Big Flavor: small batch flight before dinner at Doc Crow's
My wife and I enjoyed dinner before the Blake Shelton concern at Doc Crow’s Southern Smokehouse and Raw Bar in the heart of Whiskey Row in Louisville. It’s a great place to enjoy food with a southern flare. You’ll also find one of the largest bourbon selections. Both make Doc Crow’s a must visit for some big flavor!
Doc Crow’s offers a menu of several pre-set Whiskey flights. I chose the one called It’s A Small Batch. It came with a taste of Four Roses, 1792, Elijah Craig and Peerless - all from their small batches. Two of them were above average pours.
Four Roses was my favorite on this flight. It has a mellow spice with just the right amount of oakiness blended with caramel and toffee for a little sweetness. A close second was the Peerless small batch from the New Riff Distillery. It had really impressive balance of spiciness and sweetness.
The remaining two small batches were just average pour at best. You’ll definitely note the nuttiness in the Elijah Craig., which you’ll find in most Heaven Hill products. You better like peanuts. My least favorite on the flight was the 1792 Small Batch. It’s Barton’s flagship bottle with a bold and spicy flavor. You’ll immediately detect the higher than normal rye content. It was simple of the four, but yet the least impressive.
You’ll find some great eats at Doc Crow’s as well. Everything is made from scratch. The menu offers a large selection of southern favorites with plenty of smoked plates. The raw bar at Doc Crow’s is worth the visit if you’re into fresh seafood. The Oysters Rockefeller were some of the best I’ve tasted. You get four baked oysters on the half shell topped with spinach béchamel, bacon, parmesan, chives and herbsaint.
And when visiting Doc Crow’s, be sure to check out it’s Bourbon Room where you’ll find more than 2,000 bourbon and whiskey varieties - some you didn’t know even existed.
And who’s Doc Crow? He’s Dr. James C. Crow, who paved the way for Kentucky bourbon to be born. HIs technique of using corn and local sweet limestone filtered water, Dr. Crow set the stage for method that created bourbon.
On a side note, I found saw one of my favorite bourbon t-shirts on one of the servers at Doc Crow’s…
The bottom line: when on Whiskey Row you’ll definitely want to give Doc Crow’s a try. It’s located in a building from 1869, and most famously housed the Bonnie Bros. Distillers Warehouse. At one time the building stored barrels and barrels of the Bonnie Bros’ spirits. There’s plenty of history to experience at Doc Crow’s when sipping on your favorite bourbon or enjoying a meal.
