I love wine. I love winery hopping. This is called Chrisman…read moreMill Vineyards. I expected a vineyard. This is *actually* a tasting room at the mall. To be fair, according to Drink Ky, they have a vineyard that is not open to the public, but the winery page on Yelp takes you to the tasting room. So...I think my expectations left me a little disappointed. I still love drinking wine and I wasn't going to say no, but I thought we were going somewhere else. That said, the space is lovely. A nice retail area, brightly lit and clean. The bar area isn't extensive, but large enough to seat a couple of small groups. We sat at the end of the bar and were greeted quickly by the guy working. He explained the tasting options. Flights range from $5-$8, and you get three generous pours or your selection of wines or sangrias. I opted for the wine flight option. My selections were the Vidal, Sweet Jessamine Rose, and Sweet Riverbend Red. They were alright, nothing that made me want to buy a bottle. Apparently they are in the midst of a special offer for a free fondue plate with two tastings. That was a nice surprise! The flights come served on a barrel stave. It is a nice idea, but it is a little unstable. We both thought it was a little funny when the music that was playing switched to "Get Low" and some other club-like music. The fella liked it, I kinda killed the ambiance for me. If you are shopping at the mall in Lexington, and need a lil' wine time, Chrisman is a good option. If you want to go to a winery...this will probably disappoint you some as well.

From the windooooooowwwww to the wall... (more on this in a moment)…read more By all accounts, this place should be five stars. It is part of the mall area so it's not really a vineyard. It's more of a mall shop where you can also do tastings of their wine. Parking is plentiful. You have to keep in mind... you're at a mall! There are plenty of spaces and as long as you're not a pampered person that needs the closest spot, you'll be just fine. The guy working greeted us right away. They have a few different flights but none are over 8 dollars. Each flight gives you three generous pours. No complaints there at all. While we were drinking our wine, music was playing. It was a mix that fit the store perfectly. It was us, another couple, the worker guy and another worker girl that came out. At one point we started to hear, "Three, six, nine, damn you're fine. Move it till you sock it to me one more time" Yes! You guessed it... skeet skeet skeet. We noticed it right away. I said, "This is the unedited version too. Awesome!" The girl working noticed it right away and started laughing. It was funny but the guy working went ahead and changed the song. I understand that if the wrong crowd heard that song, it would stir up controversy. In my opinion, if they can't take a little skeet in their ears, then they probably shouldn't be drinking wine. My flight consisted of dry wines. The Norton, Norton Reserve, and Firefly. The Norton Reserve was my favorite of the three. Easily drinkable but I'm not sure if I'd need to buy a bottle or not. Our tasting also came with a fondue board. That's a nice little perk that we weren't expecting. When it comes down to it, this place is brilliant and more malls should lease to tasting rooms. For all the people that don't like to shop with their family, significant others or children... walk down to the winery and drink for a few hours. I wouldn't go out of my way to go here but if you're already in the congested mall area of Lexington... go ahead and stop in.

Sophia in the tasting room was Excellent! Kudos Cynthia!…read more We love Cynthia and what she has created at Equus Run Vineyards. We are already planning our next trip there. Larry

We visited Equus Run while spending the weekend in Frankfort. Will was our tour guide and was…read moreamazing - so knowledgeable and passionate about wines and the wine making process! He even let us try a Concord grape right off the vine! The grounds are beautiful. After our tour and tasting, we sat on the porch for the live music and shared a charcuterie board. The wines tended to be a little sweet for my taste but that didn't impact my experience - we got to sample 6 of the wines (our choice) and I did enjoy the Equestrian Chardonnay. It was a wonderful was to spend the afternoon!

Very small winery, but we had a great experience. Owner was delightful to talk to and very…read moreknowledgeable. Wines were very tasty.

We called ahead and had a great experience! Not only were we entertained by Andy the proprietor…read moreand wine maker, but we did the wine flights and got exposed to some serious wines. We liked so many we bought a case. The nice variety of sweets, drys, semis and blends was off the hook! Its a small batch local winery, but we found lots to enjoy. Take some time and spend it here! You'll have fun, great conversation and excellent wine!

Once I finally located the distillery, it was UP! The staff I encountered was really nice &…read moredefinitely knowledgeable. I had a 3 bourbon flight for $15. I also had the opportunity to learn about each bourbon I selected. They have beer so I sampled I couple of those as well. I enjoyed this first time experience and plan to return for an actual tour the next time I'm in Lexington, KY!!

We attended the later tour to see the sunset, unfortunately it rained lol. But it was still a great…read moretime, we were the only two and we got a complimentary cocktail made to our liking. It was nice that the tour guide took the time to see what we liked and make us a cocktail with their spirits. I think it's a very chic distillery and not many of us locals know it's here. It's worth a tour!

Great info provided and fantastic bourbons. We learned more about the actual distrilling process…read morehere than a combination of the others we have visited. Highly recommend a visit and a taste of the white whiskey and the maple barrel finished bourbon. We left with 4 bottles..hope that was enough

We stopped here as part of the craft trail and had such a nice time :) I liked the traditional and…read morerustic feel of the place. Our tour guide, Lindsay, was so fun to talk to. We were the only ones, so it was easy to talk and ask questions. We tried 4 of the spirits/ bourbons and were impressed with the quality and flavor variations. This spot is a little out of the way, but well worth a few extra minutes on the road.

I attended an event yesterday evening at the distillery. The place is very nice…read more Their cocktails are excellent. I had the Barrel Aged Manhattan and an Old Fashioned. We had a meeting in the conference room area and also enjoyed time out on the covered patio. All the bartenders for our event were very friendly and talkative.

We love RD1. We first visited when the distillery was downtown in the distillery district and got…read moreto theive our own bourbon. One of my favorites is their amburana cask and their maple cask. Their new facility is SUPER nice and offers some expanded activities. Very modern and clean. Also has a history area that was really cool. Everyone is always so nice!

This is my second time coming to BG, but our first time coming to the farm / plantation in midway…read more What a beautiful place! The 1800s era mansion is absolutely gorgeous and they have done a wonderful job at restoring it and keeping it as it was nearly 200 years ago. Everyone is always so hospitable and friendly. They have some great bourbons as well. If you're there, look for Tipsy the tuxedo cat, she's probably snoozing somewhere.

I had an enjoyable visit at Bluegrass Distillers. I tried a flight of 4 bourbons, for $15. The…read morebottles range from $60 to $110 so I thought the price was reasonable for 4 1/2-ounce pours. It was actually more than I wanted (there would be more distilleries to visit that day) and I didn't even finish them. The choice of which 4 to sample was mine, assisted by the knowledgeable and patient bartender, and I chose two from their standard small-batch bourbon collection (Toasted Oak and High Rye Blue Corn) and two single-barrels from the reserves: French Oaked and Spanish Oaked. It's interesting what a difference there was between the French and Spanish oak flavors. I started at the bar where the bartender gave me a brief intro to the whiskies I'd be sampling, then moved to a comfortable seating area. I liked the room, with a mix of high tables with stools and upholstered sofa seating areas with throw rugs. Mellow jazz was playing and the walls were adorned with paintings, landscapes and citiscapes. A nice place to relax for a bit. I liked the Elkwood Reserve French Oaked very much and bought a bottle for $110. That's a lot, until you realize that at 121 proof that's equivalent to $72 at 80 proof. Funny math maybe, but that's how I justified the expense! When I got home and tried the bottle it was just as good as I remembered, so no regrets.

After seeing all the rave reviews for this distillery, we decided to schedule a late-afternoon…read moretour, and I'm so glad we did! The property itself is absolutely beautiful, and our tour guide, Cristy, was incredibly knowledgeable and informative. Before we got started, she made sure to go over important safety tips, which I really appreciated. I will say, out of all the distillery tours I've been on, this one was definitely the most challenging physically. If you're bringing older adults or anyone with limited mobility, just keep in mind that there are some tight spaces, steps, and stairs throughout the tour. At the end of the tour, we were led into a speakeasy-style tasting room, which was such a neat atmosphere! Our tasting included several samples, chocolate, and an Old Fashioned. After the tasting, we were taken through to the gift shop, which had some unique souvenirs. We decided to grab a few drinks at the bar and hang out for a bit before heading out. Surprisingly, Cristy was there to greet us again and even gave us some great drink recommendations! Overall, we definitely recommend the experience! Just be mindful of the physical demands of the tour if you or someone in your group has limited mobility.

This place is way too big and touristy for a memorable tasting experience if that's your goal…read more However, the buildings are significant historically and architecturally so it's worth a visit. So big in fact that the parking lot is across the street. It was very crowded. I parked and walked over to explore the extensive grounds. Many of the buildings are old, the castle dating from 1887, with distilling at the location since 1819, with an 18 year break from the start of Prohibition, and an even longer break from 1972-2016. The site deteriorated greatly during this time until the Old Taylor site was restored and became Castle&Key. The castle and several other buildings are now fully restored, with the castle serving as the main visitor area. Inside the castle it was bustling with tourists so I left after a short wander. There are at least three places to sample spirits here: inside the castle building, in a covered bar patio outside, and a tiny stand-up bar in the patio in front of the castle. That's where I went. I chose two 1/2-ounce pours from the 10 available (bourbons, ryes, gins, and a vodka) for a reasonable $4 each and sat at a nearby table. The Restoration Rye and the standard Small Batch Bourbon were both decent but I wasn't motivated to buy a bottle. There's no cell service here but they supposedly have wifi. However it wasn't working and nobody I asked seemed to know why or for how long. Unacceptable for such a large, touristy place. As I said, the main draw is the buildings and the history behind this place. The site was striking architecturally, the old buildings of various types, from the vine-covered stone castle, metal industrial buildings with pipes running overhead, and an old rusting water tower probably no longer used, with any new buildings thoughtfully placed so as not to detract from the historical ones. And the grounds themselves were very pretty, flowers lining the walkways, some formal gardens, a rushing river overflowing a dam forming one boundary opposite the road side. Walk up the road a bit and you'll discover even more ruins. Not part of Castle&Key anymore but part of the original Old Taylor site as well. I love old ruins and found these striking. And just past these ruins is another distillery, Glenn's Creek. Check it out too but beware: it's a very different experience and may not appeal to everyone.