A Bourbon Traveler’s Race Season Guide

By Richard Thomas

(Credit: Bill Brine/Wikimedia Commons CC by 2.0)

Peak tourism is fast arriving in Louisville. This Saturday, April 23, brings Thunder Over Louisville 2022, the annual airshow over the city that ushers in the height of race season in the Derby City. Well over half a million people regularly come to town for the show and fireworks, and that is only the beginning. Kentucky Oaks, the $1.25 million, Grade 1 stakes race that precedes the Kentucky Derby, falls on Friday, May 6th. Finally, the 148th Kentucky Derby—”greatest two minutes in sports”—runs on Saturday, May 7th.

Make no mistake: it’s not summer that is the peak of Louisville tourism, it is this two weekend window. I have been told by folks who run small collections of Air BnBs that they make as much money between Thunder Over Louisville and Derby Weekend as they do all year long.

If you are a bourbon tourist arriving in the midst of this hullabaloo or want to tack some bourbon tourism onto your race day festivities, then you don’t need me to tell you about the Urban Bourbon Trail. Instead, the focus here will be on things specific to that weekend.

General Advice
First, forget about staying in Louisville on either the weekends of the 22nd or the 5th. The city proper is very nearly booked out for those weekends, and the few rooms and rentals still available are charging as much as five times their normal going rate.

Another wrinkle to consider is that at least ten times more people will be on the Louisville riverfront on Saturday, April 23rd than there are downtown Louisville parking spaces. If your plans for that day include going to Whiskey Row, plan on parking some distance away and walking, making use of a bike or scooter, or relying on Lyft/Uber. Parking is tight at Churchill Downs on the 6th and 7th as well, but the track is not in the vicinity of any bourbon attractions, and what fool doesn’t plan on parking problems for the world’s biggest thoroughbred racing weekend?

Also, while all the urban distilleries in Louisville are open for tours, not all their in-house bars are. Old Forester’s George’s Bar (named for founder George Garvin Brown) is closed at this time. All the other urban distillery bars are open under regular operating terms, but some of those terms mean only ever meant they were open to tour participants.

Thunder Over Louisville and Rooftop Bars
For either the airshow or the fireworks that evening, Louisville has plenty of rooftop bars to help you take in the view. This being Louisville, all offer a decent bourbon selection and some are directly associated with distilling.

• 8 Up Elevated Kitchen and Bar
• Copper & Kings has their entire bar and restaurant on their rooftop, with an expansive patio commanding a view of the Ohio River.
• Repeal Oak-Fired Steakhouse has rooftop dining available, but given the limitations, you should make reservations (if possible) and specifically request seating there.

Derby Weekend Events
Woodford Reserve is the bourbon industry’s sponsor of the Kentucky Derby, and the Brown family’s Derby party is a Kentucky institution (invitation only, alas). However, there are two other bourbon-based Derby events you can buy tickets to, and because they are pricey tickets, enjoy a taste of that Derby party Southern genteelness and blue-blood exclusivity.

• Garden & Gun’s Fifth Annual Stitzel-Weller Affair (May 6): This Kentucky Oaks after-party is a now well-established partnership between Blade & Bow Bourbon and Garden & Gun magazine, and it has given rise to the in-house bar at the historic Stitzel-Weller Distillery being named the Garden & Gun Club. So, in a sense, it is now the magazine’s in-house annual event.
• Rabbit Hole Distillery Derby Eve Party (May 6): This is billed as a Derby Eve party, but the timing also makes it a Kentucky Oaks after-party. Enjoy the open bar and Rabbit Hole spirits-based cocktails before dinner, all from the NuLu-based distillery’s rooftop bar and its lovely views of the downtown skyline.