Pam and I began our trek to Bourbon country on Friday afternoon where we would meet my niece Chelsea in Columbus, Ohio for a short visit and a night in the Arena District. We had dinner at a restaurant called the Flat Iron which appeared to be a new trendy place. Our weekend had begun.
Before we heading to Chelsea's for the night, we stopped for a nightcap at the Watershed. Very cool place. Enjoyed our drinks and hope we get to go back sometime.
Saturday morning came early as we needed to get on a road to get the Bulleit Bourbon Distillery for our tour. We started moving into Kentucky and as we came into town we stopped at a recommended place called Bud's Tavern for a bite to eat, checking out the Louisville football game with the locals
On to The Distillery at Bulleit where we were met at the gate by a gentleman name Perry that had worked there for 47 years. We would find out later that Perry spent a lot of time in the coopering shack, sharpening his craps skills. After a few moments in the gift shop we were on our tour which was quite informative as our tour guide did an exceptional job of explaining the history of bourbon and the distillery itself.
We decided on Patrick O'Shea's for dinner which was part of the Urban Bourbon Trail of downtown Louisville. After dinner and selling an extra ticket to one of the bar backs, we ventured across the street to Merle's Whiskey Kitchen and had the most fun experience, interacting and learning about the Bourbon Trail and the whiskey we were drinking with Sydney and John behind the bar.
I was even able to commandeer one more Blanton's horse top getting a little closer to finishing the collection. I hope I get back there someday as it was a lot of fun. Good Times (although the chicken I ordered late night probably could have done without)
We headed back for the night to Indiana because of our early day for the Bourbon & Beyond Festival, day 2
Sunday was scorching hot and after another Uber over to Champions Park we started our day checking out the grounds. It was an amazing set up and we wandered to the main stage and watched about three songs of Keifer Sutherland who was pretty cool. I didn't know he was that good of a singer.
We walked around a little bit more to check out the various tents and events while finding the watering station and the porta potties. Pam taught me a valuable lesson: don't go to first few that you see, that's what everybody does. Go the ones at the back end of things which are cleaner ...good lesson.
perform for about three songs. We stopped at these little speakeasy
tents to get out of the sun and relax for a bit but kept exploring.
We met people from everywhere: Steve, from Australia who came all the way "just to see Gary Clark Jr."
Finally around 6, the sun started to go down as Paul Rodgers started his set which included a cool version of All Right Now that had everybody dancing and singing.
Joe Bonamassa took the stage around 7:30 and ripped the joint up, playing some Zeppelin into his set.
Stevie Nicks played one song and complained about the smoke possibly affecting her vocal cords and requested not to blow smoke towards the stage..that didn't sit well with some of the crowd as people started to kinda wander back towards the parking area. Still a good performance. Said it was the first time she ever played the song Bella Donna live.
A little confusion in getting our Uber ride back to the hotel ended our night. We were saved by a Patriot fan Uber driver wearing a Tom Brady jersey. Thanks Blue Tom.
Drove back home on Monday. Safe to say we enjoyed our time together in Louisville and had a blast. I would look forward to going back and exploring more of Bourbon country. Thanks for coming along for the ride, Pam.
Saturday morning came early as we needed to get on a road to get the Bulleit Bourbon Distillery for our tour. We started moving into Kentucky and as we came into town we stopped at a recommended place called Bud's Tavern for a bite to eat, checking out the Louisville football game with the locals
On to The Distillery at Bulleit where we were met at the gate by a gentleman name Perry that had worked there for 47 years. We would find out later that Perry spent a lot of time in the coopering shack, sharpening his craps skills. After a few moments in the gift shop we were on our tour which was quite informative as our tour guide did an exceptional job of explaining the history of bourbon and the distillery itself.
 |
| Perry |
It was then on to our hotel in Clarksville Indiana. We were able to check in and get freshened up and Ubered into downtown Louisville for something to eat over the Ohio River
We decided on Patrick O'Shea's for dinner which was part of the Urban Bourbon Trail of downtown Louisville. After dinner and selling an extra ticket to one of the bar backs, we ventured across the street to Merle's Whiskey Kitchen and had the most fun experience, interacting and learning about the Bourbon Trail and the whiskey we were drinking with Sydney and John behind the bar.
 |
| Sydney and John |
I was even able to commandeer one more Blanton's horse top getting a little closer to finishing the collection. I hope I get back there someday as it was a lot of fun. Good Times (although the chicken I ordered late night probably could have done without) 
We headed back for the night to Indiana because of our early day for the Bourbon & Beyond Festival, day 2
Sunday was scorching hot and after another Uber over to Champions Park we started our day checking out the grounds. It was an amazing set up and we wandered to the main stage and watched about three songs of Keifer Sutherland who was pretty cool. I didn't know he was that good of a singer.
We walked around a little bit more to check out the various tents and events while finding the watering station and the porta potties. Pam taught me a valuable lesson: don't go to first few that you see, that's what everybody does. Go the ones at the back end of things which are cleaner ...good lesson.
We grabbed a little bit of lunch and sampled a few new Bourbons early on as we went up and watched Jonny Lang
 |
| Steve from Australia |
We met people from everywhere: Steve, from Australia who came all the way "just to see Gary Clark Jr."
 |
| Gary Clark Jr |
 |
| Paul Rodgers |
A little confusion in getting our Uber ride back to the hotel ended our night. We were saved by a Patriot fan Uber driver wearing a Tom Brady jersey. Thanks Blue Tom.
