This Bourbon Nation Gateway City Is Experiencing a Cultural Renaissance

When most people envision Kentucky, they in all probability consider race horses and fancy hats, Mint Juleps and sizzling brown sandwiches, or, after all, bourbon. However how about metropolitan rooftop bars, pickle manufacturing facility inns, queer cafes and canine mayors? That’s all par for the course, together with a bevy of the state’s most well-known whiskey, in Covington, an on-the-rise metropolis in northern Kentucky simply teeming with surprises. 

Nestled on the southern shores of the Ohio River throughout a sequence of historic bridges from Cincinnati, Covington is certainly one of America’s extra underrated cultural crossroads. It’s perched on the intersection of the Midwest and the South and types an city gateway to Kentucky bourbon nation. It’s additionally a mix of previous and new, Cincinnati-style chili and Kentucky-style fried rooster, historic and up to date — the type of metropolis the place modern new eating places and kaleidoscopic galleries are discovered alongside vaunted inns and cabinets of classic bourbons. Coupled with quaint close by communities, lined with pastoral farmland and riverside kitsch, Covington is a singular slice of Americana that must be seen, sipped, tasted and skilled. 

The place to Keep

When in Rome, do because the Romans do. And on this case, we imply keep in a boutique resort that has a full-fledged whiskey distillery on the bottom flooring. It’s referred to as The Pickle Manufacturing unit, and it’s just about precisely because it sounds — a former pickle manufacturing facility that’s been reworked into an enthralling art-filled inn with themed rooms that appear to be one thing Wes Anderson would movie. The intimate abode, which dates to 1873, is positioned down a brick-lined alley and accommodates a handful of lofty rooms on the second and third flooring. Each sports activities a tasteful theme, from candy-colored soda pop to a green-filled pickle suite, with spacious residing quarters, uncovered brick and retro decor. Plus, you’re by no means removed from a drink, due to Wenzel Whiskey being positioned simply downstairs. Named after Henry Wenzel, the entrepreneur who first established the constructing as a soda manufacturing facility, the trendy distillery is a handy cease for connoisseurs trying to sip spirits or partake in a blend-your-own bottle expertise.  

For one thing a tad extra conventional however no much less historic, relaxation your head on 300 thread-count linens on the Resort Covington, a venerable institution exuding stately magnificence and upscale aptitude. Together with a brand new suite-filled enlargement, the North by Resort Covington, the timeworn property — housed in a former division retailer that stood as the town’s first skyscraper —is full of classic artwork and accents, coupled with up to date furnishings, comforts and delicacies. The latter is finest savored at Coppin’s Restaurant + Bar, an stylish house slinging seasonal plates and visionary comforts, like country-fried mushrooms, blueberry salad and fire-roasted succotash with barbecued kohlrabi. 

What to Do

There’s much more to Covington than bourbon. Whereas there’s definitely no scarcity of the stiff stuff, it is a small metropolis with a surprisingly metropolitan vibe and infinite choices for leisure. For some, mentioned leisure consists of perusing loud-and-proud artwork provides and attending drag queen portray events at LGBTQIA-owned CHAD, aka the Inventive Home of Artwork and Design. Owned by artist and instructor Chad Turner, the store is an all-ages house of vibrancy and inclusivity, with occasions and courses that run the gamut from cabaret to Disney-themed household paint night time. Added bonus: there’s a secret bar at the back of the store, together with a picturesque patio, the place friends can sip craft beer and frozen cocktails. 

Harkening to the area’s historical past, the Behringer-Crawford Museum is a lavish homage to all issues northern Kentucky, from its locomotive lore and its performing arts to its nature and structure. Initially opened on the William Behringer Memorial Museum in 1950 in Devou Park, it was outfitted with oddities like taxidermy, a two-headed calf and its marquis attraction, the Kentucky streetcar. Because the museum identify change in 1980, the property has steadily been full of extra artwork and artifacts referring to paleontology, steamboats, frontier life and the Civil Warfare. Rail journey nonetheless performs an integral position right here too, as evidenced by its Rails Gallery modeled after a midcentury railroad depot. 

A unique type of historical past is on decadent show on the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, a prized piece of structure that appears extra like one thing you’d discover in Rome. Constructed within the late-1800s and certainly one of solely 85 minor basilicas of its form in america, the Gothic temple is a marvel to behold and accessible for each self-guided and docent-guided excursions. 

To actually immerse your self within the well-rounded tradition of northern Kentucky, you’d be remiss to not hop within the automobile for a bucolic riverside drive to the singular group of Rabbit Hash. Like nothing you’ve seen earlier than, reminiscent extra of a preserved-in-time township than a modern-day city, this tiny group seems like a real-life Schitt’s Creek, the place the principle enterprise is longstanding normal retailer and the mayor is a literal canine. Actually, roving canines outnumber the folks right here. A preferred vacation spot for picnics by the river, barn dances and scenic motorbike rides, Rabbit Hash additionally accommodates a classic retailer, a barbecue trailer and delightful views of the Ohio River. 

The place to Eat and Drink

Covington is a regional melting pot of eclectic flavors and soulful spirits. Within the morning, rise and shine with a custard-filled Cruffin or a coffee-scented babka bun at North South Baking Firm, an adorably rustic cafe with an ever-changing lineup of seasonal pastries like darkish cherry bostock, peachy frangipane galettes and strawberry-lemon meringue tarts. Or, skew savory — and Center Jap — at Lil’s Kitchen, a former beloved bagel model that moved to a brand new location inside Roebling Level Books & Espresso in Dayton and shifted its vittles to egg salad sandwiches, tahini smoothies, merguez sausage “Hawt Pockets” and Israeli couscous salad. The LGBTQIA-owned enterprise, replete with vibrant decor and artwork, additionally hosts common queer wine tastings and different inclusive occasions. 

Later within the day, Covington’s booming restaurant scene paves the best way for an eclectic patchwork of eating and ingesting locations. These embrace Mama’s on Most important, a marinara-soaked newcomer in hip Mainstrasse Village that pulls inspiration from Italian-American purple sauce joints in Manhattan for dishes like eggplant Parm, spaghetti al limone and rigatoni with vodka sauce. Cocktails and wine are each on level, and the house-made limoncello makes for a puckery digestif. 

Libby’s Southern is the right instance of Covington’s Midwest-meets-South terroir, with a consolation meals menu that handily straddles the regional line. The funky, garage-like eating room is especially revered for its fried rooster, which shares menu turf with different Southern staples like fried inexperienced tomatoes, shrimp and grits, pimento dip and deviled eggs. However don’t miss the goetta hush puppies, a dish that single-handedly honors either side of the state line. The crispy fritters are made with native goetta, a Cincinnati specialty crafted utilizing with floor meat and oats, initially dropped at the area by German immigrants. 

Round right here, historical past doesn’t simply manifest in meals and structure — historical past can be potable. Because the gateway to Kentucky bourbon nation and residential to a bourbon-splashed meals path of its personal, it’s secure to count on an countless stream of brown spirits round city. Drink all of it in at Revival Classic Spirits, a rigorous bottle store that doubles as each a tasting room and a veritable museum of aged elixirs. The small, tchotchke-filled house options cabinets lined with dusty bottles and eccentric ephemera, from classic toy automobiles to poodle-shaped decanters. Overseen by native politician Shannon Smith and bourbon guru Brad Bonds, each of whom inventory their retailer with bottles that pre-date the JFK presidency, it’s a captivating place to peruse and pattern no matter bottle they’re pouring that day. 

In close by Ludlow, Second Sight Spirits is a distillery that takes a whimsical method to liquor. Having labored for Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas, house owners Rick Sofa and Carus Waggoner have a penchant for pageantry, and it reveals of their show of magically themed distillation tools — like a whiskey nonetheless formed like Houdini — and their fortune-telling fish tank. The spirits are simply as magical, like their Oak Eye Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey, Second Sight Smoked Cherry Rum and Second Sight Queen Mab, a hazelnut liqueur that marries properly with espresso. 

Past bourbon, there’s extra ingesting available within the Covington space. This consists of nice craft beer on the circus-themed Bircus Brewery in Ludlow or Braxton Brewery downtown, in addition to swanky Ripple Wine Bar and Second Story Bar, a whimsical upstairs watering gap with an enormous fake tree behind the bar and complex seasonal cocktails.