A few months back, Sara Havens - better known as The Bar Belle - wrote a column in which she addressed Mayor Fischer, asking a simple enough request: for the key to the city. As keys to the city go, they don’t actually open the city gates or anything like that, so the associated risk is relatively small. Still, you don’t want to hand them out all willy-nilly and become known as the mayor responsible for “Keygate.” The mayor did what any mayor in that position would do. He made her work for it.
Louisville’s mayor has a strong Twitter presence, so it was no surprise when he reached out to Havens with an early morning challenge tweet: “Earn your key, @TheBarBelle: Craft a column on the top five Old Fashioneds in Louisville. It’s our city’s official cocktail @gotolouisville”. The city of Louisville recently declared the Old Fashioned its official cocktail, though locals have been hip since it was invented at the Pendennis Club in the late 1880s.
Havens set to work, researching the history of the Old Fashioned talking to local experts such as Albert Schmid. She spent hours in bars, taste-testing the bourbon cocktail until finally, she had narrowed her list to the best 5 traditional Old Fashioneds, with a bonus sixth.
For her efforts, the mayor again tweeted at her, this time to tell her “Mission accomplished.” A party was set up at Bourbons Bistro for Oct. 27. “I’m actually surprised you’re giving me the key,” said Havens, “considering how often I jaywalk.” She then used her moment of the mayor’s undivided attention to make a few requests, including syncing the lights on Broadway during rush hour.
Congratulations on your shiny new key to the city, Sara Havens. You’ve earned it!
And now, what do we we have to do to get one?
Photos: Maggie Kimberl, Mayor Fischer and Sara Havens
