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I went to the American city that's the bourbon capital with unusual museums and the world's biggest baseball bat
I went to the American city that's the bourbon capital with unusual museums and the world's biggest baseball bat

The Sun

time09-05-2025

  • The Sun

I went to the American city that's the bourbon capital with unusual museums and the world's biggest baseball bat

FANCY a holiday in Louisville, Kentucky? First, learn to say it right. Is it Louie-ville, or maybe Loo-uh-vul or simply Luh-vul? Say it wrong and a Kentuckian will correct you. Say it right, and they'll probably still correct you. While we can't guarantee you'll nail the pronunciation — which definitely features a silent S — we can tell you where to eat, drink, explore and sleep in the city of horse-racing, baseball bats and bourbon. WHY SHOULD I GO? Louisville packs big-city fun with small-town Southern charm — without the tourist hordes of Nashville or New Orleans. As the bourbon capital of the world, it has more than a dozen distilleries within the city limits. It also features the historic Kentucky Derby racetrack. And now is the perfect time to visit the city as 2025 marks 100 years of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, partly inspired by the author's boozy nights with mobsters at Louisville's Seelbach Hotel. STREETS MADE FOR WALKING? Most of Louisville's highlights are walkable, with ten to 15 minutes on foot between the major sights. 6 The city has a bus system, but Ubers are affordable and easy to use. For a stroll that will take in most of the sights, start on Main Street's Whiskey Row, a stretch of 19th-century buildings now home to top bars and restaurants. Then head east to NuLu (New Louisville), a once-industrial district now a hub for galleries, indie boutiques and everything from Cuban to Yucatan food. From there, loop back west via Waterfront Park, which traces the edge of the Ohio River. You'll get sweeping views across to Indiana. The park is expanding this year, with new sections connecting downtown to the up-and-coming neighbourhood of Portland, just west of the city centre. 6 ANYTHING FOR THE BUCKET LIST? The Evan Williams Bourbon Experience is the place to get a handle on Kentucky's most famous export. The five-storey-high bourbon bottle out front sets the tone, and tours end with a guided tasting in a sleek underground bar. Just a few steps away is the KMAC Museum, a contemporary art museum where the descriptions actually help you understand what you're looking at. I popped in between distillery visits and found it fascinating, though that might have been the bourbon talking. Baseball fans can swing by the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory, where the world's biggest baseball bat leans against the building. You can also catch Minor League team Louisville Bats from April to September. For something a bit more offbeat, look out for Louisville's disco balls. During the 1970s and 1980s, the city made nearly 90 per cent of America's mirror balls. 6 They are now on show as part of the Frazier History Museum's Cool Kentucky exhibit. Churchill Downs, home of the world-famous Kentucky Derby, is a must-visit. When there's no racing, the Kentucky Derby Museum offers daily tours of the historic track. No trip to Louisville is complete without paying tribute to its most famous son: Muhammad Ali. The legendary boxer is honoured at the Muhammad Ali Center, a riverside museum that's part tribute and part interactive exhibition on civil rights, confidence and courage. It's powerful stuff — and the views from the upper floors are knockout. WHERE SHOULD I EAT? Housed in an old petrol station and garage, Garage Bar now fuels up customers with epic pizzas. I wolfed down a house-made pepperoni, then got convincingly beaten at late-night table tennis on their glowing tables. Just down the street, Feast BBQ lives up to its name. Their tater tots (those crispy little potato nuggets Am- ericans obsess over) are legendary. I recommend them piled with smoked brisket and washed down with a bourbon slushie. 6 I FANCY A DRINK! My favourite, for the sheer variety of bottles, was Down One Bourbon Bar on Whiskey Row. They stock more than 130 different bourbons and whiskeys and their Mexican food is great. Don't miss the speakeasy room hidden behind an old red British phone booth. Meanwhile, over at The Lucky Penny, a mirror-covered bar pays tribute to Louisville's disco legacy with drinks such as the Mirror Ball cocktail. WHERE SHOULD I STAY? I stayed at the Embassy Suites by Hilton Louisville Downtown. The rooms are spacious and it's well located for a night of live music in the lively Downtown area. For more character, the nearby Seelbach Hilton, one of Louisville's grandest hotels, has just unveiled a new Great Gatsby Suite decked out in full 1920s style. Even if you can't book it, take their free hotel tour (Thursday-Saturday at 4.30pm) to see the Oakroom, where gangster Al Capone played cards, and the Rathskeller Room, where Fitzgerald knocked back drinks and drew inspiration for his novel.

Avalon Spirits Launches Whiskey Row Bourbon with Triple Wood, Bottled in Bond, and Cask Strength Expressions
Avalon Spirits Launches Whiskey Row Bourbon with Triple Wood, Bottled in Bond, and Cask Strength Expressions

Yahoo

time22-04-2025

  • Business
  • Yahoo

Avalon Spirits Launches Whiskey Row Bourbon with Triple Wood, Bottled in Bond, and Cask Strength Expressions

Inspired by Louisville's Whiskey Row and the ingenuity that shaped bourbon history, the brand revives pre-Prohibition aging and blending techniques to celebrate America's iconic spirit. LOUISVILLE, Ky., April 22, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Avalon Spirits launches Whiskey Row Bourbon with Triple Wood, Bottled in Bond, and Cask Strength expressions inspired by the birthplace of the bourbon industry and the culture of experimentation that fueled its growth. From 1850 through Prohibition, an area of Louisville's Main Street, called Whiskey Row, became the convergence point for America's best bourbons as they were shipped down the Ohio River for blending and exporting. Created at Kentucky Artisan Distillery (KAD) in Crestwood, Kentucky, Whiskey Row Bourbon reflects the complex flavor profiles of pre-Prohibition whiskey, a time of greater experimentation in aging techniques. Late distiller and Bourbon Hall of Fame inductee Steve Thompson conceived of Whiskey Row Bourbon as a return to pre-Prohibition blending methods. As a nod to Thompson's vision and legacy, Avalon Spirits will embrace the craftsmanship, variation, and experimental aging techniques that defined the early days of bourbon, starting with the Triple Wood, Bottled in Bond, and Cask Strength expressions. The core expression, Triple Wood, is matured for at least four years with a distinctive finishing process in Cognac and Pedro Ximénez (PX) sherry casks for enhanced complexity and bottled at KAD. Whiskey Row Bourbon's Bottled in Bond expression follows a rigorous six-marker process to ensure quality, while the Cask Strength expression is left unfinished to intensify bold flavors. Whiskey Row Bourbon challenges the perception that premium bourbon must come from Kentucky. While the brand celebrates the time-honored Kentucky traditions of bourbon-making, it acknowledges that the destination's prominence stems not only from premium grain or water but also from the historical route to market that whiskies traveled down the Ohio River, making Louisville a destination for blending. Whiskey Row Bourbon's upcoming regional releases will showcase destination-inspired maturation techniques and blending profiles from lesser-known bourbon regions. "Whiskey Row Bourbon is rooted in Louisville, Kentucky, but its origins reflect a broader range of flavors across America — shaped by the agriculture, entrepreneurship, and exchange of ideas that established bourbon as the quintessential American spirit," says John Glover, Founder of Avalon Spirits. Whiskey Row Bourbon is now available in Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, and Tennessee, with a rollout planned to Europe and beyond. For more information, visit or follow Whiskey Row on Instagram at @whiskeyrowbourbon and Facebook. About Whiskey Row Bourbon: Whiskey Row Bourbon, the first premium spirit under Avalon Spirits' portfolio, honors the historic section of Main Street in Louisville, Kentucky, where the modern bourbon industry was born. Future regional expressions are set to celebrate American destinations that shaped the spirit's evolution, blending Kentucky tradition with regional influences. The legacy of the late Steve Thompson—a legendary whiskey distiller and Bourbon Hall of Fame member—lives on through Whiskey Row Bourbon. Contact: whiskeyrowbourbon@ View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Avalon Spirits Inc

A country star's "silent heart attack" had no symptoms — until he collapsed on tour
A country star's "silent heart attack" had no symptoms — until he collapsed on tour

CBS News

time01-03-2025

  • Health
  • CBS News

A country star's "silent heart attack" had no symptoms — until he collapsed on tour

Country star Colt Ford doesn't remember the day he had a life-threatening heart attack. He and his band performed at Whiskey Row, a venue in Gilbert, Arizona, on April 4, 2024, but Ford told CBS News that he has no memory of the show. He also doesn't remember the moments after the show, when he returned to the tour bus and collapsed. "One of my guys just happened to walk back on the bus and find me already slumped over," Ford, a former professional golfer, said. Ford had experienced a massive heart attack. His bandmates called for help and started performing CPR. First responders took him to an area hospital, where he underwent a 10-hour surgery. He flat-lined twice, Colt said, and his heart had to be shocked back into beating. After the surgery, he was transferred to the Mayo Clinic, where he was kept in a medically induced coma for eight days. He was also put on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, or ECMO, a form of machine support that helps the heart and lungs. No one, including Ford, had noticed any symptoms of the heart attack. Ford had undergone a check-up before his tour that found no problems, he said. He had recently lost weight and thought he was in good shape, and he was 53 years old at the time. His bandmates remembered the night as one of the best shows of their tour, and videos from the night show Ford active on stage. "I woke up eight days later, and I don't remember any of it," Ford, now 54, said. "I had no concept of it." Do heart attacks always have symptoms? Heart attacks don't always have symptoms, according to Dr. Sawella Guseh, a cardiologist at Mass General Brigham who was not involved in Ford's care. The phenomenon hasn't been closely studied, so exact numbers of who does and doesn't have symptoms don't exist, he said, but silent heart attacks do make up a "significant" number of cases. Some groups are more prone to "silent heart attacks," Guseh said. That includes people with diabetes, who may have nerve damage from high blood sugar, meaning their nerves can't alert their brains about the problems in the heart. Athletes and those with a high pain tolerance may not notice the symptoms, Guseh said. Any shortness of breath after activities that don't normally make someone breathless should be considered a symptom, he said. Even something seemingly unrelated to the cardiac system, like tooth pain after exertion, could be a sign that your heart is in danger. "I pretty much tell everybody, it's not just chest pain, it's anything that can happen with exertion between your ears and your belly button," Guseh said. "Your brain doesn't actually have a signature for the heart. The nerves from the heart that go to the brain are actually the same ones that come up from the stomach, so the brain is like 'Something's up, but I don't actually know if that's my heart or anything else.'" Most people who have a heart attack or cardiac episode experience things like chest tightness or pressure. More unusual symptoms might include pain in the neck and jaw or in their shoulder. Women may be more likely to experience these kinds of symptoms, CBS News previously reported. "I'll say that usually when you go back and ask, you can find something that was a little bit off," Guseh said. "But there are people where, yeah, they actually felt absolutely nothing." "I don't know how much more dire it can be" Dr. Kwan S. Lee, the Mayo Clinic cardiologist who led Ford's care team, said the country singer most likely experienced a sudden artery block, which can cause the heart to stop abruptly. Keeping him alive afterwards required "the whole village," Lee said. In addition to ECMO, Ford received multiple stents to open the blocked arteries in his heart. Weaning him off ECMO took more work, Lee said, and his care team had to ensure that he didn't get any infections that could pose further danger. When Ford opened his eyes after eight days in a coma, he was too weak to even lift a Styrofoam cup of ice chips, he told CBS News. His wife and son were by his side, and his doctor filled him in on what had happened over the past several days. "I was really, really, really sick. I died twice," Ford said. "My doctor said I was 1% of the 1%. I don't know how much more dire it can be than that." Even though he was awake, that wasn't the end of his journey. Ford underwent a fasciotomy to relieve pressure that had built up in his leg while he was asleep. He also had lost sensation in one leg below the knee. Once the conditions were treated, he had to begin physiotherapy and start a pharmaceutical regimen that would keep his heart stable even after he left the hospital. Ford said that process included learning "how to walk again," while also focusing on his mental health. "I'd never been through anything like that. We've all had injuries. As an athlete and musician, you learn to play through things, you play through pain. I've played shows with kidney stones," Ford said. "But this wasn't that. I was helpless there for a while." Recovering and returning to music Ford went home from the hospital several weeks after waking up. He continued cardiac rehabilitation and physical therapy there. He has also urged fans, friends and family to learn from his story and take stock of their own health. "All my friends, all my buddies, they're all going to the doctor," Ford said. "Everybody thought 'Oh, Colt's doing good. He's lost all that weight. He's great.' And then I wake up eight days later." His goal, he said, was always to get back on stage. After almost a year of recovery, he's getting ready to do just that: In a few months, he plans to join fellow musician Brent Lee Gilbert for a few shows. He said he's been dealing with anxiety related to returning to performing. It's something he's never experienced before, he said, but he hopes the appearances will make it possible to "progress a little bit further and see what we can do on our own." While recovering, he's still had time for music. On Feb. 21, he released his first single since the heart attack. The song, "Hell Out Of It," had been nearly complete when he collapsed, but the brush with death gave it new meaning. "That fear of the unknown is such a real thing. You're told that when you're young, that it all goes fast, and I didn't believe at that, you know? Like, oh, that's just something old people tell you," Ford said. "And now it's like, every day, I'm like 'Wow, you better pay attention, because it can change in the blink of an eye.'"

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