Taste of Bowling Green

This is kind of a follow up on a story we ran in the April issue of SOKY Happenings (pg 31) about an annual event that is very popular. “The Taste of Bowling Green” or as it’s simply referred to, “the Taste.” (www.tasteofbowlinggreen.com)

This is an annual event hosted by the South Central Chapter of the Kentucky Restaurant Association (www.kyra.org). The event was well attended and at $35 per ticket, the Dream Factory of Bowling Green likely raised a lot of money. Reportedly, they sold 700 tickets last year and raised about $15,000 to grant dreams to local children.

The Dream Factory according to their website:

The Dream Factory operates using a network of volunteers who raise funds in their communities to grant dreams to local children. We receive no government funding but rely on the generosity of members of our communities. Donors are assured that their funds remain in their communities and volunteers can see the direct results of their efforts by serving local children. (www.dreamfactorybg.org)

I feel we are very fortunate to have such a wonderful organization in our area, especially after reading; “Unfortunately, we have no means to grant dreams where we have no chapters.” on their website. You can also read about them on page 31 of SOKY Happenings April 2008.

The Taste is a huge collection of restaurants, liquor stores, beverage vendors and food suppliers who set up small booths in a trade show fashion. Most of these displays offer samples of the companies featured goods. From Makers Mark Bourbon to Cosmos Tomato Cheesecake there are a variety of flavors represented.

There is a competitive spirit among the vendors to make a great presentation. I’m not sure what the criteria is exactly, but organizers arrange a kind of contest among the participating companies and award a best in show and honorable mention platter to the best booth. WhaBah Steel Horse Saloon (www.whabah.com) captured the top prize (for the second time in a row) and Bowling Green Technical College (www.bowlinggreen.kctcs.edu) was honorably mentioned.

Carrie and I enjoyed samples from many of the booths but there were two that really caught our attention.

Four Roses Distillery (www.fourroses.us) offered sample of two of their bourbons. The Four Roses Single Batch and the Four Roses Small Batch. I tried both straight up and have to say they both were quite pleasant. I’m not a bourbon drinker, but these were very rich and smooth. Of the two, I preferred the Single Batch.

Kenny’s Farmhouse Cheese was another stand out of the night. Not only did they offer some great  samples, but we learned that they are right here in South Central KY. We had the pleasure of meeting Mr. (Kenny) & Mrs. Mattingly and they explained that they have been dairy farmers in Barren County KY for many years and Cheese producers since 1998.

The cheese: I have to say that I have never tried a more unique and tasteful cheese as I did that night. They offered several of their handmade cheeses, but I could not stop eating the horseradish cheddar. According to their website (www.kennyscountrycheese.com), they produced 34,000 pounds of cheese in varieties that include Cheddar, Colby, Jack, Asiago, Swiss and Havarti, as well as some outstanding blue cheeses last year.  Also according to the website; “Two extra touches that he believes make his cheese more special for his customers are coagulating the cheese with vegetable-based rennet, to make it more acceptable to vegetarians and hand cutting/packaging each block or round of cheese.”

Oh, and then there is the band! That’s right folks, a great night of food and drink is not complete without a great band and the Taste did not disappoint. The popular group, “Skip Bond and the Fugitives” were the band for the evening and they did a great job. Admittedly, I am partial to this group because the drummer (Jim DeCesare) is a good friend; the trombone playing singer (Dave Gottfried) is the Father-in-Law of my son (does that make him like a brother-in-law? Not sure); and this band was featured in the April 2008 issue of SOKY Happenings.

It was a very enjoyable evening all around. We saw many friends, tried some great food and spirits, and came away thankful to live in such a great community. We are looking forward to next year’s event and plan to publicize it more completely in ’09.

A big shout out to Vicki Weaver who helped us get the article and information together for the magazine. She is a hard working nurse and is also the President of the Dream Factory of Bowling Green. THANKS VICKI!!!

More pictures http://sokyhappenings.com/gallery/2008_04_10TasteofBG4web/