Nashville isn't just the home of country music — it's one of the best whiskey towns in America. Tennessee was making bourbon before Kentucky made it famous, and the current wave of Nashville distilleries is quietly building something special. If you're planning a trip down the Nashville Bourbon Trail, here's the itinerary we'd give a close friend: where to drink, where to eat, and where to end the night.
We built this guide around the way we spend a weekend in town — distilleries by day, smoked meat for lunch, a proper steakhouse dinner, and live music somewhere loud and a little sticky for last call. Do it in a weekend or stretch it out over four days. Either way, here's the lineup.
Start Here · Nashville Barrel Company
START YOUR TRAIL WITH US.
Before you drive an hour out of town for the big-name distilleries, spend an afternoon with the team that's actually winning the awards right now. Nashville Barrel Company is the #1 most-reviewed whiskey experience in Nashville, named Tennessee Blender of the Year, ranked #4 in Fred Minnick's Blind Tasting, and a Best in Class winner at the world's largest spirits competition.
Our experiences are hands-on — taste straight from the barrel, blend your own whiskey, or pick a single barrel and take the bottle home with a custom label. Walk-ins are welcome for our bar experiences. Book ahead for anything private.
Location 01 · Headquarters
222 Fesslers Lane
Nashville, TN 37210
Our main production facility, two miles from downtown with free parking. The full range of experiences runs here daily — this is the deep-dive stop.
Location 02 · Downtown
425 Church Street
Nashville, TN 37219
Walking distance from the Ryman, Bridgestone, and most downtown hotels. Ideal for a pre-show flight or a casual afternoon pour.
All Six Experiences — Both Locations
Section One · The Distilleries
THE DISTILLERY LINEUP.
Tennessee has been making whiskey for more than two centuries, and the modern Nashville scene gives you a range — from the most famous distillery in the world to the one that started it all, and a whole lot of barrel-picking in between.
Stop · The Home Team
Fesslers Lane HQ & Downtown Tasting Room · Nashville
Start your trail where the awards are landing right now. Nashville Barrel Company is the #1 most-reviewed whiskey experience in Nashville, named Tennessee Blender of the Year, ranked #4 in Fred Minnick's Blind Tasting, and a Best in Class winner at the world's largest spirits competition. The experiences are hands-on across the board — taste straight from the barrel, pick a single barrel and take the bottle home with a custom label, or blend your own whiskey from the mashbill up.
Two locations make it easy to fit in: the Fesslers Lane headquarters two miles from downtown for the deep-dive, and the Church Street Tasting Room within walking distance of the Ryman and Bridgestone for a pre-show flight.
Stop · The Legend
Lynchburg, TN · ~90 min from Nashville
You can't do a Tennessee whiskey trip without making the pilgrimage to Lynchburg. Jack Daniel's is the oldest registered distillery in the United States, and the tour walks you through the Lincoln County Process — the signature sugar-maple charcoal mellowing that makes Tennessee whiskey Tennessee whiskey. Pick the Angel's Share tour if you want to sample straight from the barrel. Fun bit of trivia: Lynchburg is a dry county, so for most of the distillery's history, you couldn't actually buy a drink in the town that invented one of the world's most famous bottles.
Make a half-day of it — the drive down through Middle Tennessee is part of the experience.
Stop · The Resurrection
Marathon Village, Nashville
This is the great Tennessee whiskey story. Charles Nelson was outselling Jack Daniel in the 1880s — then Prohibition shuttered the distillery for nearly a century. In 2006, two of his great-great-great-grandsons, Andy and Charlie Nelson, stumbled on their ancestor's legacy and spent years bringing the brand back from the dead. They're now producing Belle Meade Bourbon and the original Nelson's Green Brier Tennessee Whiskey right in Nashville.
The tour is short, smart, and heavy on family history. Great for a rainy afternoon or a warm-up stop before dinner downtown.
Section Two · The Food
EAT LIKE YOU MEAN IT.
Nashville food runs the full range — hot chicken joints, smoke-stained BBQ legends, and some of the best steakhouses in the South. For the bourbon trail weekend, here's the one-two punch we'd recommend.
Lunch · The BBQ Stop
The Gulch, Nashville
Pitmaster Carey Bringle has been a central figure in the Memphis-style BBQ world for decades, and Peg Leg Porker is his Nashville flagship. Dry-rub ribs, pulled pork, smoked chicken — all served in a no-frills room that gets packed at lunch. If you know anything about Nashville whiskey, you know Carey also produces Peg Leg Porker Tennessee Straight Bourbon, so a flight of his own whiskey alongside a plate of ribs is more or less the platonic ideal of a Nashville afternoon.
Get there early or expect a wait. Worth it either way.
Dinner · The Splurge
JW Marriott · Downtown
Michael Mina's Bourbon Steak is the dinner move when you want a proper steakhouse night — tableside service, dry-aged cuts, and one of the deepest whiskey lists in the city. The butter-poached technique on their steaks is the signature, and the bar program takes bourbon as seriously as any room in town. Book the reservation; request a window seat if you can.
Good move to do this on night two — save it for after a day on the trail.
Section Three · The Nightlife
AFTER DARK IN MUSIC CITY.
You don't come to Nashville to go to bed early. After dinner, the night splits two ways — the honky-tonk way and the speakeasy way. Do both if you're staying more than one night.
Night · The Honky-Tonk
Lower Broadway
There are a thousand bars on Broadway. Robert's is the one. Live music from open to close, no cover, a fried bologna sandwich on the menu, and cowboy boots hanging on the wall. The house band, Brazilbilly, is genuinely world-class — this is where serious country musicians come to listen to country music. Order a Recession Special (fried bologna, chips, moon pie, PBR) and plant yourself for a set.
Go early if you want a seat. Stay late for the real magic.
Night · The Alley
Between 3rd & 4th Avenue North
A block off the chaos of Broadway, Printers Alley is the older, moodier side of Nashville nightlife — speakeasies, piano bars, and jazz joints tucked into buildings that date back to Nashville's printing and publishing heyday. Bourbon Street Blues & Boogie Bar, Skull's Rainbow Room, and The Sky Bar each pull a different crowd. If Broadway is loud and bright and tourist-forward, Printers Alley is dim, velvet-curtained, and closer to what Nashville looked like when Johnny Cash was still playing clubs here.
End the night here. Order something brown, neat.
How To Do It
A SAMPLE WEEKEND.
Day One — Downtown. Land in Nashville, check into a downtown hotel. Walk to Nashville Barrel Company's Tasting Room at 425 Church for a Whiskey Flight from the Barrel. Lunch at Peg Leg Porker in The Gulch. Afternoon tour at Nelson's Green Brier in Marathon Village. Dinner at Bourbon Steak. Close the night in Printers Alley.
Day Two — The Bourbon Trail Proper. Morning drive to Lynchburg for the Jack Daniel's tour. Back to Nashville for a late-afternoon Single Barrel Experience or Blend Your Own session at Nashville Barrel Company's Fesslers Lane headquarters — you'll leave with a custom-labeled bottle. Grab a late bite and head straight to Robert's Western World for the 10pm set. Don't rush. Don't leave early.
That's the short version of the best weekend Nashville has to offer. Build your trip around a visit to Nashville Barrel Company — between our two locations and six experiences, we'll make sure the whiskey part of the trip is the part you remember.
READY TO PLAN YOUR VISIT?
Book a hands-on experience at either of our Nashville locations, or reach out about a private group tour. Walk-ins are always welcome.