Louisville: The Brown, 21C or elsewhere?
 

I'm a Maker's Mark ambassador and my personalized barrel is ready for tasting at the distillery.

As such, I'll be traveling to Louisville sometime between Sept and Nov. Can anyone recommend places to stay and/or stuff to do, other than the distillery tours?

I checked out Tripadvisor and based on the reviews combined with my tastes, it looks like 21c Museum Hotel, The Brown Hotel, and Hyatt Regency would be the best choices in town. To be clear, price is not particularly an issue, and we're looking for the "best", if there is such a thing.

For food, it looks like 610 Magnolia is #1 in town. Other notable things I've seen are Jack Fry's, Proof on Main, Asiatique, and Seviche.

Suggestions, confirmations, etc?? Thanks in advance!

Hotels: Depends on what you like. The Brown is fancy and old-school. I like the Marriott, which is much more modern and has 2 restaurants.

Dining: Excellent, underrated dining city. There are a bunch of non-chain restaurants near the major downtown hotels, and also east on Market, and especially on Bardstown Rd. (near Seviche). There also are a number of desert places that specialize in pie. You really can't go wrong if you just check the reviews.

Non-distillery Activities: There's a lot to do, depending on your interests. The ever-expanding waterfront park on the Ohio River, cruises, the excellent minor-league baseball stadium, the museums near the Louisville Slugger Factory (history, science, glass blowing, Muhammad Ali), Churchill Downs, Six Flags, live music, dance.

This is just off the top of my head.

I just remembered:
They have a nice zoo, as well.

It has become a good town for restaurant dining since it was only 25 years ago that there was no such thing as a good restaurant meal to be had there or anywhere in the vicinity. I have been going in there every month for nearly thirty years and do get to most of the places.

My favorite is 610 Magnolia with Jack Fry's second. I do like Asiatique and also Vincenzos is a very good Italian while Blu at the downtown Marriott is OK but nothing truly outstanding. I have tried Proof on Main once and was not overly impressed and Seviche is new to me. You might investigate Cafe Metro and also Z's which is out in Hurstborne.

There also are some decent very casual local non-chain places scattered around, particularly to be found on Frankfort Avenue. Among these, one of those that I do like is the Bristol (which has a couple of locations) simply because of a small but carefully chosen wine list and excellent bar food such as burgers and fish sandwiches (skip most of the main dishes). The same goes for BBQ, my favorite being Bootleg on Preston St near the Outer Loop in Okolona.

610 Magnolia is only open on the weekends, starting Thursday, and it is best, if possible, to dine outside in the rear courtyard, which is my favorite spot.

And always remember that In Lou, at a reputable place, you can always order the fish. Ever since UPS put its hub in, that town is among those in the interior that receives the freshest and most varied seafood. We believe that (in addition to the availability of very good local farm products) was one of the reasons for the restaurant renaissance since good chefs tend to like to work where they can get good ingredients.

a thought about hotels. I have stayed in just about every hotel in that town except the 21C Museum Hotel. As far as downtown is concerned, if you ike old and charming the Seelbach (now a Hilton) is something to see at least once, especially its bar.

Otherwise, any of the chains is about as good as any of the others and par for their brands so it makes little difference which you try. I would avoid the Galt House for housekeeping reasons.