A great university reflects the best of our state, and the University of Kentucky taught generations of Kentuckians, including me, to appreciate the finest ingredients Kentucky has to offer.
- Ouita Michel
UK’s agricultural research and innovation, ground-breaking health care initiatives, world-class business school and support for the humanities are fertile ground for our Holly Hill restaurants and the inspiration to share Kentucky’s food, literature, history and culture with folks from across the country and around the globe.
A Tradition of Excellence
I practically grew up on campus while my father taught at the UK School of Medicine and my mother studied art and literature.
Later, I found my own voice at the University of Kentucky as a member of the first class of Gaines Fellows and as a debater on Roger Solt’s championship team. Roger Solt was more than my debate coach, he started my journey into building relationships through food and wine. While traveling to debate competitions, Roger would bring the team together at amazing restaurants to celebrate as a team and experience local flavors.
Through these experiences, we became cherished friends, leading to Roger becoming my lifelong business partner when we opened Holly Hill Inn in 2001 and has remained a friend for the past 40 years.
Weisenberger Mill
We benefit directly from UK-led projects like the installation of a small hydroelectric plant to turn the turbines at Weisenberger Mill, which supplies flour, grits and cornmeal to all our restaurants.
As the oldest continuously operating mill in Kentucky, Weisenberger Mill still depends on the waters of the Elkhorn Creek for power, but in a very 21st century way. Electricity turns the turbines now instead of water; the electricity itself comes in part from a small hydroelectric plant first installed in the 1980s. In 2015 a partnership between the University of Kentucky’s Center for Applied Energy Research and the designer of the mill’s original plant engineered an upgrade to a variable-speed generator; its power output nearly doubled as a result.
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