The best food and drink in Kentucky for 2018

Kentucky is known as the Bluegrass State, a name that references the grass found in many of its lush pastures due to the fertile soil. The landscape is diverse, with mountains, hills, and broad river valleys, the world’s longest cave system (Mammoth Cave National Park), and the greatest length of navigable waterways and streams in the U.S. all found within the state. Natural beauty aside, the Kentucky is also home to many culinary attractions (it is the birth place of the old fashioned and home to the hot brown after all). To celebrate all the great food and drink Kentucky has to offer, we’ve rounded up some of its claims to culinary fame as part of our first annual guide to the best food and drink in every state.

The Best Food and Drink in Every State for 2018: Kentucky (Gallery)

Horseracing, moonshine, bourbon distilleries, mint juleps and Kentucky Fried Chicken are all synonymous with the picturesque Southern state, but there’s more to the culinary landscape of Kentucky than one might assume. From The Old Seelbach bar where F. Scott Fitzgerald may have begun writing The Great Gatsby to one of the best cupcake bakeries in the country, there’s certainly more to this state than the Kentucky Derby and fried chicken - not that those aren’t exciting and delicious reasons to visit as well.

Over the course of the past year we’ve honored everything from the state’s best beer and farmers market to its best dive bar, Chinese restaurant (and of course fried chicken) in our comprehensive and wide-ranging lists and rankings, compiled through extensive research and with input from a wide network of site contributors, bloggers, journalists, and chefs. We’ve compiled these into individual slideshows celebrating the best food and drink in every state, and you can find our Kentucky slideshow here.

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• The Most Iconic Dessert From Every State
• The Best Doughnuts in Every State
• The Best Pie in Every State