(I am going to pretend that I did not just ghost on you for months and still decided to post this on 12th Jan. 2019.)
2019 JAN 11. Louisville: Louisville Slugger Museum. [Airbnb: Bright, Modern Shotgun in Germantown!]
The reason I decided to visit Louisville was because of Louisville Slugger Museum (adult $15.00, including factory tour & museum). Back in the days when I played a lot of softball and baseball (2015–2018), we used wooden bats and sometimes gloves by Louisville Slugger. So when I knew the city was somewhat on my route, I had to go.
Baseball
My factory tour was at 10 am, the earliest time possible. No photography was allowed in the factory, but I took a lot of mental notes throughout the tour. Everything starts out with a 37-inch long, 3-inch diameter wooden cylinder. Before the automation of the production line, a factory worker would carve the bat out as the cylinder spins, measuring the thickness of a model with tools that looked like pincers. On the tour, you can still see a demonstration of how the bat-making process was in the old days. Of course, most bats are machine-made now, and professional ones are crafted separately from consumer versions. There were also different models to feel out, including Babe Ruth’s huge bat models.
Walking further into the factory, there was the smell of burnt wood, not at all unpleasant. It was the branding of the bats, where machines were searing logos and possibly signatures onto wooden bats with hot metal. There were also multiple machinery for cutting excess anchoring wood. Near the exit of the factory, we see the last step of the coating where a worker dip the bats into liquid gloss and hang the bats from knobs on a rack. By the end of the tour, we all get a small wooden bat as a souvenir.
Apart from the factory tour, there was also a museum. Part of it was under construction and unavailable even though the overall admission fee was not cheaper. Though there were a few life-sized baseball stars and many bats they have used on display, I did not feel like that part was particularly satisfying. If you are not a big fan of baseball, this attraction might not be for you. The factory tour and the shop were good though.
Bourbon
I didn’t plan to leave Louisville Slugger Museum so early, so I wandered the streets of Louisville, trying to come up with some ideas of what to do next.
Just three blocks away from the baseball museum, Evan Williams Bourbon Experience is also on West Main Street. After doing a little bit of research at the door, I decided to take a shot at the bourbon tour (no pun intended) ($14.00, no tax).
Maybe because it was a weekday noon, I was the only attendee of the 12pm tour. What was supposed to be a group tour ended up being a private one. Bob showed me around the building, giving me stories of the founding of Evan Williams. I would soon learn that Prohibition (alcoholic beverage ban) played an important part in the history of many breweries and distilleries in the US. Parts of the tour consisted of walking through imitations of historic shops, watching slightly cringy reenactments of history, and of course, bourbon tasting. I may have learned a thing or two about hard liquor actually having different flavours. Bourbon, basically whiskey made with 51% or more corn, is something I have never tried before, and this trip to Evan Williams made me realise that bourbon is my new favourite spirit. It is sweeter and richer in taste than most whiskey, so drinking bourbon is more like having happy liquid fuzz than just plain alcohol.
Needless to say, I bought a fair amount of bourbon for myself to enjoy.
More Southern Food
The amount of bourbon I tasted at Evan Williams was little, yet I still manage to look as red as a cooked lobster. I guess part of the reason was that I had not had lunch yet. Spotting Doc Crow’s further down W Main St, I went in for some more Southern food.
Doc Crow’s had pages worth of bourbon on the menu, and to be honest, it was very tempting to order some. But maybe I had enough for one day, so I just stuck with food and got Doc’s Roasted Chicken ($15.00, excluding tax & tips) and Bread Pudding ($7.00, excluding tax & tips).
Ali
The day was still young when I finished my lunch around 3pm. Muhammad Ali Center was a close attraction. Even though it closes at 5pm, I still went to take a look at it. I knew close to nothing about the legendary Muhammad Ali, so visiting the centre was my way of trying to understand more about him ($10.00 for students with ID). Everyone knows that he was a great boxer, but that was not all he was. I learned that he was culturally inspirational in every bit of way he was in the ring of boxing. He fought against prejudices of race and religion the same way he fought against opponents. Little did I know this would only be the first in a series of encounter with Ali during my travels.
The worst decision I made this day was riding a scooter back to my Airbnb with no gloves on. It was so chilly I had to keep stopping to warm my fingers lest they fall off. Never ever would I scooter or bike in cold weather without protection again.
