The Official Kentucky Visitor's Guide - The Official Kentucky Visitor's Guide 2023
Culinary Arts: Bourbon, Spirits & Food
2022-12-20 12:44:39
Every setting a gallery of good taste. Every plate a waiting canvas. Every bourbon a creative masterpiece. Kentucky knows how to make and style both mood and food.
Approachable but complex, it’s the bourbon that gets the party started at Lexington’s Fresh Bourbon, one of the first Blackowned bourbon distilleries in Kentucky.
Tucked into Louisville’s Harrods Creek neighborhood, the Pine Room presents Chef Joe Flesia’s classic food stylings, like squash croquettes and buttermilk fried chicken accompanied by live piano music.
Vintage whiskey in a historic setting? Toast a signature sip at The Bar at Willett in Bardstown. Craving a pint instead? Scout & Scholar Brewing Co. is blossoming in Kentucky’s bourbon capital. Further south, Flywheel Brewing owners/brewers Aaron Hawkins, Josh Durham and Ashley Willoughby offer up a taste of Elizabethtown in an upcycled taproom where local food truck Scratch Batch is known to roll up with its homemade cannoli.
North along the Ohio River, Covington’s tiny Ripple Wine Bar serves up a perfect evening with inventive light bites like Beef Wellington popovers, spicedup Sicilian flatbread and crispy marble potatoes. Nearby, no secret knock is required at Newport’s Prohibition Bourbon Bar at Newberry Bros. Coffee, where a vast collection of bourbon and rye whiskey beckons in a speakeasy atmosphere.
Prestonsburg’s award-winning Brickhouse Restaurant is down-home Kentucky, from its Kentucky beer cheese and apple bourbon wings to live music performances starring regional singers and songwriters. And in Ashland, there’s the local watering hole that never met a stranger: Just pull up a stool already for bourbon, brisket and bands at Tomcat Bourbon & Brew House.
From chicken dinners to fried pies, enjoy all the tastes of Amish Country at Farmwald’s Restaurant & Bakery in Horse Cave. Further west in Bowling Green, Anna’s Greek Restaurant delights diners with an array of dazzling Greek, Turkish, Italian, German and French dishes.
On the West Kentucky Brewery Hop Trail, Yancey’s Gastropub & Brewery serves up a Glasgow original with its craft beer-marinated hot dogs heaped with spicy coleslaw, pub sauerkraut and garden veggies.
COOPED UP
There’s only one way to see how the coopers of Louisville’s Brown-Forman Cooperage shape the barrels and that is on a Mint Julep Cooperage Tour Experience. See the metamorphosis unfold, from first stave to finished barrel.
How many staves does it take to fashion a bourbon barrel? Count ‘em out on a tour of Lebanon’s Kentucky Cooperage. Watch the flames char the wood to toasty, flavor-imparting perfection.
Kentucky craftspeople also make bourbon barrels for the world’s most award-winning distillery, Buffalo Trace, at Cumberland Cooperage.
MIXED UP
Shaken? Stirred? Find your bourbon bliss at curated mixology classes at the James B. Beam Distilling Co. in Clermont and at Bardstown Bourbon Company.
Pssst! Paducah’s Barrel & Bond is one of the “Best Bars in Bourbon Country.” Just ask The Bourbon Review magazine or the many patrons sipping one of the 1,600 bourbons and American whiskeys here.
Sip right in: Kentucky’s largest bourbon collection is here, at Lexington’s Bluegrass Tavern.
There’s plenty of bourbon behind the bar — and more than 35 rotating beer taps, too — at Covington’s Cock & Bull Public House, also known for delicious pub fare.
WINE DOWN
Like superlatives? Sip wine at Nicholasville’s First Vineyard, the first commercial winery in the country, or soak up history at Augusta’s Baker-Bird Winery, home of America’s oldest wine cellar.
Quaff full-bodied wine amidst countryside elegance at Eubank’s Cave Hill Vineyard & Winery or in the farming community of Rockfield at Traveler’s Cellar Winery.
Farmer & Frenchman in Robards combines a winery, restaurant and cabins for a full farm-to-table getaway.
Bluegrass Vineyard in Smiths Grove serves Makin’ Mamma Happy, a red wine that pairs beautifully with an overnight at the on-site B&B.
Prefer mead? Find honey wine at Kentucky’s only meadery: Oldham County’s Hive & Barrel Meadery.
KENTUCKY CREATOR
Felicia Corbett, Head Potions Master at Trouble Bar (Louisville)
From military brat to Head Potions Master, with a stint at Louisville’s Youth Performing Arts School (YPAS) along the way, Felicia Corbett adds a splash of Kentucky to every beverage she blends at Louisville’s Trouble Bar, named one of 2021’s Best Bars in America by Esquire Magazine.
“I try to use local ingredients and gather stories from locals as to what they’d like to see in flavor profiles,” she explains. “But the biggest part of Kentucky I bring is hospitality.”
Felicia’s acceptance at YPAS ignited and continues to inspire her creativity.
“The education, exposure, experience and lifelong connections allowed me to grow my creativity in ways I never thought I would or could.”
When not at Trouble Bar, Felicia can be found creating fun and educational events for charities she supports.
She also puts her heart and soul into a beverage program that feels like a personal welcome to everyone who makes their way to Louisville’s Shelby Park neighborhood.
“Most of what I do creatively is to make each patron’s experience at Trouble Bar so memorable we’re the place they want to celebrate all occasions, small or large.”
https://www.kentuckytourism.com/kentucky-creators
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