Suggestions of places in Ky...

[PFC]

Hi everybody,

I'm a delighted newcomer to StraightBourbon.com from Stockholm, Sweden. Since I started getting serious about bourbon a couple of years ago, I have constantly failed to find information and forums for this truly great (and underestimated) beverage. Finding this forum was like hitting the motherlode and I have subsequently spent hours reading your ambitious and interesting tasting notes. Bourbon is sadly neglected in Skandinavia (as in many other places) and JBWhite and non-bourbon JD is often all you can find in bars and in the governmentcontrolled liquor stores. My small luck is that the trading laws of the European Union forces the liqourstores to supply a rather useful assortment of Bourbon directly through the importers. It takes a couple of days and costs a bit more, but you can at least get it. The latest contributions to my collection have been EC12, ORVW10, WL Weller 12 and EV Single Barrel 1992. I like them all but for some reason I tend to reach for the ORVW10 more than the others...

Well, enough rambling. I actually have a couple of questions for you guys. It so happens that me and my girlfriend will be travelling to the United States in a couple of weeks from now. If everything works out right we will also be able to visit Kentucky for two or three days. So, do you guys have any suggestions on good liquor stores, bars, restaurants or other bourbon-related places in the vicinity of Lexington(or further east)? Tips on non-bourbonrelated sights are also appreciated...

Thanks,

Mats

[boone]

Look at this link the bourbon trail. Click on the word bourbon (on the left).

This will help point you in the right direction. Nelson County, Kentucky is known as, "The Bourbon Capital of the World". Your best bet, is to start in Nelson County. My home

For "real life" stories of what goes on in Bourbon Country click on Straightbourbon's forum, Distillery Trips ...Everything you need to know about Bourbon, is right here on these forums.

Bettye Jo

[TNbourbon]

As a non-Kentuckian, let me suggest a couple of things/places that I like to visit when I get to that neighborhood:

1)Abraham Lincoln birthplace (Hodgenville) and boyhood home (Knob Creek). The latter, of course, also has a bourbon connection via its name, and also the fact that when Tom Lincoln (Abe's father) sold out and moved to Indiana, he settled, in part, for a couple of barrels of whiskey in payment from his sometime distiller employer;

2)See a Reds baseball game in Cincinnati (about 90 minutes north of Lexington);

3)Go to the horse races at Keeneland in Lexington.

Enjoy your trip, and thanks for coming. Contrary to much current popular abasement and policy disagreements internationally, this is a great country to visit, both to see the vistas and to meet warm, generous people. Most of us recognize the U.S. and Americans are not wart-free, but we don't want to be anything or anywhere else, either.

[BSS]

If your in Lexington and want to go to a nice Liquor store, you need to hit the Beaumont Center Liquor Barn.

Keeneland is great, but I have had a few friends that aren't from Kentucky tell me that they thought horse racing was totally stupid and it bored them to death.......but I have to dissagree.

Woodford Reserve Distillery Tour.

Not to offend any Eastern Kentuckians, but if you go more than a few miles to the East of Lexington, theres not much worth mentioning or seeing in my opinion. Try to stay to the West of I-75.

Thats a few things to do.

[cowdery]

In Louisville, DeMarie's bar at the Galt House (best bourbon selection) and the bar at the Seelbach Hotel, for atmosphere and pretty good jazz, usually. Someone else will have to fill in the current name of the big local liquor store chain. It used to be Liquor Barn or Liquor Outlet, but they keep changing it. They have the best prices and selection. For dining, I have always liked the Bristol Bar & Grill and Jack Fry's, but I have been away from Louisville for a few years. Maybe somebody else has more current suggestions. For other things to do, definitely see Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby Museum, and take a look at the surrounding neighborhood, which is kind of interesting. Others have suggested Keeneland in Lexington and they are very different experiences. If you like horse racing, do both. I also recommend crossing the river and visiting the Falls of the Ohio museum, if natural history stuff interests you at all. The Speed (art) Museum is good. The Louisville Slugger (baseball) museum is unique and so American, and it also gets you onto Main Street, which has the largest concentration of original 19th century cast iron building facades outside of New York City, if you're into architecture. Also from an architecture, dining and entertainment standpoint, visit the Old Louisville neighborhood, which is just north of the University of Louisville campus, which is south of downtown.

Even though I haven't lived there in years, I jumped in because no one else seemed to be suggesting anything that was actually in Louisville, however they make the point that Louisville isn't really Kentucky and it's a good idea to see some of the state beyond the city if you can. As for Eastern Kentucky, the appeal there is mostly in spectactular scenery and great places to hike, canoe and camp, if that interests you. Otherwise staying west of I-75 probably is good advice.

[PFC]

Thank you so much for the advice!

Relying solely on guidebooks can often be a guarantee of missing the truly genuine and interesting places. I always try to let personal recommendations guide my travels.

Tim, the world really is in a sad state. But most people I know realizes that the agenda of governments can't be applied to individual persons. I have visited US before and always been pleasantly surprised by your hospitality.

Anyway, the world will surely look a bit more pleasant if I could get hold of a bottle of Stagg....

/Mats

[eloquentlight]

Hi ya'll,

This is close to the same question as mats above. In July, my Grandpa and I are going up to his hometown in Southern Indiana from Texas. So, naturally, we will have to go through Kentucky. I was wonderng where you all would suggest to go for a distellery tour, and what one bourbon would you buy while in Kentucky, as I won't be back there for another year.

Thanks!

Jason

[pepcycle]

Buy only one bourbon!! I never even considered the concept. You need a wheater, a rye, an old, a young, a low proof, medium proof, high proof, a regular bottling, a special bottling, a single barrel, a small batch.........

How can possibly pick just one??

[TNbourbon]

I'm awfully fond of the Maker's Mark tour -- and it's about as far west as any, presuming your travels take you only as far east as Louisville -- even if I'm nonplussed with their bourbon. Lovely place. Heaven Hill in Bardstown's just a half-hour or so north of there -- you could make them a daily double.

I'd buy (and do) Ancient Ancient Age 10yo -- NOT 10 Star -- when I'm in Kentucky because it's only sold there and in Virginia. If I'm only going to buy one (I'm with Ed -- Heaven forbid!), it may as well be one I can't otherwise find.

[eloquentlight]

Well, I am looking for a lower proof. around 90 is great for me at this point. I have had a lot of wheated bourbon, so I think I would like a rye bourbon. I have heard good things about the Van Winkle Rye, but I will bow to the more seasoned apllettes here.

[TNbourbon]

The AAA 10yo noted above is rye-flavored, 86 proof and, reputedly, the favorite of its master distiller, Buffalo Trace's Gary Gayheart.

VanWinkle rye is excellent but, of course, not a bourbon. The VanWinkle bourbons are wheated.

[cowdery]

The Van Winkle Family Reserve 13 year old rye is great, one of the best whiskies you ever will taste. It is available outside of Kentucky but in limited supply everywhere.

A good choice for a good, inexpensive, every day bourbon is Very Old Barton, which is very popular in Kentucky, not very available elsewhere, but may be available in Texas.

Four Roses is another good, though not necessarily great, bourbon you won't usually find outside of Kentucky.

[gr8erdane]

because it's only sold there and in Virginia

Not entirely true Tim, I have seen AAA 10 yr at Randall's in Illinois.

[OneCubeOnly]

because it's only sold there and in Virginia

Not entirely true Tim, I have seen AAA 10 yr at Randall's in Illinois.

Are you sure it wasn't the 10-Star? According to Ken Weber of Buffalo Trace (at least as of 2000) it's only in KY and VA. See this post.

[dgonano]

Well their website shows both available. internet wines and spirits

[OneCubeOnly]

Well their website shows both available. internet wines and spirits

You're absolutely right! I wonder which brick & mortar places now carry it!?

Does Ken still lurk here?

[bluesbassdad]

I recently found this listing of AAA 10 y/o at Binny's.

However, my order has been delayed without a specific explanation. Perhaps the delivery wagon threw a wheel somewhere in Indiana.

Yours truly,

Dave Morefield

[gr8erdane]

Beyond what the site says, I have been there and seen the 10 year myself. I almost wonder if the reason they charge such a premium for some brands is that they go to a place like LB, buy it retail and resell it. I know that LB asked me if I had a tax ID when I was there.

[TNbourbon]

I don't know the answer to this mystery -- perhaps Buffalo Trace has recently broadened its market, or perhaps some of these online stores have some old stock (I find a very occasional bottle still left on some shelf in TN, for example).

[Ettan]

Not to offend any Eastern Kentuckians, but if you go more than a few miles to the East of Lexington, theres not much worth mentioning or seeing in my opinion. Try to stay to the West of I-75.

Woh! BSS, gotta disagree with ya there... For non-bourbon places, if you're into hiking/nature, you HAVE to go east of I-75 to the Red River Gorge.

[BSS]

I agree that the gorge is world famous....to the people whom really enjoy hiking and nature, but I would say a majority of the entire population could really care less about going out of the way to see it.

I enjoy nature and have lived in central Kentucky my entire life, but I have never had a desire to go to the gorge. I've been to all 120 counties in Kentucky, and to the East of I-75 is the most unenjoyable area of all. I'm sticking with my earlier post, stay to the west of I-75. Theres not much to the east of it worth seeing.

[cowdery]

The scenic beauty of Eastern Kentucky, including the gorge, is the rival of any in the world. But if you don't go in for that sort of thing...

I also enjoy Berea, but that's just barely east of I-75.