“LOO-uh-vuhl,” Kentucky’s biggest city, supplies one-third of the world’s bourbon—and barrels of whiskey outnumber people in the state. All that liquid gold gets put to good use every May in mint juleps, the signature cocktail of the Kentucky Derby. This year is the 141st running of Louisville’s incredibly profitable horse race; in 2014 the Derby raked in $186.6 million in wagers. Impressive, but still just a drop in the tumbler compared to Kentucky’s booming bourbon industry, which grossed $3 billion last year, up 67 percent since 2012—or about 937.5 million mint juleps, by our calculation.
SEE Thunder Over Louisville kicks off Derby season with one of North America's biggest pyrotechnic shows, using 60 tons of firework shells and 250 tons of launching tubes in a 28-minute lawn-chair-vibrating spectacular. The city's Urban Bourbon Trail is a booze crawl that promises up to 150 varieties of America's sole native spirit at each stop. Just 10 minutes across the river, in Indiana, the 390-million-year-old fossil beds at Falls of the Ohio State Park make up one of the biggest Devonian fossil collections in the world. Stephen J. Cohen/Getty Images
DO Mega Cavern’s man-made subterranean labyrinth beneath the city’s highways sprawls for 17 miles, housing the only underground zip line course in the US and a 320,000-square-foot bike park. Maker and designer haven FirstBuild offers tinkerers a workshop to create next-gen home appliances, like an oven that scans food barcodes and automatically sets cooking method, time, and temp. The Belle of Louisville, America’s oldest operating steamboat, turns 101 this year. But with regular river cruises, featuring an onboard dance floor and sound system, this beauty’s still got it. Daniel Dempster/Alamy
EAT Dig into Louisville’s signature sandwich, the Hot Brown—open-faced, turkey-and-bacon-filled, drenched with cheesy béchamel—at the Brown Hotel. Visit Kaiju, a dive bar and music venue with a Japanese monster theme that serves up a rotation of craft beers. Open for 77 years, Zanzabar offers pizza, booze, live music, and weekly pinball tournaments in a vintage arcade. Stephen J. Cohen/Getty Images
“On the Urban Bourbon Trail, sample the ways bourbon has influenced our dining scene—we even use our signature drink in ice cream and salad dressing.” —Louisville mayor Greg Fischer Louise Pomeroy
