James E. Pepper Distillery

It was a great tour; informative, fun and very good whiskey.

Our tour guide (Mimi - really Mary, but everyone calls her Mimi) was very knowledgeable, high energy and super responsive to the tour. We spent a lot of time on the history of the distillery and then went into the production buildings. James E. Pepper is a relatively small production so you could get up really close to the production lines.

At the end there was a barrel tasting and we sampled several of their bottles.

All in all a very good tour.

We took the distillery tour. Our tour guid, B, was awesome. She started by hand crafting everyone an Old Fashioned cocktail. As she talked about the history of the distillery she made the tour more intimate than industrial. By far our favorite tour.

Did the tour today. Great history that was well presented. Bourbons and whiskeys were quite good. Jared, operations manager, went above and beyond with my wife and I at the bar. Took time to recommend other great bars and restaurants which were spot on and really enjoyed the conversation. Highly recommended.

I was very disappointed this tour cost $20 for 30 min and we had 2 tastings with 1 chocolate. We did get to see the distillery. Slade was our tour guide and he was very knowledable and friendly. They do offer free tours to active military. It is a small distillery with only 10 employees.

This was my second time touring James Pepper and it was just as great as the first tour. We had B as our tour guide and she was excellent! Very informative, good bourbon history, and our group enjoyed the tasting experience that started with the white dog and went down in proof from there, really allowing you to taste the difference in proofs. Definitely recommend sticking around after to have a cocktail and then give yourself lots of extra time to explore the entire Pepper District!

We took the tour with Mimi. Mimi had the script down and answered a lot of questions well. She was still quite new so some of the details she did not yet know. She was very enthusiastic and seemed to love what she was doing.

It is a really interesting property and we wish we would have left more time to explore the other businesses in the Distillery District to see the rest of the old property. Their bourbon and whiskey products are not extensive but they are all very good and not excessively priced for a small craft distillery. They have a rye forward bourbon but we actually preferred their rye whiskey.

Having arrived a bit early for the tour we were able to try their Old Fashioned which is unique and original. Their version of the history says the first old fashioned was made with their whiskey. Afterwards we bought a flight of the single barrel eyes and left with one of those, a blended rye and a bourbon.

My husband and I enjoyed our tour of the distillery. It provided history of the building, the family that started it, and bourbon distilling in the area. Our knowledgeable guide provided us with a tasting of a rye in different stages of fermentation as well as a sample of a bottled bourbon and rye. If you choose to take them up on the offer of an Old Fashioned made the Col. Pepper way you will not be disappointed! We were pleased with our stop at James E. Pepper along our road trip.

A gem in Lexington. They go through a full history of the site, bourbon in Lexington, and have a cool display of old documents and other old pieces. In addition to the detailed history they show you each piece of equipment even the corn grinder. I would highly recommend. There is also plenty to do around the site restaurants, bars, and another distillery.

The tour leader was very good. Mimi was well informed and presented the information in a humorous manner. The entire group seemed to enjoy her presentation.
The bourbon we sampled was very good. The chocolate given during the tasting added an entire different spin on the taste of the bourbon.

I'm currently on assignment in Lexington for a few months and trying to make the most of it. One of the journeys I intend to undertake is the Bourbon Trail. A co-worker of mine who is big into bourbon highly recommended the tour at James E. Pepper Distillery. The tour takes about an hour and comes with tastings of 3 different bourbons.

Our tour guide was great (I think Kayla?). She's clearly enthusiastic about the distillery and bourbon, and engaging when discussing the history and facts. I was surprised at how close up you get within the distillery (you can literally peer over the fermenting grains) and thought it was interesting that they let you try the high wine.

Overall I think this was a great start to the Bourbon Trail and recommend this tour if you're in Lexington.