The other day, Rosemary and I had a Bourbon themed date lunch. We started the date with lunch at a local restaurant and cocktail bar called North of Bourbon. It is located on Goss Avenue in Louisville and we had heard good things about the place. Parking is on the street and can be a bit difficult at a busy hour, but we managed to snag a close space and went in. It has unusual seating of booths made of huge barrels that we found amusing. We sat down and ordered some cocktails after perusing the cocktail menu and whiskey list. The whiskey list is impressive and I ordered a Manhattan made with Michter’s Barrel Strength Rye and Rosemary ordered a Paper Plane made with Old Forester Signature Bourbon. They were both exceptional cocktails.
We then ordered lunch. Chef Lawrence Weeks has created a menu inspired by New Orleans. We started with Cajun boiled peanuts that we enjoyed with the cocktails. I ordered the chicken and sausage gumbo and catfish nuggets and Rosemary ordered the French dip grilled cheese. The gumbo was excellent and the catfish was very tasty with just the right amount of batter. Rosemary enjoyed the grilled cheese. We then tried one of their signature cocktails called Let’s Geaux Bananas that has a distinct banana flavor but is best not paired with spicy food.
We ran into friend Jeremy Schell sitting at the bar and said hello. Jeremy gave me a bottle of Silverback whiskey. We also chatted with one of the owners of the restaurant. On our way out after paying the bill, we met a couple of other friends sitting in a booth near the door and stopped and talked with them.
Our next stop was the Buzzard’s Roost Distillery on Main Street. We had not been there to our shame, and we decided to go there after lunch. We arrived at about 1:30 and it was not busy. They had a tasting event earlier in the day and it was a slow time for them. We sat down, after I took some photographs of the still and ordered cocktails. I ordered the Black Buzzard Manhattan and Rosemary ordered the Rye-Inn. My Manhattan was made with their Buzzard’s Roost Char #1 Rye with Averna Amaro, Cocchi sweet vermouth, cherry and Angostura bitters. I found it to be very good. Rosemary’s cocktail was made with Buzzard’s Roost Char #1 Rye, Meletti Amaro, cherry. Allspice liqueurs, and Benedictine. She found it quite sweet but very drinkable. I had texted Jason Brauner and told him that we were at the distillery. He was out of town at the time but told me to ask to taste the white dog from the stills. We did so and found it to be excellent white dog. We walked around the gift shop but did not make any purchases. We paid the bill and left after about an hour.
We returned home after a very pleasant afternoon. We have decided that we need to do this more often and we will.
Photos Courtesy of Rosemary Miller and Michael Veach