The Whole Shebang earns top honors from the World Travel Awards, putting Pursuit Spirits in contention for the world’s leading bourbon tour.
Pursuit Spirits has earned another major milestone, with its signature whiskey experience, The Whole Shebang, named North America’s Leading Bourbon Distillery Tour 2026 by the World Travel Awards.
The award was presented October 11 at the World Travel Awards Caribbean & The Americas Gala Ceremony in Jamaica. The recognition also puts Pursuit in the running for the global title, with The Whole Shebang named one of four finalists for World’s Leading Bourbon Distillery Tour 2026.
For a brand that has built its identity around bringing whiskey drinkers closer to the decisions behind the bottle, the recognition makes sense.
A Whiskey Tour That Puts Guests Behind the Barrel
Located at Pursuit Spirits’ Whiskey Row home in downtown Louisville, The Whole Shebang is a 90-minute experience that takes guests beyond a traditional distillery tour.
Guests taste small-batch bourbons and ryes, explore how mash bills and blending influence flavor, and sample Pursuit United Private Select offerings before choosing a favorite. Then comes the part that sets the experience apart: drawing 108-proof whiskey directly from a barrel with a whiskey thief and hand-filling, corking, labeling, and sealing a bottle to take home.
The concept grew out of Bourbon Pursuit, the whiskey podcast founded by Kenny Coleman and Ryan Cecil in 2015. Years of tasting samples and evaluating barrels helped shape an experience that gives visitors a taste of the work usually reserved for the people selecting and blending whiskey.
The Whole Shebang debuted at Pursuit’s Mellwood Avenue warehouse in November 2023 before moving to its Whiskey Row location in August 2025. By summer 2026, more than 1,500 guests had filled a bottle of their own.
The experience costs $150 per guest and includes the hand-filled bottle, a tasting glass, and additional pours of limited gift shop offerings.
“Years of tasting samples and evaluating barrels helped shape an experience that gives visitors a taste of the work usually reserved for the people selecting and blending whiskey.“
Why This Matters
Bourbon tourism has become a major part of the Kentucky whiskey experience, but not every tour gives visitors the same opportunity to engage with the whiskey itself.
The Whole Shebang puts tasting, personal preference, and barrel selection at the center of the experience. Rather than simply explaining how bourbon gets from grain to glass, it invites guests to make their own decisions about what they like and why.
That approach fits Pursuit’s roots in whiskey education and blending. It also offers something memorable for visitors who have already toured traditional distilleries and want a more hands-on experience.
I visited Trial + Error, the cocktail lounge beneath Pursuit’s Whiskey Row space, and absolutely loved the room. I wasn’t there during the main hours of The Whole Shebang experience, so I can’t speak firsthand to the full tour. But the space itself made a strong impression, and the overall concept gives whiskey fans another compelling reason to make a stop on Whiskey Row.
The World Travel Awards recognition adds another reason to put it on the itinerary.
Bourbon Bishop Bottom Line:
Pursuit Spirits is building an experience around something whiskey enthusiasts already love: tasting, comparing, and figuring out what belongs in their glass. The Whole Shebang takes that curiosity a step further by letting guests participate in the barrel-selection process and leave with a bottle they filled themselves.
At $150, it’s a premium experience, but the personal bottle and hands-on format offer more than a standard tasting-room visit. For whiskey fans who enjoy exploring different flavor profiles and learning what goes into a blend, it looks like a worthwhile addition to a Louisville bourbon trip.
And with North America’s Leading Bourbon Distillery Tour already on its résumé, Pursuit now has a chance to take home the global title.
Want to experience it yourself? Reservations for The Whole Shebang are available through Pursuit Spirits’ visit page. Voting for World’s Leading Bourbon Distillery Tour 2026 is open through October 30 at the World Travel Awards website, with the global winner scheduled to be announced December 12.
Disclosure: This article is based on a press release provided by Pursuit Spirits, along with my own experience visiting Trial + Error.
About Pursuit Spirits
Pursuit Spirits is a Louisville, Kentucky-based whiskey company founded by Ryan Cecil & Kenny Coleman, the team behind Bourbon Pursuit. Rather than operating exclusively around a traditional single-distillery model, Pursuit has built its portfolio around sourcing, blending and finishing American whiskey to create distinct flavor profiles.
Its flagship Pursuit United line combines whiskey from multiple sources, while the company also operates its Louisville Whiskey Row location and offers experiences centered around blending, barrel selections and American whiskey.
Pursuit’s approach makes it a particularly relevant participant in collaborations like Found Footage, where the goal is less about presenting a single distillery’s traditional house style and more about deliberately constructing a specific whiskey profile.
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