Babes in KY Bourbon Land: Part One
For Valentine’s Day me and the Bae took a quick getaway (baecation if you will) down to Kentucky to explore the famous Kentucky Bourbon Trail! We both enjoy a good bourbon, but he by far is the real enthusiast. We both learned a ton about how bourbons are distilled, and we got to explore a little bit of Louisville on our own!
Frazier Museum
This was our first stop as soon as we crossed the river. Frazier Museum prides itself on being the Kentucky Bourbon Trail Welcome Center. An what a warm welcome is was! We kicked things off with the Ready! Set! Go! Bourbon Experience. It was phenomenal! Our guide was so knowledgeable and he made things really fun! We both learned that we didn’t know how to properly taste a bourbon before this. We just kind of took things before off of first impression. (LOL) Now, I can pick up so many more notes from the mash bills and my enjoyment has truly went to the next level. The Old Forester 1920 Prohibition had notes of green apple, and it’s definitely one of my new favorites. This is a great opening experience because you get such a rich history lesson and you get to taste across three different brands. Before or after you complete your tasting, you can enjoy the current bourbon focused exhibits in the museum. One displays basically every Kentucky Bourbon in distribution and you can count how many you’ve had. My Babe’s number is an impressive 41, and I that’s not even halfway through.
ALEX&NDER
Following our trip to the Museum, we made our way over to Butchertown. Now this bar came highly recommended from some friends, and we could see why. Alex&nder is the on-site bar for the Copper and Kings American Brandy Company. The space itself is made up of these bold orange and charcoal gray shipping containers, which was super cool. As you walk into the property, you pass a beautiful outdoor lounge space with a water feature and a fire pit. We can’t wait to come back and see it in the warmer months. Once you enter the building towards the back, you head up a few floors to find a beautifully elegant bar with amazing views of the skyline and the bridges. The two of us were relatively naive when it comes to brandys, but we both enjoyed two of their delicious cocktails and shared a fight featuring three of the Copper and Kings brandys. Definitely different and better quality than what we’d had before. This place is ultimate date night vibes for sure.
Quick Stop: bar Vetti
I’m really sad I can’t find my own photo of our food, but we had a carryout meal from bar Vetti. It was decorated super chic, and I LOVED the pink neon ambience. They were booked up for reservations, but we still had a chance to try out their Italian cuisine that we devoured at the hotel—we had only had kettle chips since we arrived in town. I enjoyed their beef meatballs and the orecchiette (a sausage ragu with basil and ricotta). And admittedly I was so hungry in the moment I forgot what Tre ordered.
The Moxy Hotel
We settled in for the night at our super fun hotel, the Moxy Louisville. Moxy Hotels are the boutique style hotel brand under the Marriott Bonvoy brand that prides itself on an eccentric and welcoming experience. For example, the check-in desk doubles as the lobby bar! There were announcements chalked on the elevator walls. There were also card and board games available in the lobby to play (COVID safely of course). We had a cute (and compact) room that overlooked the Ohio River—a vibe. By the time we ate dinner and made it halfway through the movie, I was out like a light. Plus, we had an early day ahead that I’ll share in the next post.
Cheers!