Supposedly, it takes 15 to 20 years of hard work to become an overnight success. Augusta’s rush to trendiness began 223 years ago. The hometown of George Clooney and the site of a recent episode of David Letterman’s My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, Augusta, situated on the Ohio River 35 miles upstream from Cincinnati, is quickly becoming Kentucky’s place to be.
Central to the boom is the reopening of The Beehive Augusta Tavern in a building that dates back to the establishment of Bracken County in the late 18th century. The county was named for the explorer William Bracken, a contemporary of Simon Kenton and Daniel Boone. The town and the building survived an 1862 Confederate Army raid and the 1937 Ohio River flood of all floods—“The Great Flood.”
The grand reopening packed the town of fewer than 1,200 with visitors from far and wide to see the results of a renovation that began in 2017. Lalani Bates, the self-professed Queen Bee, and her husband, Lance, renovated the space, keeping as much of the original interior and structure as possible. Their hope is that The Beehive’s future will be as rich as its storied past. They believe they’ve created a destination.
The Augusta Irish Tavern, which sells more of Clooney’s Casamigos Tequila than anyplace else, sits a couple doors up Main Street. Around the block is the Parkview Inn. To the north on Riverside Drive is the Rosemary Clooney House. The return of The Beehive is vitally important to the latest Augusta revival, but it’s just the beginning. Lalani has filed paperwork to begin construction on the Augusta Distillery, which should break ground this year.
“We’re still riding the wave of the newness,” Lalani said. “Our Saturday nights have been crazy, which is wonderful. We’re working on our lunch business and running lots of specials and building partnerships with other local business,” such as Baker-Bird Winery. “An example: Anyone who comes in and eats at The Beehive can take their receipt and get a free tour at the winery.”
With businesses working together, Augusta is hoping that a rising tide—not of the flood variety—will lift all boats, so to speak. And the Bateses are taking no chances. In addition to manager Rob McCregor, who is working with local suppliers, they recruited a pair of classically trained chefs—Cat Wolf, the customer experience manager, and Executive Chef Devon Rosenblatt, who was recognized as one of the Bluegrass Region’s “15 Signature Chefs” at the 2018 March of Dimes Signature Chefs Auction before joining the northern Kentucky team.
Entrees include everything from the award-winning Beehive Burger to a 10-ounce American Wagyu Ribeye. There’s Amish Chicken, Sweet Mustard Salmon and Gooseberry Glazed Pork. “The pork is from Diamond B Farms, and the [gooseberry] chutney is from Turtleback Ridge—neither more than 15 minutes from the restaurant,” Rosenblatt said on KET’s Tim Farmer’s Country Kitchen cooking show.
The Beehive is already a member of Kentucky Proud, and according to Lalani, in addition to Baker-Bird, Diamond B and Turtleback Ridge, the restaurant has vendor relationships with Sunflower Sundries, Bush Farms Grass Fed Beef and Whispering Breeze Farm, which are all located in either Bracken County or adjacent Mason County. Wildfire Equestrian Farm operates carriage rides that can be arranged through the restaurant.
“That’s part of our goal—to showcase the offerings of the region,” Rosenblatt said.
It’s a comfortable pun to say that The Beehive is creating a buzz in Augusta, especially you consider the origin of its name. In 1985, when Cuban native and renowned opera singer Luciano “Sean” Moral bought the building, he named the restaurant after a large beehive he found in the basement.
Tim Farmer wasted little time bringing his popular cooking show to town. “They offer great food in a great atmosphere, and the bar was exceptional,” said Farmer, who grew up in Maysville, 20 miles upstream. “It’s worthy of a day trip, especially when you take in the Baker-Bird Winery and the ferry.”
The well-stocked bar features 32 bourbon brands and an assortment of Kentucky-brewed beers, including several from Country Boy Brewing in Georgetown, West Sixth Brewing in Lexington and Louisville’s Great Flood Brewing Company. Mixologist John Arriaga creates a variety of cocktails, such as the Cucumber Cosmo, the Citrus & Spice Kentucky Mule Bourbon and the Blood Orange Paloma, which brings us back to George Clooney’s Casamigos Tequila.
George’s father, Nick Clooney, who lives within walking distance of The Beehive, was recently featured on the Where Are They Now? series on WCPO-TV in Cincinnati. The interview with the longtime television icon was filmed in the restaurant, and the family patriarch and his wife, Nina, ate dinner at The Beehive three times the first week it reopened. “I’ve never had the same thing twice, and everything I’ve had was first-rate,” Nick said. “Our little town is so fortunate to have something this great. And it’s great.”
The history of The Beehive Augusta Tavern mirrors that of Augusta. The building was constructed in 1796 on land granted to Capt. Phillip Buckner, a veteran of the Revolutionary War. Over the decades, it has been a private residence, a general store and a pharmacy. It also was the office for the still-operating ferry to Boudes Landing (Ohio), which you can see from The Beehive’s windows or second-floor balcony. During the 1862 Battle of Augusta, townspeople fought hand-to-hand and house-to-house to keep Confederate troops from crossing the river. Many buildings, including the one now housing The Beehive, were set on fire.
After the Great Flood of 1937, Augusta’s rowhouses fell into disrepair and deteriorated for decades. In the early 1970s, visionary Augustans launched a Riverside Drive renaissance, saving the rowhouses from demolition and earning the area’s listing on the National Register of Historic Places.