-I'm in a destination that is built on history and legacy, a place where a relationship of land, water and know-how created something totally unique.

It's where the spirit of devotion runs deep in fascinating ways and where relationships are nurtured between art and nature in forms both small and giant.

And speaking of giants, well, it's home to the greatest.

[ Boxing bell dings, cork pops ] It's where the people are determined and the tradition is strong.

120 proof!

-Yeah.

-I'm in Louisville and Bourbon Country, Kentucky.

Cheers.

[ Upbeat tune plays ] I'm Samantha Brown and I've traveled all over this world.

And I'm always looking to find the destinations, the experiences, and, most importantly, the people who make us feel like we're really a part of a place.

That's why I have a love of travel and why these are my places to love.

Samantha Brown's "Places to Love" is made possible by... [ Bird chirping ] -The rhythm of the waves.

The calming sounds of nature.

On the Southwest Florida coast, there are wide-open beaches and hundreds of islands.

Sometimes doing nothing can mean everything.

♪ Learn more at fortmyers-sanibel.com.

♪ ♪ -We believe watching the world go by isn't enough.

That's why we climb... ♪ ...pedal... ♪ ...and journey beyond the beaten path, on storied rivers, with a goal to ensure that every mile traveled turns into another memory.

You can find out more at amawaterways.com.

♪ -All the untamed beauty of the Canadian Rocky Mountains and the American Southwest, experienced on a journey by rail.

Rocky Mountaineer, proud sponsor of "Places to Love."

-The world is full of breathtaking destinations and experiences.

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Wherever you want to go, AAA has services to help you before, during, and after your trip.

Learn more at AAA.com/LiveTV.

-This is unbelievably my first trip to Kentucky, and I'm starting my time here understanding one of their greatest contributions to the country, bourbon.

I'm learning how this uniquely American spirit came to be from one of the most sought-after guides of the Buffalo Trace Distillery and an inductee into the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame.

-I'm Freddie Johnson -- third generation employee at this distillery.

I love talking about bourbon.

I love telling the story about how all the pieces fit.

This territory that we're standing in was part of Virginia.

Hadn't been developed.

I get the Scottish and the Irish to come out here.

They're making rye and barley whiskeys like they did in the mother country.

-Okay.

-They start mixing these whiskeys together, and they produce this new sweet-tasting whiskey that doesn't have a name, Samantha.

So it becomes referenced as Bourbon County whiskey.

This water, it's the key to the whole thing.

We're actually standing on top of a giant limestone aquifer.

And when the water passes through this white marble limestone, it filters out the iron and it produces an exceptionally sweet taste.

So the pH factor of the water in this area is entirely different than anywhere else in the country.

And when you put your unique yeast strain in there with it in the making of the mash, it creates a special taste profile to your product.

-So we're literally standing where this distillery began, where the earliest settlers came.

They made that bourbon.

They made whiskey that turned into bourbon.

-Yes.

-And it hasn't changed for 200 years.

Buffalo Trace sits on over 400 acres of land and is home to four centuries of architecture, all still up and running.

This rickhouse, built in 1884, is aging 24,000 barrels, and the barrel aging process is where the story of bourbon turns into a romance.

And how old is this rickhouse?

I feel like it's like 100 years old.

-It's far more than that.

Some of the timbers we're standing on go back to 1797.

It was rebuilt in the early 1800s.

-Wow.

-These thick walls will age bourbon entirely different than a wooden warehouse or one that's made out of metal, and the sun -- all of those are components.

That breeze, the air is constantly moving in and around these barrels, and it enhances the aging profile.

-What else is happening in this rickhouse?

I mean, it's a very -- like you said, it's almost primitive.

It's just brick, mortar, wood.

Obviously, we live in an age where we could make more high-tech storage facilities -- -Oh.

-Oh.

[ Chuckles ] -Oh.

-No.

-No, no, no, no, no.

No, no, Samantha.

You don't want to mess with mother nature or father time.

-Okay.

-Depending upon which side of the building the barrel sits on and which level it sits on...

So, on the lower levels, the barometric pressure moves the whiskey in and out of the wood, like the weather changes.

The upper level, so as I come up in the warehouse, it's more of an influence of the temperature fluctuations.

Most people have the image of a bunch of old whiskey guys.

They always had guns and dogs and funny-looking hats on their head.

It was the wrong image.

They were structural engineers.

They were chemists.

They were biochemists.

They were arborist.

They understood the rotation of the Earth, the densities of different types of materials.

And that's the start of bourbon as we know it today in Kentucky.

-Fortunes were made with the distillation of bourbon and one man, Isaac Wolfe Bernheim, loved this area so much that when he struck it rich by developing the famous I.W.

Harper bourbon, he donated 16,000 acres of land to the people of Kentucky.

The forest that bourbon built is now named after him, and it's home to one of the most unusual outdoor art galleries anywhere.

-My name is Jenny Zeller.

I'm the arts and nature curator at Bernheim.

I'm also a visual artist and was awarded an artist in residence at Bernheim in 2017.

-And what I find so fascinating about this forest is not only did Mr. Bernheim understand in 1929 the connection that people would have to nature, but also the more unique connection to art.

-You know, art engages people in ways that are different than science and education.

So it really allows us to have this, like, holistic approach to fulfilling our mission of connecting people with nature.

♪ -I tell you, I've seen these in pictures, and nothing -- nothing quite like seeing them in real life.

-It's true.

-In their natural element.

-Absolutely.

Absolutely.

-In their home.

This is Little Nis.

-Little Nis.

Yes.

-He's not so little.

-No.

But he is the smallest of the three giants.

-Wow.

-It's a mama.

Mama Loumari and her two children, Little Nis and Little Elina.

And Little Nis has ventured away from -- from mama and Little Elina and became mesmerized by his reflection in this pond.

-The sculptures are by the internationally renowned recycling artist Thomas Dambo from Denmark.

He mainly used items from Kentucky to make his giants.

-So, Little Nis has been made with some pallets from a local pallet company that was just going to be thrown away.

Mama Loumari is actually made with bourbon barrel staves.

So it really speaks to our region.

-I always think that, you know, as a child, you always thought that something like this did live in a forest and you would go on long walks wondering what you were going to find.

And this idea that the forest does have these magical creatures is something we can all tap into, even as adults, right, that there is magic in these woods.

Another way Bernheim connecting people to nature is with its newest installation that was just receiving its final touches -- Spirit Nest.

This is just phenomenal.

Have you always worked at this scale?

How did you start building your nest to get to this?

-I'm originally from Omaha, Nebraska, and my mom used to take me to the Platte River, and I used to always be pulling home -- You see these little pieces of driftwood over here?

I used to start gathering the driftwood and I brought it into my bedroom when I was a kid and I sculpted my first nest in the corner.

And then over time, I started to really approach it as an art form.

-It just inspires absolute awe in people.

And I think part of it is because we all love nests.

We all understand what they mean.

-It's something so deeply rooted in our subconscious.

Just the place to -- to, you know, gather in and a place to be, and it's a place of kind of protection and nurturing life.

And you can have storytellers here.

Workshops, concerts, all sorts of activities can take place here.

-This is also a collaboratively built project with volunteers here.

And so we actually went to the Falls of the Ohio and had a week's worth of collecting driftwood.

-And you can climb up inside.

I feel like that's such a smart use of sculpture because there's such an emotion, especially after the year we've all been through.

-Right.

I knew this work would go far beyond the visual component.

You know, artists think and see the world differently than other people.

Not only what they choose to focus on, but through their creative practice as well.

-Being back here in this room, I'm not seeing any huge mechanical machine doing anything here.

I see a lot of people working.

Is everything done here by hand?

-Well, we consider ourselves an art factory.

-Mm-hmm.

-And we produce literally hundreds of pieces a day, but we're the only people left that we know of in America on a scale that are making plates by hand and making our mugs by hand, applying handles.

We still celebrate the same traditions that this company's been doing for 200-plus years.

-Take, for example, the creation of a simple, basic plate.

Tommy's been doing this from scratch for almost 30 years -- first building the foundation, then adding the structure.

-How many plates a day can you make, Tommy?

A couple hundred?

-Yeah, at least 200.

-200 a day.

-200 plates a day!

And how do you know when it's done?

When do you pull the lever up and say, "Okay, the foot's perfect"?

How do you know?

-By experience.

-Stoneware & Co. was founded in 1815 and is one of the last great American pottery companies.

Stephen Smith is making sure its third century is as resilient as its stoneware by creating a destination where shopping is encouraged, history is shared, and there's an understanding of the artists and their craftsmanship.

Master mold maker Ngoc Phan has been here for 40 years.

What is the material you're carving into?

-Plaster.

-Plaster.

-Yeah.

-Okay.

So you're carving the -- -Everything.

Everything.

Horses.

Jockeys.

-And the level of detail.

I see the horse's reins.

-Yes.

-And then the jockey in the crouched pose, and they are clearly galloping.

That is unbelievable.

And you're just doing that freehand.

-Yeah.

-Once the carving is completed on the plaster production mold, the rubber master mold is created, and that's what produces these elaborate stoneware products.

You came here to the country -- to this country when?

-After the fall of Saigon, 1975.

-Mm-hmm.

So you actually got to get on a plane... -Yeah.

-...in plenty of time.

-Yeah.

-Just to yourself or your family?

-Just me.

-Just you.

How old were you?

-I was 23 years old.

-23.

-Yeah.

So I come to Kentucky.

And I met my wife here and married her and had family.

[ Chuckles ] That's it.

All my life story.

-[ Chuckles ] -I stay here since then.

-We love that life story.

That's the one that makes us all really happy.

-That's the other thing about this place is there's generations, 200 years of knowledge that's been passed down to generation after generation.

And if the place ever closes, it just all, you know, just disappears overnight and the whole story is gone and the whole tradition's gone.

So I always call this a great American treasure.

♪ -I first got into horse racing because I like drinking and gambling, and that hasn't changed.

And I thought at the end of the day, these horses deserved a much better fate than they might have gotten otherwise.

I'm Michael Blowen, and I'm the founder of Old Friends Thoroughbred Retirement here in beautiful Georgetown, Kentucky.

I'm a former movie critic for The Boston Globe, and we came down here to Kentucky on a whim and it turned into a dream come true.

We retire great thoroughbreds are not so great thoroughbreds, but all thoroughbreds are welcome here.

They're the athletes of the sport.

They're the stars of the sport.

They work hard all their lives, and at the end of the day, they deserve a dignified retirement.

And I think that's what we provide here.

This is Silver Charm.

He's my favorite horse of all times.

Won the 1997 Kentucky Derby, won the Preakness, lost the Belmont by two feet to a horse we have over there.

Their neighbors now.

-Okay.

-I saw him win the Kentucky Derby, and he won it with such style and such determination that I just fell in love with him and I never thought in a million years that he would end up in my yard.

-So how many horses do you have here?

-At this farm, we have one 136.

-Do you know everything about every horse?

-No, but I know a lot about them.

-Okay.

-I can't remember my name half the time, but I can remember a lot of these horses' accomplishments.

-Most of these horses are here because their owners wanted a safe and comfortable environment for their animals' senior years, and nobody rides them.

Now, Old Friends makes most of its living as a tourist destination, where racing fans can see their favorite racehorse rock stars up close.

Take, for example, the oldest resident on the property, Alphabet Soup.

In human years, he's 98.

-In 1996, he shocked the world when he won the Breeders' Cup Classic and beat Cigar, who at the time, Cigar was considered unbeatable.

He was two-time Horse of the Year, and you beat them all, didn't you, buddy?

-Whoa!

-And this is his pal, Gorgeous George.

-[ Gasps ] Wait!

Who are you?

-I get the George.

I'm not sure about the Gorgeous part.

It's a real pleasure being able to hang around with them every day, and they teach you something.

They teach you what they want and what they don't want, what they like, what they don't like.

And once you develop that relationship with them and they know that you're going to be the butler and you're not going to be the boss because they've been bossed around their entire lives, the whole relationship changes.

-So you were a movie critic for The Boston Globe.

If you were critiquing this movie that is your life, what would your review be?

-I probably would have liked it very much because I thought it would be too sappy.

♪ I would.

I would.

Because it's so unbelievable to me.

If it wasn't true, I wouldn't have believed it.

But it's really happening, and that's the strangest thing of all.

-"Old Friends" -- it's a silly romance between an old guy and 126 horses.

[ Laughs ] -That's right.

That's right.

♪ -Spend any time at all in Louisville, and it's obvious you're in a sports town, and it happens to be the hometown of another legendary champion.

-I'm gonna show you how great I am.

I'm so mean I make medicine sick.

That's right!

-Muhammad Ali was born and raised here as Cassius Clay, and a man with a legacy that big needs a building this big to contain it.

I'm at the Muhammad Ali Center -- an expansive, interactive celebration of his larger-than-life career both in and out of the ring.

-The Champ had an uncanny ability to attract people and to make friends all over the world.

So we emphasize humanitarian endeavors, and we also emphasize the importance of being your best self.

-I'm Laura Douglas, interim president and CEO here at the Muhammad Ali Center.

-Could the Ali Center be anywhere else other than Louisville, Kentucky?

-Absolutely not.

This is the place where it's supposed to be.

This is the Champ's home.

When the center was built, of course, the Champ was still alive, and he was very much involved in developing the mission of the center and developing a notion about how we could project ourselves to the world.

-The center doesn't shy away from some of the more controversial aspects of Ali's life.

-Yes, and I think it was those challenging times that offer up something very exciting, especially to the young visitors here at the center, because to see someone with that amount of courage, it encourages people.

[ Boxing bell dings ] -Now, I did say the Ali Center was interactive.

No more so than getting a quick lesson from the Champ's daughter, Laila Ali, who's literally following in her dad's footsteps.

-Okay, try it with me.

Jab right hand, hook.

One, two, three.

Ooh, that hurts.

Try it again.

One, two, three.

-And you can test your skills in a 21st century version of shadowboxing.

[ Cheering, bell dinging ] He was such a humanitarian, and that really started here in Louisville.

Walking around the center and coming into the counter where he says, "I was the champ and I couldn't even sit down at this counter and order a hamburger."

Having one foot in the American dream and the other part, not so much.

-Mm-hmm.

-And we're not too far different right now in terms of the tumultuousness that is in our nation and the world.

So it definitely begs the question, "Oh, my goodness, what would Muhammad Ali say during these times and don't we -- don't we need him right now?"

-When there are injustices to overcome, it's necessary to reach down inside yourself and to pull that courage out, which is certainly what -- what he did.

Then he acted on that.

-The Muhammad Ali Center is more than just a look back at an incredible life.

It asks that we recognize the same courage in ourselves for our future.

♪ I've been surrounded by bourbon on this trip, but I still haven't tried any.

So I've headed outside of Louisville to the bourbon capital of the world, Bardstown.

Jamar, I'm smelling what I'm -- what I think I'm smelling in the air right now?

-You absolutely are.

That's bourbon.

-That's it.

That is the cooker, and that is going into a fermenter that's sitting, and that's what you're smelling is the actual cooker going right now.

So think of it like bread.

-Uh-huh.

Jamar Mack is on a mission to shed a little more light on the spirit that is entrenched in history and deep in myth.

And so he's bringing me to what he considers to be the future of the Kentucky bourbon experience -- Bardstown Bourbon Company.

It's moving things forward with immersive distilling experiences and a full-service restaurant -- the only one of its kind on this bourbon trail, but it still knows that it all comes down to one thing.

-So, you know bourbon.

You start with what grows well locally.

-Okay, -So in Kentucky, that's corn.

-Corn.

-So corn is always the foundation, and heart of bourbon -- has to be majority corn.

From there, you have a fork in the road.

You either pick smooth, sweet wheat or spicy, dry rye.

-Whoa.

-And that's your flavoring or your secondary grain.

-Okay.

-So always majority corn, then your wheat or rye, and then always a little bit of barley.

[ Pounding ] -I imagine that's just a sound that's iconic in this state, right?

I mean, this is the, you know -- -Of course.

-You've got the state bird, you've got the state tree, and then you've got the state sound and it's that.

-It's that.

That's how you know someone's getting in your barrel.

-[ Laughs ] -Yes, exactly.

-Okay, so these are cask-strength bourbon, which means we are not adding water.

We're coming straight out of the barrel, which means we're going to be at 60% alcohol, 120 proof.

-Okay, I -- 120 proof?!

-Yeah.

-I'm wearing wedge heels, Dan.

I should've worn flats.

The first barrel sample is where wheat plays a secondary role.

-So the first taste is going to kind of, like, coat your mouth and gonna give you that little burst of flavor.

-That's wonderful.

-Right?

-Yeah.

-So it's a soft, smooth lift off and that's how you know you've got a wheated bourbon.

-Nice.

Next, we sample a bourbon with the primary corn grain being combined with rye as the secondary one.

-So, this is where you're going to get that stick, grit, sizzle, spice, dryness, almost like Pop Rocks on the back of your palate.

-That heat.

Oh, my gosh.

-That heat kind of -- Yeah.

-Wow.

It's like someone started a fire in my mouth.

Just instantaneous.

-Tons of spice.

-So much more back end.

-Well, I haven't fallen over yet, so now we're trying a true rye.

-When I want to make a cocktail, I traditionally go with a more traditional rye because you're going to get more spice and complexity.

So when you're adding bitters and mixers and things like that, you're gonna get more flavor out of it.

-Cold winter night.

-[ Laughs ] Exactly.

-You're feeling a little under the weather.

-Yeah.

-You have one of these and all is -- all is good in the world.

-Great.

-Cheers.

-Thank you.

♪ -Back in Louisville, Jamar wanted to take me to one of his favorite places to enjoy the drink he loves.

Bourbons Bistro is a local favorite for cocktails, food, and an extensive bourbon selection.

And what's more Louisville than a fire fed by discarded Louisville sluggers?

That's crazy!

Oh, my g-- Whoo-hoo-hoo!

Alright, I think we did it.

You know, I always felt with bourbon that bourbon is that television series that everyone's on season two love and I haven't even started episode one.

Do you feel like that's the attitude in Louisville?

Or are you like, "You don't know bourbon?"

-Absolutely not.

And a place Bourbon Bistro, you come in with that, say, "Hey, I'm new to town.

I don't drink bourbon.

What would you recommend?"

And they're basically gonna say, "How big is your wallet?"

-[ Laughs ] -That's what it'll come down to.

So when people do come to Kentucky, I think what's really important and what people need to remember is the legacy and the history that is here.

And bourbon is really the focal point of that in Kentucky.

-They're fourth and fifth and sixth and ninth generation Kentuckians.

And as an outsider, I have a much different perspective than a lot of other people.

It's a great place to live, and I can say that because I'm not from here.

-We attract people that don't necessarily visit museums or art galleries.

So it's a great place to experience art, and it's very accessible for everyone.

-I tell people all the time, as you travel about Kentucky, it's not about just one side.

Take a look at the relationship of the horse industry, to the bourbon industry, to the tourism industry, and you will find this wonderful mix that helps you to appreciate the true beauty of Kentucky.

-When over 200 years of strong, determined work has a taste... Ooh.

...when you can hold that strength in your hands, when compelling spaces allow you to understand what it's like to be big and small... that is when we share a love of travel.

And that's why Louisville and Bourbon Country, Kentucky, are places to love.

-For more information about this and other episodes, destination guides, or links to follow me on social media, log on to placestolove.com.

Samantha Brown's "Places to Love" was made possible by... [ Bird chirping ] -The rhythm of the waves.

The calming sounds of nature.

On the Southwest Florida coast, there are wide-open beaches and hundreds of islands.

Sometimes doing nothing can mean everything.

♪ Learn more at fortmyers-sanibel.com.

♪ ♪ -We believe watching the world go by isn't enough.

That's why we climb... ♪ ...pedal... ♪ ...and journey beyond the beaten path, on storied rivers, with a goal to ensure that every mile traveled turns into another memory.

You can find out more at amawaterways.com.

♪ -All the untamed beauty of the Canadian Rocky Mountains and the American Southwest, experienced on a journey by rail.

Rocky Mountaineer, proud sponsor of "Places to Love."

-The world is full of breathtaking destinations and experiences.

AAA wants to help turn vacation dreams into reality.

Wherever you want to go, AAA has services to help you before, during, and after your trip.

Learn more at AAA.com/LiveTV.

♪ ♪ -Tickle!

Tickle!

Tickle!

Tickle!

Tickle!

Tickle!

♪