Louisville Convention & Visitors Bureau 2012-13 Marketing Highlights

You know what is pretty much the best thing in the world to a blogger? Going to a city-wide function, sitting down next to a random stranger, telling him you're a blogger, and having him say, "I read My Loueyville every morning! You're Melissa!"

Best. Feeling. Ever. (Hi Ron!!)

Today I attended the Louisville Convention and Visitors Bureau's 2012-2013 Marketing Plan roll-out shin-dig. I'm pretty easy to pump up (especially when it involves anything Louisville), but I have to say both our mayor and the LCVB President, Jim Wood, got me pretty damned pumped for stuff that's been going on and WILL go on in the city.

One of the things I really loved was how many times Jim Wood brought up the importance of writers and bloggers in his speech. Not just because I'm a blogger, and I'm currently on the job market looking for the perfect writing gig, but because it's nice to hear creative folks get the credit that they're due. Twice, Wood brought up the IdeaFestival blogger meet-up that Michelle Jones and I were involved in last year.

Mayor Fischer highlighted some of the great things on our horizons here in Louisville...

The opening of the Big 4 Pedestrian Bridge, which should (?) be in early 2013 (and which, Fischer predicted, would be THE place to propose in Louisville).

The Michter's and Heaven Hill distilleries opening downtown next summer (think about it... two brand new "adult" tourist attractions opening right in time for summer travel season) will really establish us as "the Gateway to Bourbon Country."

The continued expansion of the Urban Bourbon Trail.

The 2014 100th Anniversary of the Belle Of Louisville, which will be marked, in part, buy a huge steamboat meet-up on the Ohio (that means lots of steamboats and a lot of steamboat nerds-- they exist!).

The expanded outdoorsy opportunities thanks to the 21century Parks Program and the growing Louisville Loop.

So exciting!

IdeaFestival 2011: It's a Wrap

It may very well take me a week to finish my recap of this year's IdeaFestival. I told myself I'd just write a couple of words about each presenter, but a half hour into the post, I've only touched on two.

So in the meantime, I'll leave you with this, my highlight of the weekend. The folks at the Louisville Convention and Visitors Bureau hosted a dinner at the Brown Hotel's English Grille Chef's Table for out-of-town media. Five courses prepared by Chef Laurent Geroli, bourbon, wine, great conversation. Picture includes: Michelle Jones of Consuming Louisville, Baratunde Thurston of The Onion et al, Max Linsky of Longform.org, Ellen McGirt of Fast Company Magazine, Chef Laurent, CC Chapman, author & entrepreneur.

The evening ended with me leading the group mentioned above (minus Michelle) down to the Seelbach Hotel (where we passed DJ Pauly D on the way in). There, they generously treated me to Pappy Van Winkle 23 while we poked around the Rathskeller.

Thank you so much to the LVCB and Chef Laurent for being such great ambassadors for the city. (And thanks too for the personalized "Official Bourbon Taster" chef's jacket!) I spent a lot of time with out-of-towners this weekend, and to a person they absolutely LOVED Louisville. Good job, city!

PS. I had no idea that the Chef's Table existed, but it does! And you can have dinner there too. Check out the link above for the English Grille. Chef Laurent is a charming host.

Beam & Dafoe: Two Classic Gentlemen

Have you seen this really beautiful Willem Dafoe Jim Beam ad?  Dafoe once said, "One of the pleasures of being an actor is quite simply taking a walk in someone else's shoes. And when I look at the roles that I've played, I'm kind of amazed at all the wonderful adventures I've had, and all of the different things I've learned."

Back when I lived in the East Village of NYC, I used to see Dafoe almost every day on my walk to the West Village to work (I imagine he was heading to work to, at the Wooster Group).  I never stopped him and played fangirl, but he (maybe because he) was always so damned pleasant.  A smile, a nod, a comment on the weather, a definite acknowledgement that we passed each other at the same time in the same place nearly every day.  I'm actually kind of impressed I didn't geek out over him at the time; I've always had a big crush.  I mean seriously, he was sexy Jesus.  And he's still pretty gosh darned sexy.

Jim Beam and Willem Dafoe?  I approve.

I'm a Woman and I Love Bourbon: Buffalo Trace

As it has been well established in this blog, Mama loves her bourbon. Mama loves her bourbon and only takes it neat or with a little ice. Don't mix my bourbon with any of your damn crap. Sure, I love me a Manhattan. And come this time of year, I do love the julep. But for the most part, give me the bottle and maybe a few cubes, and I'm happy. But I'll come back to that.

This past week, Roommate and I ventured to Lexington for a couple days to hit Keeneland. I do so love Churchill Downs, but Keeneland is so beautiful, especially this time of year, especially on a really gorgeous spring day (which it was not... we spent the whole race day inside).

We eschewed the highway both ways, so on the way to Lex, we just squeaked into the final tour at Buffalo Trace Distilleries in Frankfort (don't freak out when you go to their website, the buffalo on the home page snorts at you-- LOUDLY!). Big Mama Lou and I had hit many of the big distilleries a few years back-- Jim Beam, Maker's, Heaven Hill, etc-- but Buffalo Trace had been off my radar. Until, that is, I got an email from their marketing department announcing their "Blogging for the Buffalo" program.

So, I thought I'd check them out. Again, more on that email later. I want to get to the really really good stuff first.

As I said, I've hit the bigger distilleries, for the most part, but our tour of Buffalo Trace taught me more about bourbon than all those other tours combined. Our tour guide... I think her name was Becky... was lovely and patient and so well-versed in both the history of the distillery and bourbon in general-- it was fantastic.

As with most tours, it ended in a tasting room where we got to sample two wee shots of several offerings. Roommate and I shared our shots. He got the Rain vodka (which is made from 100% organic corn and has been winning vodka competitions worldwide) and something called White Dog Mash #1 (which is a 125-proof distillate which Becky cautioned us not to "sip"). I'm not a big vodka drinker, but I swear the Rain vodka was simply fantastic. There are several different flavors to choose from-- very exotic stuff like Lavender Lemon-- but the plain vodka was so good I would be happy drinking it straight. The White Dog? Wooo boy. Becky was right. First of all, it tastes very strongly of corn. Secondly, it feels like it's stripping stuff off your esophagus going down. And that's not always a bad thing. Roommate liked it so much that when it came time for us to both to choose a bottle to buy (we limited ourselves to one each), he bought it. And it fairly did me in later that night at the hotel.

I chose the two bourbon offerings: the standard Buffalo Trace and the Eagle Rare. If I'd had either before, I didn't remember it. But honestly, I really enjoyed the slightly cheaper Buffalo Trace more than I did the more expensive Eagle Rare. But what I bought I didn't taste til I brought it back to the hotel later that night: the bourbon creme, which is only available currently at the distillery. And damn if I didn't wish I'd bought more. If you like any sort of creme drink (I'm thinking Bailey's), but prefer a stronger liquor bite, this is your drink. Becky showcased the creme with a mixer of Dr McGillicuddy's Root Beer, so we also bought a 6-pack of that, but we haven't tried that concoction. I sure hope Buffalo Trace opens up the distribution of the bourbon creme sometime soon, or I'll have to head back to Frankfort.

And on our way home, we stopped at the Liquor Barn on Shelbyville Road to pick up some wine, and I bought a bottle of Buffalo Trace. Glad to have it. Darned good stuff.

Overall, I had an awesome time at the distillery and couldn't recommend it strongly enough. Go go go! And I discovered a few beverages that I just love. Not to mention the fact that I learned that Buffalo Trace is owned by Sazerac, the quintessentially New Orleans old-timey drink company. Love it. I do.

So why am I so "meh."

Back to the email. If my blog drives the most unique viewers to Buffalo Trace's new Saloon site, I could win a party for all my zillions of visitors.

According to the email: "We will show up in your town with plenty of bourbon and throw you & your blog the ultimate Buffalo Trace party on your home turf. The party can be at a bar, your offices, your home, even your back yard. Your [sic] gonna want to win this, the party will be EPIC!" Spelling error forgiven, who wouldn't want that? Sure, I don't have a buffalo in the dust bowl's chance of winning, what with my thirty or so loyal readers. But I started to fantasize. It was just about this time last year I threw a party at Casa Lou and opened it up to blog readers. Celebrating my Cancerversary-- I plan to throw another one again. Wouldn't it be nice if Buffalo Trace picked up the booze tab? And what do y'all get out of it? A chance to win a Derby package. Good for you, good for Mama. It's all good.

But today I visited the Buffalo Trace Saloon. And it bummed me out. I'm loving this company, loving their beverages, loving their facility... but... well, you'll see. And I am fully prepared to field all kinds of eyerolls at my issues with this....

At the entryway to the "saloon" you're met with a blond more scantily clad than a Hooters chick. And once you enter the "saloon" one of your options is "Bourbunnies." I'm not linking to that. Find it yourself. But it's basically ten pages of women-- some professionally photographed, some not-- in either lingerie or bikinis-- and their Playboy-style profiles. Stats, favorite place to drink Buffalo Trace, best/worst pick-up line.

Sigh.

So back to the start... Mama loves her bourbon. She drinks it the way it should be-- neat or on ice. That doesn't mean she "drinks it like a man." It means she knows good bourbon and how to drink it. And one of the reasons I love living in Louisville is that when I order bourbon on the rocks, bartenders don't give me that "whoa, but you're a chick" look. I can't count the number of times I've ordered bourbon on the rocks in New England/the Northeast and have had the bartender say, "Wow, really? You're hardcore." Or some variation on that.

I hate that Buffalo Trace is perpetuating the idea that bourbon is a MAN'S drink.

I am A-OK with companies using sex to sell stuff. It's one of the primal human urges. Link your stuff with a primal human urge, it will sell. But I do have a problem with companies "gendering" stuff. (I know, eyerolls from many of you. It's okay. You can disagree with me.) And clearly, Buffalo Trace's Saloon is saying that their bourbon is a man's drink. That stinks. And it bums me out. Sure all those cuties drink Buffalo Trace... but they're not in their skivvies for me, right?

So I won't be pushing for that party... I was never a contender anyway. I wouldn't turn it down, duh. It's free bourbon. Free bourbon that I have come to like quite a bit.

Has there ever been a bourbon that has marketed to women? Fill me in, I'd love to know.

Cider Manhattan at the Theater Marketplace

This is a long-overdue follow-up to my November 9 post about Jeremy Edwards of Theater Square Marketplace on 4th Street and his Cider Manhattan which won the Manhattan Experience Manhattan contest in, um, Manhattan.

Well, you know how Mama loves her Manhattans, so you better bet that Roommate and I popped on by Theater Square Marketplace a few weeks ago to try one on for size. As luck would have it, Jeremy himself was tending bar. Super nice guy and clearly knows his stuff. He also gave us a sneak peek (or taste, really) of his New Year's drink. Something cranberry-ish and vanilla-ish and fizzy and super tasty.

But the real yummo here was the Cider Manhattan, which really did rank up there as perhaps the best Manhattan I've ever had. And let me tell you, I've had a lot of Manhattans. I started drinking Manhattans when I was still flirting with bouncers so they'd let me into the West End even though I was nineteen or so. (The West End being, of course, in Manhattan.)

The best thing about the Cider Manhattan was that it tasted like a Manhattan-- just better. Even though there's a cider reduction in there and even though he flame toasts the cherry to caramelize it and make it taste like cherry pie-- it still tastes like your grandpa's Manhattan. If your grandpa was a fancypants mixologist, like Jeremy. It's rich and thick and super smooth. And while it's pricey, I'd rather pay $12 for one of his drinks than $6 for two run-of-the-mill Manhattans.

I wish the cheese plate had been half as good as the drinks. I do love cheese, and the cheeses served were pretty good, but the servings were pretty small and the meats included were uninspiring considering the fact that there's a gourmet deli on premises.

I'll be back for the Manhattans, though. And I'm looking forward to whatever else Jeremy Edwards comes up with.

For the Area Blogger Who Has Everything...

I've been a very good girl this year. Well, sorta kinda. But, Santa, if you really want to send a little holiday something my way, bourbon always works. And if you want to send a little BIGGER holiday something my way, I'll take a bourbon WITH the works.

Specifically, the Maker's Mark Masters Distiller package offered on page 58 of this year's Neiman Marcus Holiday Fantasy catalogue. Here's the description.

Any whisky aficionado will tell you it is perfection in amber. Maker's Mark® Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whisky is handmade in small quantities of just 19 barrels, each batch distilled and aged with the same exacting standards the Samuels family has passed down for seven generations. As Master Distillers for a day, you and a friend will have an all-access VIP experience like no other, with Master Distiller Kevin Smith as your host. You will participate in the unique whisky-making process step by step, for an insider's look at how every detail makes every glass a special occasion. This gift experience includes a two-bottle memento of the rarest Maker's Mark bottles ever: Two golden bottles will be etched with your likeness and dipped in gold wax with 24-kt. gold flecks. You'll also get to hand dip six of your own 375ml Maker's Mark bottles in signature red wax and take them home. The experience includes luxury accommodations in Louisville and a gourmet dinner hosted by Bill Samuels, Jr. (the top dog at Maker's Mark).

It's only $7500. A genuine bargain compared to the $200,000 you'd have to spend on the Algonquin Experience-- dinner and chit chat with 12 of the biggest literati brainiacs in America. That's for one night. And dinner. Yes, you can bring a friend, but yeeesh... not to be crass, but for that price I'd expect Henry Louis Gates, Jr or John Lithgow to agree to be sperm donors. (And I DON'T mean that in the MOST crass way-- I simply mean that they'd have to agree to father my future brainaic child. Sheesh.)

Check out the book here:

No Maker's Mark at O'Shea's Family of Pubs

Here at Loueyville HQ, we love our bourbon. In fact, when weighing moving to Louisville, we put bourbon in the "pro" column of our pro/con list.

This week Roommate, who is becoming a regular ol' investigative reporter for Loueyville.com (who can forget his crack correspondence with Magnolia Films?), got to the bottom... or well, the middle at least... of a Maker's Mark mystery.

We love our Maker's Mark. And last week we discovered that Flanagan's on Bardstown doesn't carry the bourbon. When we asked the bartender, we got a cryptic reply involving the Maker's Mark bar on Fourth Street Live.

Roommate took matters in his own hands and wrote the Maker's Mark folks: "I discovered something disturbing the other night. Several bars along Bardstown Rd in Louisville, several of my favorite hangouts in my neighborhood, aren't serving Maker's Mark. The bartenders told me it had something to do with the Maker's Mark bar/restaurant on the embarrassing 4th St Live complex. Surely this can't be. And yet, several very busy bars (much busier than Maker's on 4th St) are not serving Maker's Mark at the moment."

While the MM folks did not confirm nor deny the rumor that the O'Shea's/Flanagan's folks refusal to carry the bourbon had anything to do with 4th street, Emily Reid, the Maker's Mark Ambassador Coordinator, did offer this response:

"...Mr. O'Shea won't budge. At this point it's nothing personal, but he made up his mind not to serve Maker's - we extended the olive branch several times but you'll not find Maker's at Flannigan's, O'Shea's, or Brendan's in St Matthews. Good places to find it? Molly Malone's, Gerstle's and just about everywhere else :) FYI - Flannigan's has the best pizza in town. His ban on MM won't make me stop eating (or drinking) there ha ha!"

This doesn't clear up the mystery, exactly-- if you have a further scoop, send it along. But thanks to Roommate for following up on this rumor, and thanks to Ms. Reid for the scoop on Flanagan's pizza-- who knew? Would be nice to marry good bourbon with good pizza someday.

Getting Drunky in Kentucky ... Safely

Pardon me from just patently stealing more Ville Voice headlines, but right now Lou is still dealing with treatment for breast cancer (ONE MORE CHEMO AFTER TODAY) and now the Hurricane in Kentucky that took out her kitchen and sole bathroom. It's a bit too much, you know?

Especially right now as I sit at Norton Suburban getting poison pumped into my body when I would much rather be at IF08. Very sad.


But remember when we won that sister city contest from Bushmill's Irish Whiskey? Some of that dough was meant to support safe drinking programs. Here's the latest from Rick at the Ville Voice:

If you’re having a big meal at Artemisia, and hang on for a drink, or two, or three, a city-backed program is interested in getting you home safely without risking a DUI.

Metro Government is teaming up with the Louisville Originals and CityScoot to provide a discount and encourage tipsy customers to call CityScoot. The company’s driver shows up in a collapsible two-wheeler, puts it in your trunk, and drives you home in your car.

The published rates for the service on the CityScoot website is $10 for the pick-up, then $2 per mile. The press release on the service says you can save 47 percent if you call from an Originals restaurant.

The city is pitching in $6,000, and the Originals $5,000, for the three-month trial. Only restaurants inside or near the Watterson Expressway are participating.

NYT: Louisville (Kansas?) Sling

Today the New York Times published a recipe for a "Louisville Sling." I caught the mention on the 'Ville Voice this morning and figured I would send the recipe over to Roommate who is currently vacationing in Australia for a month and a half. Thought he might wanna introduce a little Louisville Love to the bartenders Down Under, a number of which I'm sure he already knows by name, personal history, and drink preference by now.

My poor brain sizzled as I read the recipe over and over, trying to figure out what was wrong with it. Surely I was overlooking the mention of a jigger of Maker's Mark or a couple of shots of Woodford, right? Had the Gray Lady issued a misprint?

No! In fact, the Louisville Sling is a non-alcoholic beverage. Well, sort of. While the recipe is billed as a "No-Alcohol Refresher," it does include bitters "for serving." Bitters, of course, being a(sometimes potently) alcoholic beverage. Precious.

Anyway, the absence of significant alcohol -- especially bourbon-- in the Louisville Sling indicates to me that the eponymous Louisville being slung is not our fair city, but rather Louisville, KS, population 209.

Loueyville SE: IdeaFestival 2007-- Thursday Night "Taste of Innovation" and "It Never Got Weird Enough for Me"

Thursday was fairly low key. I hightailed it down to the convention center to hit my first event, which was the Taste of Innovation featuring sampling booths from most of Louisville’s best restaurants. This gets a “Cheap Eats” rating because for $10 you could eat and drink to your heart’s content—sampling food that would be $20+ a plate at nearly all of the restaurants. A chefs and a bartender gave demonstrations. Everything I had was extraordinary (with the exception of an uneatably weird sushi-tuna-steak thing from, surprisingly Jeff Ruby’s Steakhouse—he of “refused service to OJ Simpson” fame).

Leave it to me, however, to have preferred the booze to all else—Woodford Reserve’s Liquid Bourbon Ball was a drink that I will no doubt add to my repertoire—seems like a great winter drink. You can find the recipe here.

The silent auction quickly mounted beyond my price-range, but there were still good deals to be had if you had $500+.

The Hunter Thompson documentary “Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride” aired first on the Starz! Network and was part of the IF After Dark series in an event called “It Never Got Weird Enough for Me.” The movie, narrated by Nick Nolte, and all but stolen by Gary Busey in all his addled-wackiness, featured the highlights of Thompson’s life from his childhood in Louisville to his suicide at Owl Creek Ranch in 2005.

In September of 2005, after Hurricane Katrina, I stopped in my exile at a writer’s retreat in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. The guest teacher was Tom Corcoran, the writer of the Alex Rutledge mysteries, and he’d just returned from Thompson’s memorial service which had been largely funded by Johnny Depp and during which Thompson’s ashes were blasted out of a two-thumb-fist-topped cannon. Tom’s stories of the event (scroll down to 9-8-05 “Flip Flop” entry) were a nice, brief diversion. I half expected to see him in the movie. I did not expect to see my staid, distinguished, bow-tie-wearing real estate agent (actually, the brother of my real estate agent who stood in for her at my closing) as one of Thompson’s childhood friends.

The University of Louisville is currently trying to get its hands on the Thompson archives. From what I understand, there’s been some double-dealing and weirdness associated with that acquisition, as highlighted by an audience member who directed a question at Thompson’s son, Juan, during the panel discussion. I’ll try to remember to look into that.

The panel featured Juan Thompson, the director Tom Thurman, the writer Tom Marksbury, and childhood friend Ralston Steenrod (not my real estate agent). The film was interesting enough for me to consider moving on to a Thompson read-fest after I finish my Harry Potter read-fest. The panel discussion wasn’t particularly illuminating, although it’s worth noting that Marksbury seemed a bit bitter that the Starz! Network tried to make the film “more about Johnny Depp and Sean Penn” than about Thompson