My husband and I recently spent a week in Kentucky and Tennessee as we continue the celebration of our 25th wedding anniversary.  Our anniversary was in May so we are really milking it, but we love any excuse to pack our bags and hit the road.  The trip was technically my gift to him although he likes to tease me that it had big parts of me written all over it.  Truth.

So why Kentucky and Tennessee?  Well, the trip revolved around an opportunity to spend a few days here, a beautiful resort in East Tennessee for the only 2 nights they had available in October. Visiting this special place was a bucket list item for me admittedly, but I also knew my husband would love its location in the Smoky Mountains where the outdoors and all of its trappings were celebrated.

From there, the trip was built around two other things that we enjoy together: bourbon and music.  We started our trip in Louisville, Kentucky where we visited two distilleries, tasted bourbons, ate delicious food at a few highly recommended restaurants, visited a speak easy and strolled through a town south of Louisville that was voted ” Most Beautiful Small Town in America”.  They have a sign to prove it!  After the farm, our final destination was Nashville, a city neither of us had visited previously.  We did as much as possible in the brief time we were there, especially given the Red Sox were playing both nights and the tv was calling.  I hope to write up that part of the trip in a future post.

For today, let me tell you about Louisville, a city I had only visited once almost 30 years ago to attend a gorgeous wedding that I will never forget.  It was a multi-day affair, long before those types of weddings had become popular up here in the north! And perhaps most memorably, it was where I discovered the perfume that I have worn every day ever since.  If it ever goes out of production, I will be lost.

On to Louisville…

After researching our options, I booked our stay at The Brown Hotel, an iconic fixture of Louisville that combines old world with new.  Our room was spacious and very comfortable, although I would say the decor was a bit tired.  Nonetheless, the staff was incredibly helpful with advice, directions and all of our needs.  The hotel was in a great location, close enough to the downtown area and within walking distance to many of our destinations.  After settling into the hotel, we visited the restaurant on site, J. Graham’s Cafe because I had to try Louisville’s famous “Hot Brown”, created in the 1920’s by the hotel’s chef at the time, Fred Schmidt.  The story goes that the hotel attracted 1200 guests for its nightly dinner dance, and in the wee hours of the morning guests would retire to the restaurant for some nourishment.  Bored with ham and eggs, Schmidt created The Hot Brown which is an open faced turkey sandwich with bacon, tomatoes and a delicate mornay (cheese) sauce.  We saw many getting served at lunch and it was delicious, especially the thick slices of roasted turkey that are underneath there, promise…

There are countless bourbon distilleries that you can visit around Louisville, but the two we chose were quite different and home to bourbons we enjoy.  The first, Kentucky Artisan Distillery located just north of Louisville was started in 2012 as the state’s first contract distillery.  Smaller production runs, even as small as 1 barrel can be produced at this facility making it unique.  As bourbon has gained in popularity, one of its brands, Jefferson’s Reserve has taken center stage at the distillery.  We were able to taste 3 of Jefferson’s bourbons along with one more from Whiskey Row…

Here are a few fun facts.  Bourbon was basically off the map in the latter part of the 20th century.  Nobody was drinking the brown as they call it.  It has only been in the past 20 years or so that bourbon has experienced a soar in popularity and it is everywhere.  What do you call the grain recipe for bourbon (or any whiskey)? It is referred to as a “mashbill”.  Last and in case you were wondering, all bourbon is whiskey but not all whiskey is bourbon.

Bourbon was declared an American spirit by Uncle Sam in 1964.  To qualify, bourbon must be manufactured in the United States.  It must be at least 51% corn (usually it’s mixed with rye, barley and sometimes wheat). It must be aged in a white oak, charred barrel that can only be used once.  It cannot enter a barrel for aging higher than 125 proof and it cannot be bottled at less than 80 proof.  Finally, nothing can be added other than water to lessen the proof.  Can you imagine a bunch of lawmakers sitting around making up those rules?

We walked to our first dinner at Proof on Main, located in the 21C Museum Hotel in the downtown area…

We were a little early for our seating so we grabbed a glass of wine and strolled through the museum located in the hotel that is home to rotating contemporary art exhibitions. If you watched my Instagram stories you may have seen some of the pieces, but this one was my favorite…

An Icon for Destiny was painted by an artist named Titus Kaphar.  Medium was tar and oil on canvas.

I loved the decor and vibe of this hip restaurant that has a few dining rooms and a large, hustling bar.  I was swooning over the wallpaper and art in this dining room and loved the warm lighting and banquette seating…

Our dinner was fantastic and our server was excellent.  Overall, just a wonderful evening and I would recommend a visit…

We started our second day with a long walk to a breakfast place in NuLu (new Louisville) recommended by one of the hotel staff.  A cute diner named Toast on Market was the perfect spot to start our day with some scrambled eggs…

After returning to our hotel (I walked but my husband wanted to try the Bird), we grabbed our rental car and hit the road to drive an hour east towards Lexington for our second distillery tour at Woodford Reserve in Versailles, Kentucky…

Woodford is the oldest, actively used distillery making bourbon in America.  It is a huge operation producing two types of bourbon, its Woodford Reserve Distillers Select and its Double Oaked Bourbon.  The double oaked bourbon is prepared the same way as the select until the select is bottled, at which time the double oaked is put into a new charred oak barrel and aged an additional year. Believe it or not, it makes quite a bit of difference to the final product’s taste and smooth mouth feel.

Bourbon is made using water, grains and yeast, a fact that our tour guide suggested made it a health food ha ha. In any case, the grains are first cooked in huge vats…

Yeast is added and the mixture goes through a fermentation process.  The scent of yeast was powerful at both the distilleries we visited which isn’t the worst thing in the world…

The mixture is then distilled…

And then placed in barrels to age…

Tasting time!  We were offered a taste of both Woodford bourbons.  Our guide had us take a small sip of the select bourbon first followed by the double oaked to taste the difference.  Between our first and second sips, he asked us to take a bite of the Ruth Hunt bourbon ball to illustrate how the flavor of the bourbon changes with the sweet chocolate. Tasting the chocolate smoothed out the bourbon and enhanced its natural sweetness.  Very interesting!  If you haven’t tasted bourbon, it’s a combination of sweet from the corn, pepper notes from the rye and nuttiness from the barley.  You can serve it neat, over ice or mixed into a cocktail…

After our distillery tour, we drove southwest to arrive at Bardstown, the birthplace of bourbon which I read was a must see.  Evidently it was voted the most beautiful town in America.  By whom it was thus voted, I have no idea and they clearly haven’t been to my hometown of Concord, Massachusetts!  Anyway, we popped in and out of a farmer’s market, lots of cute stores and grabbed a quick bite at Alexander Bullits Brewery & BBQ because you cannot go to Kentucky (or Tennessee) without a little Q…

On our way back into the downtown, we took a little detour to drive around old Louisville, a section of the city that is steeped in history and home to the largest collection of Victorian architecture in the United States along with a lovely park.  It was raining so we didn’t take any pictures but here is a link to learn more.

For dinner that evening, we took an Uber to Rye, a restaurant also located in NuLu.  Fun fact, Executive Chef Mike Wajda once worked at Cambridge based Craigie on Main.

Of course, we started with a bourbon cocktail.  This was called “Bite the Bulleit” and was flavored with honey, ginger and lemon.  It was really good and I am attempting to recreate the cocktail at home so maybe it will show up in a future blog post!

We had a divine meal that was entirely plant based which was awesome.  All of these dishes were fantastic, although our favorite was the Roasted Cauliflower that was served with the most delicious curry sauce, crispy chickpeas, cashews and pomegranate seeds.  Yum.  The carrots and beets were side dishes.  The couple at a neighboring table enjoyed Rye’s bone-in ribeye for two that looked unbelievably good in case you go.  The menu was really amazing with so many options and you can check it out on their website.

One funny thing is that the same neighboring table was brought five cans of beer towards the end of their meal, and the husband got up and left the table with the waiter. We asked his wife what was going on and it turns out that the restaurant has an item on its dessert menu that is called “brew for the crew”.  By ordering this, you are purchasing cans of beer for the kitchen crew!  It’s not an expensive item and is a fun way of sending a tip to the back of the house which we thought was a clever idea…

After dinner, we visited a Louisville speakeasy named Hell or High Water.  The speakeasy is by reservation only and if you’re lucky (we were not) there may be some live music playing during your visit.  You enter via a door on a quiet street and walk down a flight of stairs where a series of intimate rooms, some lined from floor to ceiling with books and all with warm lighting greet you.  It was a really fun way to end our time in the city…

I wanted to share this sign too.  It’s a harsh reminder of a sad time in our nation’s history and Louisville being a river city was an integral part of the slave trade.  As I stood reading it a man passed by and shouted out the origin of Market Street’s name which gave me the shivers. The only saving grace is perhaps the last line…

There were so many other things to do in Louisville including some wonderful museums but time was ticking and the next morning we were on to our next adventure.

See you soon…

One Year Ago:  Plum Blueberry Crisp

Two Years Ago:  One Pot Chicken, Broccoli and Cheese Pasta

Three Years Ago:  Tuscan White Bean and Kale Soup

Four Years Ago:  Butternut Squash Risotto