Green River Distillery

Because we were not accustomed to Central Time, we were up early at the Owensboro Super 8. We showered and did our morning language lessons before I went downstairs to get cups of tea and hot water for us. The breakfast area opened at 6 am so we made our way down for biscuits, eggs and fruit. Most of the people staying at the motel were construction workers who came to the breakfast area to grab something to eat then take off to the job site.

Smother's Park in Owensboro, Kentucky

We left the motel around 8:30 am and drove to Smother’s Park along the Owensboro riverfront. The “Mayor’s Mile” is a stretch of riverfront that has been developed for tourism. Along the walking path there are plentiful benches, small amphitheaters, statues, veteran’s memorials and a tremendous playground. There were a number of work boats on the Ohio River as we walked by the conference center and several hotels and performance centers. The morning was cool in the upper 50s but there seemed to be less wind so the walk along Owensboro’s riverfront didn’t seem as cold. However, after temperatures in the 90s just a few days ago, the day seemed cold to us.

The drive to the Green River Distillery was less than 10 minutes for our 9 am tour. We were the only ones on the tour and met our guide, Nathaniel Thomas when we arrived. Nathaniel is a retired musician from Louisville who has a lot of knowledge of bourbon and the history of Green River Distillery. This distillery opened in 1885 as Medley Distillery, the 10th licensed distillery in the state giving it a DSP of KY-10. Today, DSP numbers for new distilleries are over 20,000. There was no production this week, but Nathaniel took us through where the grain is delivered, tested and stored. Like many area distilleries, the corn and wheat are locally sourced, but the rye and barley are from the Pacific Northwest.

Stills at Green River Distillery

Unlike some distilleries using cypress tubs, the fermentation vats at Green River are stainless steel, making them easier to clean. Distillation takes place in a three-story tall stainless steel Vendome column still that leads to a copper doubler. We were surprised at the scale of Green River Distillery's production.  In 2024, the output of spirits was nearly equal to that of Four Roses Distillery.  Spent stillage grains are given to local farmers at no cost. There are some aging rickhouses on the site of the distillery but much of the bourbon is aged off-site in palletized buildings.

Once back at the visitor center, we enjoyed a tasting of Green River’s spirits with Nathaniel. We had the standard Green River Bourbon (90 proof), Wheated Bourbon (90 proof), Rye Whiskey (95 proof), Barrel Proof Bourbon (117.3 proof) and Barrel Proof Wheated Bourbon (109.3 proof). Of these, we liked the Barrel Proof Wheated Bourbon best. We didn’t buy any bottles from the gift shop since our local Kroger carries a full line of Green River spirits and frequently runs a sale on them. Before we left, Nathaniel recommended Barrel Head Liquor Market as a good place to buy liquor and wine. Barrel Head also has a tasting bar with shots at $1 each. Since the store was on our way home, we decided to stop to see if they might have some John J. Bowman that our friend Steve Minor enjoys.

When we arrived at Barrel Heads, they had a very large selection of wine and spirits at good prices but no Bowman. However, Mary was able to find some dry Reisling wine at reasonable prices, so we picked up three bottles to try. We topped off the gas at the station adjacent to Barrel Heads because gas was about $.40 lower than we had when we left home.

We decided to take US Rt. 60 for much of the drive back east toward home. The drive was relaxing without much traffic. We stopped for lunch at a McDonalds around Hardinsburg, Kentucky, just west of Ft. Knox. We picked up Interstate 64 east of Louisville and arrived home before 5 pm.

Western Kentucky Botanical Garden and Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum

We left home at 7 am for the three-hour drive to Owensboro, Kentucky. We had packed a lunch of cheese, hummus, crackers, pretzels and fresh fruit. Driving on Rt. 60 then on to the Western Kentucky Parkway was easy and there was little traffic. We really enjoyed the time that we spent in Owensboro in 2021. This time, we wanted to visit the Western Kentucky Botanical Garden as part of the Kentucky Garden Trail. Of course, we also wanted to revisit the National Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum and the Green River Distillery.

Mary at Western Kentucky Botanical Garden

The weather last week was in the mid-90s and the humidity was very high. Today we had a dramatic cool down with temperatures in the 50s and low 60s. There was a light mist as we drove west and crossed into the Central Time Zone. At a Walmart in Owensboro, we bought some warmer clothes. Mary picked up a knit cap, and I got a long-sleeved T-shirt since we would be outside for a few hours at the Western Kentucky Botanical Garden.

The volunteer at the garden took our $5 senior entrance fees and gave us a map of the property. Mary got stamps for us in the passports for the Kentucky Garden Trail. We did a quick walk through the 1880 home now serving at the headquarters of the garden. The house was very well restored and preserved. On the second floor of the house there were several bedrooms, each with an ensuite bathroom. The kitchen was busy preparing for a private lunch on the grounds.

Walking around the grounds we were impressed with the variety of annuals and perennials with sculptures scattered among the plantings. Most plants were clearly labeled and planted in areas with specific themes such as medicinal plants, pollinator gardens, hostas and daylilies. A large event venue was being built that will be able to accommodate weddings, corporate workshops and large parties. There was a large stainless-steel sculpture of a basket with a butterfly on the handle. Visitors can turn a crank to make the butterfly’s wings move and the caterpillar bob.

The greenhouse had an assortment of orchids and tropical succulents with an attached meeting room and restrooms. A paved path around the gardens was calibrated to a quarter mile for visitors wishing to do exercise walking. The volunteers were starting to place Halloween decorations through the garden displays as well as preparing the gardens for the coming autumn weather.

We sat in the parking lot to have the lunch that we packed before leaving this morning. Since it was only noon, we decided to spend the afternoon at the National Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Parking throughout Owensboro was free although limited to two hours in some areas. We were able to park beside the museum although we saw some spaces right in front of the entrance. We recalled how much we enjoyed the small facility in 2021 and were anxious to revisit the displays.

The volunteer at the entrance charged us the senior rate of $12 each and gave us a map of the displays and a narration device on a lanyard for the self-guided tour. We started in the room for musicians where some high-end guitars, banjos, mandolins and Dobros were hanging for visitors to play. The first exhibit was for the most recent inductees in the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame. These were Arnold Shultz, a roots musician from the 1920s and 30s, The Bluegrass Cardinals, a pioneering bluegrass group in the 1970s and 80s. and Hot Rize, a bluegrass group in the 80s, 90s and 2000s. We had seen Hot Rize and their alter ego, western band, Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers several times at Mountain Stage in the 1980s and 90s. We have since seen frontman, West Virginian, Tim O’Brien, several time since.

We followed the displays through the origins of bluegrass music where we learned more about Bill Monroe and saw his Uncle Pendleton Vandiver’s fiddle. There were numerous video screens with interviews of musicians, promoters, industry executives, historians and others throughout the exhibits. A large room had photos of bluegrass festivals beginning in the late 1960s and peaking in the 1970s. These multiday events had many of the musicians and bands that are now included in the Hall of Fame. People like Doc and Merle Watson, Del McCoury, the Osbourne Brothers, the Stanley Brothers, Tony Rice, Ricky Skaggs and so many others were featured in the displays. There was a section on the popularity of bluegrass music outside of the US including albums by a very popular Japanese bluegrass band.

The last set of displays on the ground floor was dedicated to the influence of the Cincinnati-Dayton area on bluegrass music. In the period from the 1930s to the 1960s, many rural Appalachian families from West Virginia and Kentucky came to southern Ohio for better paying jobs. These mountain people brought the music from their backgrounds to the Ohio cities where they found clubs and radio stations ready to play their music and promoters anxious to put out records and organize tours.

On the second floor of the museum there were brass plaques for each inductee into the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame. The plaques ran from the initial inductees Bill Monroe, Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs to the aforementioned 2025 inductees. There was a room housing a temporary exhibit to the late John Hartford. A video interview with Hartford showed his love of riverboats and how he came to learn how to pilot a vessel on the Mississippi River. The final exhibit was a video station where visitors could click on a current or past inductee to watch video interviews and learn more about the life and career of each inductee.

Before we knew it, we had spent four hours in the museum, so we drove to the Super 8 motel across town. The motel was good when we stayed here in 2021 and the rate for our stay was under $100 so it seemed an easy decision to return here. Checking in was fast and we passed by the free Dunkin Donuts at the front desk to walk up to our second-floor room. The motel was recently remodeled, and our room was quite comfortable. There were plenty of AC and USB outlets in the lamps and alarm clock. The flooring was new LVT and the bathroom had a new shower with plenty of hot water. The room was very quiet and was plenty dark for sleeping once the window shade was closed.

We relaxed in the room for about an hour then drove to Moonlite Bar-B-Q, a very popular Owensboro restaurant specializing in signature mutton barbecue. Another specialty in the area is burgoo, a traditional stew that was said to include at least three types of wild game. Today, burgoo can be made with chicken, pork, mutton or other meats as well as mixed vegetables and broth.

When we arrived at Moonlite Bar-B-Q we were seated near the buffet and got a plate of sliced mutton, chopped mutton, beef brisket, pork barbecue and chicken barbecue along with beans (with huge chunks of meat), broccoli casserole, salad, coleslaw and other sides. There were many desserts from which to choose including cherry or blackberry cobbler, pies (chocolate, peanut butter, buttermilk, pecan and lemon) and ice cream.

The restaurant was busy but not crowded and workers were constantly refilling the buffet. We had plenty of time to enjoy our meal and try items from the bar that looked interesting. On our way out of the restaurant, we saw photos of the many celebrities who had eaten there including Merle Haggard and Bill Clinton.

Back at the restaurant we watched a little television while we digested our dinner. Although the clock said 9 pm, our bodies were still running on Eastern Time so we turned in and slept well through the night.