BOURBON’S POPULARITY IN RECENT YEARS HAS GIVEN RISE to a new culture of reverence. Once just whiskey, cheap and good, now it’s often expensive and great, with many bourbons exalted and a few essentially deified. You can also find houses of worship, where admirers of the corn gather and reverently taste. ¶ Bars that lean heavily into whiskey in general and bourbon in particular continue to sprout up across the South, welcoming both neophytes and those with deep experience in the whiskey divine to compare notes. And maybe make a new friend. As people used to do at bars. Here’s a guide to nine that have opened since 2020, along with three timeless spots for devotees.
WATCH HILL PROPER
Prospect, KY
Walk into Watch Hill Proper, just outside Louisville, and you’ll feel like you’ve stepped into some long-forgotten social club. This is both surprising and not.
