Kentucky Official Visitor's Guide 2018 • Kentucky Official Visitor's Guide 2018 • Flavors Of Kentucky

Sip an iconic mint julep at the Derby or bite into mouthwatering barbecue at an outdoor bluegrass festival. Celebrate traditional foods at a small-town festival or sample fresh-picked produce at a farmers' market.

YOU DON’T HAVE TO VISIT A RESTAURANT TO SAVOR THE UNIQUE FLAVORS OF THE BLUEGRASS STATE.

You’ll also get a true taste of the state while enjoying a bounty of outdoor, cultural and historical experiences. You may find it in the hum of a big city, a breeze in the mountains, the stillness on a lake, inside a culturally rich museum or walking the hallowed grounds of a Civil War battlefield.

Bourbon, horses and bluegrass music. Outdoor adventure, lakes and nature. Art, music and history. Whatever your taste, it’s time to dig in!

THE BIG 3.

Mention Kentucky, and you can almost taste the bourbon, hear the bluegrass music and feel the ground move beneath your feet from the thunder of 80 hooves pounding the dirt track at Churchill Downs.

Each is a gateway to exploring the culture, history, adventure and flavors of the state, whether by blazing a trail on backroads and byways to Kentucky’s alluring distilleries, jamming with renowned musicians at a bluegrass festival, or placing bets at Keeneland while feasting on burgoo (Kentucky’s most famous stew) during a spring or fall race meet.

It’s hard to drive anywhere in Kentucky without seeing bourbon’s influence through seemingly countless bourbon distilleries, including the most award-winning in the world: Frankfort’s Buffalo Trace. From rickhouses that skim the sky to atmospheric restaurants – like former stagecoach stop Talbott Tavern in Bardstown and Lexington’s Bluegrass Tavern, both offering a dizzying array of America’s native spirit – everything’s coming up bourbon.

And then there are the new distilleries reshaping and expanding Kentucky’s bourbon landscape. Bardstown Bourbon Company and Lux Row Distillers both bring state-of-the-art experiences to Bardstown. Old Forester transformed two historic buildings on Louisville’s Whiskey Row into a world-class distillery and destination. The James E. Pepper Distillery rises on Pepper Campus in Lexington, an entertainment destination teeming with sipping, supping and snacking options: Ethereal Brewing, Barrel House Distilling, Middle Fork Kitchen Bar, Crank & Boom Craft Ice Cream Lounge. (Bourbon and honey ice cream? Yes, please!)

Visit one of the most spectacular selfie stops anywhere – the Maker’s Mark-branded Lebanon Water Tower with its 135-foot-long pour. Taste and tour through Kentucky Bourbon Country along the famed Kentucky Bourbon Trail^®, then head deeper into the heart of handcrafted bourbon on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail Craft Tour^®

Dip into bourbon’s epicenter in Bardstown, Bourbon Capital of the World, and get schooled in the American whiskey industry at the Oscar Getz Museum of Whiskey History. Stroll around Louisville on the Urban Bourbon Trail.

Kentucky is just as smitten with its bluegrass – music, that is. That “high lonesome sound” courtesy of the fiddle, banjo, guitar, mandolin, upright bass, Dobro and jaw harp, is music you can sink your teeth into. And it was created in Kentucky by a man called “Big Mon” (Bill Monroe) in a place known as Jerusalem Ridge.

Get a glimpse into the childhood of the Father of Bluegrass Music at the Bill Monroe Homeplace in Rosine. Learn more about the musical prodigy, his family and his band, the Bluegrass Boys, at Rosine’s new Bill Monroe Museum.

See a treasure trove of musical instruments – Pendleton “Uncle Pen” Vandiver’s fiddle, Pete Seeger’s banjo, Benny Martin’s fiddle and more – at Owensboro’s

Feed Your Hunger . . . for Adventure, Lakes & Nature

Need a place to burn your adrenaline? Take it outside, underground, around a track, up a cliff – or even onto an ark of Biblical proportions. Wait. What?

Noah’s Ark – yes, that Noah – stretches 510 feet long, 85 feet wide and soars 51 feet high into the sky above Williamstown’s gentle hills. One of the largest timber-frame structures in the world, the eye-popping Ark Encounter has three decks of immersive, historically themed exhibits and live entertainment on the surrounding grounds. See a Tibetan yak and ride a camel or donkey at the on-site Ararat Ridge Zoo. Rocket down thousands of feet of zip lines with Screaming Eagle Aerial Adventures.

Then go underground to the half-dozen zip lines at Louisville Mega Cavern, the only fully underground zip-line course on the planet. But wait, there’s more! Other adventures in this 100-acre subterranean world beneath the streets (and animal habitats) of the Louisville Zoo include an Underground Bike Park, Electric Fat Bike behind-the-scenes tour and the Mega Quest aerial ropes challenge course.

Back above ground, Bowling Green’s NCM Motorsports Park is all about the hot laps, touring laps, extreme super-car driving adventures and go-karts.

Look up! It could be a bird, but chances are it’s a thrill-seeker crossing from bridge to bridge on forested “aerial trails” on a treetop adventure at Levi Jackson State Park in London.

In Daniel Boone National Forest, Morehead’s scenic Cave Run Lake draws boaters, campers, hikers, picnickers and those who want to pursue nothing more strenuous than a little “R&R.” Also within the forest’s rugged 2.1 million acres is Red River Gorge, a favorite place for rock climbing, rappelling, hunting, horseback riding, mountain biking and other adventures not for the faint-hearted. There’s also fishing, flora and fauna, boating, swimming, tubing – even Scuba diving.

Bowling Green’s Lost River Cave is the only place in Kentucky you can take an underground boat tour, gliding on what Ripley’s Believe It or Not! claims to be the shortest and deepest river in the world.

Think bigger is better? Head to Kentucky Lake. At 160,000- plus acres, it is a water-water-everywhere experience stretching across western Kentucky. Slightly smaller, Lake Barkley offers aquatic bliss with sailing, houseboating, water skiing, jet skiing – even champion-level sport fishing.

When Daniel Boone said “Heaven must be a Kentucky kind of place,” he was surely inspired by Kentucky’s wild side. The thickly forested swaths of land, proliferation of lakes and Mother Nature’s fanciful sculptures: the soaring cliffs, sandstone arches, limestone outcroppings, rushing waterfalls and stunning gorges that characterize the topography.

Forty-nine state parks across the state encompass hundreds of thousands of acres of green space, wooded hiking trails, pristine lakes and meandering streams, blanketed with an abundance of wildflowers and wildlife and given dimension by the hills and mountains that surround them.

Like to hike, bike, paddle or swim? Choose your activity (or more than one!), then choose your park. Kentucky’s state parks offer rock climbing, horseback riding, fishing, camping, museums, historic sites to explore and outdoor amphitheaters that stage Broadway-style musicals beneath the stars. Park restaurants also are known for home-style cooking with an emphasis on locally grown meats and produce.

Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area is a strapping outdoor playground with wetlands, undeveloped forests, hundreds of miles of natural shoreline, tranquil settings for camping and picnicking, an Elk & Bison Prairie, Golden Pond Planetarium and Observatory, and more. It’s a place to come with your camera and leave with memories that will lure you back again and again.

The Bottomless Pit. Fat Man’s Misery. Mammoth Dome. They belong to a place deep beneath our feet and a time long before Kentucky achieved statehood – but they can be seen at Mammoth Cave National Park, home of the world’s longest known cave system. Fan faves include the Frozen Niagara, Domes & Dripstones, Historic, Great Onyx, Grand Avenue and Wild Cave tours.

Above ground, visitors can go hiking, birding and canoeing on the Green River, fishing on the Green and Nolin rivers, and horseback riding on more than 60 miles of trails. Twenty-five miles of the park’s trails are designated for bikes, as are all park roads. There are also three campgrounds – one near the visitor center, one on Green River and one for groups or campers with horses.

• Excellent food, wonderful views, oodles of camaraderie – Captain’s Quarters Riverside Grille in Prospect feels like a shore-side party. cqriverside.com

• Northern Kentucky’s revolving restaurant, Eighteen at the Radisson, gives diners a front-row seat to jaw-dropping views of the Ohio River and an illuminated Cincinnati skyline from 18 floors up. 18dining.com

• Surf and turf with sun-dappled views of Lake Cumberland – The Harbor Restaurant & Tavern at Lee’s Ford Marina is a Nancy landmark. leesfordmarina.com

• Dine on the deck at Ralph’s Harborview Bar & Grill at Moor’s Resort & Marina in Gilbertsville while enjoying views of the harbor, marina and lake. moorsresort.com enter link description here

Satisfy Your Craving . . . for Art, Music & History

Food for the eyes and a feast for the soul: Art. It’s everywhere in Kentucky indoors and out, from the bizarre to the breathtaking, handcrafted to curated, man-made to Mother Nature-inspired.

See Kentucky’s strange yet arresting Stonehenge in Munfordville, along with Earth Mysteries and Garden of Gethsemane rock creations. In Frankfort, Josephine Sculpture Park is a beautiful banquet for the eyes: nearly 50 stunning pieces of art set amidst native meadows and a wildlife habitat.

Want to take a bit of the Bluegrass home? Kentucky artisans put heart and soul into their works. Find them at Hindman’s Appalachian Artisan Center, the Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea and Morehead’s Kentucky Folk Art Center.

Fill up on masterworks – Native American, African, European and American, from ancient to contemporary times – at Louisville’s Speed Art Museum and the Owensboro Museum of Fine Art. Still hungry for more creativity? Make a beeline to Paducah and be dazzled by the finest quilt and fiber art in the country at the National Quilt Museum.

Get a taste of art in a more natural setting at the Downing Museum at Baker Arboretum in Bowling Green, steward of the fine art of internationally renowned Joe Downing. See John James Audubon’s masterwork, “The Birds of America,” at the Henderson state park named for him – then discover natural treasures in the new Audubon Wetlands.

No matter the genre, Kentucky rocks it with authentic music: bluegrass, country, swing, chamber, rock and more. Grab a chair or a piece of lawn and keep the beat.

Festival-happy Kentucky delivers the goods with the Chamber Music Festival of the Bluegrass, featuring world-acclaimed musicians from New York’s Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, at Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill in Harrodsburg. Forecastle is a three-day extravaganza of musical acts in Louisville’s Waterfront Park.

Danville’s Great American Brass Band Festival reminds us that brass music sets the soul soaring. And Somerset’s Master Musicians Festival presents a musical world view with blues, bluegrass, newgrass, rock ’n roll, jazz, country, Americana, Celtic, Haitian and more.

Join the circle at Jammin’ on the Porch at The Bookstore in downtown Horse Cave and strum out bluegrass, country and old-time music. Go classic country at Renfro Valley Entertainment Center in Mt. Vernon. And meet the “Father of American Music” during Bardstown’s “The Stephen Foster Story,” a Broadway-style musical staged steps from My Old Kentucky Home State Park.

Follow Daniel Boone’s footprints on explorations of the Kentucky frontier through Cumberland Gap National Historical Park in Middlesboro and at Fort Boonesborough State Park in Richmond. Learn about a Boone contemporary (James Harrod) at Harrodsburg’s Old Fort Harrod State Park. See where Kentucky became the 15th state in 1792 at Danville’s Constitution Square Historic Site.

Civil War buff ? Meet the man who would be president during America’s war-torn years at Hodgenville’s Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park. Walk the grounds where the Union Army tasted one of its first decisive victories at Mill Springs Battlefield in Nancy and where the South staged its last serious attempt to gain possession of Kentucky at Perryville Battlefield State Historic Site, site of the bloodiest Civil War battle in the state.

Quench Your Thirst . . . with Craft Beer & Wine

Craft beer has come into its own, and it’s sure given its due on the Brewgrass Trail, which showcases craft breweries in and around Lexington, and during Well Crafted - Brews + Bands. This June festival takes place at Harrodsburg’s Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill and combines outstanding music, an awesome cause and great beer. Oh, and food trucks. Lots of food trucks.

Speaking of food trucks, add dark beer and one seriously chill atmosphere at Bellevue’s Darkness Brewing, that place where everybody knows your name. Lexington's Country Boy Brewing was founded by “four Kentucky boys with a passion for unique craft brews” who wanted to share with a thirsty public their refreshing and hearty ales like Shotgun Wedding and Cliff Jumper.

Named for an Appalachian term for the cicada, Jarfly Brewing is a bonafide local craft brewery located within a historic retail hub — the circa 1904 Goldenberg Furniture building in downtown Somerset.

Lemons Mill Brewery has the distinction of being the first tavern or tap room in Harrodsburg since Prohibition. That’s a lot of pressure – but the brewers handle it with laid-back style and full-on flavor, including their thirst-quenching Jalapeno Ale.

Bowling Green’s first craft brewery, White Squirrel Brewery, features live music and pub grub – with several dishes made with beer. Yum!

Napa Valley, Sonoma . . . Kentucky. When it comes to spirits, Kentucky may be more famous for its bourbon, but in 1798 it was the site of the country’s first commercial vineyard. And get this: By the late 1800s, Kentucky was the nation’s third-largest grape and wine producer.

There are wineries and vineyards across the state, each as distinctive as their winemakers and the land on which they are set.

Equus Run Vineyards in Midway makes world-class wines surrounded by the picture-postcard scenery of thoroughbred horse farms and historic stone fences. Paducah’s Purple Toad Winery, Kentucky’s largest and most award-winning winery, gets two thumbs up for its red and white wine sangria slushes.

Sip Chambourcin, Traminette and other French-American hybrids at Cave Hill Vineyard & Winery, a labor of love in the layered hills of Eubank. Take a carriage ride into the vineyard at the international award-winning Reid’s Livery Winery in Alvaton. “Equine and wine by design,” it’s where visitors can enjoy both horseback riding lessons and wine tastings that include food pairings.

Overnight at Owenton’s Elk Creek Vineyards, a destination winery with lodging, winemaking tours and live music on weekends. Dine on a vineyard-to-table menu at the new Farmer & The Frenchman Winery in Robards, inspired by historic European wineries.

Unflavored, flavored, made of hemp or heirloom corn, moonshine and other spirits have come out of the hills and into the tasting rooms.

• Paducah’s Silent Brigade Distillery makes Kentucky moonshine, along with apple-, apple pie- and peach-flavored varieties. silentbrigadedistillery.com

• Shelbyville’s Jeptha Creed offers a menu of bourbon, flavored and unflavored vodka and moonshine (including a tangy Louisville Lemonade Moonshine) as well as apple pie, blackberry and original – all made using the distillery’s four-grain corn mash. jepthacreed.com

• Harrodsburg’s Olde Towne Distillery is the first distillery in the United States to produce hemp moonshine. Maple, watermelon and blue raspberry moonshines comprise just a few of the flavors you’ll find here. oldetownedistillery.com

• In addition to bourbon and rye whiskey, Wilderness Trail Distillery, Danville’s oldest legal distillery, crafts vodka and rum made from Kentucky sorghum molasses. wildernesstraildistillery.com

Slay Your Sweet Tooth… with Kentucky-Made Treats

Got sweets? Kentucky does! In fact, the state has so many confections that Northern Kentucky’s Sugar & Spice Trail sprang up to guide visitors from one sweet spot to another.

Bite into store-made buckeyes and fudge at Newport’s Sweet Tooth. In Bellevue, mark a special occasion with a box of Opera Creams from Schneider’s Sweet Shop – also famous for ice balls made with a scoop of homemade ice cream – and return to your childhood with candy necklaces and other old-fashioned treats at Witt’s End Candy Emporium.

Don’t worry, savory stops like Colonel De Gourmet Herbs & Spices in Fort Thomas will temper potential sugar comas. But if you’re determined to reach sweets nirvana, we’ve got you covered.

Spoon up some Wow Now Brownie Cow, Big Red Rumble or Bourbon Crunch at Chaney’s Dairy Barn in Bowling Green. Savor Caramel Modjeskas, aka “caramel marshmallow wonders,” that were invented in Louisville at Muth’s Candies.

In a state awash in bourbon, it’s no surprise that the “Mother of Bourbon Balls,” Frankfort’s Rebecca Ruth, has been making this confection for nearly 100 years. Tour the on-site candy museum and factory and learn the story.

Banish the blues with a Blue Monday candy bar; Ruth Hunt has been whipping up these velvety-sweet yummies from its Mt. Sterling and Lexington locations for more than six decades. And when you’re visiting Lancaster, let a piece of Kentucky Creamed Pull Candy from Mom Blakeman’s Candy melt on your tongue. Heaven unwrapped!

Kentucky Official Visitor's Guide 2018 - Kentucky Official Visitor's Guide 2018

Flavors Of Kentucky

Whet Your Appetite. . . with Bourbon, Bluegrass & Horses

THE BIG 3.

Feed Your Hunger . . . for Adventure, Lakes & Nature

Satisfy Your Craving . . . for Art, Music & History

Quench Your Thirst . . . with Craft Beer & Wine

Slay Your Sweet Tooth… with Kentucky-Made Treats

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