By Richard Thomas
Although it’s often Bardstown and Louisville that get the lion’s share of the bourbon traveler’s attention, anyone looking at a map can see Lexington’s southeastern corner of Kentucky bourbon tourism has as much or more distillery action on offer. Four Kentucky Majors, two medium-sized and a basket of minor bourbon-makers are found there. And no serious bourbon tourist trip is complete without hitting at least one of the aforementioned big distillers (more on them later).
Yet staying in the southeastern corner has always presented a wrinkle to anyone who wanted to go upscale or boutique for accommodations. Lexington is there, true, but that city is farther east than would be ideal, especially compared to Bardstown and Louisville, both of which are the center of their respective corners. The drive to any major distillery from downtown Lexington sometimes saves a mere 15 minutes driving compared to, say, Louisville to Buffalo Trace or Bardstown to Wild Turkey.
Versailles, the seat of neighboring Woodford County, has always been more centrally located for this purpose. Anyone driving from Four Roses or Wild Turkey to Woodford Reserve or Buffalo Trace has either driven straight through or skirted around the town. The location shaves the driving time in half vis-a-vis Lexington, making it possible to do all four in one long, ambitious day. What Versailles lacked was a compelling reason for a tourist crisscrossing Woodford County to stop and stay a spell. Or it did until Autumn 2025, when the Aldenberg Hotel opened its doors.
Bourbon Country’s Crossroads Hotel
Since I returned to My Old Kentucky Home almost a decade ago, Woodford County has hosted some noteworthy dining, but that was in Midway or in locales even more rural. I never thought much of what I found in Versailles. The county has also had some storyworthy accommodations, but those either fall into the category of rentals/Air BnBs rather than a full-service hotel or else don’t quite live up to their billing. This past October, the Aldenberg opened across from the Woodford County courthouse and resolved that gap: now bourbon tourists have an elevated hostelry and restaurant sitting astride a key bourbon country artery.
The $10 million renovation began on Versailles’s Woodford Bank and Trust Company building in 2021, with the ambition of creating a hotel that “pulled back the equine industry, the bourbon industry and local history, and how all of it is intertwined,” said Brian Pulley, Director of Sales and Marketing at the hotel. Pulley’s comment underscores something bourbon enthusiasts often forget, no matter how many want a complete set of Blanton’s bottle stoppers: horse racing and bourbon are cultural cousins in Kentucky. The first time I met Jimmy Russell was at a Keeneland horse sale; I was 16 and tried to sell him a Jack Russell puppy (he politely declined). The Aldenberg is only 7 miles from Keeneland and runs a shuttle to the race track during race season.
The hotel opened in October 2025, so 2026 represents their first run for both all full season at Keeneland, Spring Meet to Fall Meet, as well as the bourbon festival and tourist season. The swanky lobby is most suggestive of the racing connection, but retains from its origin what I think is always the best of architectural salvage-flourishes: a battleship armor, vintage bank vault. At present it is just for show, but is destined to become a gift shop.
The Aldenberg offers 29 individually appointed, luxurious rooms which mirror the style of the lobby: swanky in the way of my now very dim and colored memories Seventies-era country clubs and horsey set mansions. As a boutique hotel, the size and appointments strike just the right balance: one can disappear into anonymity or see and be seen by other guests as one pleases and in comfort. All this is backed by a very request-driven, responsive service culture. So much was already plain when I was there in March 2026, so the winter was well-used to iron the kinks out for the busy, dual tourist season.
Food and Drink
If the design sense and hotel shuttle point towards horse racing, the future renovations of the hotel point towards an in-house bourbon industry. Tucked in the back of the hotel, the Aldenberg is working on its own micro-distillery. A 500 gallon hybrid still made by Specific Engineering is already there, but further structural changes are required to the space before the project can become operational. The plan is to mash and ferment off-site, truck the batches of finished mash to the still, finish the production arc right there in the midst of old downtown Versailles, and then haul the filled barrels away.
In the meantime, the Aldenberg has launched its own brand, the Vault Series, staring with Keyholder’s Reserve. That bottling is a 10 year old, cask strength and single barrel bourbon sourced from Jim Beam, basically an older, more refined cousin of Booker’s, but with no loss to its potency. A second Vault release is coming; although it remains unnamed, the future batch is a 9 year old Barton bourbon, but one taken to Bluegrass Distillers (also in Woodford County) to receive a double new oak finish.
The Vault brand is a very limited series, available only at the hotel and its associated restaurant, Silks Steakhouse. Keyholder’s Reserve, for example, was based on just two barrels, so the production run is just several hundred bottles. But that bourbon was excellent, receiving a rare A grade in our review, making a stop at Silks for a pour worthwhile even without staying the night or enjoying a meal.
(Credit: Richard Thomas)
Stopping for a meal, however, is very much worth it. Silks is a ritzy restaurant, evoking the style of a 1920s Chicago steakhouse as much as anything. As an added ornament to the bourbon experience, the cocktail program is creative and rotating, but with a couple of whiskey classics as cornerstones. The Old Fashioned uses Woodford Reserve, “as a nod to the community” according to Silks manager Kellen Macklin. The Sazerac is lovely, so much so I have the restaurant bar earmarked for a return visit and drink after a race day, just to see who comes in after doing the races at Keeneland.
As for the steak, that is Bourbon Barrel Beef from Harrison Harvesting in Carlisle. This is fast becoming the go-to supplier for the region’s better steakhouses. Also on the menu is lamb from Kentucky’s Freedom Run Farm, whose products make regular appearances in my kitchen. I split a New York Strip on my visit, which easily tied the best steaks I’ve had in Kentucky and guaranteed a return visit for dinner later this year. For lunch, the Toro skirt steak special concocted by Chef Jon Baugh, with its Asian pears and Tamari dressing, hits just the right balance between decadence and modesty: as a meal, it is serious self-spoilage, but not so extravagant that it leaves you unable to carry on with your afternoon.
The Practicalities
As a parting note, another advantage to the Aldenberg’s location is parking. The comparable hotels in the same area are in downtown Lexington, with the parking costs associated with staying overnight in downtown Lexington. The Aldenberg has a free, public lot associated with the nearby park directly behind the building, and if you arrive in the late afternoon the plentiful street parking in front of the hotel is free. Valet parking is also available. And although downtown Versailles is small and does not offer the same range of options for coffee, drinks or meals as downtown Lexington, there are options for those things within a two block walk of the Aldenberg.
