Lilly Pulitzer and the Kentucky Derby

(Reposting this popular post, which was originally written in 2016. This post was brought to you by Shircliff Publishing. For more Kentucky Derby history, download The Kentucky Derby Book by Bill Doolittle for only $9.99; available in Kindle and iBooks editions.)

Here in Kentucky, a lot of us love to wear our Lilly Pulitzer prints to the racetrack. A flattering dress in a bright, preppy print is the perfect outfit for a day at Keeneland or Churchill Downs. Lots of us break out our favorite Lilly dresses for Kentucky Derby week activities. But did you know that Lilly Pulitzer herself had lots of ties to the Derby and thoroughbred horse racing? 

Lilly's famous Derby-themed prints

Lilly's stepfather, Ogden Phipps took horses quite seriously. He used Paris, Kentucky's storied Claiborne Farms, for the breeding and training of his horses. He helped found the New York Racing Association and served as Chairman of the Jockey Club for over twenty year, and he lost the famous coin toss that awarded Secretariat to Penny Chenery.  Mr. Phipps owned horses that won the Breeder's Cup and the Belmont, but a Kentucky Derby win eluded him. In fact, in the 2004 book Essentially Lilly, Lilly told her co-author, Jay Mulveny, "I don't race, but everyone in the family has had horses in the Derby. And no one has ever won."

While Lilly never saw a relative win the Kentucky Derby, her half-brother Dinny Phipps did win the Derby with Orb in 2013, only a month after Lilly's passing.

Of course, longtime HerKentucky readers know that Lilly's ties to Kentucky don't stop with her family's racing heritage. Lilly briefly lived in Eastern Kentucky, putting her love of horseback riding to good use as she volunteered as a courier for Mary Breckinridge's Frontier Nursing Service.

And, of course, the Lilly Pulitzer company has put out some lovely Derby- and racing- themed prints over the years; these prints are traditionally cherished by Kentucky Lilly-lovers! 

My grandmother made me this quilt from a vintage, Kentucky Derby-themed Lilly print.

Shop my favorite Lilly Dresses for Kentucky Derby 145!
 

Old Forester Distillery

I’m frequently asked what I recommend on a short list of Louisville tourism destinations — where to go if you only have a day or two to spend in the Derby City. I also often hear folks wondering where to start their bourbon tourism education. The Old Forester Distillery is the perfect answer to both of those questions.

Old Forester was the first bourbon whiskey to be sold exclusively in sealed bottles, and it’s the oldest bourbon on the market. It was even produced during Prohibition for medicinal use. If you want a great primer on the history of Kentucky bourbon — sales, marketing, and production — you need to visit Old Forester.

At the turn of the 20th Century, the 100 block of Louisville’s Main Street was integral to Kentucky’s bourbon industry. Over the years, production and storage facilities moved to more spacious areas, with Whiskey Row revitalization efforts only arising over the past few years. Brown-Forman built the Old Forester Distillery on the site of the brand’s original headquarters, providing both a tourism facility and a working distillery on history Whiskey Row.

In addition to giving visitors an overview of how the bourbon is made, the Old Forester tour actually gives its guests a glimpse into the cooperage process. Brown-Forman, Old Forester’s parent company, is the only distilling company that makes its own barrels. This tradition is honored at OldFo, as you can actually watch barrels being constructed and charred as part of the tour.

Don’t miss the gift shop which offers the Whiskey Row series (the 1920 blend is fantastic!) and the Distillery-Exclusive President’s Choice single barrel blend!

 

The Old Forester Distillery is open for tours and shopping 7 days a week at 119 West Main Street in Louisville. The $16 tour includes a tasting for guests over 21. Click here for more tour details.

Whiskey Wednesday: Big Changes at Maker's Mark and a Big Announcement from HerKentucky!

Kiptoo Tarus carving at Maker's Mark.

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to visit a press event at Maker's Mark distillery, where Maker's COO Rob Samuels unveiled the new WhiskeyCellar, a 14,000 square foot limestone structure developed to age the Maker's 46 expression. 

My visit to Loretto was made even better because my friends Jon Carloftis and Dale Fisher, of Jon Carloftis Fine Gardens, were in attendance as well. Walking through the Distillery with Jon and Dale was such a treat, as they told me so many little facts about the changes and upgrades they'd made to the distillery campus in recent years. They told me about the plants they'd selected for the cellar roof, which will eventually cascade down the facade of the structure. And they described how the old visitors' parking lot had been taken up in favor of a lot that allowed for better drainage and soil preservation. They even told me that the Maker's Mark structure shown in the photo at the top of this post was created by a Lexington artist, Kiptoo Tarus, out of one of the oak trees that was removed to make the new parking area. It made for a fascinating "eco-tour" within the press event!

Jon Carloftis and Rob Samuels 

The tasting room is such an exciting addition to the Maker's Mark Distillery experience, but there are so many other great new changes coming to the distillery this year! We also had the opportunity to sample Star Hill Provisions, the Chef Newman Miller-led restaurant which will soon open at the old Distiller's House.  The lunch we were served combined traditional Kentucky fare with gourmet flourishes, and I can't wait to try dinner on-site!

Rob Samuels pours Maker's 46 samples for the press.

We also had the opportunity to see the Private Tasting Room, which features a stunning glass display by Brook White of Flame Run glassworks. This was just one of those moments that reminded me why Kentucky truly is the best place on earth -- where else can you find art devoted to bourbon whisky??

Now, telling y'all about this tour also gives me the opportunity to tell HerKentucky readers about a big project that I'm working on in 2017. I'm writing a book! Even better: it's a book about Kentucky bourbon and the women who shape its culture!

I say that the Maker's Mark tour is the perfect introduction to my forthcoming work, because, in a lot of ways, my 2015 tour of the Maker's Distillery is where the first seeds for the book were planted. Maker's Mark has always taken care to give appropriate credit to Mrs. Margie Samuels, the wife of label founder Bill Samuels Sr., and the creative force behind the whisky's name and packaging. The Maker's Mark distillery tour includes a replica of Mrs. Samuels' original list of potential names for her husband's new bourbon and discusses her ideas to dip the bottle in wax and pay homage to her beloved collection of English pewter, the best pieces of which bore the mark of the artisan -- a maker's mark.

When I toured Maker's in 2015, I was really struck by how much Mrs. Samuels impacted the entire future of whisky marketing and tourism. It was, after all, her idea to fashion the family's distillery in a decorative, Victorian style. A lot of thinking, a book proposal, and more research than I care to replicate later, and I'm writing The Women of Kentucky Bourbon.

Please excuse the less frequent posting you may see on HerKentucky over the next few months. The site isn't going anywhere, but the bourbon manuscript is top priority right now. I'll be posting as my writing schedule allows, and will check in on Instagram and Facebook several times a week. And I hope that y'all get down to Loretto soon to see all the exciting changes at Maker's!