Maker's Mark Bar

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Maker's Mark Bar

Unread postby bourbonv » Thu Jun 16, 2005 9:07 pm

I went down to Maker's Bark Bar at 4th Street Live in Louisville tonight. They were doing a pre-Father's Day night with Julian and Preston Van Winkle and Jimmy and Eddie Russell serving as bar tenders and giving away Pappy Van Winkle Cigars and Wild Turkey old fashioned glasses. I even got Jimmy, Eddie, Julian and Preston to autograph my glass for me!

The bar is very nice with a decent selection of bourbons. It is very trendy and very loud. That is the one thing I had against it was that it was hard to hold a conversation because of the noise at the bar. It may have been better if I had went to a table, but the fun was at the bar.

The bourbons are served in Reidel glasses which are good - better than what you will get at most bars - but I like the Glencairn glasses at the Bourbon's Bistro better. The food prices were a bit higher as well with most food being in the $20.00 to $40.00 range. The food was good - I had the duck with rice and a spicy peanut sauce. The bartenders are all very well informed and one is even keeping a note book and asking some very good questions to people like the Russells and the Van Winkles to get her facts straight about the products and its history. She kept me there with questions about an hour after I had planned on leaving.

The Maker's Mark Bar will appeal to people looking for a night spot and it is next to the Hard Rock Cafe and several other dance clubs at 4th Street LIve. I will go back with out of town guest and if they have another night like tonight with distillery people. It is upscale and trendy and should do well actracting the younger crowd who want to see and be seen, but an old fart like myself really prefers something a little quieter for everyday drinking.

Mike Veach
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Unread postby parshooter » Wed Jul 06, 2005 12:06 pm

My best friend just moved to Louisville in May. I will have to check this out when I go down to visit. Thanks for the info Mike.
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Unread postby tlsmothers » Thu Jul 07, 2005 8:07 pm

What a fabulous line-up for Father's Day!

I sure hope to make it to the bar if we are able to get to the Bourbon Festival this year.
"Drinking just to get drunk is like having sex just to get pregnant." --Robert Hess
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Re: Maker's Mark Bar

Unread postby bourbonv » Fri May 23, 2008 4:08 pm

I was in the Maker's Mark Bar this week and things have changed quite a bit. When I was there three years ago, the bourbons were front and center behind the bar with with a large presence on the shelf. Tuesday they were regulated to one side and the majority of of the shelf space dedicated to scotch, vodka, tequila and Canadian. It is still quite loud, so the people who equate fun to loudness will be happy, but the bourbon bar seems to be not very important to the management anymore. The server was quite good and he seemed to know bourbon fairly well. We were in a side room, but it still was very loud. I guess that meant we were having fun. The food was good. They do still have a good bourbon menu and I enjoyed a Russells Reserve and a Four Roses Single Barrel. I also opened the Henry Watterson after dinner and poured some into the Glencairn glass that I brought with me. They used to use the Riedel glasses at Maker's Mark but now they are using a more common style of old fashioned glass for their pours. Not as good for tasting neat, but probably cheaper to replace and they will not break as easily as the Reidel glasses.

It is worth visiting when in Louisville, but there are better places for the Bourbon experience for those who want to try something special. But it is loud so it must be fun.
Mike Veach
"Our people live almost exclusively on whiskey" - E H Taylor, Jr. 25 April 1873
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Re: Maker's Mark Bar

Unread postby Bucc58 » Wed Jun 25, 2008 8:30 pm

Don't feel bad about the dislike of the noise Mike. I once heard that ones tolerance for noise is indirectly proportional to ones intelligence level. I like enough noise to make the girls dance :cabbage: :yay: but not so much that I can't talk to the people right next to me. :director:
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