The Kentucky Bourbon Trail
Posted on 12. Oct, 2009 by admin in Highlights
Discover the rich history and proud tradition of America’s official native spirit on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, which showcases eight signature distilleries along a scenic drive through the rolling Bluegrass hills.
You’ll experience the time-honored process of making fine bourbon, and learn why only Kentucky has the perfect natural mix of conditions and climate for producing the best.
For further details visit http://kentuckytourism.com/thingstodo/bourbon.htm.
Outdoor Kentucky
Posted on 12. Oct, 2009 by admin in Highlights
At 40,000 square miles big with just 4 million people, there’s a vast natural landscape out there for you to explore and enjoy, all captured in superb, sprawling national parks. Kentucky is home to the greatest length of navigable waterways and streams in the Lower 48 states, some 90,000 miles, host to the highest per capita number of deer and turkey in the US and home to the largest free-ranging elk herd east of Montana.
With all this space, visitors can choose from myriad fun activities, ranging from whitewater rafting to ATVing on quad bikes, from caving to kayaking, hiking or horseriding. If you prefer to drive, just roam the scenic driveways. Or if wildlife is your thing, take an organised spotting tour; watching for elks and eagles. There’s really something for everyone.
One unmissable experience is Mammoth Caves National Park in central Kentucky, the longest cave system known in the world, a World Heritage Site with a confirmed 365 miles of passageways. Take a lit-up tour of amazing natural phenomenon such as Grand Avenue, Frozen Niagara, and Fat Man’s Misery, or venture on your own paraffin-lamp tour or really get adventurous on a “wild” tour. Gawp at the bats but don’t eat the indigenous cave shrimps. Well, you can, but where you gonna cook ‘em!!!
There’s the Red River Gorge, full of fast streams and towering sandstone cliffs, best sampled by kayak, and don’t miss the mysterious Moonbows at Cumberland Falls, the only place in the western hemisphere to admire regular lunar rainbows above the waterfalls spray. It’s best seen near a full moon. The only other place on earth just as good is Victoria Falls in Africa.
Horsing Around
Posted on 12. Oct, 2009 by admin in Featured
HORSING AROUND
Kentucky means horses! It hosts the “greatest two minutes in sport” – the fabled Kentucky Derby – when, each May 170,000 people don their finest clobber and flock to Churchill Down’s racecourse in Louisville to watch young throughbreds battle it out. (Even the Queen popped over for a flutter in 2007). Tickets are like gold dust but don’t fret, we can sort you some nuggets, we mean tickets, for the refined enclosure or the madness of the Inside Track.
If you can’t visit in May, no bother; Keeneland racetrack hosts races from April to October. And if the racecourse isn’t your thing, then visit a stud or horse farm. Lexington is the “horseracing capital of the world” with 450 horse farms and studs dotting the rolling bluegrass landscape. Take a guided tour on a farm or get up in the saddle and learn to ride.
For longer gallops, take a horse ride – guided or otherwise – through Kentucky’s sprawling national parks, all on mapped-out bridalways.
It’s all here, you just need to know when to say “giddy-up” and when to say “whoah”.
In September 2010, Kentucky will host the World Equestrian Games the largest ever sporting event held in the US. The Games are held every four years and are comprised of world championships in eight equestrian sports including Dressage, Driving, Endurance, Eventing, Jumping, Para Dressage, Reining and Vaulting.
Did you know?
The Kentucky Horse Park features as many as 53 different breeds of horses.
Girls in Kentucky
Posted on 07. Oct, 2009 by admin in Featured
Girls in Kentucky
Kentucky is all about good looks. For starters, it boasts George Clooney, Johnny Depp and Tom Cruise as adopted sons. You may be able to spot them mingling in with all the other celebs who flock to the Kentucky Derby, America’s favourite and biggest horserace at the Churchill Downs. Just park your car in the lot, bumper to bumper, and enjoy a bloody Mary at the fabled race-day “tailgate parties”.
You can swap star treatment for spa treatment, as well. Especially at the award-winning 21c Museum Hotel in Louisville, which boasts some serious contemporary art and sumptuous pampering packages, notably its ‘Ménage-a-spa package’.
Kentucky boasts natural beauty, too, all 40,000 square miles of it. Be it the rolling bluegrass hills, the vast, sprawling lakes or the awe-inspiring celestial beauty of meteor showers and moonbows. just get into the car and ride any of the fabled scenic routes Kentucky offers.
For the more sporty and energetic, there’s oodles of horseback trails and riding holidays on the state’s myriad horse farms. If you can’t ride, then learn – thousands do! In most states, you learn to drive, in Kentucky, you learn to ride.
For urban chic, trawl the boutiques, stores and galleries of Louisville, and it’s burgeoning boho quarter. Or try the Bourbon Drive-in Cinema in Paris, from early spring to late autumn or sample the delights of America’s fast-growing bluegrass scene, in Paris. That’s Paris, Kentucky, of course.
Kentucky Cocktails
Posted on 04. Oct, 2009 by sarah in Highlights
Get into the Kentucky mood, with these tasty cocktails (remember, drink responsibly, which means don’t forget to add Angostura bitters).
MANHATTAN
‘The King of Cocktails’, apparently, and making a strong comeback. For a sweet version, or much drier drink, vary from 1:1 or 4:1 parts bourbon: sweet vermouth. Shake with ice and strain into a jazzy glass, topped with a glazed mascherano cherry. You can also serve on the rocks in a lowball glass.
MINT JULEP
The official drink of the Kentucky Derby, with 120,000 served at Churchill Downs. It’s similar to a mojito, and usually made from four ingredients: mint, bourbon, sugar and water (Kentucky uses the local spearmint, known as the Kentucky colonel – try not to bruise the mint!). Use 3-6oz of bourbon, 4-6 sprigs of mint. Shave some ice and add sugar and mint to a glass, top off with bourbon and cover again with ice. Stir well.
THE OLD FASHIONED
Thought to be the first cocktail, so old, in fact, it has a glass named after it – the short round 8oz to 12oz Old-Fashioned tumber. Just add sugar, saturate with 2 dashes of angostura bitters, add dash of soda water. Wait until it dissolves then fill glass with ice cubes and add 40c of bourbon. Garnish with a slice of orange, a twist of lemon and two maraschino cherries.
LONG HOT NIGHT
You need 2oz bourbon, 3oz pineapple juice and 3oz cranberry juice. Place a few ice cubes in a highball glass, pour in bourbon, stir, add pineapple and cranberry juice, stir again. Simple!
ITALIAN STALLION
Not one for the faint-hearted this. Mix 1 1/2oz bourbon, 1/2oz sweet vermouth and 1/2oz Campari in a glass, add 1-2 dashes of Angostura bitters, then fill with ice. Shake and strain into glass.
Hot August Blues Festival
Posted on 05. Feb, 2009 by sarah in What’s on
Set the Mood this Summer with Kentucky’s Hot August Blues Festival
Don’t miss the Hot August Blues Festival this August in Kentucky at Lake Hardin, bringing you the best in Blues music.
From the 27th – 28th of August 2010, enjoy some of the finest Blues acts from around the world as well as much-loved local favourites. With the scenic Lake Hardin as the backdrop, food and drink available to purchase throughout the festival, good music and good company, the Hot August Blues Festival makes for a very entertaining weekend.
In the past the Hot August Blues Festival has been selected as one of the state’s Top Ten summer events and has remained a “must attend” festival in the western Kentucky region.
Book in advance and you can purchase tickets from only £8 – £12 per person or tickets are available at the entrance gates and cost from £10 – £14 per person. The ticket prices vary according to the day of attendance. Weekend combo tickets are also available for either £17 per person if booked in advance or £20 per person if bought at the gate.
For more information on the Hot August Blues Festival and purchasing tickets visit www.hotaugustbluesfestival.com.