toomanybooks

Dates are set for another April LEX gathering, to visit Keeneland, horse farms, and bourbon distilleries and enjoy some southern food and hospitality.

EVOLVING TENTATIVE SCHEDULE

Nothing is mandatory during the whole weekend of course. Do what you like. I would appreciate a general headsup on things you are doing in case reservations or food procurement is involved, but it's not necessary.

THURSDAY

1. Some folks arrive. Dinner, 7 pm: Ramsey’s Zandale, 151 West Zandale; http://ramseysdiners.com
2. Probably beers back at the hotel or maybe Beer Trappe (see below).
3. Waffle House for late munchies?

FRIDAY

1. Most people arrive.
1a. Bourbon tour with makersmark: Meet in 4 Pts lobby for prompt 9:10a departure. 10:00a Trace Tour at Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, followed by tour of KY Capitol and lunch. Tour Woodford
Reserve at 3:00pm (need to arrive at Visitors Center by 2:00-2:15pm). Meet up
with the group at West Sixth Brewing Company in Lexington late afternoon for
drinks/dinner. See makersmark's post #185 for destination addresses.
1b. mile ho will most likely head up a group that heads to the track kitchen for breakfast (Keeneland) and you might as well watch the horses work while there. This is likely to be quite early, like 7 am.
2. Keeneland at 1 pm?
3. Bourbon tours (see above)
4. Lunch undefined unless on bourbon tour with makersmark
5. Dinner/beers at West Sixth Brewing
6. Drinks/pub?
7. Afterparty at 4 pts?

SATURDAY

1. 2 horse farms visits, roughly 7 am to noon with mile ho. Details not 100% firmed up.
2. Keeneland. 1:05 pm. Many people go for 2-3 hours.
3. Bourbon tours. One option: makersmark will take a group and head west on U.S. 60 for a quick lunch in Versailles followed by visits to Four Roses Distillery and Wild Turkey Distillery. They will then head back to the 4 Points followed by the potluck party on the lake and dinner.
4. Evening potluck reception at parents of toomanybooks and makersmark, arrive 4:00-5:00 pm., stay as long as you like. Please bring a bottle of wine, some beer, a dessert, chips/guac, etc. I am thinking I will get hot dogs/burgers and we can grill.
5. Or go out to dinner. Various possibilities.
6. Drinks?
7. Afterparty at 4 Pts?

SUNDAY

1. Brunch at Stella's (see below). 8:45 am.
2. Private tour of Barrelhouse Distillery (see below). 10:30 am. ~30-45 minutes.
3. Keeneland 1 pm?. LEX is across the street. Depart directly.
4. And/or another bourbon tour?.

OVERVIEW

For those not familiar, what we have done in the past is:

1. Go to Keeneland (one of the most beautiful racetracks in the world) (http://www.keeneland.com) including breakfast on the backstretch
2. Hit a couple nice restaurants during the weekend
3. Consume some adult beverages, perhaps at Country Boy (http://countryboybrewing.com) or the Beer Trappe (http://www.thebeertrappe.com/)
4. Visit a horse farm or two (mile ho is in the "horse bidness")
5. Tour one or more bourbon distilleries on the KY Bourbon Trail (http://kybourbontrail.com), including the newer Craft Bourbon Trail
6. Have a Saturday eve potluck party/reception at my (and makersmark's) parents' house. As an added attraction, makersmark will bring a 5-gallon mini keg of his Zombie Dust Pale Ale homebrew clone and a porter aged on oak spirals.
7. Dinner somewhere like Billy's BBQ (http://www.billysbarbq.com/) or City Barbecue (http://www.citybbq.com).

Or maybe somewhere else for a KY specialty like a Hot Brown. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_Brown) A plate with toast, sliced turkey, sometimes sliced country ham, Mornay sauce, sometimes cheddar cheese sauce, a couple strips of bacon, some sliced tomato, a bit of Parmesan/Romano cheese, baked in the oven. A "heart-attack-on-a-plate." Fantastic, one of the world's best comfort foods.

8. Try other KY specialties, such as beer cheese (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_cheese_(spread). Others are discussed here: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuisine_of_Kentucky)
9. We always have Sunday brunch at Stella's (www.stellaskentuckydeli.com), for real southern fare including Bourbon Ball Coffee, genuine southern biscuits and gravy, locally fresh-ground grits with cheese, etc. Have confirmed with Stella's brunch manager for 8:45 Sunday.
10. Some folks go to Keeneland again, with LEX conveniently across the street for a last-second departure.

AIRLINES SERVING LEX: http://www.bluegrassairport.com/airlines.html

If you cannot get award space or a good fare into LEX, keep trying. At least on AA, it opens up often.

There is an airline club at LEX, with access for the following:

AA Admirals Club
DL Sky Club
UA Red Carpet Club
"Day Passes," presumably Priority Pass (?) and maybe for anyone

Other airports to consider (all easy access via interstate, ~3 hours max):

SDF, CMH, CVG, DAY, CRW, IND

Lexington is very easy to get around, but you'll need to have a car or share with someone. Taxis/Uber are available, but expensive and time-consuming to wait for. The airport tends to be a bit expensive to fly into/out of, but Avios redemptions work well for cities like ORD, ATL, DAL, CLT, or wherever you can get a nonstop flight. Or you can fly into one of the alternate airports given above and rent a car; some beautiful scenery along the way. Happy to maintain a list of possible carpools in this thread. bk3day scored a nice UA bump out of LEX a couple years ago.

Party Central is the SPG 4 Points, a category 2 Starwood hotel on the north side of town.

http://www.starwoodhotels.com/fourpo...ropertyID=1263

Low redemptions, near I-64/I-75 intersection, and a Waffle House across the street for those 1:30 am munchies. Looks like rooms are sold out now.

Other nearby options that come to mind (within a mile or so) are Embassy Suites, Fairfield Inn, LaQuinta, Knights Inn, Marriott Griffin Gate (I think the only "resort" on Hotwire/Priceline), Quality Inn, and Clarion.

Most folks arrive Friday, some Thursday. mile ho will do his best to line up visits to a mare farm (where he has a mama horse and usually a foal boarded) and a stallion farm where the action happens, if you know what I mean, and I think you do. Schedule TBA, depending on what folks want to do and schedules of the horse farms. mile ho tells me the horse farm visits should be scheduled by maybe late January. But typically they are "earlie in the morning."

Youtube channel for Lexington, with some nice material: http://www.youtube.com/user/LexKyCVB?v=oxkjCDpXdkY
Bourbon news from the Lexington "Herald-Leader": http://www.kentucky.com/1354/

Please post if you are definite, maybe, or can't but want to consider another time.

Attending/very likely

Ceres
CMK10
colpuck
cocobird
grizshel
Herb687
HPN-HRL
iris30
KMA26
makersmark
miffSC
mile ho
rxgeek + 1
Santander
toomanybooks + 2 (+ up to 5 more for Sat. reception)
USHPNWDLUA + 1
Wanderluster

Can't make it this time; maybe in the future

CokeAndTaco
Cubsgirl
ElmhurstNick
FindAWay
goodeats21
GRALISTAIR
iolairemcfadden + 1
karung99
kirkwoodj
Miesque
Mrdonut
plon
skyvanman

Sweet Willie

I am very likely for this weekend. Now that my life is getting settled.

Thanks for getting this on the books

karung99

Win, thank you for organizing this I would love to join.

KMA26

Excellent. Please mark me in the "Attending/Very Likely" column.

toomanybooks

Thanks, all. Already more attendees than we had in October!

CubsGirl

Mark me as a strong maybe. I've reserved at Four Points in the hopes that I can make this work in my schedule.

Also--I just poured a nice glass of Woodford Reserve while I ponder ways to protect my schedule

skyvanman

Willie has convinced me this is something worth attending so I'm working on making plans to be there.

Santander

Last year's LEX DO was a lot of fun and I'd love to do it again. I may be a Cards fan, but I love Lexington and Keeneland. Pencil me in!

cocobird

Planning on coming to my first Horse and Bourbon DO. Admittedly, more horse than bourbon.

kirkwoodj

Tragically, I must attend The Masters that weekend instead

toomanybooks

Thanks, all .

goodeats21

I am also planning on attending this as my first Horse and Bourbon DO...but admittedly more bourbon then horse.

Mark me down as very likely. ^

Sweet Willie

and once again the world finds equilibrium, namaste

toomanybooks

Latest folks added.

HPN-HRL

Count me in! For now I have Avios reservations into/out of CMH Friday night/ Sunday night; I will change to a closer airport if availability opens up.