Over the years, I have taken food and drink tours in cities around the world, and found them to be fun but familiar. I would follow a guide to pre-selected establishments where I found a tasty dish or a tantalizing cocktail waiting.
The guide would describe what I was eating or drinking, and then we would be off to the next destination. All pretty routine — that is until I signed up for one of Erin Goins’ Bites of the Bluegrass tours.
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Oh, I did sample four specialty cocktails and three signature dishes at a trio of downtown locations. But during this two-hour cocktail-centric walking tour, I also learned that Lexington’s drinking past was pretty naughty, peppered with a cast of famous imbibers — some that I had heard of (Belle Brezing) and some that I hadn’t (Ike Miller.)
Beginning at The Thirsty Fox inside the Old Courthouse, our merry band of drinkers, which included a Baptist minister, started off with an Old Fashioned made with Old Forester 100 Proof bourbon. We learned that the Old Fashioned was thought to have been introduced at Louisville’s Pendennis Club in 1880.
The accompanying bite was a hearty dish of meatballs with tomato marinara and garlic provided by Zim’s Cafe, sister property to The Thirsty Fox.
Glass in hand, we listened as Goins, with her cropped blonde hair and a personality as large as her nearly 6-foot stature began her tale-telling with the story of Carrie Nation, Garrard County native and ax-wielding destroyer of saloons across Kansas.
“I always began my tours by using Carrie as a precautionary tale about the evils of drinking,” says Goins, tongue-in-cheek, adding “that since Carrie isn’t here though, we shouldn’t let that stop us.”
We also learned that America’s first regulatory laws came not for food, but for bourbon, and that in her lifetime notorious madam Belle Brezing was indicted more than any other Lexingtonian, yet never spent a day in jail.
Goins tells us about the plaque honoring John McKinney, who in the 18th century, became Lexington’s first school teacher.
He may have been less known for teaching the three R’s than for using his bare hands to take on an unfriendly wildcat that had invaded his one-room schoolhouse.
Having dispatched the cat, he called his classroom to order and continued his lesson. Now, you know that was a man who probably enjoyed a good libation.
Next up was a stop at Creaux with its New Orleans-inspired food and décor. The fish sandwich was fresh enough to have come straight from the Gulf, and our Rising Star Cocktail (Fresh bourbon, passion fruit and lemon juice) hinted at the torpor brought on by a tropical night in the Big Easy.
Goins used Creaux as a backdrop for talking about Kentucky’s historic ties to New Orleans insofar as the bourbon industry was concerned, and also to speak about the importance of African-Americans in the distilling industry.
“I always like to tell people about Nathan Nearest, known as Uncle Nearest,” she says. “He became the first African-American distiller on record in the U.S. at Jack Daniels in Lynchburg, Tennessee.
“One of my goals with these tours is to be very inclusive and share stories that too often remain untold,” says Goins.
With two cocktails under our belts, we arrived at our final stop, Harvey’s Bar in The Grove, where we would sample two more.
Goins tells us Harvey’s was named for the invisible six-and-a-half-foot tall cinematic rabbit in the James Stewart classic of the same name.
Our first cocktail, the Nurse Kelly (made with green apple Aperol and champagne) was a nod to the nurse who tried to help Stewart’s character Elwood prove his sanity.
By now, I wouldn’t have been surprised to see a Harvey of my own, but it didn’t stop me from sampling our second cocktail, an espresso martini, made with vodka and Nate’s espresso (in case you’re wondering, I did arrange for a designated driver.)
Fortunately, Fable Charcuterie in The Grove provided us with a charcuterie platter to nosh on while Goins launched into another of her entertaining tales.
This one concerned Lexington’s Prohibition-era bootlegging wars waged by patrolman Lawrence Piercy and his chief rival Ike Miller, owner of a farm in what is today Cardinal Valley.
During one of his smuggling operations, Miller was hit with a bullet, and following his recovery, spent time in the Clark County jail where, undaunted, he continued to provide bootlegged alcohol to both inmates and staff.
By now, you have figured out that this is no ordinary foodie tour, but a chance to eat, drink and listen as Goins shares stories from Lexington’s often salacious, but always scintillating past.
She says it was taking a food tour in Montreal with her husband that showed her how much a city’s food and drink scene could be influenced by and interwoven with, its culture.
But it wasn’t until 2022 when she was on another food tour in Nashville that she had her light-bulb moment.
“It suddenly occurred to me that this would be perfect for Lexington,” she says. “We have so many walkable restaurants and bars downtown, and Lord knows, we have no lack of fascinating stories.”
Thus, Bites of the Bluegrass was born. Goins currently has four different itineraries (ranging in price from $85 to $250). In addition to my Cocktails + Bites Tour, there’s the Downtown Walking Food & History Tour, Distillery District Food & History Tour, and Just a Few Miles South Culinary Tour with chef Ouita Michel.
By mid-May, she plans to add four more, with tours focusing on Haunted Lexington, Black History, Pride History and one she calls Lexington History and More.
The “and more” refers to the 50 different partners she works with, which are not only restaurants and bars, but retail shops, art galleries and museums.
Goins has no plans to ever stop sharing with the world all that Lexington has to offer.
“I want to continue to create experiences,” she says. “I want to be the hostess with the mostest.”
To many of her tour participants, she already is.
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