KY Day 7- Shakers, Makers, and Great Emancipators
I started my last day in Kentucky by going to High on Art and Coffee, another cafe/art gallery. I'd say the actual art was probably higher overall quality than the art in Third Street and Stuff, but not quite as quirky and fun. The coffee was really good though, and I got an actually healthy meal with their avo-gobble turkey and avocado lettuce wrap.
From there, I made a little loop through the middle of the state to see the last few things I wanted to see before moving on to Tennessee. My first stop was the Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill. The shakers were a religious movement that gained popularity in the 1800s. They were known for their commitment to knowledge, excellent furniture, non-violence, and total abstinence. They did not even believe in sex for procreation which is probably a big reason why there are no more Shakers today. The architecture and craftsmanship of their buildings really was stunning. I was a little surprised though when I walked in to the visitor center and there was tons of high tech displays. The Shakers were not anti-technology but I guess in my head I always equated them with the Amish.
After a little bit of Salvation, it was time for a little bit o' sinning so I went to the Maker's Mark distillery. My roommate's mom said it's the best bourbon distillery to go to in Kentucky which for Kentucky is very high praise indeed. I really loved it there. Like Woodford Reserve, it has a National Historic Landmark Status, because it's one of the oldest bourbon distilleries in the country. It's in a beautiful old barn in a lovely secluded mountain field. To make things even better, while I was there there was also a series of blown glass installations by Dale Chihuly, made specially for them. It's been a real pleasant surprise to see his works pop up from state to state. When his gallery was up at Boston's MFA, it's one of the only exhibits I remember my parents taking me to multiple times so it's been really weird and nice to have this fun childhood memory all of sudden be relevant again time and again.
The actual tour was really great too. Makers Mark is different from most bourbons, because they use wheat instead of rye to balance out the corn in the mash giving it a slightly lighter more drinkable flavor. They also age their bourbon differently than most by having a special cooling basement carved into the side of the mountain so they can add different flavors by aging their whiskey with different wood at cool temperatures after the more standard aging. My favorite quote from the tour was the guide's description of the husband and wife team that created the Maker's Mark brand: "She graduated the top of her class, and he graduated"
For the tasting, you got five samples: The initial white whiskey before any aging, standard Maker's, the special cool aged Makers 46, the super strong Cask Strength which is the standard mix before it's cut with any water to bring it down to industry standards, and a single barrel specialty batch. My personal favorite was the Cask Strength, but I enjoyed everything and it was really fun to see how the different aging processes add such different flavors.
The diabolically brilliant way the tour works is that after you sample five increasingly strong whiskeys you end up in the gift shop, so naturally I bought a small bottle of the Cask Strength and some mint julep bourbon chocolates. They actually let you dip your bottle yourself to give it the trademark Makers wax seal. Thankfully the woman who was there to make sure I didn't burn myself with hot wax was also able to document the whole process. She took way more photos than I was expecting, but if anyone wants to print them out and make one of those flip books I think it would work. The mint julep chocolates also did not last long and they were delicious.
My next stop after bourbon was to see the house of probably the most famous Kentuckian, Abraham Lincoln. Apparently the log cabin they reconstructed isn't actually the Lincoln log cabin or even made out of Lincoln logs, but the national park around it is on the plot of land that Abraham Lincoln would have spent his childhood on. It's a beautiful bit of land, and there's a cool little sinkhole area where the Lincolns got their fresh water, and the monument built up around the imposter cabin is also quite striking.
After basking in the memory of good presidents, I decided to go back to Louisville to finish out the list my roommate and her mom gave me. I knew I made the right decision because as soon as I stepped out of my car in Louisville, I was greeted with the real hard hitting questions.
Perhaps the world may never know
My main goal while I was back in Louisville was to see their branch of the 21c museum hotels, which I believe is also the original. I was told I wouldn't be able to miss it, because there is a giant gold replica of the David outside and I think that was pretty fair. It kinda stands out.
The theme that tied together all the art in this 21c was Celebrity and Notions of Fame. There were some really impressive works in a wide variety of styles and mediums. My favorites were the six below: One in which a Renaissance painting of Christ was cut into the shape of Michael Jordan going for a dunk, a photograph of babies covered in fake tattoos, a portrait of Reagan's Secretary of Defense made out of gunshots into cardboard (this really blew me away), a portrait of Paris Hilton etched into a mirror with a diamond as a comment on wealth and vanity, a statue of Madonna, and a Photograph of Charlize Theron with the entire book of Genesis scrawled into the shadows of her face and arms.
There was also a work of art that I wasn't able to take a photo of that referenced a moment in history that I had no idea about. Apparently after JFK's assassination, Jackie O was vacationing with Aristotle Onassis in Europe and someone leaked photographs of her sunbathing nude to tabloids causing quite a scandal. I can't believe I never heard anything about that before.
After the museum, I took a quick drive by the Louisville Slugger museum to see the largest baseball bat I've ever seen. To be clear that is a real five story building not a scale model.
For Dinner, I went to Cafe 360 because I was told it was really good and really cheap and it delivered on both accounts. I realized that I must have gone insane and was about to leave the state of Kentucky without once getting Fried Chicken so I threw a last minute hail mary and got their fried chicken with mac n cheese and veggies and all was once again right with the world.
As I made the long drive to to Tennessee, I thankfully had Norm Macdonald's podcast to listen to and I hear the first of his many now infamously bad attempts at trying to sell his first sponsor and being completely unable to make it through the copy. Here's a supercut of all of them:
Favorite Random Sightings: Pink Spider; Lincoln's Jamboree; Stinking Creek Road; A man wearing a t-shirt that said "I leave skidmarks" for some ungodly reaso
Regional Observation: For a state that is so proud of their bluegrass, I really didn't hear a lot of live music at bars or anything.
Albums Listened To: La Cucaracha by Ween (a weird one for sure); Labor Days by Aesop Rock; Labour of Love by UB40; Ladies Invited by the J. Geils Band; Last Splash by the Breeders; The Last Waltz by The Band and Special Guests (Discs 1-3)
People's Favorite Jokes:
Why do elephants have round feet? So they don't step in square holes
KY Superalitves:
Favorite Coffee: Pure Taste- Safai in Louisville; Best All Around- Third St. and Stuff in Lexington
Favorite Restaurant- The Village Idiot in Lexington
Favorite Bar - Willie's Locally Known in Lexington
Favorite Open Mic- Willie's Locally Known in Lexington
Favorite Ice Cream: Homemade Ice Cream and Pies in Louisville
Favorite Beer- The West 6th Belgian Tripel
Favorite Bourbon- Maker's Mark Cask Strength
Favorite Attraction- Natural: Mammoth Cave; Man-Made: Maker's Mark Distillery (the Kentucky Derby Museum is a close second)
General Impression of the COmedy Scene: I didn't get to see quite as much as I would have liked given the holiday, but I found the comedians to be very welcoming and supportive. I think the material leaned towards self-deprecation if there was a general tendency, but there were was a lot of different styles on display and a lot of talent as well!
Songs of the Day:
This is one of the funniest songs I've ever heard and I can't really explain why that is
If Public Enemy was the first band taught me that hip hop could be good, Aesop Rock was my second
god damn what a band
