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Insider’s Guide to Derby City

Dana McMahan
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Louisville opens its arms to throngs of horse racing fans every spring. Derby City is the place to be: the bourbon’s flowing, the eating is good, and living is easy the first Saturday in May. If you’re headed to Louisville for the Kentucky Derby and want to see what else you might get up to besides those legendary two minutes at Churchill Downs, you’ve come to the right place. Our contributor Dana McMahan is on the ground in Derby town and will steer you to the latest and greatest.

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Louisville is brimming over with new eateries that join an already stellar line-up.

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Atlantic No. 5 – Brought to you by the tastemakers behind RYE (remember? We steered you there last Derby; you’re welcome) this food/coffee/sundries shop downtown turns up the volume on sandwiches and salads, serving up seriously good lunch fare in a spare, urban setting.

El Camino – Tiki is the first thing to come to mind when you think Kentucky, right? No? That’s ok, El Camino – opened last fall – will show you the way with their classic tiki cocktails, vintage surf music on vinyl, and authentic Mexican street fare.

El Taco Luchador – Yep, more south of the border here, with this colorful new taqueria (just down the street from El Camino actually) that packs the house with fans of their cheap-and-delicious tacos. Don’t miss the chicken mole, and definitely grab those sweet potato fries with smoked pineapple sauce.

Wiltshire Bakery and Cafe – Francophiles get their fix at this corner bakery, and if Paleo types don’t abandon all principles when they catch a whiff of the croissants, surely they’ll cave when they spot the sandwich board. To pack a Derby box lunch in style, get your order in by April 28 (our pick: the meat and cheese fantasy in the #1 Italian box).

Drink

Meta/House of the Public – Two in one! This upscale cocktail lounge (housed in a former strip bar) is playing host to House of the Public Derby weekend. Three days of pop-up club, totally new every day, for the “culturally discerning” will showcase local makers and promises some mean mixology – with no cover charge.

Gralehaus – If you made a pilgrimage to the Holy Grale last year, you’re going to want to head to their new shop tucked behind the beer garden. Gralehaus defies easy categorization, but one thing’s for sure: you’ve got plenty of options in their wall of beer – plus some high end snacks and square meals to round out your liquid nourishment.

See and do

The revival of Whiskey Row downtown has launched in earnest with the opening of the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience. If museums had been this cool (and well-funded) when we were kids we might’ve been better students (the bourbon tasting doesn’t hurt either). This official first stop on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail gives you an up-close look at the magic and alchemy that is bourbon-making – with a bonus helping of local history and lore. A handful more distilleries are in various stages of progress, so keep your eye on this swathe of downtown.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Louisville legend Cassius Clay’s (aka Muhammad Ali) bout with Sonny Liston; it’s also 45 years since John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s “bed-in.” What do these things have in common? They add up to a very good reason to drop in on the excellent Ali Center. Besides learning all about the life and times of the Champ, you’ll want to check out the new retrospective bed-in exhibit Give Peace a Chance.

Get out of town: head west (or east or south) on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail Craft Tour® and scope out what’s happening in the – micro-distilling – world of whiskey. Sample some moonshine and watch from grain to glass at one of eight small distilleries scattered across the commonwealth.

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Dana McMahan
Dana McMahan
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Rabbit Hole Rebrands and Launches New Whiskey
rabbit hole rebrand lineup

Louisville's new Rabbit Hole distillery has been making some major moves over the past few months. In June, it was announced that French beverage company Pernod Ricard had acquired a majority stake in the distillery, adding it to a whiskey portfolio that already includes popular brands like Jameson and The Glenlivet. Now Rabbit Hole has unveiled a complete rebranding of its core lineup that gives each whiskey a new name, and a brand-new expression has been added as well.

According to the brand, Rabbit Hole founder/distiller Kaveh Zamanian had all of this in the works well before the Pernod Ricard acquisition. "Knowing that the Rabbit Hole portfolio would continue to grow, we decided to give each of our spirits a distinctive name that evokes the ethos of Rabbit Hole," said chief marketing officer Michael Motamedi in a prepared statement. The names certainly are distinctive, although perhaps a bit harder to remember from a branding perspective as they don't exactly roll off of your tongue. The four-grain straight bourbon will now be called Cavehill after a Louisville cemetery where distillers have been buried; the straight rye will be called Boxergrail, "inspired by the greatest boxer and Louisvillian of all-time"; and the bourbon finished in sherry casks will be called Dareringer as a tribute to Zamanian's wife.

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The Best New-School Kentucky Distilleries
New Riff Distilling

It's hard to find many faults with the quality of whiskey being made at the old guard Kentucky distilleries. Jim Beam, Wild Turkey, Heaven Hill, Four Roses, and others have millions of barrels aging in rickhouses around the Bardstown area. They have been distilling for decades, some even dating back to the last century, so they generally know a thing or two about making bourbon. The craft distilling movement around the country has exploded in recent years, but the quality and quantity of whiskey usually pales in comparison with the big boys (with some notable exceptions, of course).

Kentucky has seen its share of upstart distilleries as well, many of which seem to be funded way beyond your typical craft distillery. They are both taking cues from established operations and doing things their own way - sourcing whiskey, contract distilling for other brands, making gin and vodka while their whiskey ages, finishing whiskey in various barrel types, and releasing whiskey in increments starting around the two-year mark. Ultimately, they are dealing with a thirsty world that is eager for new products and willing to pay a lot for something they haven't tried before. It remains to be seen how many will survive and how many will fold, but in the meantime our whiskey options are plentiful. Here are five new-school distilleries of note in Kentucky.
Kentucky Peerless Distilling Co.

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Work-of-Art Distillery Rabbit Hole Acquired by Pernod Ricard
Rabbit Hole Distillery

A Louisville whiskey brand less than a decade old has been acquired by a global spirits giant. 
Rabbit Hole Distillery announced this month Pernod Ricard has acquired a majority share of Rabbit Hole through its New Brand Ventures. Rabbit Hole boasts a beautiful, state-of-the-art distillery that opened in May 2018, and that shines a light on the spirits-making process in a more consumer-facing way than most distilleries.
The brand was founded in 2012 by Kaveh Zamanian, a clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst. He will maintain most of his shares in the company and remain at the helm of the operation.
“Rabbit Hole has a great sense of place and a great founding team,”  said Jeff Agdern, Pernod Ricard USA senior vice president of New Brand Ventures. “They have a considerable amount of aging inventory that will come online over the next 18 months, and we are eager to help make it available to U.S. consumers as quickly and widely as possible.”
Rabbit Hole is in Paris to celebrate our partnership with Pernod Ricard.
Agdern said Pernod Ricard has plans to expand distribution from 18 markets to 50 by the end of 2020. Since opening last year, the distillery has produced 1.2 million proof gallons annually. Rabbit Hole’s current line of spirits includes Straight Bourbon and Rye, as well as Sherry Cask bourbon and a London Dry Gin finished in Kentucky rye barrels.
Pernod Ricard’s new division will be focused on partnering with “fast-growing, high-potential” brands like Rabbit Hole as the craft spirits industry continues to flourish in the U.S. and globally. Other brands in the division are Smooth Ambler West Virginian whiskey and Del Maguey mezcal.
“By leveraging Pernod Ricard USA’s extensive distribution network to reach new consumers, we are able to strengthen Rabbit Hole’s position as a brand and amplify its presence as a new voice in American whiskey,” Zamanian said. “Rabbit Hole is poised to reach new heights.”

The centerpiece of the deal, however, is the distillery. The Manual visited Rabbit Hole this month during the Kentucky Bourbon Affair, prior to the announcement of the Pernod Ricard acquisition. With a Vendome still and its fermenter farm surrounded by stairs, walkways, and stories-high windows offering incredible views of Louisville, the distillery itself is a work of art.
The distillery was designed to showcase the process, from grain-to-bottle to visitors in a way older distilleries can't quite do. The distillery also has a bar on its top floor, which is open to reserve for private events and to the public, and offers a modern look and stunning panoramic view of the downtown skyline.
The rest of the French-based Pernod Ricard portfolio includes such brands as Absolut Vodka, Chivas Regal, The Glenlivet, Jameson, Malibu, Kahlúa, Beefeater Gin, Seagram’s, and Avion Tequila.

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