Louisville, mint julep and the Kentucky Derby

We almost didn’t make it to Louisville. My husband, who plans all our trips to the US, suggested it as an easy day trip from Indianapolis where we would be staying with his cousin. I wanted to know what there was of interest in Louisville and he mentioned a  cave somewhere on the outskirts of the city. I think I rolled my eyes and said that I didn’t want to see another cave. But then he told me that there were a lot of Victorian buildings in the downtown area. That was all I needed to give the green light.

In the end, we skipped the cave completely and, while my husband and son visited the Louisville Slugger Museum, I headed across the street to the Frazier History Museum. It was the perfect choice for me and I learnt quite a bit about Louisville, bourbon, the Kentucky Derby and mint julep. 

Mint julep has a bourbon base and has been the official drink of the Kentucky Derby since 1939. For the event, Woodford Reserve have been releasing a limited edition bourbon bottle that features the artwork of a national artist for the past 20 years. All 20 of the Derby bottles that have been released to date, together with all the original artworks, are on display at the  Frazier Museum in the temporary exhibit Woodford Reserve & the Kentucky Derby: Two Decades of Artistry, Bourbon and Horse Racing. 

My favourite bottle was from the 2006 edition by artist Kathy Sullivan. 

 
The exhibit is open until the end of 2019. You may read more about the 2019 Kentucky Derby bottle here (artwork pictured below). As for mint julep, you can pay $1000 dollars to drink it from a special edition silver cup or $2500 for the gold (all proceeds go to charity). Alternatively, this mint julep recipe can easily be made at home. I never realised that bourbon and horse races could be so interesting.

Downtown Louisville is an interesting juxtaposition of old and modern. The colourful fronts of Victorian buildings, decorated with exquisite architectural details, are interspersed with high-rise buildings and skyscrapers, but the overall effect is pleasant.

 
 

Scattered around the streets of Louisville are a number of colourful sculptures of horses known locally as the Sidewalk Derby. The Sidewalk Derby is an initiative that was started in 2004 by Gallopalooza (the city of Louisville’s public art project) with the aim of raising money for charity. 223 beautifully decorated, fibre-glass statues of horses were auctioned to local businesses and individuals and raised $800 000. Some of the horses represent winners of the Kentucky Derby. When we walked past 3 of them in downtown Louisville, I knew nothing about them – although, given the strong association that Louisville has with the Derby, I was not surprised to see them. So I got curious and did some research and now I know. If any of you are in Louisville, make it a point to look out for the horses of the Sidewalk Derby as they are really eye-catching and works of art in their own right.

No visit to KY would be complete without a stop at a distillery or an urban still-house. Since we were in a bit of a rush we opted for the latter. The Jim Beam Urban Still-house is located in Louisville’s 4^th Street Live! district and comes with its own small working distillery and bottling line. For $8 per person you can participate in a guided tasting that will teach you the history behind Jim Beam, and, among other things, the differences between bourbon and whisky. Each tasting is accompanied by four ¼ ounce pours. I am not much of a bourbon drinker but the apple and honey-flavoured varieties were very good.

That is about all we had time for when we visited Louisville. I took a lot of photos on the fly whenever I thought that something looked interesting. It would have been best if we had decided to stay overnight because we would have had more time to just take things at a leisurely pace. For the time being, we will be content with what we saw and hope to return again someday.

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