The View from TUS: Five Minute Tour of Louisville, KY

With as much time as These United States spends on tour, having a few days off to regroup and engage in a few adventures of a different sort can be pretty refreshing. The last few days, I’ve been in my old adopted hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. Beyond the great friends and musical collaborators who live here… there’s a lot of groovy stuff to appreciate.

Great Food – I’m a bit of a foodie, and few American cities this size can compete with Louisville’s food culture. Being a pretty hip metropolitan area surrounded by farmland, fresh local veggies, meats, and cheeses are diverse and accessible—for the latter, Capriole goat cheese is hard to beat: http://www.capriolegoatcheese.com

Great Drink – This is bourbon country (word on the street is that 97% of the bourbon in the world

is distilled in the region), but don’t ignore Louisville’s stellar beer options. If you can’t decide between the two, I humbly suggest my personal local favorite: Bluegrass Brewing Co’s Bourbon Barrel Stout: http://www.bbcbrew.com/

Amazing Architecture – Old Louisville (the neighborhood where I lived for a few years) has the largest number of Victorian homes in the country, and a lot of the mansions have been converted into surprisingly affordable apartments: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Louisville

And last, but most certainly not least…

Notable and Noble Contributions to American Culture – Really, what other city has birthed anything approaching the trinity of the Kentucky Derby, Hunter S. Thompson, and Lebowskifest? http://www.lebowskifest.com

–Aaron