Latest news with #KentuckyBourbonTrail
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
How to taste 200 miles of bourbon country without leaving Louisville: 6 tasting rooms to visit
Traveling to every bourbon distillery that has a Louisville satellite tasting room would take more 200 miles and three hours. But traveling between their outposts in Louisville only takes a few minutes. Louisville's bourbon tasting room culture is growing. In 2022, the Kentucky General Assembly passed a bill that allows distilleries to launch satellite tasting rooms, similar to California's Sonoma and Napa Valley wine regions. Tasting rooms are different than distillery bars, as they typically serve as more of an urban outposts for brands that distill or blend bourbon in other locations. Kentucky's bourbon country is vast, and not every enthusiast has the time to visit every inch of it. As such, distilleries in places like Frankfort, Owensboro and Bardstown have all opened tasting rooms in Louisville, as a way for these rural, somewhat hard-to-reach giants to better introduce themselves to Kentucky Derbygoers and Louisville's bustling convention crowd, and perhaps, entice them to come back for a longer bourbon adventure, later. Don't have time for a multi-city Kentucky Bourbon Trail experience? Here are six tasting rooms you can visit in Louisville: More: Here are 7 new bourbon, whiskey releases or experiences you need to know about this month 730 W. Main St., Louisville, Bardstown Bourbon Company's Louisville location features an interactive education and tasting experiences and a craft cocktail menu, as well as augmented reality and immersive digital environments. The retail section is also home to some exclusive bottles. HOURS: Monday and Tuesday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Wednesday and Thursday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. DISTILLERY: Bardstown Bourbon Company's main distillery is located at 1500 Parkway Drive in Bardstown, about 45 miles from downtown Louisville. MORE INFORMATION: 400 S. St. inside the Omni Louisville Hotel downtown, Castle & Key 502 offers a curated selection of merchandise, spirits, and craft cocktails. Guests can sample spirits and shop products. It's located inside Falls City Market at the Omni Louisville Hotel, which serves as a satellite home to several other Kentucky-based businesses. HOURS: Tuesday-Saturday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. DISTILLERY: Castle & Key's main distillery is located in Franklin County, nearly 60 miles from downtown Louisville. MORE INFORMATION: or 502-395-9070 More: Weird Louisville: 6 off-limits and mysterious places we want to visit 714 W. Main St., Louisville, The Green River Distilling Co. tasting room will feature a horseshoe-shaped tasting and cocktail bar, which references the brand's iconography. Original warehouse lighting, distiller's switchboards, and copper tanks from Owensboro are artfully integrated into the tasting room's contemporary décor. There's also a retail and bottle shop that sells everyday whiskies and limited-edition exclusives. The ground floor has a lounge, a small performance stage, and a seating area. Beyond the main room, there's a speakeasy bar that will host educational experiences and private events. Guests will have the opportunity to play 'Shoot the Shoe,' which is a game that uses a Green River bottle as a goal. HOURS: Green River opens to the public on June 16. Its hours will be Monday-Saturday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. DISTILLERY: Green River's main distillery is at 10 Distillery Road in Owensboro, about 110 miles from downtown Louisville. MORE INFORMATION: 131 W. Main St., Louisville, Monk's Road Boiler House is a luxury-style chophouse from Log Still Distillery, and it is the first distillery satellite tasting room to have a fine dining component. It's located in the heart of Louisville's Whiskey Row. HOURS: Tastings are available Thursday-Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The restaurant is open Sunday 5-9 p.m., Monday-Thursday 5-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday 5-11 p.m. DISTILLERY: Log Still Distillery is Monk's Road's homebase, and it is located about 50 miles from downtown Louisville near New Haven. MORE INFORMATION: 722 Main St., Louisville, Pursuit Spirits is opening a downtown Louisville tasting room later this summer, which will feature a retail area and three 'classrooms' or tasting rooms. HOURS: Pursuit Spirits is expected to open to the public in July. DISTILLERY: Pursuit Spirits is different than some of its competitors because it partners with four distilleries across multiple states to create six specific mashbills with customized barrel char levels. Its bourbon doesn't come from one specific homebase. MORE INFORMATION: More: Pursuit Spirts to open on Whiskey Row this summer. Here's a sneak peek of what to expect 610 Nanny Goat Strut, Louisville, Whiskey Thief Distilling Co. tasting room features a unique whiskey thief experience where guests can sample unfiltered bourbon directly from the barrel. Since it opened in 2024, the bar has garnered a reputation for its cocktail menu and its live entertainment. It's also one of the few distillery specific bourbon experiences that welcome nightlife. HOURS: Monday-Wednesday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Thursday-Saturday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., and Sunday 12-8 p.m. DISTILLERY: Whiskey Thief's main distillery is located at 283 Crab Orchard Road in Frankfort, about 45 miles from downtown Louisville MORE INFORMATION: More: 'Must-visit hidden gem:' This NuLu bar might serve one of the best twists on a mint julep Reach Courier Journal features columnist Maggie Menderski at mmenderski@ This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Taste bourbon country without leaving Louisville 6 tasting rooms to try
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Kentucky Lottery winner plans ‘me time', eyes small business after deadly tornado
MAYFIELD, Ky. (FOX 56) — A Mayfield woman is planning some 'me time' after a Kentucky Lottery win. Lottery officials said Bridgett Guthrie recently had her name drawn from over 100,000 entries for the lottery's Kentucky Bourbon Trail online game second-chance promotion that won a Kentucky distillery tour package for two worth $1,350 and a $10,000 cash prize for a grand prize value of $11,350. Kentucky Lottery winner plans 'me time', eyes small business after deadly tornado London is three-fourths finished with cleanup efforts after deadly tornado: Mayor 1 dead, 2 injured after crash in Adair County 'I needed a break, and this is a good break,' Guthrie told lottery officials when she and her mother drove more than 3 hours from Mayfield recently to claim her prize. 'I'm so excited about this. I'm ready for some 'me time.' I've been on distillery tours before but I'm really looking forward to this one.' According to a news release, on the drive to lottery headquarters, Guthrie's mom said her daughter talked about spending her cash prize on her three daughters. 'The first thing she said wasn't about wanting something for herself but what she is getting her kids,' Guthrie's mom said. 'She said she was getting the girls a waterslide for their backyard. She never said, 'oh, I'm going out to get this and this.' No, it was all about the kids.' Guthrie entered the lottery's second-chance promotion through its online gaming channel or Instant Play. Bill could make federal minimum wage $15: Kentucky among states paying less than that Kentucky sitting near bottom of rankings in environmental protection: Study Airbnb generates an estimated $590 million in Kentucky in 2024 She said she has been playing the Instant Play games for about two years and uses lottery bonus bucks and ongoing game wins to play. 'I started using the (Kentucky Lottery mobile) app, and I started winning,' she said. 'I have hit a couple of $250 wins, and every Friday as a Fun Club Member, I check if I have any bonus bucks. So, when the Bourbon Trail game came out, I was like, well, I'm going to play this one and I just enjoy the game. It's a good game.' In early April, the Kentucky Lottery and the Kentucky Distillers' Association rolled out its Kentucky Bourbon Trail lottery games as part of a partnership. The games include a $5 Scratch-off ticket; a $5 Fast Play ticket; and an Instant Play (online) game. These games offered second-chance promotions. The Kentucky Bourbon Trail Instant Play game's top prize of $250,000 remains. Guthrie, who worked at the Mayfield Consumer Products candle factory that was destroyed in the 2021 tornadoes, said she, like others in her area, is trying to rebuild their life after the massive devastation in western Kentucky. Scott County softball soars into state semifinals Lexington SC, Racing Louisville FC women set to play in preseason friendly Kentucky and Arkansas set to meet once this upcoming season 'Having been a 70-hour working mom at the candle factory, I might look into using some of the money to start a small business,' she said. 'So, we are going to scale it down. I'm going to use some of this prize money to watch for something where I can be more present for my kids and look for a small business type of situation.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Forbes
25-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Feasting In Louisville Begins Long Before The Running Of The Kentucky Derby
The Kentucky Derby lasts all of two minutes but in Louisville it begins days before with a series of parties that can last all day and half the night. Of course, the city always has a vibrant nightlife in the bars and restaurants around town, and, once you've clinched a tough-to-get hotel room, joining the festivities is just a question of showing up. During the preceding week in Louisville, which is promoted as Bourbon City, hordes of people will be joining the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, which begins at the Welcome Center within the Frazier Museum and takes buses out to visit distilleries like Angel's Envy, Michter's, Evan Williams and Old Forester, while the city's own Urban Bourbon Trail heads down Whiskey Row on Main Street, which is now dotted with distilleries and restaurants. At any time of year eating Kentuckians' favorite foods is easy but requisite during Derby Week, not least pimento cheese and country ham and biscuits, which will be found at every party, with puffy split buttermilk biscuits with a thin slice of rosy, salty, thinly sliced country ham on the table. With this you drink a mint julep, a cocktail made from bourbon, sugar, and mint, traditionally served at the running of the Derby. The cocktail dates back to before 1800. Historian Frances Parkinson Keyes observed that 'The last instructions which a Virginia gentleman murmurs on his deathbed are, 'Never insult a decent woman, never bring a horse in the house, and never crush the mint in a julep!'' The other famous local cocktail is the Old Fashioned, made with whiskey (bourbon or rye), sugar, and bitters, served in a squat Old Fashioned glass. It was created around 1881, possibly at the Pendennis Club that opened that year. Another signature Louisville dish is the created at the Brown Hotel in the 1920ss when one night guests at its dinner dance went to the restaurant for a late bite, and chef Fred Schmidt came up with an open-faced turkey sandwich with bacon and a delicate Mornay sauce. It is still the featured dish at the hotel, though not easily found outside of it. But no dish is more specific trace day than the Derby pie, a trademark name of the Kerns Bakery in town, for a very thick, rich chocolate-chip pecan pie. You can find dishes like these at Churchill Downs's nine food and drink venues, including Starting Gate Pavilion Balcony, the Skye Terrace, Millionaire's Row and Stakes Dining Room. One of my favorite places in town, dating back to 1958 is Pat's Steakhouse, set on two floors of a 150-year-old coach house with décor of dark woods, brass chandeliers, Waterford crystal, hundreds of old photos and white tablecloths, along with a wall of more than 60 bourbons. Begin with a platter of oysters, maybe the frogs' legs in garlic butter and then the 16-ounce strip steak or Pat's fried chicken. Jack Fry's pre-dates Pat's by a quarter century in business, decked out in decades of sports and gambling memorabilia. Here's where to get shrimp and grits with redeye gravy or the pork chop with smoked bacon and roast potatoes and the angel's food cake. Kentucky has a string barbecue culture, and one of the best I found in Louisville is Pork ribs BBQ at Backdeck. John Mariani owned by Chan Nelson, who insists you don't drown his succulent ribs in sauce. Best bargain is the three-meat platter with beans, smoked mac and cheese, and yams. Red Hog is a butcher shop that also purveys terrific sandwiches, soups and charcuterie. The Fat Tony sandwich ($16), mounted with mortadella, salami cotto, city ham, provolone, mayo, hot pepper tapenade, lettuce and onion, is terrific. There's first-rate Italian food at ROC, owned by chef Rocco Cadolini, for sumptuous pastas. Try for an outdoor patio table. For the big, brash splurge––and it's sure to be packed every night––make a reservation in advance at Jeff Ruby's Steakhouse, which does indeed have 14 cuts of steak, as well as 15 variations of sushi, wagyu meatballs, a massive pork porterhouse with polenta cakes and heady black pepper jus and for dessert a three-layer carrot cake with warm caramel cream cheese icing. The restaurant's wine list deserves its many awards for great breadth and depth.
USA Today
07-02-2025
- Business
- USA Today
Kentucky Bourbon Trail adds 15 new locations. Meet the newest distillery members
Kentucky Bourbon Trail adds 15 new locations. Meet the newest distillery members Show Caption Hide Caption Kentucky bourbon industry by the numbers Bourbon production and consumption bring billions into Kentucky's economy. Here are the numbers showing its impact. The Kentucky Bourbon Trail has added 15 new stops to its lineup, bringing the total to 60 destinations across the state. The trail, which sees over 2.5 million annual visitors, aims to offer a comprehensive bourbon experience. New additions include distilleries, tasting rooms, and attractions spread across various Kentucky regions. There are more than a dozen new places where you can sip Kentucky's favorite spirit along the famed Kentucky Bourbon Trail. The trail has added 15 new locations to its route, bringing the total to 60 destinations in 27 of Kentucky's 120 counties. 'As bourbon tourism continues to thrive, our members are creating more opportunities for the world to experience the heart and soul of America's spirit in a variety of ways that meet every visitor's interests,' Colleen Thomas, Kentucky Distillers' Association vice president of operations, said in a news release. The Kentucky Bourbon Trail sees more than 2.5 million visitors annually and more than 80% of all trail visitors come from outside Kentucky, according to the Kentucky Distillers' Association. 'What began as a small group of distilleries (in 1999) now has grown into an ever-expanding bucket list destination with global appeal,' Thomas said. 'Each new addition is more than a stop on a map ― it's a celebration of Kentucky Bourbon's rich history and proud heritage." Bourbon is a $9 billion industry for Kentucky, generating more than 23,100 jobs with $2.2 billion in salaries and benefits, according to the Kentucky Distillers' Association. And even as alcoholic beverages see a slowdown in sales, KDA President Eric Gregory said he does not believe bourbon tourism will be impacted by headwinds like shifts in consumer trends, snowballing taxes, and the threat of retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods. These 15 new stops on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail have been added during a pivotal moment for the whiskey industry as a whole. Last week, President Donald Trump imposed a 25% tariff on Canada and Mexico, which were later suspended for 30 days. The tariffs spurred concern across the nation over potential job loss and the impacts to certain industries such as Kentucky bourbon. This comes on the heels of Louisville-based Brown Forman, which is home to major bourbon brands Old Forester and Woodford Reserve, announcing plans to cut 12% of its workforce. Meanwhile, the American whiskey industry is bracing for a 50% retaliatory tariff from the European Union to resume March 31. While the bourbon industry as whole seems to be facing dynamic political hurdles on the international stage, Kentucky leaders continue to be optimistic about its ability to fuel tourism in the commonwealth. More: How Trump imposed tariffs on Canada, Mexico could impact the Kentucky bourbon industry 'Kentucky is the one, true and authentic home for bourbon,' Gregory said in the release. 'While we keep breaking attendance records, there are plenty of people around the world who have never made the pilgrimage to the Birthplace of Bourbon — and many more who are planning to return. Now with 60 different destinations ... there is more for fans to see and taste on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail tour than ever before." Here are the newest members of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, by geographic location: Bardstown Central Lexington Louisville Northern Western Find more details about the trail at Business reporter Olivia Evans contributed to this report. Reach Courier Journal features columnist Maggie Menderski at mmenderski@
