Experience the heart and soul of Kentucky's Best Brands
The Challenge:
We wanted to find a way to tell some of the great stories we’ve heard from businesses and establishments that have made their mark in Kentucky over the years. After realizing the sense of pride that resonates with residents of the Commonwealth, we sought to create a platform and chronicle some of these great places born and bred right here in The Bluegrass State.
The Results:
We came up with the idea to produce a series of short documentaries highlighting some of Kentucky’s most beloved businesses called RoadTrip KY. In the ongoing series, we travel around the state to visit some of these historic establishments to learn their stories and experience them first-hand. Through this project, we aim to encourage both locals and tourists alike to learn more about some of the great history these Kentucky businesses have, and hopefully create some new customers along the way.
EPISODE ONE // STARNES BARBECUE
Starnes Barbecue means a lot of things to a lot of people in the town of Paducah. Starnes is a truly unique brand, because their business model revolves not around the growth of the business, but the strength of the human connection that makes their brand strong! The value of the Starnes name is not in the quality of a logo or the price of the food. It’s about the stories and the memories in which Starnes Barbecue is ingrained. Do you have a Starnes memory?
EPISODE TWO // HEINE BROS. COFFEE
Heine Brothers is a continually growing brand in Louisville. Not only are they renowned for the quality of their organic and fair trade coffee, but they are known as a generous member of their community as well. Heine Brothers contribute to helpful programs for coffee farmers and help raise money for the Forecastle Foundation, an organization dedicated to protecting biologically-rich hot spots across the globe.
EPISODE THREE // CHANEY’S DAIRY BARN
Chaney’s Farm has a history with Bowling Green that dates all the way back to 1888, when Carl Chaney’s great-grandfather first set to sow. Now Carl and his wife Debra operate Chaney’s Dairy Barn, a restaurant and ice cream shop serving up homemade Kentucky Proud Ice Cream. Theirs is a story of resilience amidst financial uncertainty in an ever-changing industry, and a great example of how businesses sometimes have to adapt to stay afloat. Now, travelers from all around the region flock to grab a scoop of the famous ice cream and hopefully catch a glimpse of local celebrity Miss Glimmer.
EPISODE FOUR // WOODFORD RESERVE
Kentucky typically has two claims to fame that resonate with non-Kentuckians: thoroughbreds and brown water (aka: bourbon). While the horses take front and center on the great Kentucky stage the first Saturday every May, it’s the bourbon that serves as not just the biggest export for the Commonwealth, but also the biggest tourist attraction the other 364 days of the year.
As the bourbon boom seems to match, and surpass, its height in popularity year after year, its newfound successes have hardly begun to be satiated.
EPISODE FIVE // ALE 8-ONE
The overarching goal of the RoadTrip KY project is to, ultimately, tell some of the great stories of successful, meaningful, and impactful businesses throughout the history of our state. The beauty, and also the tragedy, of this effort is those stories aren’t too difficult to find. The problem is, we can’t tell them ALL.
But when it comes to brands born in the Commonwealth, there is one story that HAS to be told. It’s that of one of Kentucky’s oldest and boldest brands: Ale-8-One.
