The Silver Dollar, One of Louisville's Great Whisky Bars, Is Closing Its Doors

The Silver Dollar, one of Louisville’s best whiskey bars for years and a cultural institution in the city during the boom years of the modern bourbon renaissance, is closing its doors permanently. The venue has been closed this week, and the owners announced on social media that it will open one last time this coming Saturday, November 15^th, for a final day of service. There will also be a yard sale.

Located at 1762 Frankfort Avenue in the Clifton neighborhood, the venue was built in a historic firehouse named for Albert A. Stoll, a 19^th-century local politician whose name remains on the façade and was often misread by customers as "Alberta Stoll". The building originally served as a firehouse until 2009, when its owners began converting it into a honky-tonk bar and restaurant with a roadhouse feel, dedicated to country music’s “Bakersfield Sound.” It opened in 2011 with many of the original features preserved, including a vintage fire pole, and year-round Christmas lights as an added touch. By 2013, The Silver Dollar had become a major destination in Louisville, and rode the Kentucky bourbon renaissance and the whisky boom nationwide. It was praised in the national media as one of America’s best whisky bars, and boasted what can only be described as an amazing whiskey list, with over 300 bourbons on six pages, and selections that also included many single barrels. The food was also widely praised.

But as the years went by and Louisville’s bar and restaurant culture expanded, The Silver Dollar began encountering competitive problems. Things were made worse by Covid-19, and the slowdown in whisky sales didn’t help either. The place was put on the block in 2023 and was actually shuttered for a time in 2024, though it reopened that August. The forward plan was to enjoy a new beginning and revival under new ownership, but apparently that was not in the cards.