Well, here we are. Somehow we found ourselves back in Louisville about a month after our first trip. What can I say, we love Louisville! There was so much we were not able to do on our last trip, thanks to the holiday weekend and frigid temperatures. I have to admit, the weather wasn't that much better this time around. While it was in the 60s the week prior and the week after our trip, it was freezing 20-30 degree weather AGAIN the weekend we were in town. Cold be damned, things were open and we were able to finish up the urban bourbon trail and all the other downtown Louisville/NuLu things we wanted to accomplish. Here is a continuation of our first trip to Louisville.
We landed late and just had time for a quick drink at the Repeal bar before heading to bed at the beautiful Autograph Collection, Hotel Distil. Brunch coupons were included in our stay so we enjoyed breakfast each morning at Repeal before heading out for a day of bourbon tasting. Brunch options were tasty but I definitely prefer the restaurant for dinner (it's one of our favorite steak houses!).
Stop one on our take-two of the Urban Bourbon Trail was Old Forrester. The tasting room opens at 10:30 and it's right next to the hotel, so this made it the most convenient place for stop number 1. We loved the store, bar area, and views of the bourbon process, making this the best of all the distilleries to pop in without a booked tour or tasting reservation. We did two of their high end tasting and really fell in love with some of the vintages.
After all that booze, we needed caffeine and something to soak up the alcohol before our next tasting. We popped in Wiltshire Pantry and I fell in love with the style and colors and the community feel.
As we learned from our first Louisville trip, the city is bursting with art and culture. One of the most famous museums is the Muhammad Ali Center. I was blown away by the history, interactive exhibits, and shear size of this museum. It's extremely well done and we learned so much about this American Icon.
After our time at the Ali Center, we headed to our favorite neighborhood, NuLu. New Louisville is just a couple miles from downtown and the home to mom and pop shops, local restaurants and cool street art. It is also home to Louisville's newest distillery, Rabbit Hole. This bourbon was probably our least favorite of the trip, but we cut them some slack since they didn't have hundreds of years of practice like the others. The space is light and bright, they had cocktails on tap, and the merchandise was incredible. The new kid definitely beat the old guys in the merch department! I wanted to buy everything, even though I didn't like the bourbon that much. Now that's good marketing!
Since all the NuLu shops were closed when we visited last time, I was keen to check out all the local shops. Every one was cuter than the last and here are a few of my favorites. Macaron Bar, Mahonia, and Wow (Women Owned Wallet). We also stopped in Feast for lunch again and although my salad was tasty, I'll stick to the amazing tofu loaded tots next time.
On the freezing walk back from NuLu to downtown, we stopped at the last of our Urban Bourbon Trail distilleries, Angel's Envy. We didn't reserve a tasting ahead of time so just browsed the shop and viewed the tastings through glass walls around the distillery. Most bars in Louisville served Angel's Envy in their bourbon cocktails so we wer eable to taste various vintages throughout our trip.
To end the evening, we headed back to Mitcher's and The Bar at Fort Nelson. This is our favorite spot in Louisville, hands down, so we had to visit again. This time we got a seat at the bar and it made the experience even better than last time. The interactions with the bar tenders helped us learn more about the Mitcher's process as well as gave us insight into off-menu drink recipes, taste testing, and created an overall more jovielle vibe. We'll definitely be requesting bar seats in our reservations from here on out.
For dinner Saturday night, we went back to Proof on Main. It's still probably the best ambiance/decor of any restaurant I've even been (
see pics here). The food was fantastic as always and the Icebox Salad was added to our list of Best Things I Ever Ate. After our meal, I had to walk through the 21C Museum Hotel and see the new installation. I'm obsessed with this hotel that I've never stayed at :)
On Sunday we only had time for brunch at Repeal and a quick walk around, but I was able to snap a few photos of the amazing hotel room decor. I really enjoy most Autograph Collection hotels, but this one was a favorite. The vibe of the hotel was old world style with a specific Louisville/Bourbon twist. I cannot recommend this hotel more, thanks to its prime location, the fantastic restaurant & bar, and of course, the decor and comfort of the rooms. Love, love, love. Just like everything about Louisville, I was pleasantly surprised on how much I loved it.
If you missed our first trip to Louisville, you can see the details
here. And we have to go again in the warm weather because there are still so many other neighborhoods I want to check out!
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