2. Louisville

The Beginning of Bourbon Country

When you drive east on Interstate 64 and cross the Ohio River from Indiana into Kentucky, prominent signs along the highway welcome you to “The Birthplace of Abraham Lincoln.” You are arriving in Louisville, the state's largest city, with a population of more than 600,000. To the left of the highway is the river's canal, with a series of locks allowing boats and barges to navigate what would otherwise be a stretch of rocky rapids. In 1827 a teenaged Lincoln was one of the laborers who built the original canal.

If you glance into the city to your right as you approach the Ninth Street exit, you'll notice several church spires extending into the sky above a sea of roofs and treetops. These are especially conspicuous at night because they are floodlit. An unexpected skyline structure hovers in the distance that may cause bourbon lovers to think they are having a happy hallucination. It's a giant bottle of Old Forester, which shines like a beacon for incoming whiskey aficionados. Welcome to bourbon country. The sixty-eight-foot-tall bourbon bottle is actually a 100,000-gallon water tank. It sits atop the turn-of-the-century Garneau Building, part of Brown-Forman's corporate headquarters complex on Dixie Highway, just south of Broadway. Beverage giant Brown-Forman makes Old Forester and Early Times at its distillery, located less than three miles south of the corporate offices. It also owns Woodford Reserve Distillery and Tennessee whiskey distillery Jack Daniels.

Louisville is a good place to start your exploration of Kentucky's bourbon heritage. The city is a regional transportation hub where three interstate highways converge. Almost all the destinations of interest to a bourbon lover, including the distilleries and the city of Bardstown, are within an hour's drive. (The exception is Maker's Mark Distillery, which is about an hour and a half from downtown Louisville.) With the region's largest selection of hotels and bed-and-breakfasts in a variety of price ranges, Louisville offers accommodations to match any budget.

The city also has a lively and sophisticated restaurant scene. Many kitchens are presided over by nationally recognized chefs who use bourbon in their dishes as routinely as California chefs employ wine. Dozens of these eateries also stock excellent selections of bourbon, and it is not uncommon to be able to order tasting flights (small samples of three or more bourbons). The Louisville Convention and Visitors Bureau has even developed the Urban Bourbon Trail of restaurants and bars, complete with a “passport” and rewards program.

Finally, Louisville's history and economy—from its founding during the Revolutionary War to the present—are intimately bound to the history of bourbon. One-third of the world's bourbon is made there, and visitors will find many sites, past and current, of importance in the development of the bourbon industry.

What is now Louisville got its start in 1778, when Lieutenant Colonel George Rogers Clark arrived at the Falls of the Ohio with 127 soldiers and about 60 civilian settlers. The party was traveling by boat, and the Falls (actually a series of rapids) was the only nonnavigable portion of the 981-mile-long river, which made it a logical stopping point. They set up camp on an island just off the southern bank of the river, and it became known as Corn Island, for the first crop planted there. (It is highly probable that some of the harvest found its way into a still.) Clark, who was on his way to capture the area north of the Ohio from the British, soon departed with his troops. The direct result of this military campaign is that the United States' northern border with Canada is not marked by the Ohio River.

In 1784, the year after the American Revolution ended, a young Welsh immigrant named Evan Williams arrived in Philadelphia and eventually made his way to Louisville. He started a distillery on a site near the riverbank, where the base of South Fifth Street is located today. Williams's business has often been cited as the first commercial distillery in Louisville (perhaps in all of Kentucky), but there is no way to verify this claim. Certainly, his distillery was among the earliest and was listed in local tax records in 1789.

Sidewalk plaque at Seventh and Main Streets showing the location of Corn Island.

The Pendennis Club.

By the first decades of the nineteenth century, Louisville had become a center for the whiskey industry. The number of both distillers and rectifiers (merchants who bought bourbon from small-volume distillers and blended it to sell) was increasing steadily. The city's riverside location meant that large quantities of grain could be brought to commercial distilleries by steamboat, which could also transport whiskey throughout the Ohio, Missouri, and Mississippi River Valleys.

This growth peaked after the Civil War, when several blocks of Main Street near the wharf came to be known as Whiskey Row, owing to the large number of distillers and rectifiers headquartered there. Many companies with distilling operations in other parts of Kentucky also had offices on Whiskey Row because Louisville was still the shipping center for bourbon.

In the 1870s two major innovations in the bourbon industry occurred in Louisville. The first came in 1870 when George Garvin Brown, the founder of Brown-Forman, introduced “quality control” by selling his whiskey in sealed bottles. Up until that time, whiskey had been sold from barrels, and it was not uncommon for merchants to dilute the bourbon or mix in additives that could compromise the drink's character. The other innovation is credited to Frederick Stitzel, who operated a distillery with his brother Philip at West Broadway and Twenty-Sixth Street. Concerned that barrels stacked on top of one another put pressure on those below, increasing leaks, and that the lack of air circulation allowed the growth of molds that made the whiskey musty, Stitzel designed a system of racks to hold the barrels in warehouses. He was granted a patent in 1879, and that system is still used throughout the industry today.

Another bourbon-related innovation occurred at Louisville's newly opened Pendennis Club in the 1880s. One of the most prominent members of this private gentlemen's club was bourbon distiller Colonel James E. Pepper, grandson of Elijah Pepper, who in 1812 had built the first distillery on the site of what is now Woodford Reserve. The story goes that another member, a retired Civil War general, did not care for the taste of bourbon (a decidedly unpatriotic attitude in Kentucky), so the club's bartender added sugar, bitters, and water to the general's drink, and the old-fashioned was born. Apparently, the muddled cherry and orange were later modifications.

The original club was housed in a mansion on Walnut Street (now Muhammad Ali Boulevard) between Third and Fourth Streets. The “modern” club was built in 1928, just a block east of the original, at 218 West Muhammad Ali Boulevard. Its bar still serves a lot of old-fashioneds to members.

By the 1890s, the demand for bourbon—whether drunk straight or mixed—was steadily growing both in Louisville and around the country. More and bigger distilleries were built. At the turn of the twentieth century, the massive quantities of corn, rye, and barley required for the bourbon-making boom were transported to the city by rail, and by the end of World War I, more than eighty businesses involved in bourbon making, warehousing, selling, and shipping were located on Main Street. There seemed to be no limit to the potential for growth in the industry. Then, in 1920, came Prohibition.

Although the distilleries closed, Louisville (and Kentucky) still had a large stock of whiskey aging in warehouses. The city almost immediately became America's new “pharmaceutical” hub. The government allowed six companies in the United States to sell “medicinal spirits.” Two were in New York City, and the other four—Brown-Forman, Frankfort Distilleries, James Thompson & Bro. (renamed Glenmore Distilling Company in 1926), and A. Ph. Stitzel Distillery—were in Louisville. By 1928, the warehouse supplies were getting low. (Illnesses that required treatment with bourbon seemed to have reached near-epidemic proportions.) Authorities gave the Stitzel distillery permission to make bourbon for the four Louisville distributors.

When Prohibition ended in 1933, a second wave of distillery construction began in Louisville. Seven new distilleries were built southwest of the city before 1940. This area, known as Shively, was outside the incorporated city limits, so the distilleries avoided Louisville taxes. (Eventually, Shively incorporated and enjoyed a tax windfall.)

During World War II, distilleries were required to make industrial alcohol for the military. The war, along with a decline in whiskey drinking that began in the 1960s, resulted in the acquisition of smaller distillers by larger ones and another round of closings. Two large distilleries remain in Louisville today: one operated by Brown-Forman, and the other by Heaven Hill. Neither offers tours, but if you're interested, you can drive by and get a glimpse of the exteriors. It's also possible to drive past the shuttered Stitzel-Weller Distillery, which closed in 1992.

Map Key

1    Asiatique
1767 Bardstown Road

2    The Bar at BLU
280 West Jefferson Street

3    Baxter Station Bar & Grill
1201 Payne Street

4    Bourbon's Bistro
2255 Frankfort Avenue

5    Bristol Bar & Grille Downtown
614 West Main Street #1000

6    The Brown Hotel Lobby Bar
335 West Broadway

7    Buck's Restaurant
425 West Ormsby Avenue

8    Corbett's: An American Place
5050 Norton Healthcare Boulevard

9    Derby Café at the Kentucky Derby Museum
704 Central Avenue

10  Dish on Market
434 West Market Street

11  Doc Crow's Southern Smokehouse & Raw Bar
127 West Main Street

12  Equus & Jack's Lounge
122 Sears Avenue

13  Jockey Silks Bourbon Bar
140 North 4th Street

14  Limestone Restaurant
10001 Forest Green Boulevard

15  Maker's Mark Bourbon House & Lounge
446 South 4th Street

16  The Old Seelbach Bar
500 South 4th Street

17  Proof on Main
702 West Main Street

18  Ramsi's Café on the World
1293 Bardstown Road

19  The Silver Dollar
1761 Frankfort Avenue

20  The Village Anchor Pub & Roost
11507 Park Road

Downtown Louisville and Whiskey Row

Thanks to the renewed popularity of bourbon, combined with community advocacy for historic preservation, Whiskey Row is enjoying a renaissance. Bourbon-related businesses and attractions are returning to the ten-block stretch of Main Street bounded by Brook Street to the east and Ninth Street to the west, and many of these four- and five-story nineteenth-century buildings are being restored and used as offices, condos, restaurants, hotels, and museums. Louisville's Main Street has one of the largest concentrations of cast iron–fronted buildings in the world (second only to New York City's SoHo), making for a very attractive streetscape.

Actors Theatre of Louisville (home of the annual Humana Festival of New American Plays), the Kentucky Center for the Arts (providing concert halls and theaters), Louisville Slugger Field (ballpark for the city's minor league baseball team, the Louisville Bats), and the KFC Yum! Center (a new sports arena and pop music venue) also anchor Main Street. And just as the original Whiskey Row expanded to encompass Market Street, the parallel street one block south of Main, East Market (known as NuLu) has also been revitalized with art galleries, boutique shops, restaurants, hotels, and condos.

One business that endured Prohibition and other changes to Whiskey Row is Vendome Copper & Brass Works (www.vendomecopper.com). Tucked away on a small street just north of the NuLu district, Vendome has been making equipment used to distill bourbon since the early 1900s. The company not only makes equipment for distilleries and breweries throughout the United States but also exports to more than fifteen countries, including to whiskey distilleries in Ireland and cognac distilleries in France. You could say that Vendome stills are to distilleries what Steinway pianos are to concert halls.

Detail of a cast-iron facade on Main Street.

 

Vendome apparatus at the Distilled Spirits Epicenter.

 

Detail of Vendome distilling equipment at the Distilled Spirits Epicenter.

Both Heaven Hill and Brown-Forman have had offices on Main Street for many years, and two new bourbon attractions are scheduled to open on Whiskey Row in 2013 or 2014. Michter's Distillery (http://www.michters.com), which traces its roots to eighteenth-century Pennsylvania, is planning to open the first working distillery on Whiskey Row since before Prohibition. It will be housed in the picturesque 1870s Fort Nelson Building at 801 West Main, topped by an eye-catching turret. Michter's pot stills are being custom made by Vendome. The distillery will offer tours and tastings and will feature exhibits about its whiskey's history, as well as a tasting room and a rooftop garden. The company claims that it made the spirits that warmed Washington's troops at Valley Forge. Master distiller Willie Pratt (formerly of Brown-Forman) will oversee the production of Michter's bourbons at the site. The brand is owned by New York–based Chatham Imports.

Heaven Hill will also have a working microdistillery and bourbon history exhibit at 528 West Main Street. The company's flagship brand, Evan Williams, is named in honor of the historic Louisville distiller, and serendipitously, the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience (http://www.evanwilliams.com) will be located just a few hundred yards from what is thought to have been the site of Williams's 1780s distillery. Vendome pot stills will be used to make bourbon here, too. And although this building doesn't have a fancy turret, the four-story-high upturned Evan Williams bottle makes it distinctive. It's actually a fountain that splashes “bourbon” into a very large glass in the lobby of the attraction's exhibition hall.

 

Architect's rendering of Michter's Distillery. (Courtesy of Joseph & Joseph)

 

Evan Williams Bourbon Experience. (Courtesy of Solid Light Inc.)

If you want to learn how to be a distiller yourself, you can take classes eight blocks south of Whiskey Row at the Distilled Spirits Epicenter (801 South Eighth Street, 502-301-8130, www.ds-epicenter.com. The center opened in 2012 and houses Moonshine University, the Grease Monkey Distillery, and Challenge Bottling.

Museum Row

Within Whiskey Row is Louisville's modern Museum Row, stretching along West Main Street from Sixth to Ninth Streets. Two stops for sports enthusiasts are the Muhammad Ali Center (144 North Sixth Street, 502-584-9254, www.alicenter.org) and the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory (800 West Main Street, 502-588-7228, www.sluggermuseum.org).

Distilled Spirits Epicenter.

Louisville Slugger Museum.

Ali is a native of Louisville, and the center named for him features exhibits chronicling the heavyweight boxing champion's career both in the ring and as an advocate for social justice. The exterior of the building, which overlooks the river, is decorated with multicolored tiles that, at a distance, resolve into giant mosaic images of Ali.

The world's largest baseball bat—seven stories tall—leans against the outside of the Slugger Museum. (Note the proportionally large baseball that appears to be lodged in the window of the plate-glass factory next door.) Visitors can watch the famous bats being made and tour interactive exhibits. Everyone leaves with a miniature souvenir bat.

The exhibits of the Frazier International History Museum (829 West Main Street, 502-753-5663, http://www.fraziermuseum.org) are centered around the extensive arms collection of founder (and bourbon heir) Owsley Brown Frazier. Everything from a horse-mounted knight in armor to a Remington-toting frontiersman is brought to life. The 10,000-piece toy soldier collection is one of the largest in the United States. The museum also houses the Royal Armouries USA, the only collection of artifacts from the British Royal Armouries (including the Tower of London) on display outside the United Kingdom.

The Kentucky Science Center (727 West Main Street, 502-561-6100, http://www.kysciencecenter.org) has interactive exhibits that appeal mostly to children, although visiting exhibits often offer something of interest to adults as well. The IMAX theater in the museum shows films related to science and natural history.

Two museums showcasing regional art and artists are Louisville Glassworks (815 West Market Street, 502-992-3270, http://www.louisvilleglassworks.com) and the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft (715 West Main Street, 502-589-0102, http://www.kentuckyarts.org). The former has three working glass studios and offers tours and classes. The latter features exhibits of contemporary Kentucky folk art.

Probably the most unusual museum is the 21C Museum Hotel (700 West Main Street, 502-217-6300, http://www.21cmuseumhotels.com/louisville/). The cutting-edge, and often edgy, art is displayed in public exhibition space, on the front sidewalk, and, since this is a hotel, in the bedrooms; it is also integrated into the décor of the restaurant and bar (Proof on Main). Developed by local art collectors Laura Lee Brown (yes, another bourbon Brown) and her husband, Steve Wilson, it is the flagship for a series of museum/hotels they are opening in cities across the country.

Giant replica of Michelangelo's David in front of the 21C Museum Hotel.

Entertainment

Sports, concerts, theater, and other live entertainment can be found downtown between Main Street and Broadway. Call the venues or visit their websites to find out about scheduled events during your visit.

 

Actors Theatre of Louisville (316 West Main Street, 502-584-1205, http://actorstheatre.org/). This award-wining regional company operates three theaters under one roof. The internationally known Humana Festival of New American Plays is held every March.

The Brown Theatre (315 West Broadway, 502-562-0188, http://www.kentuckycenter.org/AboutUs/BrownTheatre). This historic 1,400-seat venue dates from 1925 and was modeled on New York's Music Box Theatre. Entertainers as diverse as Julie Andrews, David Sedaris, Ladysmith Black Mombazo, and Lyle Lovett have performed here.

Fourth Street Live (South Fourth Street, between West Liberty Street and West Muhammad Ali Boulevard, 502-585-2330, http://www.4thstlive.com). Louisville's modern entertainment district is occupied mostly by chain-restaurant bars and clubs, but two stops on the Urban Bourbon Trail are located here—the Maker's Mark Bourbon House & Lounge (446 South Fourth Street, 502-568-9099, www.makerslounge.com) and the Old Seelbach Bar in the Seelbach Hilton Hotel (500 South Fourth Street, 502-585-3200, seelbachhiltonhotel.com).

The Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts (501 West Main Street, 502-562-0100, http://www.kentuckycenter.org). Home to the Louisville Orchestra, Kentucky Opera, and Louisville Ballet, as well as the Broadway Series of touring musicals, the Kentucky Center contains a 2,400-seat main concert hall, a 600-seat theater, and a smaller black-box theater. Sculptures by Calder, Dubuffet, Nevelson, and Miro are among the artworks permanently installed in the lobby. A half-hour film titled Kentucky Show! is screened Tuesday through Sunday and gives a splendid overview of the state's history and culture (http://www.kentuckyshow.com/).

The KFC Yum! Center (West Main Street between Second and Third Streets, 502-690-9000, http://www.kfcyumcenter.com). This 22,000-seat arena opened in 2010 and is the home court of the University of Louisville's men's and women's basketball teams. Among the musicians who have played here are Elton John, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Carrie Underwood.

The Louisville Palace (625 South Fourth Street, 502-583-4555, http://www.louisvillepalace.com). This ornately decorated gem of a 1920s movie palace now hosts live concerts as well as a summer film festival of classic Hollywood films.

Louisville Slugger Field (401 East Main Street, 502-212-2287, http://www.batsbaseball.com). A handsome nineteenth-century red-brick train shed was refurbished to serve as the entrance to the stadium home of the Louisville Bats, minor-league affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. Because of its riverside location, this is a great place to watch the “Thunder over Louisville” fireworks display that kicks off the annual Kentucky Derby Festival.

The Urban Bourbon Trail

In 2009 the Louisville Convention and Visitors Bureau created the Urban Bourbon Trail to promote area restaurants and inform visitors where they could find and drink a variety of bourbons. To be included on the trail, an establishment must have at least fifty different bourbon brands, and a few have more than a hundred. Almost all feature bourbon as an ingredient in their signature dishes. The original trail featured eight places, and as of 2012, that number had grown to twenty.

There are different ways to “travel” the trail, and you get a prize for sipping at several locations. You can pick up a Bourbon Country Passport at the Louisville Visitors Center (301 South Fourth at Jefferson Street, 502-379-6109) or at any of the participating bars and restaurants. This pocket-sized booklet (yes, about the size of a U.S. passport, only thicker) contains descriptions of all the stops along the trail, as well as maps to help you find them and even descriptions and maps of Kentucky's distilleries.

Bruce and Mary Hemminger of Milwaukee at the Brown Hotel Lobby Bar on the Urban Bourbon Trail.

Brown-Forman master distiller Chris Morris leads a tasting at Bourbons Bistro.

When you visit one of the stops on the Urban Bourbon Trail, have your server or bartender stamp the appropriate page of your passport. When you have made six stops, you can present your passport at the Visitors Center for an Urban Trailblazer T-shirt and a certificate declaring you an official citizen of Bourbon Country. Of course, the real reward is the opportunity to sample a variety of bourbons, including many that seldom make it out of Kentucky, and find some new favorites. There is no time limit, so you do not have to visit all six places in one day.

You can also use the high-tech version of the passport. An Urban Bourbon Trail app is available for both iPhones and Android smart phones. The download is free. Or, if you want a greater challenge than just sampling bourbon at six places, you can download and play SCVGR on the Urban Bourbon Trail, which involves completing assigned tasks or answering questions at each stop. Most of the trail stops are in downtown Louisville, and many are right on Whiskey Row itself. These include Proof on Main, the Bristol Bar & Grille, and Jockey Silks Bourbon Bar at the Galt House Hotel. Other downtown locations are the historic Brown Hotel Lobby Bar, the Old Seelbach Bar, and the Bar at BLU in the Louisville Marriott Downtown.

Even the stops outside the downtown area are not far away and are easy to get to if you have a car. Bourbons Bistro on Frankfort Avenue has more than 130 bourbons and features monthly bourbon dinners (often with master distillers as guests); among its numerous awards, it has been declared an “Icon of World Whisky” by Whisky Magazine. Equus & Jack's Lounge in suburban St. Matthews also has frequent dinners and a rotating selection of fine bourbon cocktails, thanks to bar manager Joy Perrine, coauthor of The Kentucky Bourbon Cocktail Book.

For more information about the Urban Bourbon Trail and a complete list of participating establishments, visit http://www.bourboncountry.com/urban-bourbon/ or call 888-568-4784.

Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby Museum

The Kentucky Derby, first held at Churchill Downs in 1875, is the oldest continuous annual sporting event in the United States. Run on the first Saturday in May, the Derby is often referred to as the Greatest Two Minutes in Sports or the Run for the Roses (referring to the blanket of flowers draped over the winning horse's neck). It tests the stamina and speed of the three-year-old Thoroughbreds racing the Derby's mile and a quarter for the first time in their careers.

Much of what makes the Derby special are its traditions. For what other American sporting event do people actually dress up? Women choose their Derby hats very carefully, and men don equine-themed ties and cufflinks. Just after the bugler in bright red livery plays the “Call to the Post” and the first horse steps onto the track for the parade to the starting gate, the crowd sings the most beautiful of all state songs, “My Old Kentucky Home.” The horses that have prevailed here—from Aristides in the very first Derby in 1875 to Gallant Fox, Whirlaway, War Admiral, Citation, Barbaro, and the incomparable Secretariat—represent Thoroughbred racing's elite.

The Greatest Two Minutes in Sports has also spawned what may be the best two weeks of partying in America—the Kentucky Derby Festival. “Thunder over Louisville,” a giant fireworks display over the Ohio River in mid-April, signals the start of a series of events that include a hot-air balloon race, a steamboat race, a marathon and mini-marathon for human runners, a parade down Broadway, and countless parties—public and private—where a great deal of bourbon is consumed. During Derby Festival, many master distillers are in town for tastings, bottle signings at liquor stores, and bourbon-themed dinners at local restaurants.

The Derby is such a big deal in Louisville that schools are closed the day before the race and a lot of people take the day off work. Oaks Day (the featured stakes race that Friday is the Kentucky Oaks, for three-year-old fillies) has become Louisville's day at the races, since the Derby itself attracts such a large number of out-of-town visitors.

On Oaks and Derby Days, hawkers move through the grandstand at Churchill Downs selling mint juleps, the signature drink of the Kentucky Derby. Ironically, it isn't made with bourbon. The track uses Early Times Kentucky Whisky, which is aged in used, rather than new, charred oak barrels and is therefore not technically a bourbon. (Bourbon lovers are usually relieved to know that no bourbon has been harmed by the addition of minty sugar water and a scoop of crushed ice.)

Whatever the formula, people drink a lot of mint juleps. That Friday and Saturday, more than 120,000 drinks are sold, which requires about 2,000 gallons of Early Times Mint Julep Ready-to-Serve Cocktail (released annually in commemorative bottles by maker Brown-Forman), 1,000 pounds of fresh mint sprigs (for garnish), and 60,000 pounds of crushed ice. And you get to keep the souvenir glass with all the names of previous Derby winners printed on it.

But bourbon can certainly be had, too. Woodford Reserve, the official bourbon of the Kentucky Derby, is used to make $1,000 mint juleps that are sold to raise money for horse-related charities. Rare mint varieties and ice from glaciers go into the making of these pricey sips, which are served in polished pewter mint julep cups. For more information about these charity juleps, go to http://www.woodfordreservemintjulep.com.

Mint julep.

If you want to attend the Derby or the Oaks, it's a good idea to plan ahead, especially if you want a good seat with an actual view of the horses. The Churchill Downs website has a wealth of information on how to do this (www.churchilldowns.org). Of course, it's much easier to attend races when it's not Derby weekend. Spring and fall meets are held from the last Saturday in April to the end of June and then from the end of October to the end of November.

You can get an excellent feel for the excitement and traditions of the Derby and Churchill Downs any time of year by visiting the Kentucky Derby Museum (704 Central Avenue, 502-637-1111, http://www.derbymuseum.org), located near one of the main entrances to Churchill Downs. Interactive exhibits include race simulations, betting, and even the opportunity to mount a life-size model horse in a real starting gate (don't worry, there are steps). Other exhibits examine the history and traditions of Churchill Downs and the Derby, and a film shown in an oval, track-shaped theater allows viewers to have the experience of being at the track on Derby Day. You can also take a variety of tours of the track itself, including a historic tour, a tour of the barns and backside, and a behind-the-scenes tour of places the public doesn't usually get to see, including the jockeys' locker room, the press box, and Millionaires Row.

Statue honoring the late Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro, at Churchill Downs Kentucky Derby Museum.

The museum also contains the Derby Café, which serves lunch daily. It is a member of the Urban Bourbon Trail and offers tasting flights (see the museum's website for a list of bourbons available at the café). Of course, you can get an authentic Churchill Downs mint julep there, too.

Churchill Downs and the Derby Museum are about fifteen minutes south of downtown. (The most direct route is along Third Street through historic Old Louisville and past the University of Louisville to Central Avenue.) The museum is open daily except for major holidays.

Locust Grove

Another fifteen-minute drive from downtown, heading east along River Road, will take you to Louisville's most important historic site and the only one in Kentucky that is both a National Historic Landmark and accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. Locust Grove (561 Blankenbaker Lane [between River Road and Brownsboro Road (US 42)], 502-897-9845, www.locustgrove.org) was the estate of Colonel William Croghan and his wife, Lucy, who was the sister of Louisville's founder, George Rogers Clark. Croghan served in the American Revolution with George Washington and purchased some land from James and Dolley Madison and Richard and Sarah Taylor (parents of Zachary Taylor).

The graceful Georgian mansion, dating from about 1790, was visited by presidents James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, and Zachary Taylor (who lived on a neighboring estate). Artist and naturalist John James Audubon sketched birds and plants in the surrounding woods for his landmark Birds of America. Clark spent the last nine years of his life, from 1809 to 1818, at Locust Grove. His younger brother William, along with his partner Meriwether Lewis, stopped in to see Clark on the way back from their famous expedition to the West.

Tours of the restored mansion and outbuildings introduce visitors to a surprisingly elegant frontier life, but Locust Grove was also a working farm. The current property consists of 55 of the original 694 acres, providing a period atmosphere that historic sites hemmed in by modern development do not enjoy.

View of the mansion and grounds of Locust Grove from Blankenbaker Lane.

Connections between Locust Grove and bourbon history are twofold. George Rogers Clark was one of the surveyors who laid out Leestown, which is now part of Frankfort and the site of Buffalo Trace Distillery. And one of the farm's products was surely whiskey, since the vast majority of distillers were farmers. The site is so evocative of that history that Heaven Hill used Locust Grove as a location for its orientation film at the Bourbon Heritage Center in Bardstown. (If you have seen the film, you may recognize the little log cabin at the southeast corner of the gardens.)

There may be one more connection to bourbon, or at least to a distiller. In addition to making whiskey, Evan Williams was a brick maker, and his kiln supplied the bricks for many of the early houses in Louisville. All were of approximately the same vintage as Locust Grove, so its bricks might have been made by Williams, too.

The Locust Grove administration is planning to make bourbon a more prominent part of the site's interpretation, so call or visit the website for an update. Meanwhile, Locust Grove is well worth a visit for its history and setting.

The Shively Distilleries Today

Another short drive from downtown, this time west along Broadway to Eighteenth Street, will take you to Louisville's three remaining large distilleries. Two are currently in production, but neither offers public tours.

The administration building at Brown-Forman.

Brown-Forman

If you are driving west on Broadway from downtown, make a left at Eighteenth Street, which becomes Dixie Highway. Two blocks south is a complex of handsome red-brick, ivy-covered buildings resembling a small liberal arts college campus. Only the huge Old Forester bottle looming overhead on your right announces that this is actually the world headquarters of Brown-Forman Corporation (http://www.brown-forman.com).

Brown-Forman actually refers to the complex as the “Campus,” which consists of nine office buildings, a bottling plant, and four warehouses. The oldest building dates from 1894, and two are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Old Forester and Early Times are distilled at the Early Times Distillery (2921 Dixie Highway), about a ten-minute drive south of the Campus. It's no accident that both facilities' settings are notably attractive. The landscaping was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted's firm.

Heaven Hill

Take a left turn onto West Breckenridge, which is just past the white-columned Brown-Forman administration building, and you will arrive at Heaven Hill's Bernheim Distillery. Heaven Hill (http://www.heavenhill.com) makes all its bourbons here, including Evan Williams, Heaven Hill, and Elijah Craig, as well as Bernheim Original Kentucky Straight Wheat Whiskey. The distillery was built in 1991, so it was practically new when Heaven Hill bought it in 1999 from United Distillers, seven years after Heaven Hill's distillery in Bardstown was destroyed by a fire. It contains some of the most state-of-the-art technology in the bourbon industry. The site has seven warehouses, but most of the product made at Bernheim is aged in the company's warehouses south of Bardstown.

Stitzel-Weller

Turn left back onto Dixie Highway, and in a few minutes you'll see the entrance to Brown-Forman's Early Times Distillery on your left. You are now less than a mile from the legendary Stitzel-Weller Distillery.

Founded by Julian P. “Pappy” Van Winkle, it opened on Derby Day 1935. Van Winkle's bourbons were made with wheat instead of rye, were distilled in an all-copper still, and were often aged longer (a decade or more) than standard industry practice. Stitzel-Weller brands included Old Fitzgerald, Very Special Old Fitzgerald 12-Year-Old, Old Weller Antique, and Rebel Yell. Stitzel-Weller was sold in 1972 and was eventually acquired by London-based United Distillers (the distilling branch of Guinness PLC). Several brand names were sold to other distillers, which is why they still appear on store shelves, but not necessarily with their original recipes.

Warehouses of the Stitzel-Weller Distillery, with the iconic Old Fitzgerald chimney.

What had been United Distillers is now Diageo (http://www.diageo.com), and it still owns the property. Even though all production stopped in the 1990s, several of the company's whiskies are still aged on-site, including those used for the blended whiskey, Crown Royal. Bulleit, the bourbon owned by Diageo, moved its corporate offices to Louisville in 2011. (Diageo also distills I. W. Harper, which is sold only as an export to Asia.) Currently, the Visitors Center is open only to industry salespeople and beverage writers, but there have been rumors that Diageo is considering opening it to the public, so check it out when you are in Louisville.

To get to the site, take Ralph Avenue, the second street on the right, south of Early Times. This leads to Fitzgerald Road, where you will see the rust-streaked, metal-clad warehouses straight in front of you. Turn right onto Fitzgerald, which will take you to the now-gated entrance, but you'll have a good view of the red-brick chimney with “Old Fitzgerald” in white letters.

Where to Eat and Drink

Louisville has a wealth of excellent restaurants, including those that serve southern dishes with a contemporary twist and a plethora of ethnic eateries. There's a growing movement that advocates the use of local and regional ingredients, but since the city is an air hub for shipping giant UPS, restaurants specializing in seafood or any number of international cuisines have access to fresh foodstuffs for their tables, too.

The restaurants participating in the Urban Bourbon Trail reflect this diversity, as do those participating in Louisville Originals (http://www.louisvilleoriginals.com), a consortium of independently owned restaurants that offer a frequent diner rewards program. If you are from another city with an “Originals” program, you can collect and redeem points in Louisville, too. Many restaurants are members of both programs.

The following is by no means a complete list of all the good places to eat in the city. Restaurants have been chosen based on location, consistent quality, and probable appeal to bourbon-oriented visitors, including a good selection of bourbons or bourbon cocktails. Please refer to each restaurant's website for menu details. Participation in the Urban Bourbon Trail and Louisville Originals is designated by UBT and LO, respectively. Pricing is indicated as follows: $—inexpensive, with most entrees priced at $15 or less; $$—moderate, at $16 to $25; and $$$—expensive, at $26 or higher.

Whiskey Row (Main and Market Streets bounded by First and Eighth Streets)

BBC (Bluegrass Brewing Company)—300 West Main Street, 502-562-0007, http://www.bbcbrew.com. Brewpub with Four Roses Bourbon Barrel Loft, $.

Bistro 301—301 West Market Street, 502-584-8337, http://bistr0301.com. American, $–$$, LO.

Bristol Bar & Grille Downtown—614 West Main Street, 502-582-1995, http://www.bristolbarandgrille.com. American, $–$$, UBT, LO.

Dish on Market—434 West Market Street, 502-315-0669, http://dishonmarket.com. American, $, UBT.

Doc Crow's Southern Smokehouse & Raw Bar—127 West Main Street, 502-587-1626, http://doccrows.com. Barbeque, $–$$, UBT.

Jeff Ruby's—325 West Main Street, 502-584-0102, http://www.jeffruby.com/louisville.php. Steak house, $$$.

Morton's—626 West Main Street, 502-584-0421, www.mortons.com/louisville. Steak house, $$$.

Patrick O'Shea's Irish Pub—123 West Main Street, 502-708-2488, http://osheaslouisville.net. Has a bourbon cellar, $.

Proof on Main—702 West Main Street, 502- 217-6360, http://www.proofonmain.com/. Contemporary southern/Italian, $$–$$$, UBT.

St. Charles Exchange—113 South Seventh Street, 502-618-1917, http://stcharlesexchange.com. American, $$$. Located in a former distillery.

Vincenzo's—150 South Fifth Street, 502-580-1350, http://www.vincenzositalianrestaurant.com/. Fine Italian dining, $$$, LO.

Z's Oyster Bar & Steakhouse—115 South Fourth Street, 502-855-8000, http://zoysterbar.com/. Seafood and aged steaks, $$$.

Old Louisville

Buck's—425 West Ormsby Avenue, 502-637-5284, http://www.bucksrestaurantandbar.com. Contemporary, $$–$$$, UBT.

610 Magnolia—610 West Magnolia Avenue, 502-636-0783, http://www.610magnolia.com. Contemporary, $$$.

NuLu and Butchertown

Against the Grain—401 East Main Street, 502-515-0174, http://www.atgbrewery.com. Brewpub in Slugger Field, $.

The Blind Pig—1076 East Washington Street, 502-618-0600, http://theblindpiglouisville.com. Gastropub, $$. (The vacant lot next door still contains the foundations of the A. Ph. Stitzel Distillery, which was purchased in 1908 by Pappy Van Winkle and Alex T. Farnsley. Van Winkle's office was in the red-brick building that still stands at the intersection of Story Avenue and Johnson Street.)

Decca—812 East Market Street, 502-749-8128, http://deccarestaurant.com. Contemporary, $$.

Garage Bar—700 East Market Street, 502-749-7100, http://www.garageonmarket.com. Gourmet pizzas, $.

Harvest—624 East Market Street, 502-384-9090, http://www.harvestonmarket.com. Farm to table, $$.

Haymarket Whiskey Bar—331 East Market Street, 502-442-0523, http://haymarketwhiskeybar.com. No food, $.

Rye—900 East Market Street, 502-749-6200, http://ryeonmarket.com. Contemporary, $$$.

Taste Fine Wine & Bourbons—634 East Market Street, 502-409-4644, http://tastefinewinesandbourbons.com. No food, $.

Wiltshire on Market—636 East Market Street, 502-589-5224, http://www.wiltshirepantry/wiltshire-on-market.com. Contemporary, $$.

The bar at the Blind Pig.

Frankfort Avenue/Lower Brownsboro Road

Bourbons Bistro—2255 Frankfort Avenue, 502-894-8838, http://www.bourbonsbistro.com. Contemporary, 150 whiskies, $$, UBT. (Location for monthly meetings of the Bourbon Society, http://www.thebourbonsociety.net.)

Irish Rover—2319 Frankfort Avenue, 502-899-3544, http://www.theirishroverky.com. Pub, $, LO.

North End Café—1722 Frankfort Avenue, 502-896-8770, http://www.northendcafe.com. Contemporary, $–$$, LO.

Pat's Steak House—2437 Brownsboro Road, 502-893-2062, http://www.patssteakhouselouisville.com. Steak house, $$.

The Silver Dollar—1761 Frankfort Avenue, 502-259-9540, http://whiskybythedrink.com. Barbecue, $–$$, UBT.

Highlands

Asiatique—1767 Bardstown Road, 502-451-2749, http://www.asiatiquerestaurant.com. Pacific Rim, $$, UBT, LO.

Baxter Station Bar & Grill—1201 Payne Street, 502-584-1635, http://www.baxterstation.com. Gastropub, $–$$ UBT, LO. (Warehouses of the former Old Grand-Dad Distillery are located just up the street at the corner of Payne Street and Lexington Road.)

Lunch at Lilly's under a copy of a Howard Christy Chandler mural.

Bistro Le Relais—Bowman Field, 2817 Taylorsville Road, 502-451-9020, http://www.lerelaisrestaurant.com. French, $$, LO.

Jack Fry's—1007 Bardstown Road, 502-452-9244, http://www.jackfrys.com. Contemporary, $$–$$$.

La Bodega Tapas Bar—1606 Bardstown Road, 502-456-4955, http://www.delatorres.com. Spanish, $$, LO.

Lilly's: A Kentucky Bistro—1147 Bardstown Road, 502-451-0447, http://www.lillyslapeche.com. Contemporary southern, $$, LO.

Ramsi's Café on the World—1293 Bardstown Road, 502-451-0700, http://www.ramsicafe.com. International, $–$$, UBT.

Uptown Café—1624 Bardstown Road, 502-458-4212, http://www.uptownlouisville.com. Contemporary, $–$$, LO. I

Suburbs

Corbett's: An American Place—5050 Norton Healthcare Boulevard, 502-327-5058, http://www.corbettsrestaurant.com. Contemporary, $$–$$$, UBT.

Equus & Jack's Lounge—122 Sears Avenue, 502-897-9721, http://www.equusrestaurant.com. Contemporary, $–$$, UBT, LO.

Limestone—10001 Forest Green Boulevard, 502-426-7477, http://www.limestonerestaurant.com. Contemporary southern, $$, UBT, LO.

Majid's—3911 Chenoweth Square, 502-618-2222, http://www.majidstmatthews.com. Mediterranean, $$.

Village Anchor Pub & Roost—11507 Park Road, 502-708-1850, http://www.villageanchor.com/. Gastropub, $$, UBT.

Where to Stay

Since tens of thousands of out-of-town visitors descend on Louisville every year for the Kentucky Derby, the city usually has no shortage of hotel rooms. Virtually all the national hotel and motel chains have a presence here, many with multiple locations, and there is a wide price range.

One way for bourbon-oriented visitors to have a true local experience is to stay at one of the major downtown hotels, including two venerable establishments dating from the early twentieth century—the Brown Hotel and the Seelbach Hilton Hotel. Another great way to experience the city is to stay at one of several locally owned bed-and-breakfasts, many of which are located in the Victorian Old Louisville neighborhood south of the city center and north of Churchill Downs. They cost less than downtown accommodations but a little more than budget hotel chains. Bear in mind that you get a delicious and filling breakfast included in the tariff.

Dining room at the 1840 Tucker House Bed-and-Breakfast.

Rates listed here are the establishment's lowest. Special features and suites cost more, and daily rates can vary, so you will probably be quoted a higher rate, depending on when you want to stay.

Downtown Hotels

The Brown Hotel—335 West Broadway, 502-583-1234 or 888-387-0498, http://www.brownhotel.com. $189. The Brown's Lobby Bar is on the Urban Bourbon Trail.

Galt House Hotel—140 North Fourth Street, 502-589-5200 or 800-843-4258, www.galthouse.com. $135. The Galt's Jockey Silks Bourbon Bar is on the Urban Bourbon Trail.

Hyatt Regency—320 West Jefferson Street, 502-581-1234 or 800-633-7313, louisville.hyatt.com. $143.

Louisville Marriott Downtown—280 West Jefferson Street, 502-627-5045 or 800-533-0127, www.marriottlouisville.com/. $219. The Bar at BLU is on the Urban Bourbon Trail.

Seelbach Hilton Hotel—500 South Fourth Street, 502-585-3200 or 800-333-3399, www.seelbachhilton.com. $165. The Old Seelbach Bar is on the Urban Bourbon Trail.

21C Museum Hotel—700 West Main Street, 502-217-6300 or 877-217-6400, http://www.21cmuseumhotels.com/louisville/. $229. Proof on Main is on the Urban Bourbon Trail.

Bed-and-Breakfasts

The Louisville Bed-and-Breakfast Association has nineteen member inns. Rates average $100 to $120 per night for a room and breakfast for two adults. For a list of all the B&Bs, with links and phone numbers, go to http://www.louisvillebedandbreakfast.org.

Mint Julep Tours

This Louisville-based tour company has a fleet of comfortable passenger vans and offers a variety of Louisville and Kentucky experiences. Mint Julep can provide a designated driver for your Urban Bourbon Trail crawl, take you around the city for a tour of historic places or a shopping spree, or offer guided day visits to nearby horse farms or distilleries. If you are interested in visiting the Brown-Forman Cooperage, you will have to book the tour through Mint Julep. Mint Julep can even arrange for you to select your own barrel of bourbon at a distillery. This will set you back a few thousand dollars, but you won't have to buy bourbon again for a very long time.

Mint Julep Tours.

For details about all the tours, go to www.mintjuleptours.com. For pricing information, call 502-583-1433. Tours leave from the Galt House Hotel, where the company has an office and a gift shop on the third floor, Suite 326, in the Retail Row of the Rivue Tower.

Bourbon Balls and Beyond

Many of the distillery tours offer bourbon balls made with the distillery's whiskey, in addition to drink samples. Most of these candies are produced by either Rebecca Ruth of Frankfort (http://www.rebeccaruth.com) or Ruth Hunt Candies of Mt. Sterling (http://www.ruthhuntcandy.com). Several candy makers in Louisville also make bourbon balls, including Muth's, which has been in business since 1921, and Cellar Door Chocolates, established in 2007 (and the subject of a feature story on NPR's Morning Edition). Located in the Butchertown Market, Cellar Door makes an impressive assortment of sixteen different bourbon balls, from basic dark chocolate to those laced with mint, ginger, honey, caramel, and even cayenne. Owner and chocolate maker Erika Chavez-Graziano uses some ingredients from her neighbor, Bourbon Barrel Foods, including bourbon-smoked sugar for her cotton candy and bourbon vanilla sorghum in one of her specialty truffles.

Bourbon Barrel Foods also got its start in 2007 and received some good press in several media outlets, including the New York Times. Proprietor Matt Jamie ages his micro-distilled soy sauce, Worchestershire sauce, and vanilla extract in used bourbon barrels. He also smokes paprika, coarsely ground sea salt, and black pepper using bourbon. The flavors are intense and wonderful. The vinaigrette salad dressing made with sorghum and Woodford Reserve bourbon is addictive.

In the gift shops at Jim Beam, Wild Turkey, Buffalo Trace, Maker's Mark, Woodford Reserve, and Heaven Hill, you will find an array of foodstuffs made with each company's brands, including steak sauces and marinades, barbecue sauces, and hot sauces. Jim Beam also has a very good chicken-wing sauce, and Wild Turkey sells bourbon-smoked jerky in its shop. On the sweet side, try the bourbon cherry preserves from Buffalo Trace, as well as its fudge and caramel sauces. Most of the distilleries have bourbon-accented pancake syrups, too. And you can turbo-charge your Manhattan or old-fashioned with maraschino cherries soaked in Maker's Mark.

A selection of gourmet foodstuffs from Bourbon Barrel Foods of Louisville.

Many of the large liquor stores listed in appendix B carry several brands of bourbon food products, such as bourbon-coated nuts of different varieties. You may even encounter bread and pancake mixes made with spent mash.

In the past decade, several craft breweries have started using bourbon barrels to age specialty beers to impart extra flavor. If you can get it, Allagash of Maine makes a remarkable Curieux Bourbon Barrel Aged Triple Ale. Among other national craft brewers that produce a bourbon ale or stout are Goose Island of Chicago and Full Sail of Oregon. When you are in Kentucky, look for Bluegrass Brewing Company's Bourbon Barrel Stout and All-Tech Brewing's Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale.

If you want to try your hand at making dishes with bourbon, get a copy of The Kentucky Bourbon Cookbook by Albert Schmid (2010, University Press of Kentucky, $24.95) or Splash of Bourbon: Kentucky's Spirit: A Cookbook by David Domine (2010, McClanahan Publishing House, $29.95).

The following establishments in Louisville sell bourbon candies and other foodstuffs:

 

Art Eatables Small Batch Bourbon Truffles—502-751-1208, http://www.arteatables.com/

Bluegrass Brewing Company (main location)—3929 Shelbyville Road, 502-899-7070, http://www.bbcbrew.com/

Butchertown Market—1201 Story Avenue—where the following are located:

Bourbon Barrel Foods—502-333-6103, http://www.bourbonbarrelfoods.com Cellar Door Chocolates—502-561-2940, http://www.cellardoorchocolates.com

Dundee Candy Shop—2212 Bardstown Road, 502-452-9266, http://www.dundeecandy.com/

Ghyslain on Market—721 East Market Street, 502-690-8645, http://www.ghyslain.com

Muth's Candies—630 East Market Street, 800-556-8847, http://www.muthscandy.com

 

And just across the river from downtown Louisville is Schimpff's Confectionary—347 Spring Street, Jeffersonville, Indiana; 812-283-8367, http://wwws.schimpffs.com/.