What is spring in Kentucky if not the Kentucky Derby? Especially this year, the 150th Run for the Roses at Churchill Downs.
On Saturday, April 27, you can kick off the festivities at a “Derby Through the Decades” party. For the first time ever, the Kentucky post-position draw will be open to the public at this event. Party chic is black, gold and rose red. The Kentucky Derby Museum will feature an exhibit of historic Derby fashion and regional artists will show their local couture on a Runway for the Roses. Kentucky milliners will also be there to advise on your Derby hat game.
Many people opt to attend the Kentucky Oaks the day before the Derby and it now regularly draws more than 100,000, bringing the number coming to see and be seen at Churchill for the weekend to a quarter-million people.
Woodford Reserve is presenting the Kentucky Derby—aka the world’s “Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports.” But the Derby isn’t just a race. It’s a mix of Southern culture and history with an international sporting event. It’s the formal grandstand that has welcomed royalty and the insanity of the infield where almost anything goes. It’s a day to wear a hat, sip a mint julep, eat burgoo, and be Southern—no matter where you come from.
Kentucky’s Bourbon Trail officially begins at the Frazier History Museum, a fitting match, since the museum’s founder was bourbon heir Owsley Brown Frazier. Most of the exhibits on the second floor highlight the rich history of bourbon as it intermingled with that of Kentucky.
One display features all the bourbons made in the commonwealth and you can record all the brands you have sampled. Additional exhibits describe more about Kentucky’s storied history. You can purchase your Bourbon Trail passport here or at any of the distilleries along the way.
In Kentucky, bourbon is more than a business. It’s history. It’s culture. And since 1999, when the Kentucky Distiller’s Association put together the Bourbon Trail, it’s been tourism. Down the street from the Frazier in Louisville you’ll find Whiskey Row, also known as The Wall Street of Whiskey. Here, you can walk through 10 distilleries and tasting experiences if you have the time and the fortitude—and a designated driver.
While you’re downtown, check out the Muhammad Ali Center. Not only do the exhibits recognize his athletic prowess, they call attention to his work as a change agent in the civil rights movement and his personal goals to encourage empowerment for youth. You’ll leave with a new understanding of why people call Ali the GOAT (greatest of all time).
You’re also close to the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory, so stop for a tour at this iconic Kentucky landmark.
You can hit more distilleries on your way out of Louisville, but make sure you stop in the Clermont area of Bullitt County for a tour of Jim Beam Distillery, one of Kentucky’s oldest. They have recently begun a “taste as you go” tour, where the tour itself is broken up with tastings instead of one tasting with four bourbons at the end. It allows you to savor the taste and clear your palate a bit before the next bourbon.
You learn a great deal about the distillery and the bourbon itself: The water comes from across the highway in Bernheim Forest, and in 1935 wild yeast was discovered that is still used today in the bourbon. You even have the opportunity to make your own custom bottle.
Don’t miss The Kitchen Table Restaurant when you visit. Try the duck poppers as a starter for a creamy crispy treat. The pork empanadas have a flakey crust and a remoulade sauce to spice things up. Their burgoo is thick and hot—perfect for a rainy day. The fried chicken’s crispy crust manages a sweet honey and salty tang at the same time. Meanwhile, the brisket melts in your mouth with its creamy grits. No matter what you order from the menu, you’re sure to enjoy it.
Continue down the road to Bardstown—known as The Bourbon Capitol of the World— where you can find 10 distilleries open for touring within 11 miles of downtown. You won’t want to miss the Oscar Getz Museum of Whiskey History, filled with memorabilia from precolonial America to Prohibition moonshine stills, medicine bottles, and advertising art. Most impressive might be Prohibitionist Carrie Nation’s saloon-smashing hatchet.
You’ll find a wide variety of distilleries, from Lux Row Distillers producing 3 million gallons a year to Preservation Distillery with its micro batches. Willett, family-owned since 1936, offers a tour of a craft distillery, as does larger yet impressively rustic Maker’s Mark in nearby Loretto. There you can hand dip your own bottle in the brand’s signature red wax. Heaven Hill Bourbon Heritage Center offers a number of tours, including one where you can bottle your own bourbon.
During National Bourbon Week, June 10-16, Bardstown will celebrate with daily events and special releases, as well as special events at local distilleries.
Nearby Versailles provides some unique offerings, including a real castle right out of a storybook. Inside you’ll find a farm-to-table restaurant and events that run the gamut from formal teas for little girls—and big girls—to murder mysteries, glamping and other thematic parties. The castle can be rented for personal events.
A stretch of road Woodford County calls The McCracken Mile encompasses a little bit of everything you might visit Central Kentucky to experience: horses, bourbon, wineries, Southern food, stone fences, and welcoming bed-and-breakfast inns. You might visit Ashmore Stud, where you can see Triple Crown winners American Pharaoh and Justify. Coolmore and Gainsborough Farm are also on the route. And of course, another three distilleries—Castle and Key, Glenn Creek and famed Woodford Reserve—are right there along the way.
Follow I-64 west to Shelbyville for a varied experience. Here, several parks provide horseback riding, and Shelby Trails Riding Center offers trail rides and lessons at its Red Fern Riding Center. For families with younger children, there’s a working farm where children can pet the farm animals.
Shelbyville is also home to The Science Hill School (originally known as the Science Hill Female Academy), one of America’s first preparatory schools for women. Founded on March 25, 1825, by Julia A. Tevis, the school was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975 and in 1978 it opened as a restaurant called The Science Hill Inn, serving traditional Southern fare.
The county also has a selection of orchards and wineries as well as a couple of distilleries: Jeptha Creed and Bulleit. You can see the pink mash from the Bloody Butcher corn used for all Jeptha Creed’s products. At Bulleit you can accept the challenge to identify aromas common to bourbon and create your own label.
In Elizabethtown, more than 20 trails interconnect throughout the community, earning it a designation as a Kentucky Trail Town.
Elizabethtown has also developed a “social hub” to promote their downtown district. In The Hub entertainment district, you can take your alcoholic drink to-go from one of the participating Hub locations as you stroll through downtown Elizabethtown.
Don’t miss Bourbon Barrel Tavern, named one of the top bourbon bars in America. Here they serve over 500 bourbons, as well as a wide selection of craft beer and wine.
This year is the 10-year anniversary of the Corvette Museum sinkhole in Bowling Green, when a massive sinkhole collapsed under the museum in the wee hours of the morning, swallowing up eight Corvettes on display. The museum will host an exhibit from June 14 through September 15 commemorating the event, featuring two Corvettes that were recovered from the sinkhole and fully restored: a 2009 “Blue Devil” ZR1 and the One Millionth Corvette (a white ’92 model). It will also include other cars that remain damaged from the incident.
Lost River Cave is another unique place—an underground cave right in the heart of Bowling Green that can be toured by boat. It originally began as a commercial water mill in the late 1700s, then became a campsite hideout during the Civil War. During Prohibition it was used as a nightclub. It’s even rumored that Jesse James hid there. Now it’s used for corporate events and weddings at night when cave tours close.
Another place with big history is Beech Bend Amusement Park, located on 379 acres and family-owned since 1898. The park was huge in its heyday, between the 1960s and the 1980s. The Sea Dragon swinging boat ride was purchased from Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch and the Kentucky Rumbler wooden roller coaster won awards in the early 2000s. The park is not only known for the rides, but also for the attached racetracks and drag strip. Today, weekends stay packed with huge automotive events pulling upwards of 30,000 people or more for the Holley LS Fest. This year the racetrack is the first stop on the HOT ROD Power Tour by Motor Trend.
Northern Kentucky also has leapt into the bourbon boom with The B-Line Tour that provides transport to a combination of seven craft distilleries on the Bourbon Trail, nine bourbon bars, and nine bourbon-centric restaurants.
But Northern Kentucky is far more than distilleries. According to Julie Kirkpatrick, president and CEO of Meet NKY, “Northern Kentucky has some of the most unique things to offer to visitors because our region is a collision of where the North meets the South.”
One example is the Behringer-Crawford Museum, which features an exhibit dedicated to the iconic Barbie. Celebrating over 60 years of fashion, feminism and fun, the museum displays dolls, accessories and memorabilia. You can even channel your inner Barbie by posing in a life-sized Barbie box selfie station.
At the Newport Aquarium you’ll see thousands of the world’s most exotic aquatic animals. At Newport on the Levee, you’ll find a bit of everything: shopping, food, photo ops, and access to the Riverfront Commons Trail.
A little way down the Ohio River lies Augusta with its eponymous distillery, and farther still, Maysville, with Second Sight Spirits and family-owned Old Pogue Distillery, where you can also visit the first floor of the family’s home.
Lexington boasts 16 distilleries in and around the city, including Fresh Bourbon, the first Black-owned bourbon distillery. Founded by Sean and Tia Edwards, Fresh Bourbon is located right on Main Street. It’s so recently added to the Bourbon trail that it doesn’t appear in the Passport yet.
The rolling hills of the Bluegrass are also home to some 450 Thoroughbred farms, many of which offer tours. Some farms also offer riding tours, or you can check out the Kentucky Horse Park for an up-close equine experience. And don’t forget Keeneland— it’s the place to be in Lexington in the spring. It also has the best burgoo in town—or is it the atmosphere that makes it so?
One of Lexington’s hidden gems is the Headley-Whitney Museum, truly one of the most unusual museums in America. The George Headley Collection showcases artwork created by Headley himself, including jewelry, bibelots and mounted semiprecious stones. Another exhibit features Marylou Whitney’s doll houses. This set of four, completed over a 10-year period, replicates the buildings of the Whitney property Maple Hill: the main house, the artist’s studio, the pool house, and the guesthouse. The Decorative Arts collection features small three-dimensional artworks.
Just 30 minutes east of Lexington is Mount Sterling, known for its rich history, an artsy downtown with century-old buildings that now house boutiques and trendy restaurants, and its gorgeous setting in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. Take the Downtown Historical Walking Tour and Arts Trail. Perhaps visit during Kentucky’s longest-running festival, October Court Days.
Ruth Hunt Candies began over 100 years ago in Mount Sterling and the rest is (delicious) history. Ruth Hunt makes around 70 different types of confections, from caramel and toffee to bourbon-infused treats and mouthwatering chocolates. Specialties include Kentucky’s famous Blue Monday candy bars, Woodford Reserve bourbon balls, Kentucky pulled cream candy and chocolate-covered Twinkies.
While Winchester may not have a distillery on the Bourbon Trail, it does have the Ale-8-One Factory. It’s a family-owned hometown soft drink that’s the true penultimate mixer with bourbon. The drink is still prepared today using the original handwritten notes and specially blended ginger. The company store is open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, whether or not tours are currently offered.
Before you leave town, try the beer cheese, a creamy, snappy, cheesy spread that goes well with almost anything. The Beer Cheese Trail features 12 local restaurants with beer cheese items on the menu. You can register online and each stop will add stamps to your Cheese Log. When you collect five stamps you’ll earn a free T-shirt.
East of Winchester you’ll find the small college town of Berea, the first integrated co-educational college in the South. In addition to traditional college classes, Berea works to preserve Appalachian arts and traditions.
The setting for television’s series “Justified” can also be found in Eastern Kentucky. If you’d like to visit Harlan because you’re a fan of Timothy Olyphant/Rayland Givens or Walton Goggins/Boyd Crowder, don’t expect exact representation but the area is beautiful and filled with history. Enjoy the great outdoors on your own or with local challenges like Black Mountain Thunder Zipline.
The Kentucky Coal Mining Museum is in Harlan, where Bloody Harlan and the Harlan County War took place in the 1930s as they tried to unionize the local mines. Explore an interactive experience in a model coal mine. See historic photos and tools from the past two centuries of coal mining to understand the importance it played in American history.
Farther west, Murray inhabits a small corner of Kentucky, known for Murray State University and a long-standing reputation for being the “Friendliest Small Town in America.”
Visitors seek out Calloway County looking for small-town charm and welcoming locals. Trailing through the outskirts and along the Barn Quilt Trail, you’ll see individual squares adorning old barns with designs telling the stories of landowners and their families. Visitors describe being enchanted with the spirit they find in Murray and say it feels like home.
The downtown district remains the heartbeat of Murray, with small businesses in historic buildings, murals created by Kentucky artists, and a thriving farmers market in the summer months.
From Corvettes to coal mining, Muhammad Ali and Louisville Sluggers, Kentucky offers a slice of America, something for everyone—with a sip of bourbon along the way.
