“Do not go gentle into that good night”. In Kentucky, we interpret that to mean, as the summer driving season comes to a close, we need to rage against the dying of the light. And not going gentle is what we do. First up was a LuxRow Distillery tour in Bardstown, KY. As Bardstown is 65 miles away (based on the roads we take), it gives ample opportunity to explore secondary roads twisting around hills and streams.

Two weeks later, it was a drive out Huber’s Farm to meet up with three other Porsche regions: Central and Southern Indiana and Bluegrass. Huber’s is a local farm experience: pick ya own pumpkins, wine tasting, turkey dines and rows upon rows of Porsches.

We followed that up with our 5^th annual Germanfest/Bourbonfest hosted by Steve and Bernadette Doolin at their place out in the woods outside of Louisville. Next up was two more bourbon tours on two separate weekends. Wild Turkey, one of the oldest distilleries in Kentucky, followed by Castle & Key, two weeks later, one of the newest.

Castle & Key Distillery is located on the site of the historic Old Taylor Distillery, outside Frankfort. After sitting abandoned to fall into ruin, new owners purchased the property in 2014. Production began at the distillery in late 2016 for the first time in over 40 years. Besides incredible architecture, the site also has 110 acres of gardens and river views in one of the prettiest locations in Kentucky.

We finished off the season with the Kentucky Covered Bridge Tour. Covered bridges are a staple of the Midwest, the wood covering preserving the bridges from the ravages of sun and rain.

The Kentucky Region covers a territory 200 miles wide by 120 miles North to South. Of our 480 members, 410 reside in the greater Louisville area, at the North East corner of the region. 20 members are in the south and 50 in the West (and 1 in Belgium).

This month, we decided to follow Horace Greeley’s advice and go West to join up with our far western neighbors. We first traveled Kentucky parkways for 90 miles prior to smaller two lane roads. Our first destination Jefferson Davis State Park, home of the world’s tallest concrete non-reinforced obelisk. Washington’s Monument stands 554 feet tall: Jeff Davis Memorial stands 351. Kentucky was a southern state during the Civil War.

Don’t know any of us would claim confederate sympathies, just wanted to see a 35 story concrete obelisk standing in the middle of a farm field.

Our next stop was the Casey Jones distillery, where we met some of our western members, located outside of Hopkinsville, KY. The distillery was named neither for the famed engineer, nor the Grateful Dead song, but for an early moonshiner from the woods of far Western KY, whose grandson operates it today using the original still design. His shine was the only liquor acceptable to Al Capone, himself a native of the same area.

After touring the modest, but attractive distillery, we all repaired to a local BBQ for lunch (and home made coconut cream pie) prior to the long drive home.

Would that have been all, it would have been enough, except the region also attended the annual Joe and Jane Galownia Steak and Wine party, a pre-purchase inspections tech session from Mitch at Stuttgart Specialists and KYPCA Ladies Night at the local Massage Envy hosted by the lovely Vycki Minstein.