Horses, Food & Booze

I hate when I start a post and never finish :/  Well, here is one from last week (sorry for the overload of pictures):

Will and I were beyond fortunate to join some friends in Kentucky this past weekend to experience the Bourbon Trail!  I'm not a bourbon drinker, but the guys are, so us gals were lucky to tag along for the ride.
On board!
The journey began on Friday with a quick flight to Louisville.  We arrived at our super cool hotel, The Seelbach, quickly checked in and headed out to meet our bus.  We drove around Louisville and learned about the area, then ended at Churchill Downs!  We went through the museum and got a tour of the property.  Super cool!  I've now added attending the Kentucky Derby to my Bucket List!  We concluded the afternoon at a local hot spot and had Mint Juleps!  We had a short break to get ready for dinner than were gone again.  Wow - was dinner good!  My favorite meal of the weekend!



Mint Julep, the tour bus
Mint Julep, the drink
Saturday began bright and early.  Ate a BIG breakfast at the hotel (needed a good base on the belly before the bourbon)!  We were on the bus and pulling out at 8am!  Our first stop - Bulleit at the old Stitzel Weller Distillery.  We had a tour and learned about the history of the property, then on to trying the bourbon.  We had 7 tastings! WOW!  Everyone was most excited about the 22 year old Blade and Bow.  This was my favorite stop, it was very intimate as it was just our group on the tour and tasting.  The tour guide took time to answer questions and really talk about the bourbons.



We loaded back on the bus and headed towards Jim Beam.  We didn't do a tour here, but did some samplings.  It was beautiful countryside, but my least favorite visit.  It was very commercialized and not personal with a machine giving you the sample.  Still a cool place to check out though.  Then, we headed to lunch at The Old Talbott Tavern.  It was pretty tasty - got some good bar food (fried pickles, fried green tomatoes) and a salad.




Our 3rd stop was at Willett.  We did a tour and got to see some of the cooking take place and the rickhouse.  Our tour group was a little large, but not too bad.  After we got to have some samples as well.  We got to chose 2 of their house labels to try.
Doesn't look so yummy in this phase
The Group!
Some hams aging in the rickhouse

Our 4th and final stop was at Heaven Hill.  We got there a bit early for our scheduled tasting so we sat in the bus and enjoyed a few cocktails :)  Heaven Hill was definitely was very nice and everything seemed clean and new.  There wasn't a tour there as that was not where the actual distilling occurs.  But we visited the gift shop and then sampled some of their labels.  It was a big group but we all had tables iso it was still just our immediate group together, which we enjoyed.


We then headed back to the hotel so we could relax a bit and get ready for dinner.  We ate at The Mayan Cafe.   It was a very eclectic menu...my favorite thing was the cocktail the waitress suggested...no clue what it was, but I liked it!  We enjoyed a nightcap back at the hotel before calling it a night.

We were all so excited that we could sleep in on Sunday! I think I got at least 10 hours of sleep!  We meet for Brunch at The Brown Hotel.  Then, we headed out for Copper & Kings - a brandy distillery. They had my favorite decor :)  We got to sample here as well (brandy & absinthe)!  We went back to the hotel to grab our luggage and head to the airport.




We had a slight delay with the snow so we missed our connection, but still made it home, just a few hours later.  What a fabulous weekend with great friends!!  I can't wait to go back and finish the trail!!
Haven't seen this view at an airport in a long time!

And of a CF note, I was on my Cayston cycle, so this girl did her treatments on the bus in between distilleries!! Woohoo!! The Vest didn't get invited to join on this trip - lol.

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