Here in the 'ville, about 40 Yelp Elite and guests came out for a special night of everything Kentucky at Yelp's Night
of Pickin': Bourbon, Bluegrass & BBQ. Haymarket
Whiskey Bar, known for presenting awesome live music and serving over 50 different whiskeys, provided the perfect venue.
Suzanne B notes that the "building
does a great job of preserving its original architecture without being
pretentious. Matthew Landan, the owner and bartender, was extremely knowledgeable
about the dizzying array of amber behind the bar, and visitors would do well to
ask for his advice when ordering from the kaleidoscope he manages."
We kicked off
the night with delicious eats from food truck Get It On A Bun At Bootys Diner. They served up
samples of several of owner and chef Tammy Boutiette's specialties with a
little Kentucky Gold added in especially for the ocassion! The delicious spread
included Pulled Pork BBQ sandwiches, Booty Burgers with smoked Gouda and
bourbon grilled onions, Not Yo' Mamma's! Nachos and Jamaican Jerk Chicken with
bourbon BBQ sauce. It's a good thing she kept it coming hot off her food truck
all night long, because Yelpers couldn't get enough.
The subtly
sweet kick of bourbon BBQ sauce was just the beginning. Thanks to Willett
Distillery, we got to delve deep into not only the taste of their fine craft
bourbons and rye but also learned about the rich history of this family-run
distillery known for their small batch bourbons. While the "small
batch" label has no official numbers attached to it, Willett's Marketing
Director Hunter Chavane broke down the lingo for us: while small batch may mean
about 250 to some, for Willett it's more like 12. Then we got an
even more up close and personal look, smell, and taste of one of their small
batch bourbons, Rowan's Creek with Moonshine University's Colin Blake who teaches a series of Bourbon Enthusiast classes. He guided
everyone through a demonstration of a sensory evaluation technique we could use
to help us pick out the notes in the nose, palate and finish of each distinct
taste of the bourbon's we'd be sampling: Rowan's Creek, Johnny Drum, Family
Estate Rye and Pot Still Reserve. But hey, whether you pick out notes of a oak
or pine or even a campfire under a starlit night, Colin assured us that there's
no wrong answer.
But with our
newly learned technique, who would be able to pick out the official notes in each taste? Yep, "the
catch to this tasting was trying to match up the official notes for each with
the samples themselves." Suzanne B warmed right up to the process: "I
found myself trying to decide if I'd smelled more florals, spices, smokes, or
woods with that first whiff, then which flavors were strongest with the taste,
then which finish was the strongest." In the end, it was a tie for winners
between Jaimelyn C who got to take home a bottle of the Noah's Mill and Michael
B won a bottle of Johnny Drum!
The pickin'
continued, literally… with a performance by Esteemed Colleagues, Dave Howard
and Scott Moore playing a mandolin and fiddle duo set! Usually you can catch
these two playing in The 23 String Band. There's no doubt
their bluegrass performance rounded out the evening to be what Melanie K calls
"a full 360 experience of the best that Louisville, KY has to offer."
Thanks again to Esteemed Colleagues for a fantastic performance, all of our amazing sponsors: Willett Distillery, Moonshine University, Get It On A Bun At Bootys and of course many thanks to Haymarket Whiskey Bar, Yelp Louisville's intern Jessica B and our wonderful Elite squad for making this event a blast! Check out more awesome photos of the event from photographer Vaughn Corum here. Interested in becoming Yelp Elite? Learn more here!
Until next time,
SYOY!
Megan F
Yelp Louisville Community Manager
