travel
Brown Hotel. Below, Haymarket Whiskey Bar
By Night: The Urban Bourbon Trail www.bourboncountry.com Louisville has been the international bourbon capital since the 1780s, when Evan Williams Bourbon sold its first whiskey here. Before Prohibition, the portion of Main Street known as Whiskey Row was home to as many as 50 distilleries, many of which have since been revived. The Urban Bourbon Trail celebrates that legacy. Developed in 2008, it highlights Louisville restaurants and bars that stock at least 50 types of bourbon. A few have 150 or more. “We started with eight restaurants on the trail, and we’re now at 26 spots,” Yates says. “The interest in bourbon continues to buzz globally, but especially in Louisville, which we think of as the center of the bourbon universe.” Urban Bourbon Trail destinations range from dive bars to white-tablecloth restaurants, with something to fit where to stay every budget. Before you get started, Brown Hotel 335 W. Broadway, head to the visitor center to pick up Louisville, (502) 583-1234, a free trail passport, also available www.brownhotel.com as a smartphone app. If you visit at Seelbach Hotel 500 S. Fourth St., least six Urban Bourbon Trail destiLouisville, (502) 585-3200, www.seelbachhilton.com nations, you earn a free T-shirt. » What’s New: The latest addition to
the Urban Bourbon Trail (and the statewide Kentucky Bourbon Trail) is the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience. It offers distillery tours and tasting flights in several themed tasting rooms, including a vintage speakeasy. Evan Williams Bourbon is the world’s second-best-selling Kentucky bourbon, and its primary facility is in Bardstown, but the downtown distillery focuses on artisanal small batches. “After touring all of the other distilleries in our state, this one stands out as something completely different,” Yates says. “It follows not only the timeline of Evan Williams Bourbon, who is legendarily Louisville’s first commercial distiller, but it also follows Louisville history. Even if you’re not a bourbon lover but are interested in American history, this distillery has a story to tell.” But it will soon have some stiff competition: bourbon brands Michter’s and Angel’s Envy are both slated to open their own downtown distillery experiences in 2014. 528 W. Main St., Louisville, www.evanwilliams.com/visit.php Where to Eat: In Louisville, even breakfast is an opportunity to celebrate bourbon.
»
70
SOU T H
|
indysouthmag .com
Start your day at Dish on Market, which is best known for its Truman’s Breakfast — eggs, bacon and a shot of bourbon on the side, just like President Harry Truman used to demand. For a farm-to-fork dining experience highlighting local, seasonal ingredients, try Harvest, which offers bourbon tasting flights alongside dishes like steak with apple-bourbon sauce. Or, for Italian favorites with a bourbon twist, book a table at Vincenzo’s. “In any other city, you’d scratch your head about an Italian restaurant participating in this,” Yates says. “But they sell a lot of bourbon, and they infuse it into some of their entrees.” For after-dinner drinks (bourbon, of course), head to the Haymar-