A Mini Bourbon Trail – Getting Started

In June, my wife and I made our first road trip by ourselves in several years, a trip long overdue.  The last time just the two of us took a road trip together was in 2022 when we drove to St. Louis for the weekend. It was a great trip but way too short with us spending only two nights away.  This time, we wanted a longer stay but we also wanted a short enough travel distance that it would not take all day to drive there.  And we also wanted to go somewhere we had never been before.

Not long before we began to discuss possible destinations, I had read this book about the grandson of Pappy Van Winkle who resurrected the Kentucky bourbon brand his grandfather and father previously ran.  I knew this distillery would provide an historical perspective on the bourbon industry and as I read the book, I kept thinking I needed to visit it.  And this gave me the idea, why not take in a Kentucky Bourbon Trail.  Knowing that my wife would probably not be willing to take in a number of distilleries, I suggested just a mini bourbon trail.

Although inspired by my oldest son’s previous trip through Kentucky, this would be unlike his many years ago, when he took his future wife on the Bourbon Trail in my Mini Cooper—his version of a “Mini” Bourbon Trail.

When I did some research, I discovered that the Bourbon Trail officially starts in Louisville and in fact seven stops are all within walking distance of each other on Louisville’s downtown Main Street.  When I suggested this destination to my wife, she did some research of her own and discovered that Frederick Law Olmsted, with assistance from his two sons, had designed 17 parks in Louisville from 1891 to 1921.  So, this combination of attractions would give us some indoor and outdoor activities.  Checking the mileage to Louisville, it was just about 360 miles from Memphis, less than a six-hour drive, so it met all our requirements.

We next needed to find a downtown hotel to be the base for all our excursions.  Looking at several chain hotels, nothing struck our fancy, but then, my wife ran across the Brown Hotel, a historic hotel in downtown.  Looking at the images of the hotel online, it reminded us of our own historic Peabody Hotel in Memphis, the one with the famous ducks that swim in the lobby fountain all day.  We often stay at the Peabody overnight to celebrate our wedding anniversary in December, so it seemed the Brown was just the right choice.

With dates and hotel set, I told my wife that I would make just two reservations for distillery tours.  But also in my mind, if she really took to the experience, I thought with seven on Main Street, we could possibly pop in at another one without an advance reservation.  I knew the historical one from the book Pappyland was a must see, so I picked for our second one what I thought was the highest end distillery on Main Street and made a reservation there as well.

We arrived on a Friday evening after as we had hoped, a little less than a six-hour drive (although we did lose an hour as Louisville is in the Eastern Time Zone).

The lobby did in fact remind us of the Peabody in Memphis, but on a smaller scale.

And when we walked into our room, we were welcomed with one larger than we typically had at the Peabody.

We also noticed there was a subtle equine theme throughout the hotel—NOT!  It was almost everywhere.

And even throughout the city, you will see horse statues or images.

In explanation of all the horses, they do have a small annual horse race there—Double NOT!  The Kentucky Derby is probably the most famous horse race in the US.

One of the things that we had learned in our research was that not only is Bourbon big in Louisville, but the official cocktail of the city is an Old Fashioned.  This happens to be our favorite cocktail and another reason I thought we should travel to Louisville.  So naturally, we had to sample their take on this drink, which was very good (in fact, we would have an Old Fashioned prior to dinner on each of the four nights we were there).

In my wife’s research, she also discovered that Louisville has a famous food—a Hot Brown.

On one of the walls by the elevator, we saw a sign that said that the open-faced sandwich with a thick slice of turkey covered with a Mornay sauce and topped with bacon and cheese was in fact invented by the hotel’s chef in 1926 (the hotel opened in 1923).

So obviously, that was a must for both of us to try this nearly 100-year-old dish (it was absolutely delicious, in fact so delicious, that I had it again on our last night).

Well satiated, we settled in for the night to read our books and get a good night’s sleep before our adventures the next day.

     To be continued…