3 Days in Bourbon City — Louisville, KY

Visit Churchill Downs to bet on the horses and drink Mint Juleps. I advise that you check their schedule in advance to see when the horses are running and for other special events. Tours of the facility are available.

Visit the Bourbon distilleries

Many of the distilleries in the city of Louisville are within walking distance, i.e. less than two miles from end to end: Angel’s Envy, Old Forester, Michter’s Fort Nelson, Heaven Hill, Rabbit Hole, Copper and Kings and Kentucky Peerless Distilling Co. Advanced reservations for tours are recommended. Shopping and tastings can be done on a walk-in basis.

Tours are recommended for distilleries outside Louisville. Two local companies offer tours of the distilleries, horse farms and cooperages, including customized or public-type tours: Mint Julep Experiences and Pegasus Distillery Experiences. I personally scheduled a public tour with Mint Julep Experience and was VERY pleased with the expertise and professionalism of our tour guide, Tom and the cleanliness of the vehicle. As a nice touch, they kept a cooler of water onboard, which is necessary after tasting A LOT of bourbon!

Other touring options include: Kentucky Derby Museum, Muhammad Ali Center and the Belle of Louisville Riverboats.

There was no shortage of good restaurants in Louisville. For breakfast before our 7:45am tour time, we ducked into Dunkin Doughnuts. There is a Starbucks available for the diehards. We treated ourselves on the last day with a more leisurely breakfast at Con Huevos Craves and JJ Bakes and Co, located in the Falls City Market located in The Omni. The chocolate croissants at JJ Bakes were both beautiful and delicious.

For lunch, we stopped at Patrick O’Shea’s located right on Whiskey Row (or Main Street) in Louisville. We walked in and were seated immediately. They offered a variety of options to satisfy all appetites, from salads to fish and chips, shepherd’s pie and hamburgers. Of course, they had Guinness on tap and a great selection of Bourbons.

On Day 2, lunch was at the Cooper & Oak, located in Danville, KY, and the cost was included with the Mint Julep experience. The food was great, but the smoked, hand-crafted Old Fashioned was excellent. The server put on a great show demonstrating how to make it, burning the oak chips under glass and rimming the glass with the burnt orange rind right at our table. It was, of course, topped with a Luxardo cherry!

Our dinners included

• Food trucks at Churchill Downs

• Copper and Kings Distillery and Restaurant

• Volare Italian Ristorante

Copper and King are known for distilling Brandy. Their menu is driven by Kentucky's seasonal flare paired with finely distilled American Brandy. Our tour guide highly recommended Volare and we were not disappointed. It has been voted the “Best Italian Restaurant” for three consecutive years. A nice Italian meal with a nice bottle of wine was a great way to end our long weekend.