Saturday was Neat, Holy Grale, Darlings, and Spring Street's grand reopening.
We nearly decided to go to Cincy on the spur of the moment but the weather was too glorious to spend half the day driving. Instead we spent the day in Louisville.
It was our first visit to Neat. Not much to look at from the street but a visual delight inside with a beautiful old bar back, multiple seating areas with plush chairs, high quality drinks, and vintage whiskey priced by the ounce. I had a tasty riff on a Penicillin with smoked honey instead of a peated Scotch float and a real interesting drink called The Looavul made with Mezcal, pecans, and black walnut liquor. The drink is named for how locals pronounce their city name.
From there, six of us, walked down to Holy Grale. I adore this place! D and I were just there Thursday for a Chimay event featuring Chimay's cheese, five beers, and a glass giveaway. It was our friend's first visit since the Grale completed an extensive makeover and it's a literal church of beer. Next time we hope to drink in the choir loft. Today I drank Westmalle's rich Double and a beautiful Blaugies saison. We shared most of the apps from the menu including the best chips in town with vinegar mayo and curry ketchup to dip, along with pretzel bread and spicy cheese, goose liver pâté on house made rye crackers, and sausage kraut balls. One couple left so we decided D could drive the four of us to another fav, a gin bar called Darlings.
This place is sooo delightful. They always seem to have new and interesting things to drink. How about a Mexican gin!
Our last stop was a traditional neighborhood bar. We've been driving by Spring Street for years, including earlier in the day, on our way to other places. It closed without our noticing but was now open again so it was time. It was a bit chaotic, local football playing above the bar and end of season baseball on near us. Perfect also fun! D had mini corn dogs and we shared two orders of wings with Buffalo and Korean BBQ sauce. Salty krinkled fries and fat onion rings to round out our fried feast. We drank Bells 2hearted with a sour beer follow-up I never bothered to identify. We noticed our bartender from Neat in the place but when I tried to find him later to buy him a drink he was already gone.
Saturdays are the best.
