I will be in Lexington next month for a wedding....wondering if you guys could help me with a few questions. I've done some research in this forum and think I have most of the places on my list (The Beer Trappe, Village Idiot, Pazzo's Pub, West Sixth, Chase Taproom, Lexington Beerworks). We have Friday afternoon/night, Saturday afternoon and maybe some time Sunday to visit these places....am I being aggressive thinking we can get to all of these? We are flying into Louisville Friday and driving to Lexington (staying at the Marriott Griffin Gate), is there a good place on the way to stop for lunch? How late do they race on Friday's at Keeneland? I would like to go to a few of the places mentioned above on Friday night....are they located close to each other? Also, we will have some free time Saturday afternoon before the wedding (transportation provided from the hotel to Castle Post in Versailles) so we could get lunch at one of the spots and maybe I can convince the group to visit another before going back to the hotel. Never been to KY so I'm really looking forward to this! Thanks in advance for your help, Jason
All of those places are great and within 5 minutes of each other. Don't forget about Country Boy Brewing too. Louisville is a straight shot to Lexington...takes about an hour drive. There isn't anything memorable on the way however there are a lot of nice places to eat in downtown Lexington. Of the places you mentioned, Village Idiot, Pazzos, and Beerworks regularly serve food. Country Boy is likely to have a food truck on the weekend evenings/Saturday afternoon. Keeneland: "Keeneland's 2014 Fall Race Meeting opens on Friday, October 3rd and continues through Saturday, October 25th, with no racing on Monday or Tuesday. Reservations are available online beginning at 8:30 a.m. ET on August 1 at www.keeneland.com/tickets." per https://www.keeneland.com/calendar/2014-fall-race-meeting Last race is around 5 or 6 if I remember correctly. Feel free to keep the questions coming. We have a lot of friendly Lexingtonians on BA.
If you want real Mexican, near Keeneland is Cardinal Valley (Versailles Rd and Alexandria). Cafe Ramirez is the place for the most fantastic $5 burrito and damn good real tacos. Otherwise, I'd only add to the above Blue Stallion, and doing a brewery tour of Blue Stallion, Country Boy and West Sixth - starting with Country Boy and making your way south. No beer sales Sunday until 1pm. Blue Stallion/Chase/West Sixth are in the same area. One one side of Jefferson St - that joins them - you have Stellas and other places to eat. Next to West Sixth you have County Club, and inside the brewery Smithtown Seafood, one of my favorite places in town.
Agree with what Bradford and Jeff said. Although I'll add that I've had quality control issues at Smithtown Seafood. They'll be great one, and a grease pit the next. They're basically inside West Sixth though so you can be the judge without going out of your way. If you want to "tour" the state, maybe stop at Grey Goose in Midway for lunch Friday. It's less than 5 minutes off the interstate on your way to Lexington from Louisville and it's a fun place to say you visited. For the record, they have a location in Lexington, too, and it's near West Sixth Brewing, but I think the Midway location is more quaint and possibly more convenient for your plans. Chase Taproom is a bit of a miss these days. I was there last week and they had Wootstout 2.0 on tap, but beyond that they don't really give a shit about what they do. The selection is misleading (they titled "Rivertown Death" a plain "Imperial Stout" to trick people into buying it because they're trying to dump it because it's hot as hell) and sort of lackluster on top of that. The owner can be a dick as well, he doesn't seem to care about anything and will treat you like shit whenever he feels. I haven't had a problem there but enough people have complained that I've stopped going now, too. Again, it's on Jefferson street where West Sixth is so you might want to stop in anyway since it's nearby. I'll vote Beer Trappe as best beer place in town along with beer geeks that will actually chat about beer, and Village Idiot as best dinner spot. They have gastropub flair so everything is unique and an impressive beer selection to boot. Country Boy is the preferred brewery by the locals above West Sixth and Blue Stallion, but all have something to offer; W6 doesn't offer outside beer, just their own, and they've been known to lack on diversity. Blue Stallion "specializes" in German/English styles so everything is pretty plain, but they usually have a few outside taps as well, and the venue is gorgeous. CB has the largest selection of home made and outside beer and the boldest styles. Pazzo's has slowly cut back their huge bottle selection and now only offers a handful of bottles along with draft. Their pizza is really good and they still have a lot of taps, but it's just not what it used to be. Beerworks has decent pizza but not Pazzo's quality, and their selection is solid but usually the least impressive of the aforementioned. Hope this helps.
Need advice for a sports bar (good beer would be appreciated) for Sunday Football in Louisville on 9/7? Bonus points if it's a Dolphins bar...
You may be in Louisville just in time to stop through Against the Grain and pick up some Bo and Luke. It is being released on Sept 13.
