Louisville, Kentucky
Adult spring break as I like to call a friends trip to Louisville Kentucky. Louisville is a 6 hour drive from Atlanta that can easily be done to make this trip more cost effective. We were short on time and decide last minute to book a flight that ran us around $300 per person.
Since we have Marriott status that where we most often stay and this trip was no Different, we stayed at The AC Hotel in the NOLO district.
Since we would be spending a day out in bourbon country we rented a 7 passenger SUV, perks of being loyal to a company we got an upgrade to an Infinity.
We arrived Thursday got checked in freshened up and meet our friends at the bar before heading out to Bourbonville Festival. This is a legit bourbon festival as a kick-off to Kentucky Derby with unlimited drinks and food from top distilleries around the state.
I would advise that you purchase tour tickets in advance, I used google maps to plan our trip to allow ample travel time between distilleries.
We got an early start on Friday since we were heading out to taste bourbon, we started with breakfast at Hi-Five doughnuts where I had the friend chicken doughnut. We drove east for about an hour our first stop was Buffalo Trace which happens to be Kentucky's oldest distillery. Admittedly we were all a bit dare I say "hungover" from the night before so we took a few sips of the tasting at the end of the tour before heading out to our next stop. Tours are offered about every hour and are free since they are not "officially" apart of the Bourbon Trail.
Next distillery was Wood ford Reserve, this place is absolutely gorgeous from the grounds as you arrive and continues throughout the tour. Check in staff was extremely friendly and even allowed us to start the tour early since we arrived early. Guide was friendly, knowledgeable, and through. Woodford is seriously good bourbon and was defiantly a favorite among our crew, I think everyone purchased something at the end. This tour was the most expensive at $25 per person.
Next up was The Louisville Castle for lunch, menu was pretty basic if I could offer a suggestion I would add more lunch options as our reservation was for 1:00 PM on Friday and 3/4 of the menu was breakfast.
Last stop of the day was Four Roses, I am not opposed to having a four roses Manhattan here and there but over all while it was a beautiful tasting room with roses ans such around the tasting left much to be desired. This stop was the least favorite among the crew but at only $5 per person it was not a total waste.
Overall Friday was a success and I am glad we decided to rent a car and design our own tour, it allowed for stops along the way and for us to go at our own pace. This option also came out very cheap at roughly $100 per couple with the cost of the car and tours. Most tours from Louisville run you around $160 per person. We grab a fast causal dinner at a BBQ restaurant just down the street from the hotel and had a nap cap at a local tap room.
We got an early start Saturday with Brunch at Proof on Main at The 21 C Hotel, everything was delicious and after we walked around the hotel to admire the art on display.
Next stop was the Mohammad Ali museum which you should defiantly check out if you are in Louisville.
We had a bit more time so we made reservations at a new distillery Angles Envy this stuff is some seriously good stuff. The guide was by far the funniest and most entertaining of them all, I was literally crying from laughing. We were losing 2 of the crew that had a late afternoon flight so after we grabbed some food before dropping them off at the airport.
David and I decided to find a local liquor store and stock up before grabbing friend chicken from the highly recommend Indie's friend Chicken before calling it a night.
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