Kentucky Bourbon Festival: Complete Guide (2023 Updated)
Last Updated on December 29, 2022 by Lydia Martin
A hearty welcome to all the fans and supporters of Kentucky’s Edge! We are thrilled to have you check out our site and our shared love for distilled spirits, including the great bourbon. We are a cool team of bartenders and enthusiasts committed to providing you with everything there is about your favorite liquors.
Kentucky’s Edge is a quintessential event in Northern Kentucky that features the all-time bourbon paired with all things Kentucky, of course. Among the several activities available during this 2-day celebration, participants can enjoy a notable conference featuring bourbon experts, VIP upgrades, and even free events. Other exciting experiences include the Taste and Pair and distillery day tours.
We’re just going to go ahead and say it: the whole state of Kentucky loves their bourbon. In fact, they love this American whiskey so much that they’ve dedicated a whole week to commemorate it!
Our team spent some time out in the field to tell you everything you need to know about the bourbon-fueled festivities down south, the Kentucky Bourbon Festival.
What Exactly is the Kentucky Bourbon Festival?
Held in Bardstown, Kentucky, the Kentucky Bourbon Festival is an annual week-long activity dedicated to celebrating the history and art of bourbon whiskey. This festival has more than 30 events, including a vintage and rare bourbon auction, an expanded tasting experience with heritage and craft bourbon brands, and a bourbon barrel rolling race!
Presently, the Kentucky Bourbon Festival is one of the state’s largest celebrations. The event attracts more than 50,000 people, with some coming from the UK and Japan. The celebratory bourbon festival is almost always a sold-out event.
Furthermore, Bardstown’s strong association with bourbon became the basis for the festival’s location. Dubbed as the Bourbon Capital of the World, Bardstown has been distilling the famed American whiskey since 1776. According to the Kentucky Distillers Association, the state produces 95 percent of the world’s bourbon supply today.
About the Festival
The Kentucky Bourbon Festival first started in 1991 and was a simple dinner and bourbon tasting event with 250 people in attendance. The quaint little town of Bardstown became the backdrop of the event. It celebrated the storied history and art of distilling America’s native spirit.
When pioneers first started settling into the lands of Bardstown, Kentucky, some 200 years ago, they discovered that the land achieved the perfect medium for distilling bourbon: it had the ideal climate to age barrels, as well as the fertile soil to grow and harvest corn. The natural flowing water in the town had a high proportion of minerals, including magnesium and calcium, which are optimal for distilling.
The rest, as you can say, is history. [1]
Kentucky Bourbon Festival Info
Schedule
If you want to get in the best bourbon event in the entire country, the 31st annual Kentucky Bourbon Festival will be held from September 14 to 18, 2022. This is the one time in the year wherein bourbon lovers worldwide can unite and share their passion for the vanilla-y, oak-y American spirit.
Venue
The Kentucky Bourbon Festival will be held at 114 North Fifth Street in Bardstown, Kentucky. A shuttle bus service has been arranged to pick up and drop off participants from 16 prime town locations. Tickets will be on sale in spring 2022.
General Events
There’s no shortage of fun things to do at the Kentucky Bourbon Festival! In between the Master Distillers’ Auction (wherein participants can bid on rare bottles of bourbon), the World Championship Bourbon Barrel Relay (a bourbon barrel race open to all ages), and distillery whiskey tastings all around, you’ll get to enjoy the festival alongside enthusiasts that share your passion with America’s beloved spirit.
There will be a session that teaches the different flavor notes of every type of grain infused within the spirit, whether rye, corn, wheat, or malted barley, on the morning of the festival’s first day. You’ll also get to enjoy live music, courtesy of national, regional, and local talent.
The event finishes with the Blanton’s Bourbon & Burgoo Feast held on September 18, 2022. Each guest will receive a hearty bowl of Kentucky burgoo, a stew of meat and vegetables, alongside a Blanton’s whiskey, courtesy of Blanton’s Distillery.
2022 BBQ Challenge
The BBQ Challenge is what people would call the fusing of long-aged bourbon with slow-cooked meat. Local distillery teams and BBQ pitmasters face off in a two-day BBQ cook-off, which will feature multiple competition formats. This event is family-friendly and fun for all ages!
We don’t know about you, but we can’t think of a better pairing than barbecue and bourbon!
Distiller’s Row & Sponsorship
Some famous distillers attending the Kentucky Bourbon Festival include Jim Beam, Buffalo Trace, Heaven Hill, Wild Turkey, Woodford Reserve, Lux Row, and Old Forester.
If you want to get into the sponsorship program, visit the official website for the mechanics. Sponsors for this year include Koetter Construction, House of Bourbon, Joseph & Joseph, and Schaefer.
Also Read:
- Bulleit Bourbon Price Guide
- Brother’s Bond Bourbon Price Guide
- Bourbon vs Irish Whiskey
- Bourbon vs Brandy
- Bourbon Gifts For Dad
Things to Do & What’s New
Sales & Sampling
You can’t deny that the best part of any bourbon festival is, well, the bourbon. Attendees can purchase special wristbands that allow them to sample rare bourbon and cocktails from nearly two dozen different distilleries.
Live Auction Charity Event
You will have the opportunity to bid on hard-to-find bottles and private label selections at the live auction charity event.
Last year’s auction raised more than $3 million for tornado relief, with barrels from Angel’s Envy, Four Roses Distillery, and Smoke Wagon having been sold. A 19-year-old Willet barrel was sold for $401,001 — the highest-ever paid for a full barrel of bourbon.
Games
The annual World Championship Bourbon Barrel Relay invites distillery warehouse teams to race against the clock to roll and position multiple 500-pound barrels perfectly into a rick! Although the rest of the festival is only open to those at least 21 years old, this event is open to the public, family-friendly, and people of all ages.
Also Read: Bourbons You Can Only Get In Kentucky
Premium Events
Bourbon in the Air
Bourbon in the Air is an annual event that lets participants sample neat pours of Kentucky bourbon from many different distillery booths. This is a great way to chat up the distillery owners and industry icons to learn a thing or two about hands-on bourbon making! The event ends with a buffet meal served in the evening.
Read: When is National Bourbon Day?
Rabbit Hole Dinner Experience
The Rabbit Hole Dinner Experience is hosted by Kaveh Zamanian, a world-renowned whiskey maker and the founder of Rabbit Hole himself. This is an elegant four-course meal, serving only food that pairs extremely well with their signature bourbon and rye.
Spirits Education Series
If history was your favorite subject in school, you’ll want to attend the Spirits Education Series. In this premium event, you’ll get to listen to master distillers, blenders, tasters, and brand ambassadors from distilleries old and new share industry knowledge about their lives on the road and the challenges that came with being a master distiller.
Read: Recommended Bourbon of the Month Clubs
Bottled-In-Bond Happy Hour
The Bottled-In-Bond Happy Hour is not for those with a weak stomach. The distillery partners participating in this event will be pouring whiskey bottled at 100 proof and at least four years old, made in a single season and at a single distillery.
If that doesn’t get your mouth watering, why are you even at this festival?
FAQs
Is there live entertainment at the Kentucky Bourbon Festival?
Yes, there is live entertainment at the Kentucky Bourbon Festival! The festival welcomes talents — whether national, regional, or local — to come and entertain bourbon aficionados.
Can anyone attend the Kentucky Bourbon Festival?
Only people at least 21 years old can attend the Kentucky Bourbon Festival. General admission and special event tickets will be on sale, depending on which event you’d like to participate in. Before 2021, however, this event was open to people of all ages.
Key Takeaways
The Kentucky Bourbon Festival is an annual event celebrating America’s love for the national spirit. This is a great way to bond with fellow bourbon aficionados to learn, unite, and share industry knowledge and love.
We hope you learned a thing or two about the Kentucky Bourbon Festival with this article. Who knew that what began as a simple bourbon-tasting dinner in 1992 would blow up into one of the Commonwealth’s leading cultural festivals?
Reference:
- https://www.history.com/news/how-kentucky-became-the-worlds-bourbon-capital
Lydia Martin hails from Redmond, Washington, where you’ll find some of the best cocktail bars and distilleries that offer a great mix of local drinks. She used to work as a bar manager in Paris and is a self-taught mixologist whose passion for crafting unique cocktails led her to create Liquor Laboratory. Lydia can whip up a mean Margarita in seconds! Contact at [email protected] or learn more about us here.
