Ashlie Stevens

It often feels like bartenders and chefs at the same restaurant operate in the own worlds. But at Nightbell, drinks are meant to pair with and even season the food.

The traditionally religious state has a historically complicated and antiquated relationship with beer, but now Mississippi's beer industry is pushing for a bill that would allow brewers to sell their products at their own breweries.

I visited the the Ark Encounter—a Christian theme park whose crowning attraction is a 510-foot-long ark that was built based on specifications written in the Old Testament account of Noah—to see if the food on offer was as epic as the ship.

On an island better known for fried seafood and sugary slushie drinks, Lucky Rooster is upping the local cocktail game with its forward-thinking bar program.

Keri Smith, the head bartender at Doc Crow's on Louisville's historic Whiskey Row, says that ordering a mint julep at any time except during the Kentucky Derby will mark you as a tourist.

Entrepreneurs are taking advantage of the skyrocketing interest in craft beer and attempting to insert it into a traditional franchising model.

The Hot Brown is an open-faced turkey sandwich on Texas toast that is covered in a creamy, delicate Mornay sauce. And it's a favorite in Louisville.

A new generation of chefs and home cooks are embracing the principles of maker culture and applying them in the kitchen, going well beyond simple food hacks.

Kimchi and bourbon are both strong personalities—so strong, perhaps, that they should stay far apart. But Joe Banet of Funked and Fermented Kimchi Lab believes the exact opposite, and he's mixing barrel char into one powerfully pungent jar.

Joe Heron of Louisville's Copper & Kings distillery says that “happy brandy makes happy drinking,” and believes that the gentle vibrations of music assist in the aging process for his craft spirits. He draws the line at Katy Perry, though.

What do you do when you expect 1,000 sausage fans but get five times that many? “We ran back to the factory, grabbed everything we possibly could, and brought back enough [sausage] for the festival to go on.” And this year, we're talking 200,000.

Revered chefs around the country are bartending for free and taking classes to learn how to farm, can produce, and even write—all in the name of seeing food from a different angle.