Kentucky

August 28-30, 2018

TL;DR: Kentucky really delivered on hospitality, bourbon, and some of the best fried chicken we’ve had.

THE SIGHTS

Four Roses

In 1884, Paul Jones, Jr. was smitten by a Southern belle and asked her to the grand ball. If she accepted, she would arrive with a corsage of roses. She wore one with four red roses—and Four Roses was born.

Really cool grounds but a lot of it was under construction so we couldn’t take a tour. Jess also like the bourbon, which was surprising. Could have been the love story tho…

Country Boy Brewery

We were here for about five hours and until midnight so Bri could finish his football drafts. Intriguing crowd and some weird overheard conversations. They had a habanero beer which was strange but good.

Buffalo Trace

This is the longest constantly running distillery in America, with an 82-year-old tour guide who may have been there the whole time. Awesome campus with old and new machines, warehouses, and buildings. Saw them bottling one of the bourbons, went to a barrel-aging room. Bri saw mold (!), Jess did not.

Tasting was really good. Tried the white liquor before it was aged. Also tried a bourbon cream with root beer which was delicious.

Adult root beer float, they said. Pour another, we said.

Churchill Downs

Waved from Layla. We’ll be back.

Louisville

Pretty adorable town. Had hands-down one of the most amazing chocolate chip cookies at Please & Thank You.

Walked across the pedestrian bridge much to Brian’s chagrin. About halfway across, classical music started playing… and only for about a quarter mile.

It was so damn hot we had to search for a cold beer before we made the return trip.

Brown Hotel

Got the famous Hot Brown here. In the 1920s, when the Brown Hotel was in its heyday, over 1,200 guests would arrive each evening for the dinner dance. By the small hours, they would be famished, and so chef Fred Schmidt created the Hot Brown: basically toast with turkey, tomatoes, and a creamy bechamel sauce, roasted up real hot.