then the Ripy Distillery -- was selected from over 400 whiskies to represent Kentucky at the World’s Fair. Tradition in simple, old-fashioned methods is the byword at Austin Nichols, with its austere, metal-clad buildings. "We’ve always preferred to leave our distillery plain," reads an old Wild Turkey ad, "and make our bourbon fancy."

Today, Austin Hill makes 101 proof Wild Turkey and barrel-proof Rare Breed, a union of six-to 12-year-old whiskies. As wild turkeys fly through the hollers nearby, you can see grains cook in bubbling fermentation vats the size of water towers and travel through a 40 foot high continuous still. Watch bourbon as it’s poured into hand-crafted oak barrels and inhale its delightful aroma mellowing in thousands of barrels.

Buffalo Trace

Kentucky’s pioneer spirit is still alive at Buffalo Trace, just north of Frankfort, where you can learn about the most highly-decorated whiskey of the decade. See more of those beautiful barrels filled with a different sort of Kentucky spirits, and witness the original procedure for making single barrel bourbon.

Though you’ll find that histories and personalities vary wildly from stop to stop along the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, the smooth, amber-colored end product is always mighty fine.

Katherine Tandy Brown is a staff writer for The Lane Report.