Photos by Dante Wheat
Getting to know Danie Powell, Co-owner of Neat Bourbon Bar + Bottle Shop, In Her Own Words
TW: Tell our readers a little bit about you
DE: I grew up in a small town on the Oregon Coast, where I lived the farm life surrounded by horses, chickens, dogs, sheep, and a variety of other animals. I eventually became a science major at the University of Oregon and went on to earn my Master’s degree in Acupuncture and East Asian Medicine. Before moving to Louisville in 2020, I worked as an acupuncturist for more than a decade aboard cruise ships, as well as owned and operated a private acupuncture clinic in St. Louis that focused on Women’s Health and Fertility. When the cruising industry shut down in 2020, I moved to Louisville to assist my best friend and colleague at her acupuncture clinic. Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, I was wellversed in wine, coffee, and IPA, but bourbon wasn’t part of the culture. I had only just begun dabbling in bourbon in 2019. By 2020, I found myself quickly immersed in the online bourbon community, where I began to realize I was entering a boy’s club.
TW: What are some of your biggest accomplishments?
DE: One of my proudest achievements is being named one of the best 27 bars in the country by USA Today. To put that into perspective, there are over 67,000 bars in the U.S. It’s hard to imagine something that could top that—maybe a movie deal? I never thought I’d create something that would be so thoroughly enjoyed by people for various reasons. Of course, guests love tasting rare and soughtafter bottles, but they also adore the ambiance. We frequently receive requests for photoshoots or Instagram reels of engagements, girls’ night outs, and bourbon trail groups wanting to learn more about Kentucky bourbon’s history and lore. Neat is incredibly photogenic, and I feel proud and amazed that bar design was something I had the ability to create.
TW: Give us a day in the life of Danie.
DE: I spend a lot of time in the garden—probably about six hours a day in the summer. We bought property outside of Louisville, and I’ve been working to make it our dream place. This summer is our first one here, so a lot of time has been spent weeding, harvesting, canning, collecting eggs, and tending to the growth of herbs for the bar. I want everything to tie together: Neat Farms and Neat Bar, with the farm supplying many of our garnishes and cocktail syrup fruits. I also salsa dance frequently with Meraki Dance Company. We have regular practices, lessons, and events. I’m on an all-ladies Bachata dance team, and we’re heading to Denver to perform in October. In the evenings, I usually settle in to watch Netflix with Owen or grill and relax on the back deck. As for work at the bar, I handle behind-the-scenes tasks, like sourcing supplies. I also grow dahlias, so in the summertime, the bar is stocked with beautiful flowers that I’ve grown.
TW: What does the future hold for you?
DE: We’re opening another Neat Bourbon Bar in downtown Bardstown. It will have the same concept and feel, though with older things, it’ll never be exactly the same. The new location is in the old Kentucky Standard Newspaper building, with an entirely Neatified interior. The back half of the 5,000-square-foot Today’s Woman Magazine space is a wedding venue and event hall called Bespoke in Bond. Owen and I are also discussing another bar concept, but I’ll keep that under wraps for now. I’d love to turn the flowers into something more substantial and make the farm a destination for visitors. On a personal note, I miss traveling. In the next five years, I’d love to have everything in place so that we can hit the road and explore more.
TW: What is something people misunderstand about you?
DE: People often think I’m an old pro when it comes to tasting and drinking bourbon. The truth is, I only started in 2019. Although I have a knack for it, I haven’t been in the spirits world for very long. Owen likes to tell a story about tasting me through some of his vintage bourbon early in our relationship. It was my first time tasting anything in a lineup. I didn’t know any lingo or “tasting etiquette.” He just asked me to describe what I could. After I said tasting notes like “horse barn,” “marzipan,” and “fingernail polish remover,” he told me, “You’re a savant!” I attribute it to my love of food, and maybe reading for vocabulary, and sentimentality. My mom always said, “You’re my best eater.” I guess being a good eater translates into being good at tasting things.
TW: What lessons have you learned that you’d like to share with others?
DE: Success doesn’t come easily, and it certainly doesn’t come without hard work. Growing up on a farm taught me patience and persistence. Working on cruise ships taught me about competition and work-life balance. Opening a bar and entering a boy’s club taught me to stay calm under pressure and let my love for bourbon and its history shine through. Many people doubted me when I decided to retire from acupuncture to open a bar, but I knew it wasn’t just going to be “any bar,” and that motivated me to grind it out—doing the research, finding design inspiration, and assembling the talent to make us stand out.
Today’s Woman Takeaway: Meeting Danie feels like stepping into an episode of Cheers—she instantly makes you feel welcomed and at home. With her warmth and genuine hospitality, she creates an atmosphere where it truly feels like everybody knows your name.
The Art of the Bottle- Danie shows off some of her favorite bottles.
1. 1955 Cream of Kentucky
1. 1955 Cream of Kentucky made by Schenely in Frankfort KY at what is now Buffalo Trace Distillery. I love this label and this bottling because it’s just so feminine. Like, I don’t know what the marketing team was thinking at the time but today they would never put a heart on the front of a bottle. I like to think that because it’s so close to the end of World War II, and there was all that sweetheart memorabilia in jewelry that was exchanged between lovers before the men were going off to war, that this was a throwback or some way to pay homage to that sentiment. But the truth of it, is the slogan of Cream of Kentucky was “Heart of the run”. During the distillation process, you’ve got the heads, the hearts and the tails of the liquor before it’s aged in a barrel. So what the slogan means is, they’re giving you the best liquor (usually the heads and tails of the run are redistilled or scrapped). But I prefer my more romantic view. I also think that the glass of the bottle is extraordinarily beautiful. It’s embossed with wheat and corn motifs everywhere. They just don’t make them like that anymore.
2. Green River Pre Prohibition
2.Green River Pre-Prohibition bottling from Owensboro, KY. Green River is a super old brand, that has recently been revitalized at its original distilling grounds. It might be because I was a horse girl growing up, so I love everything horsey, But I love that they kept that horseshoe motif. It’s a very succinct and monochromatic label design. And ironically, if you look at the top of this label, you’ll see that it reads “the whiskey without a headache”. After this brand shuttered its doors during prohibition, they had to change their slogan to “the whiskey without regrets” because they couldn’t make a medical claim on their bottling. A period piece for sure.
