One of the cities that charmed us the most thus far was Louisville, Kentucky.
A small city with a humble vibe, in which everyone was very open and accessible– Louisville residents greeted visitors with genuine warmth and welcome. Not the overly-practiced-tourist-hospitality of larger cities that know they are a “big deal”– Louisville seemed grateful to have you there, and we were grateful to be there.
First, Louisville is known for its hosting of the Kentucky Derby, but if you’re hoping Churchill Downs was on the list, nah. While Moon loves a good hat, she doesn’t really jive with horse racing and neither do I. Corgi races, maybe– but that’s all we turn out for.
But there’s another thing Louisville is famous for, that we very much wanted to experience– the Louisville Slugger factory. Maybe because I’m from an industrial town, I can’t resist getting a peek into how things are made. And I love when anything is made close to home– and of course, it’s fitting that pro-quality wooden baseball bats be made in the country that popularized baseball.
The woman above this paragraph is hand-turning a bat, a seldom-used process of the past, but one they share at the museum as a point of both history and pride. Now, that process is done by machines that are much more precise, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a handmade element to each wooden bat– the gentleman at the top of this gallery is hand-dipping a bat in protective coating that both gives the bats more strength. And color is often applied by-hand as well.
We also partook in the tradition of Kentucky bourbon at a place called– appropriately– Taste. The best thing about this spot was they offered one-ounce pours of different ryes, whiskeys, and bourbons. And they didn’t hold back the top-shelf stuff, with some single-ounce pours reaching the $80-100 range, due to the aging or rarity of the spirit.
With such high proofs, one often doesn’t need more than that.
Having eaten just a few tacos at a nearby taco joint, poor Moon was no match for the 120-proof local rye she tried. Happily buzzed, she wanted to keep the ball rolling, and we found a karaoke bar called Noraebar.
A note on Noreabar: at first, it was off-putting, but it’s one of the best karaoke bars we’ve ever been to (and frankly, we go to a lot). What was off-putting about it? There was no cover, but to sing a song, you had to pay a $2 fee. Essentially, Pay to Sing. This wasn’t a model we’d seen before, but Moon reserved judgment, thinking it might result in a very motivated docket of singers.
As usual, she was right.
The bar was a total mix– the photo above is of a septuagenarian who sang easy classics like “Cool Change,” and a young queer crowd that had drifted in from the neighborhood clubs. The audience was supportive of everyone the whole way– jumping in to clap quickly and furiously after each performance.
Louisville gave Moon a 120-proof hangover, and we barely scratched the surface in just a few days– we absolutely loved this little city. One of the most underrated out there, I reckon– we’ll definitely be back.
Posted by Sun
